Light Elves (Tenochirath)

The Tenochiraths are descendants from the kingdom of Alfheim and share a common ancestry with the drowussu of the Yurak'Riti clan in particular. They are not to

## Light Elves (Tenochirath)

### Common Mana Affinities

Life Sorcery, Blood Sorcery, Empathy, and Wood Sorcery

### Racial Distribution

Tenochirath Light Elves, few Vanir and drowussu

### Rivals and Adverseries

Any Drowlath faction; a burning hatred of Vartoj

be confused with the Northern light elf tribe, the Vanir, as the two come from two completely different cultures and most Vanir in the south either migrated there from the Northern continent or were brought there as slaves to begin with.

When the kingdom of Alfheim collapsed, the southern half of the kingdom was abandoned in the south with no hope of assistance from the Northern light elf tribes and increasingly becoming desperate as they fought for any little bit of reprieve they could. With no means of seeking safety, these survivors would entrench themselves and unleash their mysterious life sorcery upon the jungles, transforming and reshaping the fauna and flora of the surface drastically in order to stop the demons and to restore their kingdom. From the ashes of Alfheim, the Tenochiraths would arise to form their own empire and further entrench themselves upon the surface and become one of the bigger threats to colonization efforts in the Southern Jungles.

## Physical Description

The tenochiraths stand taller than most light elves, being able to see eye to eye with their Dokfalor cousins, although this is due to generations of manipulation and selective breeding. They are not as pale as those in the north, having a slight darker shade of skin. This, of course, is describing what a normal, unalter tenochirath looks like, however many of them have been changed by the living gods to take on more bestial features.

In addition, the tenochirath tend to wear masks and wear clothing that helps them to blend in with their surroundings, making it even harder to discern features of this tribe of light elves. However, their eyes tend to glow, showing they have developed some capacity for night vision, much more akin to felines, although again, this is generally a result of the manipulation of their biology over generations.

## Culture and Values

The tenochirath culture is a violent one but it is one that has been shaped out of a necessity to survive at all costs in the face of overwhelming odds. Since they did not flee underground, they have established a very firm foothold on the surface and have an expansive empire in the Southern Jungles which they rule from their shinning capitol of Chichihuac. There is not much known about their culture given their secluded nature and violence towards others, however some parts have been able to be cobbled together from testimony of eyewitnesses and observed interactions when they are in a less hostile mood.

### Sacrifice

The concept of sacrifice is huge in the culture of the tenochirath. To sacrifice everything, even life, is expected if it helps the empire. To the tenochirath, they see the loss of their Alfheim cultural roots in the face of destruction as a sacrifice made to ensure their survival. If one is not pure, then sacrifice is seen as the ultimate form of purifying their souls to pass on to the realms of the gods. To live a life without giving everything to the living gods is the greatest sham to a member of the tenochirath. Thus if a living god calls upon their people to sacrifice, they will do so willingly and without question, be it giving their life in battle, or to give themselves up to be experimented on and transformed into a new, monstrous fae-creature to counteract weaponry of their enemies. This idea of sacrifice though has made them fearless and rather resilient to threats of torture and death as the pain is what their gods demand and they will relish it for it is their sacrifice to them! Many tenochirath prisoners often take their own lives rather than be questioned or enslaved. A docile tenochirath should be treated as a ticking time bomb.

### Religious Beliefs

The old religion of Alfheim has long since been forgotten as the new faith in the living gods has risen. For the tenochirath, if a god or goddess cannot be seen nor touched, then they are not true idols, for true divinity walks among the people and performs miracles as they please. In fact, the term god refers to no particular gender as it is believed the living gods are above such arbitrary things which is another reason they look down upon other faiths that have such distinctions as being very "mortal" and "flawed". The fact they can touch and speak to their gods gives them a measure of comfort, as if they are truly be listened to, especially given the living god watching over a particular area will answer even small prayers to their followers. Gods that listen, gods that provide, gods that bleed are gods that should be followed. There are to date, Fifty-four known living gods and their cults across the kingdom, ranked from minor deities to major ones. This number though does seem to increase as the empire increases and more are needed to reign over Tenochirath. Many of the minor deities though are usually part of a larger house of living gods ruled over by one of the major gods.

Given the cultures focus on sacrifice, it is no surprise that sacrifice is the way in which the people see to worshipping their living gods. Great ceremonies are held where live sacrifices are given upon altars to the living god in attendance. Usually though these sacrifices are not the tenochirath people themselves, but captured individuals from goblin tribes, other fae groups, and in particularly, drow. The descendants of the dark elves are a favorite sacrifice to make, thus many raids are done on colonies, spiriting off people in the night. Scout parties and the like often vanish in the jungles, taken captive to be horrifically slaughtered to honor the living gods, their bodies either turned into macabre trophies or twisted monstrosities.

### Life Sorcery

The life sorcery of the tenochirath is one of their most defining features. An art that was kept secret in ancient Alfheim, life sorcery was historically never used for the purpose of harming or creating new forms of life that could harm the ecosystems. However given the desperation the survivors in the southern half of the empire faced, the uses of life sorcery changed drastically. Now the tenochirath practice a far more violent form of the sorcery that they use not only against their enemies, but on their own people to mutate them into vicious beast-like creatures.

What is known about this art is it can change the physical make-up of the body on a cellular level. The tenochirath has used this to modify species of fae and non-fae fauna and flora resulting in the high number of rather hostile creatures in the Southern continent. Some of the notable creations of the tenochirath are the extremely violent Bloodsuckle Dryads and of course, the infamous trolls which have spread rapidly and unchecked throughout the continent. Many of these new species they created they intentionally let into the wild for the sole purpose of headaches for the drow. Although these same creatures may bother most tenochirathi as well, none of them will attack the Living Gods, having some pre-programmed response to obey their will.

This life sorcery can also be turned on others aggressively by the manipulation of flesh. This was once used for healing, however they use it to tear a person apart while keeping them alive. The most infamous incident was a Vartoj commander sent back to the tribe in a box, turned completely inside out, but still alive and screaming.

Much of the current fauna and flora of the jungle is a result of the manipulation of native species by the tenochirath to suit their needs and it is also why many of these species will not harm a living god as something has been implanted in their very makeup to respect where the gods walk.

### Attitudes Towards Outsiders

The Tenochirath are known to be violent towards outsiders, especially dark elves and their descendants as they see them as the ones who robbed them of everything and left them to rot on the surface at the hands of the demons that the dark elves brought to this world. This contempt is very clear in that the tend to kill drow and dark elves on site. However, they have been known to target drow of particular ancestries more than others.

That is not to say that they won't do the same towards drowussu either as it is well documented that they have little love for the Vanir and other light elf tribes whom they see as abandoning them as well during the time of war. However anyone with proven blood of Alfheim is considered kin and at the very least may speak their reason for trespassing and make apologies and leave quickly. This includes those of mix-blood ancestry as even a drop of Alfheim blood in the veins, if it can be proven, is a sign of potential purity. How this is proven is unknown, but they seem to have a means of testing someone's blood for the "purity" of lineage.

They treat the goblins as nothing more than animals to do as they please with and have heavily modified most goblins in a variety of ways to see what could be done with them. Some believe that goblins were the template species for the creation of the trolls, although this is highly debatable. They are extremely fond of ferals though and often keep many of the feline-esque race lounging about their homes and kingdom.

### War Tactics and Encounters

The tenochirath do not fight head on and instead have mastered guerilla tactics. They know the jungles well, including a number of vicious poisons taken from a variety of species within the jungle. In particular, they favor poisons that induce paralysis as they like to take their victims in alive to offer as sacrifices to their gods or to make sport of them later in cruel jungle hunts. However, if the force pushing into their lands is larger, they will fall back on poisons that are far more lethal and even have been known to sneak in under cover of night to poison water and food supplies.

They also set up traps within the jungle that may be crude and simple, but are highly effective to the unwary or foolish. A saying for many explorers in the jungles is to treat every single step as if it will be your last.

The tenochirath tend to observe invaders, learning their patterns, who is in charge, and when they sleep and once a camp is settled in for a rest, and only guards and watches are up, they will steal into the camps and slit the throats of sleeping soldiers silently, spread poisons and even have been known to toss in nests of stinging insects into a camp to sow discord. Their connection with wild animals and the flora of the jungle also means that what would usually be benign creatures will suddenly turn violent and mass up to attack. Even pack animals can be turned on their owners from sheer fear.

If someone is alone, they will be taken by any watching tenochirath immediately. Small groups sent into the jungle will be quickly picked off one by one to incite fear in the rest of the group to flee or try to bunker down. The tenochirath are known to not immediately attack but scream and shriek in the night, laughing and making bizarre noises all to unsettled and make groups paranoid. Sometimes they will be completely silent and simply move things around in the camp to let those they are watching know they are being observed and that the tenochirath could have come at any time they wished to kill them. When this occurs, they are in a "hunting" mood, where they want to play mind games with what they see as mere prey in their territory. Sometimes they will let captured prisoners go to run into the jungles just so they could have the fun of hunting them down, sometimes letting them go, sometimes killing them, sometimes bringing them back for a sacrifice.

If tenochirath are on the defensive and more visible and amassed in their attacks, it is a sign a group is too close to a settlement in the empire and they are defending themselves. It also could mean a living god has come out to hunt and they are filled with a zealot lust to prove their prowess. In either case, a retreat is the best defense as they won't pursue groups if they are on the defensive.

If there is a small party entering in to hunt or explore, it is considered best to prepare a gift or a sacrifice of their own. If this offering is accepted, a token will be left in place of the gift and the party will visually see the tenochirath watching them from a distance. If they show themselves, it means they are only observing to make sure the party avoids villages or sacred locations and are keeping to their business. If they vanish from sight for more than a day, it is a sign the welcome is over and another gift is to be prepared or the party is to leave immediately.

At the colony of Ali'Yuga, the occasional tenochirath can be found doing some trading as the outpost is considered "neutral territory" for now between the tenochirath and the powers of Har'Ol'Nek'Preya. It is also the only place in which peace negotiations and the like can take place through request.

## The Tenochirathi Caste System

The Tenochirath, much like their Yurak'Riti cousins, have maintained a partial caste system from their Alfheim roots. It is a simple one where they are divided into four castes which are outlined below:

### Tenochirathi: The Sacrificing Ones

The name given for the commoners of the tenochirath, they more or less appear like light elves, although a bit taller than their northern cousins and with a slightly darker skintone. They are just as dangerous though as any other member of Tenochirath society as every single one is trained to kill and hunt from a very young age and the idea of blood sacrifice and devotion to the living gods and ingrained early as well. It is suggested that tenochirath are not taken as slaves as they are very good at pretending to be docile, right up until they will rip out throats of their captors in their sleep or in a moment where they are left alone with someone.

### Tenochirathi: The Pure Ones

On occasion, the living gods will leave their city and go out into the villages of the empire and from those villages, will select a handful of residents to return with them to live within the walls of the grand city of Chichihuac. These individuals are unaltered and kept "pure". Since the living gods themselves have selected these individuals, they are seen as being above the need to sacrifice and will live their lives in bliss and paradise within the golden city. These residents are never seen again by anyone outside the city and are only known as a caste by heresy as no one in Har'Ol'Nek'Preya has ever set foot within or near Chichihuac.

### Retainers

These individuals barely look like elves anymore, often mutated to look more like animals that are associated with a specific living god and their personal aesthetics. There is no reasoning with retainers, their minds completely bound to the will of the living gods and they should be considered extremely hostile upon sight. Due to their more animalistic biology, they often are able to perform physical feats others cannot and are known to be unnervingly silent in the jungles as they stalk those that come into their territory. The retainers can speak, but only seem capable of repeating messages heard, such as orders of their living gods or, more alarmingly, mimicking the speech of their enemies to sound like comrades in the dark or a commanding officer. Some retainers show higher intelligence than others and some reports theorize there is a hierarchy of sorts within their ranks.

### Living Gods

The rulers of the Tenochirath people are seen as living gods by those beneath them, having both great power and knowledge of the world. Few have ever been document and those accounts tend to vary in terms of accuracy as most accounts have come from traumatized soldiers that were often one of the few survivors of an encounter.

Living gods are tall, looming over even the dark elves and all possess an ability to manipulate the flora about them as well as showing a strange mana affiliation that is believed to be the life sorcery of old Alfheim. In battle, they are capable of great acts of physical violence and do not hold back, ripping through enemy lines quickly and having an uncanny ability of vanishing into the foliage. Many who have survived encounters often describe that the living gods enjoy "toying" with people, acting more like they are hunting mere animals than sentient beings. Animals either are drawn to the living gods to do their biddings or are driven by fear to get away from them as far as possible which can make mounted attacks against them ineffective.

Despite this, when around their own people, the living gods have been observed to be very attentive to the whims of their people, often doing small tasks or helping around a village with the labor. Some living gods also are rather benign unless attacked such as the living god known as "They Who Watch the Dead Land" who is seen at the edge of the cataclysm patrolling rather often.

It is still debatable if the living gods truly can be killed as the few recorded cases of one dying and the body burned to ashes are then proven false when that same defeated living god is back a few days later in the flesh and often driven by pure hatred to kill those that killed them. To the people of the tenochirath, the gods simply reincarnate as their spirit is passed from individual to individual. An attempt to try and capture a living god's soul in a soulmir was unsuccessful as the soul seemed drawn elsewhere, giving rise to the idea that the tenochirath have access to some long lost forms of summoning that they utilize to give the appearance of reincarnation and immortality.