Artanis

The Eldar

Artanis

Taken as a whole, the Eldar as basically what one would traditionally consider 'elves', the Elves of which all others are but Shadow, perhaps. To this point in the campaign, three main branches of the Eldar have been identified: the Noldor, the Mori, and the Vari. To a greater or lesser degree, all of the Eldar use the power known as 'Twilight'.

The Noldor are a race of tolkienesque-type elves: very long-lived and quite graceful. They tend to be sort of wandering folk in Shadow, drifting on the edge of twilight in a multitude of worlds, singing of the ancient Powers and the times before Dworkin make the Pattern. They have dwelt for varying lengths of time in certain Shadows, and are known to (and respect) Julian, the master of Great Arden.  Their leader is golden-haired Artanis, a woman of great beauty and heart-stopping poise.

MoriThe Mori are the less idealistic cousins of the Noldor, and are actually the first group of 'Eldar' to discover the ways of Twilight. As a people, the Mori are highly-sought-after mercenaries, and have even faced Amber from time to time.  In my campaign, the Mori were hired by Shadow Ghenesh to raid Amber -- the Mori tendancy to attack at night (because of their abilities) is what earned them the nickname 'Moonriders'.  Their leader, Brigid, faced Benedict during the stalemate where Benedict held off the Moonriders (something Corwin mentioned in his Chronicles).

In My Campaign, Brigid is both still alive, and obviously very dangerous.

The Mori usually have very pale skin and dark hair -- many men have very white hair, either by genetic inheritance or by choice -- this gives them a somewhat albino appearance.

Finally, the Vari are the 'poor cousins' branch of the Eldar -- unenlightened (or perhaps more enlightened), the Vari use living wood instead of shadows as their gateway to the Eternal City, and do not have (or do not use) the abilities that allow travel to Shadows other than their own. (They do know how to 'Speak in Twilight', however: they can speak through the rustling of the trees.) The Vari have had no contact with their cousins in several thousand years. They tend toward skin tones of the sun-browned variety, and hair coloration with more brown and red variants.

Campaign note: the Eldar leaders are at least as potent and powerful as Chaosian counterparts or the Amber royal family.  Their leaders, notably Artanis and Brigid, have faced their Amber peers (Fiona and Benedict) in the past, and did NOT lose. (They didn't /win/, either, but what can you expect. :)  The only thing really keeping them from being a major power of the multiverse is the fact that they, as a people, have no place to truly call 'home' (At least that USED to be a limitation). 


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