Elf

Born of both light and darkness, the elves are creatures of disciplined study and wild frivolity. Their spirits are intertwined with the fluid resonance of Aughmoore's mystical forces. This connection with the force of mana makes the elves fiercely protective of the woods. Even apprentice elven sorcerers are capable of incanting advanced spells with little exertion. Strange phenomena are often thought to be amplifications of the wicked tongues of elves hidden away in candlelit towers.

## History

### Creation

Aughmoore had existed for quite some time before catching the eye of the universe's greater beings. It was the fair Norellia, an entity of pure energy, who first examined this world. As she approached, she discovered a mighty echo ringing from the forests. She curiously ventured deeper and deeper into the dark woods until the sound was almost deafening. In a clearing, bathed in a pool of dancing rays that penetrated the high canopy, stood two impressive stags. One was made of incandescent light, the other of shadowy darkness. They were the Sun Stag and the Shadow Stag, and their antlers were locked in an endless competition.

Norellia wept at the sight of the beautiful forces, doomed to destroy each other over the course of eternity. In a moment of compassion, she sacrificed a fraction of her own power to fuse them. As the creatures became one, their figures turned upright and their antlers narrowed to give way for the familiar pointed ears of the mystical elves. A piece of Norellia remains in them still, intertwining their spirits with the fluid resonance of Aughmoore's mystical forces. From the Sun Stag, the elves have power over Mana and the forces of magic. And from the Shadow Stag, they have the skills of hunting, of moving without being seen. Most elves emphasize either the aspect of the sun or of the shadow in how they live their life. Only a very wise few can maintain a balance.

### The Great War

As the younger races turned to the forests for sap and lumber to construct their superfluous edifices, the elves trained to protect their birthplace. In their studies, they discovered a great and terrible power, the ability to persuade the flow of mana from their enemies to their own forces. Through subtlety, might, and elite magical prowess, the elves have shown that those who threaten their thicketed homelands place themselves in imminent danger.

When it became known to the elves that the world was dying because of the greed of her children, they were the first to move. Before the Great War even began, elves were infiltrating human cities, poisoning orcish water supplies, and starting coups among the dwarves. It was the discovery of an elven plot to kill the human Laelithar that actually first sparked the War.

## Military

Still preserved in the elven spirit is the instinct to hunt, to stalk, to move through the night as but an obscure shade and pounce upon their unwitting prey. Many great beasts have been tracked and slaughtered to sustain the encampments that weave through the treetops, and these abilities are equally fitted for war.

The elven Shadow Guild operates secretly among both the enemies and allies of the elves, waiting for signs of weakness that can be struck by the keen eye of the elven hunter-warriors.

Sorcerers are used heavily in the elven war machine. Not only do their magical abilities outmatch a mage of any other race, but the ability to sap mana from their opponents gives elf magicians a unique edge in combat.

In the Air Spires of the elven forests, majestic phoenixes are trained to carry the elves to war. The elven corsair ships are able to tap into the power of the sea to harvest its mana, and teleport through mana veins to far away destinations. The combined speed capabilities of the phoenixes and corsairs make an elven army unpredictable and fast beyond measure.