Sea Elves (Atha'an Miere)

*“I beg for your safety, do not take on a pirate accent and ask them where the booty is. Please.” - common advice given to those seeking the Sea Elves*

*“May your anchor be tight, your cork be loose, your rum be spiced and your compass be true.” - common well wishing from Sea Elves. (Danny Taddei)*

**Rarity**

Uncommon

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**General Overview**

The life of a Sea Elf revolves around the ocean and large bodies of saltwater, for most of their lives are spent on their ships, archipelagos and islands with all their major life events taking part on their ships, i.e births, deaths, marriage etc.

Sea Elves are governed by a Mistress of Ships, who is the equivalent of a Queen in other cultures but with no fixed geographical location besides that of her travelling fort of a ship, often guarded by other clans and their own vessels.

With this Queen comes her usually male consort, or counterpart, who is the Master of Blades and is responsible for security and trade.

Under the Mistress of Ships and Master of Blades are the clans, of which all Sea Elves are organised and led by a Wavemistress, Captain in other cultures, who then also has her own usually male consort or counterpart known as the Sword Master.

Windfinders are unique in their culture as they are uncommon Sea Elves that have affinities for magic, specifically wind and water magics. They use these in tandem to manipulate their boats course and speed, making Sea Elf vessels some of the fastest in the known Aether. Each vessel will have at least one Windfinder.

Rank in their society is complicated and alien to outsiders but a Sea Elf’s rank can be determined by the amount of ear and nose piercings they wear, for example in the simplest terms one nose ring connected by chain to an earring is the most common, whereas a bullring, 8 eyebrow piercings denote an Engineer and so on.

The only time Sea Elves are seen on the mainland is for trading goods, any other reason is rare indeed, bargaining with the sea elves is a very serious affair that is steeped with formality. They are also renowned to be fierce negotiators and the chances of coming out with an advantage after making a business agreement, or any agreement is slim.

Porcelain, including cups, teapots, vases, and possibly sculptures, delicate and graceful objects of art, are highly prized by mainlanders, frequently costing their weight in gold to obtain. Their vaunted porcelain is actually created by the Amayar, land-dwellers on the Sea Elven islands, though this isn't common knowledge.

Another little known facet of sea elf culture is that both genders go topless while at sea, and out of sight of the mainland. Presumably all of their passengers know this eventually, and keep silent either out of respect/moral outrage, or for more prurient interests.

This fact alone may account for why passage on a Sea Elf ship is frequently so costly, although they are also the fastest sailing vessels in the land, and some of the most reliable.

Sea Elves are some of the most passionate on religion, worshipping a form of Syher that they believe takes the form of the ocean rather than a mortal shape.

Common Atha’an Miere languages:

~ Elven *(D&D)*

~ Common *(English)*

~ Solresol which is based on pitch levels sounded with their solfege syllables - a musical language - although no knowledge of music is required to learn it

Known Atha’an Miere and their clans:

~ Mistress of Ships Lu’cidian, Master of Blades Sholq-uen of the Vessel Vortu’mer

~ Clan Gall’ashian led by Wavemistress Fo’lix and Swordmaster Hash’far

~ Clan Zoshim’ir led by Wavemistress R’othan and Swordmaster Sesar

Sea Elf names flow from the tongue like water and are often themed after liquids or chosen to sound like water in its ebb and flow. (*Think French with more apostrophes*).

Sea Elves can live up to 450 years old.

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**Race Alignment**

True to chaotic neutral

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**Natural Race Abilities/Affinities**

Sea Elves can breathe underwater for an indefinite time, however, they can only breathe in salt water. They can also swim to a depth twice that of what humans can go.

Sea Elves are excellent engineers, finding new and remarkable ways of navigating and staying safe in the water. With this comes the nimble and steady fingers without practise to build, as well as a mind for problem solving.

While Sea Elves can have some affinity for water magic, it’s often minor and not entirely useful beyond aesthetics, what no one can explain is why as many centuries ago they were proficient water wielders, now only Windfinders seem the most capable with magic.

Sea Elves have thicker skin, while this does not impede their movement whatsoever, it does mean they have a slight resistance to some blunt damage and very good resistance to immunity with water magics, so long as the water is salt water.

Sea Elves are capable of a much vaster range of pitches and sounds, meaning they can often talk to other Sea Elves in a pitch that cannot be heard by other Humanoids, and they can project their voices over great distances almost like whales.

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**Appearance**

While some Sea Elves are unmistakably Elven, some can also appear Fae-like, causing confusion on occasion from mainlanders, often with webbed fingers or webbed ears.

Most common colours are blues and greens, others are extremely rare or nonexistent.

**History**

After the Great Awakening Sea Elves did not exist but evolved from other elves taking to exploring the sea and islands unlike their fellow Elven brethren. The first recordings of their existence are from Human travellers who would often combat them around the time of 700. Even to this day, Humans and Sea Elves find regular strife on the open sea, with larger Humanoid cities favouring trade deals and peace with them, finding their porcelain to be worth as much as silver.