Ramaredhel
Winged elves with strong faith
The winged elves of Ashe'ileq are widely known to be skilled healers of physical, mental, and emotional wounds. Though they rarely are seen outside of their own remote towers, they are generally well-liked and welcomed wherever they go, despite their habit of evangelizing to most everyone they meet.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Sky elves are called such because of the large, feathery wings that grow from their backs. Each wing is generally longer than the ramari is tall when fully extended, though they fold up compactly enough that they don't get in the sky elf's way when not in use. Their wings shed feathers as new ones grow in the same way that other mammals shed hair consistently.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Ramari cuisine varies based on their environment, but most enjoy a healthy amount of fish and shellfish in their diets. As they tend to live in temperate or subtropical climates, they also enjoy bounties of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as grains and oats.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Ramaredhel have some of the more traditional elven features: high cheekbones, almond eyes, and narrow jaws. Sky elf eye colors can be shades of green, blue, and yellow. Sky elves have rapidly-growing hair, which is almost always straight or wavy, and is generally some shade of white or blonde.
Civilization and Culture
Courtship Ideals
Sky elves are quite open about their desires and thus many of the trappings of courtship are seen as quaint but ultimately pointless activities. A common ramari saying regarding romance is, "Love as you worship," which is to say the gods do not need to be courted, and thus neither should mortals worry about such things. They are familiar with the concept of 'dates' that help two partners get to know one another, though this is normally an activity engaged in by more mature ramaredhel, with younger sky elves usually entering into a dalliance that becomes a whirlwind of excitement through which the partners begin to piece together opinions on each other leading to longer-term goals.
Relationship Ideals
Ideal relationships will have both partners worshiping the same ideal or deity, though having partners with similar faiths is also common. Ramaredhel relationships can be between two members of any gender; there is no cultural stigma on same-gender relationships.
Common Dress Code
Ramari often dress in flowing, loose, light clothing. Jewelry and other decorative elements are often worn on the wrist joints of their wings.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Ramari are extremely communal, believing that contributing to the community they are a part of is not only the natural way but also brings honor and karma to you. News travels extremely fast in sky elf communities, and almost everything is shared freely among the individuals. This is not to say they are unfamiliar with commerce, as sky elf settlements will trade with other settlements using the traditional methods, whether that be barter or currency-driven.
Sky elves typically build settlements in homage of their homaland of Ashe'ileq: a massive tower-like structure with a cluster of buildings around the base and many entrances inaccessible except by flight. These settlements are often in hard to reach places, such as the sides of mountains or on remote islands.
Common Taboos
As open as they are, it is considered a high crime against all remari and the gods themselves for one to take something not offered. Thus murder, theft, and rape are the most serious crimes you can commit against a sky elf, and doing so will often earn the lifetime enmity of that sky elf's entire community. If one ramaredhel commits one of these crimes against another, the offender is often excommunicated from that community and they are spoken of thereafter as a 'shedayya', or a 'fallen one'.
History
The Naledi of Meara and the ancient paladri peoples that joined the tribes interbred often during the kingdom's heyday until the paladri ceased existing as a separate species, becoming simply winged naledi. During the destruction of Meara these flying proto-elves fled en mass to the closest safe place they knew of: the great Yith city of Pnakotus. When the Flying Polyps were freed of their prison and sought revenge upon the Yith, the winged naledi hid. After the polyps left and the Fourth Elder War's fronts moved on, the proto-elves returned to the destruction that Yggdrasil wrought on Pnakotus. Using the remnants of Yithian technology the ramari built homes around the great bole of the tree. Over time they would build upward and finally leave the ground entirely, living in the fruitful boughs of Yggdrasil, which they renamed Ashe'ileq.
For reasons unknown living in the tree seemed to enhance the miracles bestowed upon the faithful among them, making them superb clerics and healers. From the top of their mighty tree home, the ramari heard and saw the suffering of their fellow tribesmen, and sent regular envoys down among the battlefields to aid the wounded. Emergency camps and hospitals were set up on islands back away from the front lines, which grew over time into full sky elf settlements.
After the events of the Godswar, the ramari retreated to their treetop homeland, becoming extremely isolationist and rarely seen. History books began to refer to them as the 'jendau', or 'lost people' in the Common tongue. It wasn't until after The Culling that they reintegrated with the rest of the world, mainly at the behest of their new god, Barachiel, and in peaceful opposition to the Moriedhel movement to abandon worship of the gods.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Homo sophos aura
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Ramari have skin tones in the usual human range, from chocolate dark to pale peach to bronze.
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