Ravenhill and Starcourt

The elves who live outside of the Rotwood area are a bit different. Though they refer to themselves as elves, they don’t greatly resemble those above at all. They arrived less than four thousand years ago, and have mainly kept to themselves on their paired islands, and speak their own language – common to each other, but difficult for anyone else to speak. Since they do speak the same tongue, it’s clear that they have a long, and most likely bloody history together, along with physically common ancestry. They have five-fingered hands and five digits on their feet, and don’t have anything else that would visibly distinguish them from the rest of the Humanoid population beyond their ears, height, and light or dark appearances.

Both of these types of Elves are extremely good at all manner of magic, both psionic and spell sorts, and both are well known to keep their secrets of magic to themselves. Asking about any given spoken spell would hardly be healthy, around either Ravenhill or Starcourt elves.

The Ravenhill Elves are of highly glossy indigo through slate skin color, occasionally with brilliant blue or violet markings on their arms, faces and backs. These markings are definitely not tattoos, and may act as identification. Their ears are long, often up to a foot long, and usually pierced numerous times. Both genders stand nearly seven feet tall, and have dark eyes and hair – usually black, but with dark brown, deep red, violet, and even green and blue tints. Their hair and eyes are most often the same tint if they are colored at all. They generally have very long, straight, thick hair braided or done up in complicated fashion. They often dress in subdued natural colors, but love fur accents and snug leather. Physically they are most similar to Necromancers, though their hair will instantly distinguish them (as Necromancers hair is bright and contrasts, while Ravenhill hair is dark, along with the fact that though their ears are pointed, the Elves sport much longer ones).

Ravenhill is a rich island in terms of woods and game, without a true port city but bearing at least one nominal area where traveling ships may dock for a short time. Strangers are not welcome on Ravenhill, and particularly not the Starcourt Elves. Thus their society is extremely elusive beyond ‘no one really gets close enough to know’.

The Ravenhill Elves are immortal, in the true sense, and very little is known about their life cycle except that no one has ever seen a child among them. Their population is low but persistent, and if one of them is injured it seems that they either heal quickly or use magic – spell or innate – to fix their problems. They have occasional communication with the Necromancers, but also strong ties to the few Dragons who openly oppose newcomers to their world. How they manage that is unclear: perhaps they cannot be digested after being eaten, and gained the respect of those Dragons. (That is more of a joke told by others about them – “no one can stomach a Ravenhill elf for long, not even a Dragon.”) A close eye is kept on these meetings of errant Dragon and Dark Elf, but so long as they keep to themselves no one is willing to intervene.

Ravenhill is a good place to hunt dangerous prey, and it appears that many trophy rooms bear the staggering array of horned and toothy creatures heads. Ravenhill Elves may also hunt using their minds, no one sees them doing it. They do hire cooks from the Grape Barony, but hardly ever the best of them – because these cooks are required to keep to themselves and serve only when called upon. Even the jovial Barons don’t think too highly of this.

While it is quite rare, Ravenhill Elves do occasionally show up in groups of mercenaries or adventurers. They are the more physically adept and energetic of their kind, rather than mages who would normally not be found outside of Ravenhill. Unsurprisingly, many times these dark and sinister-seeming elves will be serving dark and sinister purposes as assassins, thieves, or executioners. It is clear they like using poisons.

Ravenhill Elves share only what names they will directly need to reply to, and nothing more. It is clear they refer to each other in more specific ways, including telepathically, but they don’t let their ‘real names’ go very easily if at all. Many of their names have s-sounds, and are spoken with a careful hush. ‘Hush’, in fact, is a good Ravenhill name.

Quite opposite the Ravenhill Elves are the Starcourt, at least… in coloration. They stand the same height, and have generally the same features of long ears and elegant appearance, but their skin is always a shimmering opalescent shade, sometimes tinted into lavender, gold, or peach. Their hair likewise is almost always white with a kind of metallic tone to it, silver, gold, and on a very rare elf, hematite black. Their eyes are pale, but reach into any color of the spectrum. They tend to wear lightweight, but very pretty clothing such as robes, dresses and togas, and accessorize with whatever kind of metals and jewels match their personal color scheme best. These Elves are also immortal, but one or two ‘younger’ looking individuals have been seen on occasion. Whether they are merely small for their species, or actually children is unknown.

To address the rumors to that effect, it’s likely that the Bloody Mutt Vaelan’s ancestor of this bloodline (and there was one, probably within 3 generations at most) was male, since it’s extremely unlikely that a female Starcourt elf would allow herself to become pregnant with some other species offspring. Lumin bear more than enough resemblance to Starcourt elves, however, that a male might have been among them long enough to sire one of the king’s kin. It is also likely that this is the only reason they allow Vaelan access to their port, where most others would never even get a look at it from a great distance.

Starcourt Elves proclaim themselves the protectors of some secret – but they obviously will not let on as to what this secret is, nor who it is about. And perhaps ‘proclaim’ is too strong a word. Since they hardly speak to outsiders and even barely to each other, it’s hard to say quite what they are talking about. If it’s about their namesake, it’s not a very well-kept secret.*

The space port – not really a port, but definitely a landing site used once or twice in the Dragons long memory – is on their island and the Elves there protect it with a dedication that is worthy of note. They keep it meticulously maintained, but there is no evidence of even their own craft. It’s certain they arrived in one, millennia ago – those other societies on Dragondeep, including the Dragons, remember it clearly. Though they appreciate any assistance to maintain the inner workings of the place that the Clockwork might wish to offer, they have always declined all but the barest help, and rarely allow anyone but royalty on the site itself. Dragons are convinced that no real danger will approach their world from the stars, even if the Gods may have arrived that way.

Starcourt island is a rich temperate forest, and hunting requires a steady hand. The Light Elves are extremely adept at archery, obviously liking to keep space between themselves and their prey – bloody awful things would get on their clothes, and that’s clearly not acceptable. Starcourt Elves do often consort with the Summoners, discussing the business of spell-magic, which they are highly adept with. However they have made it clear that the occasional results of wild summonings – the Daemons and other Fey – are unwelcome at best.

Starcourt Elves are more likely to accept invitations to visit distant lands or royal courts and go traveling, than to have anyone come to their island. People who do show up are generally escorted off rather quickly, though there are probably some small gatherings and townships that have either been there unhindered since before the Elves took over, or just never proven to be a problem. They are rarely, however, found in ‘hunting parties’ or the like, with common folk on the mainland. That, they snootily say, they leave to their lesser Ravenhill counterparts. Consorting with locals, ugh.

Starcourt Elf names ring of class and vowels. ‘Emata’, ‘Loulin’, ‘Orenai’ usually come with some form of title after it. They do keep further names private, but unlike their Dark peers, they don’t pretend like it’s part of their secret lives. They just don’t interact with others enough to worry about it.

* Here’s a clue: it isn’t about the space port.

Prominent Starcourt and Ravenhill Elves of the Era

(none at present)