Shillen

The **Shillen**, sometimes called Dark Elves by humans, are a humanoid race native to Morathi.

## Physiology

The Shillen have lived on Morathi for countless millennia, long before
humans exited the ice age and developed written records. They are a
humanoid species with a striking resemblance to what humans would call
‘elves’. Though the natives call themselves the Shillen, humans have
taken to calling them the 'Dark Elves' because it sounds cooler. They
are about as tall as a normal human on average, but slimmer overall and
slightly weaker in physical strength. However they compensate with
greater agility, reflexes, and have great hand-eye coordination. Their
skin is a bluish grey skin pigment, and can range from a various shades
of blue to monotone shades of light of dark grey. Their hair is varies
between silver to black, and of course they have pointy ears. Their most
 interesting biological feature is that they have very good night vision
 much like that of a cat. It is believed to have been an evolutionary
result of living in an environment where they are mainly under cover of
shade or darkness, below the forest canopy and in underground rocky
mountain homes.

At their current late 1700s style technology levels, the Shillen have an
 average lifespan of 50 years. However this figure is wildly skewed by
significant levels of child mortality. Those that make it past age 15
can expect to live to an average of about 200. There is no doubt that
with better healthcare, the average lifespan figure could rocket up to the latter figure.

## Technology

Their technological/scientific level and society is roughly equivalent
to late 17th century Europe. They stand on the verge of an industrial
revolution and all that entails such as advanced economics and
manufacturing. Though most of the Shillen lower classes are poorly
educated, the elite upper and middle classes are highly educated and are
 the driving force of progress.

They have discovered gunpowder, and have access to basic gunpowder
weaponry such as muskets and cannons. However with so much of their
planet being uneven, mountainous and covered in trees it is difficult to
 find a spot where an army can shoot straight for long ranges. As such
melee weaponry is still very prevalent as it is currently more
practical, and culturally acceptable to them.

## Society

Dark Elves are a martial warrior race. Shillen are fierce and proud, and
 their tempers short. Their history is littered with wars as their race
is divided into different states often governed by bickering lords and
kings. Theirs is a feudal society where the warlords in power determine
the fate of countries and are constantly squabbling and fighting over
territory.

To this end most of the petty kingdoms of Morathi have relatively large
standing forces, with at least 10% of the population under arms at any
one time. Although they do have gunpowder weapons, the environment of
Morathi makes them hard to use and downright impractical for some
situations. Medieval style melee combat still makes up the majority of
battle, and in any case the shillen prefer melee, because in their
culture that’s more honourable.

With such a background Shillen grow up taught to be pragmatic, to be
wary of the strange and undocumented, and to perform to their utmost in
battle and in life. They also expect this out of others around them
whether it is from a brother-in-arms or family. If one gains the trust
and respect of a Dark Elf, they can be an ally for life. However they
have very little time for the incompetent who they will treat with
characteristically smug elven disdain. And woe to their enemies, because
 Shillen can remember grudges for a very long time and will stab them in
 the back given the chance.

The Shillen are a very patriarchal and conservative society which favour
 men much like 17th century Earth at that time. Though women play many
roles in their society, being far more important than women were in
Earth’s equivalent time period, they are culturally expected to play a
support role and obey their men. Shillen women are fine with this since
they don’t know any other cultural norm.

With the Shillen frequently fighting each other in war and combat, there
 are often more women than men in society as the males get killed. As
such the dark elves practice polygamy. Each nation as different laws on
how many wives are allowed, but generally it is limited in practice to
how many a husband can support, or wants to put up with. The super rich
have many wives, the middle classes may have two or three, whilst the
poor which make up most of the population have one.

## Military Traditions

Though they have
access to gunpowder weapons such a muskets, the uneven terrain of their
planet makes massed armies of line infantry in open field combat
impractical. The gun is generally seen as the weapon of a sniper or the
defender, replacing the stereotypical elven bows. Small teams of
musketmen are used to harass and skirmish with enemy troops out in the
field, whilst guns are used in defense of settlements where the firearm
can be more easily accommodated into plans. Though the dark elves are
pragmatic and will use long range firearms, they maintain a cultural
distaste for range fighting and accord greater honour to melee battles.
Despite the undoubted usefulness of firearms, Shillen generally keep
close range weapons close at hand.

Being a martial
culture, one of their favourite pastimes is visiting the
gladiatorial arena to see spectacles of combat. The fights can be
anything, from relatively benign reenactments of past battles, to
fighting tournaments, to bloody duels to the death between rivals. Other
 races may recoil at the brutal pastime that the Shillen have, but to
them these violent shows count as family entertainment.

## Clothing

One notable thing about Shillen is their clothing. Because their world
has so many tall trees covering the forest floor, it is a lot harder for
 smaller shrubs such as cotton plants - necessary to mass produce cloth -
 to grow. Most of the cultivable farmland is used for foodstuffs as
well. But the planet has abundant animal life, and their mountainous
lands are mineral rich. As such their fashion tends to have a lot of
metal and leather involved, with dark colours preferred.

Male fashions tend to involve more metal and spikier clothes. Female
fashion can be pretty skimpy and favours showing cleavage, skin, leather
 straps and thongs. The women are not shy about their sexuality or
beauty, and will opening dress provocatively to flaunt their figures.

## Religion

Religion is the more often than not the only thing which the Shillen
dark elves can agree upon without fighting. It is the chief unifying
force which transcends boundaries and offers a degree of stability. When
 lords and kings need a third party to arrange a ceasefire, it’ll always
 be a priestess called a ‘gatekeeper’ which acts as the referee andnegotiator.

The Shillen have a complex pantheon of gods and goddesses. There’s
generally one or two for every situation, with the most important two
being Einhasad the goddess of life and creation, and Gran Kain the god
of death and destruction, who sort of fill the role of Yin and Yang from
 Earth Taoism.

The Shillen pantheon is a global religion, and through the gatekeepers
of the spiritual world wields enormous influence despite having no true
military.