Eladrin

The eladrin race branched off from common elves in the ancient past, developing an empire that straddled the real world and the Dreaming. For over a thousand years they had their own rises, falls, and petty squabbles while generally not interacting with the human nations of Lanjyr. Then came the holy wars known as the Victories, which ended with the death of Srasama, the eladrin goddess who represented the three stages of womanhood. Nearly every eladrin woman died in an event known as the Great Malice, which shaped the course of history ever since.

Today most eladrin live in enclaves in the ruins of Elfaivar, hidden in demi-planes that can only be accessed by those with their innate fey magic. These enclaves protect the precious few women left in their race, who are vastly outnumbered by the men even now, since eladrin live for centuries. But a few eladrin wander the world, either outcasts or adventurers who aren’t interested in dwelling on the tragedies of the past.

Physically similar to normal elves, the fey origin of the eladrin becomes clear whenever they use magic: their entire eyes glow faintly with the color of their irises. Every eladrin possesses the inherent power to step briefly into the Dreaming, allowing them to bypass enemies and difficult terrain before reappearing in the real world. As such, almost every town guard in the world carries a gold ring in case he needs to apprehend an eladrin and keep him from teleporting away.

## Modern Enclaves

Early on, the freed women of Vekesh enclaves gained great power, both politically and magically, for they came to embody the hopes of thousands of survivors. New daughters were fiercely guarded and intensely trained so they could defend themselves and someday lead their own enclaves. Despite this, sometimes foreign mercenaries would manage to abduct an eladrin woman, for they became prized status symbols in the rest of Lanjyr.

These abductions led to the first vekeshi retributions, as mystics undertook daring missions to rescue lost women or at least punish those who would steal them. In general, though, the enclaves stay hidden. They’ll deploy spies to keep eyes on human activity in nearby lands, and will make bargains with fey to scare off those who get too close, but they realize that they cannot risk antagonizing the human nations.

A rare few eladrin seek to integrate with human society. They wear as much gold as they can, which prevents them from using fey step, in an effort to cut themselves off from their fey heritage. By contrast, some vekeshi mystics also adorn themselves in gold, but only as rituals of self-flagellation, to meditate on their distance from their people’s history so they can ponder how best to reclaim their birthright.

The famous adventurer Hamyd of the East claimed in the year 72 A.O.V. to have witnessed a conclave of eladrin matriarchs, wherein they performed the ancient rituals of Srasama. According to him, though, they cut short the rituals of the crone, and his guide alleged that this was because the matriarchs had forsworn grief, and so can never age.

## Mechanics

+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, –2 Constitution: Eladrin are agile and possess strong personalities, but tend to be physically frail.

Type: Eladrin have the fey type. This grants them low-light vision.

Medium: Eladrin are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Normal Speed: Eladrin have a base speed of 30 feet.

Bolstered Will: Eladrin gain a +2 racial bonus on Will saving throws to resist spells and spell-like abilities of the enchantment (charm) and enchantment (compulsion) subschools. In addition, if an eladrin fails such a save, it receives another save 1 round later to prematurely end the effect (assuming the spell or spell-like ability has a duration greater than 1 round). This second save is made at the same DC as the first. If the eladrin has a similar ability from another source (such as a rogue’s slippery mind class feature), it can only use one of these abilities per round, but can try the other on the second round if the first reroll ability fails.

Eladrin Lore: Eladrin gain a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (history) and Spellcraft checks.

Fey Step (Su): Once per day, an eladrin can teleport to a space he can see within 30 feet as a move action. This movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The eladrin must be able to see the space that it is moving into. The eladrin cannot take other creatures with it when it uses this ability (except for familiars).