Wracked Elves

There are truly no sadder and angrier creatures on Bil’Hanna than the Wracked Elves, those born from the flesh of a First elf or a pair of Wracked elves. Upon their birth, the parents will deliver them to a place equipped to take care of young children, generally an orphanage or childless family. While a rare wracked elf couple will raise a child, most do not because it is a time investment most cannot afford. If an orphanage or surrogate family is not available the parents will raise them to the equivalent of preteens and dump them off in some major city with basic equipment appropriate to their chosen profession, along with a random amount of money, a backpack, 50 feet of rope, and a 10 foot pole. This ritualistic sendoff comes from an ancient tradition lost to time. The newly abandoned Wracked Elf will be encouraged to take up with a group of near strangers and treat them like family with the warning that their life will be incredibly short. A First Elf parent will use the Fading to forget their child even as they are looking at them, never to be burdened by paternal instinct for this stranger again.

### Home Nations/Region

Nowhere and everywhere, Wracked Elves can be found across the entirety of Bil’Hanna. From hermits in the wilds to beggars on the streets of the Empire’s capital, rarely do they rise above a meager existence that barely scrapes by.

### Life span

Unlike their First Elven parents, the life of a Wracked Elf is painfully short. They are born and reach physical maturity in less than five years and so their decline into decrepit old age is just as rapid, starting usually after the forty fifth year of life. They degrade rapidly and none has been known to live past fifty. Wracked elves call this “The Crash.” Wracked Elves can breed true on their own, but they avoid this as much as possible, not wanting to inflict their existence upon another being.

### Culture

Many Wracked Elves become adventurers. They know their time is short and they wish to experience as much as possible. They are largely transient by nature and rarely stay to live out their lives in one place. They are quick to form bonds and friendships and in making friends (or enemies) they tend to do so for the entirety of their brief lives.

### The Memory

The saying “Forgive and Forget” never applies to a Wracked Elf. For they are cursed with the opposite of the First Elves’ Fading, whose memory is longer than a Wracked Elves. Every pain, slight, and misspoken word will be remembered in vivid detail until they pass from this world. So petty can this memory be that other races have proverbs referencing it “He has the memory of a Wracked Elf,” meaning, one day he will get even. Because of their short life spans, many embrace forgiveness and are sometimes regarded as gullible. If that dam breaks, it comes with a wave of rage more extreme than even a berserker's. These extremes are too much for many of the Wracked Elves and they become slaves to alchemical mixes and narcotics to “dull” their experiences.

Wracked Elves are also some of the most dangerous combatants in all of Bil’Hanna due to the Memory. Once they learn how to correctly do an action, they seem able to effortlessly reproduce it until they begin “the crash.” Historically all Bil’Hanna’s best swordsmen and women have been wracked elves.

### Physical Appearance

They come in every shape and color, but all have the ears of an Elf. Some will have the characteristic of whatever creature it was that physically spawned them. (Fur, slit pupils, etc.).

### Faith

Wracked elves have embraced the New Deck unlike any other race and many define themselves as students of it. The breaking of all bonds and forging something new in their lifetime has a certain amount of appeal they find comforting. Some Wracked Elves believe the New Deck will give their kind a new future, but this remains to be seen.

### Wracked Elf Stereotypical Views

#### Refugees/Neppen

“A melting pot of people that seem not to care from whence we came. We could be home with these people.”

#### Truefolk

“If you aren’t careful around these you’ll live your short life in a sweatshop. Or worse, a Fortuneless Cohort.”

#### Dwarven Peoples

“Good for a good tale, good drink, and good adventure; when you can get them to leave home.”

#### First Elves

“Some of us hate them for our existence. Others thank them. They are the oldest people in the world and they have been alive since the dawn of time. But… It seems we live longer lives, in the few years we have. We may be the only good they have ever done in this world. They are like eternal children with uncontrollable libidos”

#### Slegorians

“If you are itching to learn how to fight, a Slegorian can teach you. Can teach you fast. Painfully, but very fast.”

#### The Unliving of Myr

“When the dead still rose, this was a place we could go to exist beyond the Crash. Now, even that is gone from us. We literally do not have the time to work within their slow, monolithic schedules.”

#### Draconic Theocracies

“A nice orderly people who live in the frozen north, always prone to share. Everyone should see their grand springs and caverns at least once.”

#### Tarabuthian

“They are people filled with strife, not unlike ourselves. Now and then they will adventure with us but they are always called home to their swamp in the end.”

#### City State of Winegorge

“If you want to spend your days with a good drink and dice, this isn’t a bad place to do it.”