Campaign guide plight of the tuatha (1) 19

Campaign Guide of pedal tones weaving in and out of each other forming deceptively simple chordal changes Many who hear this music for the first time, and hearing this music if you are not a Tuathan Elf is rare, have difficulty understanding when a piece of music begins and ends as the tones slowly rise and fade in volume Many who live near the realm of the Tuathan Elves state that the forests in which the elves reside seem to sing themselves as long resonating tones can be sometimes heard emanating from the trees History Though the elves currently seem to live a peaceful life, it is said that long ago they were a race of great warriors who engaged in massive battles against the fiendish creatures that once roamed the land Before the awakening of the land’s humans to the gifts of language, it is said that the elves lived in far greater numbers and built huge cities all over the continent In the stories, centuries of war destroyed most of these great cities and even more were deserted as the elves’ numbers dwindled from bloody conflict Some of the ruins of these deserted cities are said to exist still, though buried under hills, lakes and forests There is only one known enclave of Tuathan Elves that survived to this day Deep in the forests of Loc-Sil stands the great tree Cran Tsamhriadh, and most of the remaining Children of Danu; though no reputable source has seen this tree firsthand Regardless of Cran Tasmhriadh’s actual existence, this last community has been named after this legendary tree Half Elf Tied to the humanity of their birth, the half elf has seen a glimpse of immortality and the infinity beyond the mortal veil A fleeting glimpse, yet enough to mark them with a strangeness They feel the call of the winds in the forest and the babbling of the creek outside the village, they know there must be a message for them held within but the meaning is just out of grasp The circumstances of their birth have made them lost, belonging to all worlds…and to none The origin of a half elf, often called a changeling by the Triufir, is shrouded in mystery Sometimes a child born from human parents will be born with oddly shaped ears; sometimes the child will gain the almond shaped eyes of the Tuatha de Danann later in their childhood; just as often the infant half elf will be left on the doorstep of a human’s home in the dark of night by mysterious figures which come from the woods 18 Folklore states that a child conceived deep in the woods or among ancient and powerful standing stones may become a changeling Just as many parents claim to had fleeting romances with alluring beings they met along the banks of the mighty Phanree River only to find themselves with child as the seasons pass However the half elf changeling arrives in human society, their odd behaviors and peculiar features often stand out from their fellow villagers Many view the half elf with a slight mixture of awe and fear These emotions rarely reach a degree to which the populace would shun or idolize the half elf, but it does often take more time for the community to trust that the changeling is “one of them.” Physiology Half elven features tend towards those of their human parent with only a slight oddness that betrays their elven parentage Their faces are a bit thinner and angular, and their ears have hint of a point The eyes are the most common aspect which speak to the changeling’s mixed heritage Inevitably, the iris is a combination of or the eye colors of their parents with the portion of the iris closest to the pupil being the color of their human parent being encircled with the eye color of their elven Why the concentric iris is reversed among their Avitian equivalent is a mystery with many conflicting theories Society These half elves not have a society of their own They instead are a tenuous part of the human village from which they hail A half elf becomes part of their village in one of two ways; either found at the edge of a building or born to a human mother Most strive to embrace the society of their human half, but this relationship is strained due to the half elves’ subtle unearthly quality All too often the half elf will feel driven to leave their human village and heed the call they feel deep in their bones; a call that pulls them from the safety of their home to the awe-inspiring and often dangerous world beyond the farms and stables Arts Changeling’s who have a disposition towards the arts conform to the artistic practices of their human community However, no matter the artistic medium, the changeling is often drawn to include a water theme at some level Many say this is their elven blood calling out to the Goddess Danu who is said to live in the Phanree River History The half elves of Tir Ydrail have existed on the fringe of history since humans first came to inhabit the land