Erelheine
Pronounced Air-el-ayne, they are a branch of the Elven race. They are generally larger in build, more martial, and less magically apt than other elves. Erelheine predominately live in Kinlu and the Dragon Isles.
History
Shortly before the War of Tears a conservative elven faction left the homelands and went into self-imposed exile in a remote land far to the west of Kadath and Arcadia. They called themselves the Erelheine [pron: Air-el-ayne, from the Eldaran: those who left whole / those who walk the path], and the land they settled they named Erelhei.
The Erelheine espoused an ascetic warrior's code and were mainly drawn from the conservative Elven War Party, led by a Lord Lorac, the head of Clan Jubilant Sky and former Warmaster of the Elven Empire. The War Party was an alliance of clans with strong military leanings, a firmly pro-Elven outlook, and a considerable distaste for the decadence into which the Empire had sunk.
Lorac and his fellow conservatives designed a (to them) utopian society that embodied all that they saw as good in elven society and culture, looking back to the early imperial period (and in some cases pre-imperial times) for their inspiration. They gathered a handful of similarly minded great Clans, along with a number of minor Houses, abandoned their lands and holdings, and emigrated west to the unpopulated (by the Empire) land that they named Erelhei.
Description
The normal height range of male Erelheine is from 6'0" to 7'0", and that of females from 5'10" to 6'10". They tend to an althletic build.
Common skin tones range from a light/yellow beige, through the full range of browns to a purplish near-black. This variation from the normally fair elven tones appears to be the result of deliberate magical alteration, and to co-incide with their second emigration to the lands of Kinlu. The Dragon Isles Erelheine appear to have split off before this change, and still exhibit the pale skin tone of most elves.
Another notable difference with other elves is in lifespan. If they do not meet their deaths in battle or through misfortune, most Erelheine live to between 300 and 350 years, with some few living as long as 400 years. After they leave childhood (around 20 years) they appear not to age much for the first 250 or so years, and then mature and age rapidly (over the next 50 odd years). Erelheine of 300+ often only look to be in late middle age (to use a human comparison) before their usually peaceful deaths from apparent natural causes. The reason for this short life expectancy is not clear, with Erelheine healers and philosophers claiming that it is simply "do" (the path / the way). The Erelheine descendants who inhabit the Dragon Isles do not appear to share this difference from elven life expectancy.
Language
Like modern Elven, the Erelheine language (also called Erelheine) is descended from Eldaran / Ancient Elven; its years of separate development making it related to, but quite distinct from, the other elven languages.
It tends to be formal in construction, polite in tone, and often oblique in meaning -- its highly structured form allowing for subtle nuances of intent, along with the careful addressing of fine degrees of prestige and social level.
The written form is logographic rather than alphabetic (unusual for an elven language), and linguists have theorised that it may be derived from ancient elven battle language codes.
For GMing purposes the language has been portrayed as similar to Japanese, with the writing as similar to Kanji.
The Guild supplies a basic phrase guide.
