Elves: The Cursed Wanderers

I said in my last post that I am going to be abandoning Tolkien in my demi-human races for Novarium. This is the first of three posts outlining each demi-human race (next is Dwarves, then Halflings).

As far as I see it, Tolkien/D&D Elves have the following characteristics:

- Secret Door aptitude
- Enhanced senses, especially vision
- Immunity to sleep
- Long life
- fondness of the woods/nature
- proclivity for magic
- proclivity for the bow
- proclivity for the sword

I am going to be abandoning all of these for the most part

Instead, Elves are being re-imagined in this way:

- Elves are an ancient race that used to have a different physiology and psychology. They used to have a flourishing civilization with advanced technology, a robust culture and strong physical form. Then several millenia ago an Elven elder named Wodonaz made a pact with a demon named Gealu for deep insight into the nature of magic. However, he betrayed his end of the bargain and trapped Gealu in a containment sphere and left him entombed. Wodonaz was unaware that Gealu was able to magically bypass the sphere in certain ways and over the course of several centuries the demon was able to infect multiple generations of Elves with a cruel curse by channeling his hatred out of the sphere. This curse spread throughout Elven society like a virus and persisted even after it's source was discovered (Gealu was released and killed). This curse created all of the below effects, which are irreversible.

- Elves experience powerful hallucinations and visions at random intervals, ranging from weeks to years between occurences. Sometimes these are manifestations of their own minds, sometimes they channel the minds of nearby individuals, sometimes they are divine/demonic in origin. The elf has a difficult time distinguishing these visions from real life. They will remember things happening to them that never occured, or occured for someone they are travelling with. Elves are Cassandras that issue vague warnings that tend to come true, but often not as obviously understood.

- Elves can open their minds to the internal monologues of other individuals. This functions similar to reading someones thoughts magically. However it is physically draining (HP loss).

- Elves always read the emotional state of others perfectly. They can detect lies instantaneously by sensing the anxiety of someone who is lying.

- Elves have incredibly cruel personalities, like a cat with a mouse. They have a very hard time resisting this tendency (1 in 6) and it can get them in trouble.

- Enhanced initiative (in Errant, this translates to a bonus to DEX for calculating combat order)

- Literacy (remember in Errant everyone is illiterate except Scholars, so this is important)

- 1d6 hit dice (remember, race as class)

- Standard lifetime as per human