Rasna

The Rasna, the High Elves, also called Mirror Elves, are a maedi line that split from the Azlan after they were confined to the Abyss. Craving the restoration of their sorcerous empire, the Rasna turned to Mithrades, a mage of immense power, who led his followers back to the World Above. Most Rasna settled on Karkana, an island in the Shadow Sea. Some Rasna however longed to return to Adantu, which had since become Aldan, first of the Gallian kingdoms. These Rasna were the Xenia, or guest elves, and their time in Gallia was tumultuous to say the least. Most Rasna, however, sought a new home free from humanity. 
Rasna are generally pale skinned, tall and finely muscled. Their eyes are often an intense, shining blue. The Karkanan Rasna have attempted to recreate the high culture of the Azlan. The patricians of the noble houses raise soaring towers of smooth, white stone which are decorated with glassweave and spellsilver. Rasna purchase many slaves, gathering raw material and playthings. While the elven nobility live in splendor, the slaves walk the muddy streets below the glass towers, living in filthy, ramshackle slums at the edges of the grand cities. The Rasna claim to possess a piece of Asur, his hand, which resembles a massive, jagged monolith of black stone. The stone leaks red fluid, and the augurs, the ageless priests of Asur, drink this godsblood and commune with the dead god. The augurs are the highest authority on the island. No patrician may dare gainsay them when they speak with the voice of the Old Sun, and any who does is quickly consumed by holy fire. 
The Rasna are debauched and decadent, whiling away their days with strange experiments, wild orgies and occult contemplations. The ‘High Maedi,’ as they call themselves, are said to excel at mirror magic, and through this art project grand and intoxicating illusions that dazzle even the jaded aristocracy of Karkana. Mirrors can be used to spy on far-off places, and call up those mysterious beings that dwell in the Seeming, or even in other universes. Some wild theories claim that there are only in fact a few Rasna left, of unimaginable power, and through mirror magic they project the illusion of thousands of mirror maedi. It is difficult to tell what is true, as the isle of Karkana is said to be a bewildering place where nothing is as it seems, and the masked nobles, wearing robes that glimmer like butterfly wings, glide from one incomprehensible masquerade to another, all speaking in riddles and laughing at the frustrations of their maddened guests. Those few ambassadors who have visited Karkana, seeking the ancient lore of the mirror elves, have inevitably lost their minds, dreaming of wondrous and terrifying realms that exist beyond the gleaming surfaces of mirrors. Yet the mirrors of Karkana are said to reflect everything but the truth, and to show those who gaze into them vistas of cosmic incomprehensibility.
The capital of Karkana, Tharn, is a fascinating yet alien place, with structures descending into massive pits spanned by delicate bridges of glass and silver. Huge towers rise into the sky, and at the center of the city is the sprawling glass citadel of the Cenacle, the circle of magi that commands great power among the mirror elves. Tharn would likely collapse upon itself if not sustained by ancient wards that require constant sacrifices of deodand to maintain. 
It is little wonder that some Rasna have tired of such strangeness and returned to the mainland, where they have tried to live outside the games of the noble houses, and the rule of the augurs. Most mainland elves are descended from Rasna, though it is said that even the most integrated retains a touch of madness in them, and all are drawn to masks, mirrors and mysteries. Few trust Rasna, and fewer still would ever dare set foot on their island, where every passion, every delight, and every nightmare is said to wait, just behind the next mirror.  
Category:Races
Category:Maedi