Overview
The Aether Elves have a long and tragic history. Their race was created when the world was young by the moon goddess, Seluna. She desired company in the lonely star-filled sky. She named the Aether Elves after the metal she sculpted them out of (Aetherium).
The Aether Elves' homeland is Lunarcha, the moon of Ilisara.
Appearance
Aether Elves have a strange physiology that allows them to survive on the moon. Their skin is hard and cool to the touch, and either pale white-silver, slate-grey, or obsidian black like the metal they were crafted from. Gleaming purple undertones are visible in their skin and eyes. Typically, Aether Elves have long white hair. They are quite tall, with elongated limbs, ears, fingers, toes, and tongues, while possessing small and petite facial features.
Aether Elves do not need to breathe. They photosynthesize like plants and must not be deprived of sunlight (direct or indirect) for extended periods, else slowly fall into a deep trance-like slumber. A strange concoction of not-quite-machine, not-quite-plant, and not-quite-human, Aether Elves are extremely foreign to most denizens of Ilisara. Even the moniker "elves" doesn't quite suite them; but there is no word to describe exactly what they are otherwise.
Technology & Silver Chariot
After many millenia guided by an all-knowing goddess, Aether Elves' technology was so advanced that they’d built beautiful metal and glass cities all across Lunarcha’s cold oceans and icy peaks. All of the cities were connected and formed one giant mega-city known as Envhëre in the elven tongue.
Lunarcha’s sky is a hazy white marine layer of clouds impossible to see through. The moon goddess Seluna was sad that her creations could not see the stars, and so she urged them to leave Lunarcha and travel beyond its atmosphere to new worlds.
Unfortunately, the goddess one day fell silent. Without her guidance, the Aether Elves launched their first rocket (called the Silver Chariot) to find her and see what lay beyond the marine veil surrounding Lunarcha. Things went wrong. The calculations the Elves had made were incorrect beyond the Aetherium aura that surrounds the moon and distorts signals, magic, and most everything else. Their rocket was dragged in by Ilisara’s gravity and crashed among the peaks of the Kingdom of Aldemere long before it formed into a Kingdom (over 6,000 years ago).
The Quest to Return Home
The small population of Aether Elves who live in the Isles are functionally immortal. After crashing on the planet, they spent thousands of years trying to rebuild the Silver Chariot to return home. Pleas and prayers were made to a silent goddess who never answered.
Having steeped in the magic radiating from the Aetherium hull of their Silver Chariot for thousands of years, Aether Elves have deviated greatly from their roots and are rumored to be the world’s foremost oracles, clairvoyants, and astronomers. They are out of touch with reality, and yearn only for a their mystical homeland among the stars (Lunarcha) rather than the primitive prison (Ilisara) they’ve been confined to.
Society
Loopy, airy, and distant, Aether Elves have been called lunatics and madmen by the other races on Ilisara. Their primary civilization is based in the mountains around the crash site of the Silver Chariot. A few wandering Aether Elves can be found in the Isles. The birth rate of Aether Elves is so low that new ones are only born once every thousand years or so.
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