Vaastra Maenenrid (Spearheart)

Aquatic elf: Aquatic elves, also referred to as sea elves, water elves, and Alu'Tel'Quessir in their own tongue, are a subrace of elves adapted to living in and breathing water.

Description: Although they were of the same subrace, aquatic elves from the Great Sea had a different appearance to those from the Sea of Fallen Stars. The former had deep green skin, mottled and striped with brown. The latter had blue skin with white stripes and patches. Some other aquatic elves had pale silver-green skin. Both groups were robust and tall with long limbs. Their thick skin gave them protection from the cold of deep water, keeping them comfortable at just above freezing temperatures. Their fingers and toes were generally about twice as long as a human's and had thick webbing between them. Their most distinctive feature was the gills visible in their necks and over their ribs. Compared to other elves aquatic elves had deep voices and were larger and heavier. Aquatic elves could have eye colors including turquoise, white, black, blue, green, and rarely silver. Their hair was usually thick and somewhat stringy, and some aquatic elves had a rough hair texture. It could be blue-green, emerald green, blue, black, silver, or even occasionally red. Warriors clipped their hair short, but other aquatic elves wore it Long and flowing. Females in particular sometimes grew their hair up to 4 feet long.

Common Personalities of the Aquatic elves: Aquatic elves are isolationist by both their nature and the physical location of their settlements, although they were not quite as reclusive as the wild elves. Their trust did not extend far beyond their clan and others of their kind, and their communities were very tightly-knit. They couldn't understand why the surface elves did not realize that community and alliances meant survival, whereas rivalry, individualism, and factionalism meant death. However, despite being extremely cautious, they were also extremely curious, and aquatic elves near the shore would often spend a significant amount of time secretly observing the land-bound races.

Abilities: Aquatic elves were the least magical of the elven subraces and had fewer innate magical gifts. However, they were deeply in touch with their environment, even more so than other elves. They could detect minute changes in the currents of the water and could hear sounds underwater that surface dwellers could not perceive. Additionally, their eyesight was much keener than that of surface races. They could see twice as far as surface elves in low-light conditions (and therefore four times as far as a human) and could see clearly enough to count soldiers in an army up to a mile away. They were able to hide in kelp and seaweed as their surface kin could in forests, and their movement was never hindered when moving through the plants. Due to their gills, aquatic elves were amphibious. The amount of time aquatic elves could leave the water without doing harm to themselves seemed to vary. The safe period could be a few minutes, hours, a day, or even upwards of a week. Additionally, the result of going beyond these limits varied. Some would begin to "drown" on land, while others simply experienced a loss of vitality due to drying out and could remain on land indefinitely, remaining healthy if they took the time to soak for an hour every day. Even within the same community, the amount of time could be variable, with some "landwalkers" having a greater capacity for breathing air. Some seemed to have no limitation on their time away from water at all. The elves of Cormanthyr used clerical magic to allow them to remain on the surface for longer periods of time. Some aquatic elves were uncomfortable breathing freshwater and became fatigued quickly when doing so. Others were not harmed by it, but would not truly recover from the damage of being above water unless they spent time in salt water.

Society: Settlements: The majority of aquatic elves lived in the Sea of Fallen Stars and the Great Sea, although small settlements could also be found along the western coast of Faerûn. Aquatic elves generally built settlements in calm waters that supported coral reefs or seaweed forests. These settlements usually had populations between 100 and 400, though communities both significantly larger and smaller existed. Aquatic elven communities were almost entirely self-sufficient, trading with others rarely and then only for luxuries. They subsisted on kelp grown on their farms and fish they hunted. Wandering heralds would deliver oral messages between communities. Aquatic elves generally spent around 75% of their time within shallow waters that were less than 150 feet from the surface, although they could safely descend to around 600 feet. The greatest example of aquatic elven culture was the empire of Arselmalyr, which once ruled all the races of the Sea of Fallen Stars from the city of Coryselmal, called the Coral Capital. This empire lasted nearly 18,000 years, and taught the other inhabitants of the Inner Sea magic as well as how to cultivate kelp, coral, and pearls, which remained staples of these undersea societies. However, the empire collapsed when Coryselmal was destroyed by the unexpected fallout of an act of High Magic, killing its more than 40,000 inhabitants (including the coronal of the empire) immediately and killing around 35,000 more in the surrounding area who were buried by the debris of the shattered city. The kingdoms of the Inner Sea were Naramyr (near Dragonmere lake) and Selu'Maraar (near the Dragon Reach). They were built on the remnants of Arselmalyr.

Settlements continued: Originally there were five primarily aquatic elven outposts along the Sharksbane Wall east of the mouth of the Vilhon Reach and west of the Alamber Sea, but following lakhovas' assault on the wall in 1369 DR, the outposts of Akhanmyr, Rulovar, and Phalagiir were utterly destroyed, leaving only the outposts of Tynathiir and Velyraar. A colony called Faenasuor lay on the continental slopes east of Starmantle, and several small settlements could be found among the reefs near the Fang of western Aglarond. In the Great Sea, the aquatic elven city of Nemilar sat northeast of Ormpé in the center of the bay of Golden Water. In the Trackless Sea, a number of small villages could be found off the coast of Tethyr, as well as the kingdom of Aluchambolsunvae and its capital city of Thunderfoam north of Evermeet. A great city known as lumathiashae with a population of several thousand aquatic elves lay off the shores of Evermeet, as did several smaller settlements, and these served as an underwater army for the island. The aquatic elves of the Deepwater Harbor served a similar purpose for the city of Waterdeep. There was a notable aquatic elven city called Hyaline in Lake Sember in Cormanthyr. A rarely-seen community of aquatic elves resided in the depths of Lac Dinneshere in Icewind Dale. Their reclusiveness led many to believe that they were merely one of the local myths intended to draw traders and settlers to the region. However, one of the lake's aquatic elves made contact with a group of adventurers and a fisher in the town of Easthaven in the Year of the Cold Soul, 1281 DR.

Culture: Aquatic elven society was based on family and clan. Noble families and monarchs ruled, but in a benign and loose fashion rather than with an iron fist. While women could and did have positions of power, aquatic elven society was largely patriarchal and inheritance ran first through the eldest son. The concept of private property, for the most part, did not exist among aquatic elves. Whatever given aquatic elf currently carried on their person could be considered theirs, but everything else belonged to the community as a whole. This particularly applied to tools, weapons, and other practical items. Any aquatic elf could take one of these items whenever it was needed and regardless of who had possessed it previously, although individuals were allowed to keep relatively private dwellings. Such communal ownership meant theft was almost unknown. The exceptions to this were monarchs, who often had large and elaborate homes with limited access and many personal items. However, aquatic elven rulers were a reflection of their people and usually remained rather generous. The freedom to borrow items at will was not extended to outsiders, and surfacers were often watched carefully to make sure they did not try to take advantage of the cultural practice. Aquatic elves held promises sacred and would rather die than fail to complete something they had sworn to do. If they died in the process, their kin took over the responsibility to complete it. The slightest implication that an aquatic elf wouldn't keep his word was deeply offensive. However, promises received from non-elves were highly suspect, both because aquatic elves knew that other races won't honor the promises of their dead and because only other elves had the lifespan to complete any serious task. Aquatic elves either went lightly clad or wore no clothes at all. Their clothes were formed from underwater plants and made with intricate designs in shades of black, brown, and green.

Culture continued: Noble aquatic elves in the Sea of Fallen Stars wore clothes more often in the past as a cultural holdover following the transformation of many surface elves into aquatic elves, however by 1369 DR this trend was fading, and they generally only wore diaphanous silken robes to mark their status.

Language: The aquatic elves had their own language that, while clearly related to standard Elvish, was very distinct and not immediately understandable to non-aquatic elves. It was very similar to the language of dolphins, with squeals and clicks interspersed through it. They speak surface languages with great difficulty. Different languages are more or less common among different groups of aquatic elves, but Elvish and Aquan were known by many groups, as was the Common tongue among those who lived near the shore. Those who lived in the Sea of Fallen Stars knew the trade language Serusan. The languages of other aquatic races (including that of their mortal enemy the sahuagin), might also have been known to an aquatic elf. Nobles and most of those who left their home settlements to adventure were literate. although commoners were not.

Magic & Religion: Aquatic elves were the least magical of the elven races. Once every two or three generations an aquatic elf showed a talent for arcane magic, making magical talent about as common as it is in dwarf communities rather than in human or elven ones. Those who were spellcasters devoted their long life spans to study and became extremely skilled. In remote communities those elves who were magically inclined were limited to the teachings of the few older magic users and rare written materials. The aquatic elves of Lake Sember were able to send those with magical ability to study with the great mages of Myth Drannor. While it was unclear why arcane magic was so uncommon among the aquatic elves, it was rumored that the drow were somehow responsible for taking this ability from them, and this was part of the reason the aquatic elves held such a grudge against them. A minority of the aquatic elves in the areas around Evermeet were sun or moon elves who had been transformed by some power into aquatic elves. They retained the magical capability they had before their transformation. The aquatic elves of the Sea of Fallen Stars had a significant number of mages and even High Mages throughout the millennia, including seven new High Mage students as late as 1346 DR. However, this group regularly received infusions of surface elves fleeing the Crown Wars and the fall of Myth Drannor, who then became aquatic elves through the use of either the Sashelan Glass or the High Magic ritual of Akh'Faen'Tel"Quess. By 1371 DR, 80% of the elves of the Inner Sea were descendants of these transformed surface elves, which accounted for the increased frequency of magic among them. Clerical magic was much more common among aquatic elves. Most revered Deep Sashelas, the elven sea god of knowledge and creation, but Corellon Larethian was still revered as the father of their race and they acknowledged the other Seldarine to a much lesser extent.

Magic & Religion continued: It was considered a great honor for a member of an aquatic elven family to be a priest of Deep Sashelas. The elves of the Inner Sea generally formed their temples to Deep Sashelas from living coral, while those of the Great Sea are often natural stone and other materials formed into sprawling temples shaped like seashells. These temples were cultural centers for the aquatic elves, serving both secular and spiritual purposes. Trishina, a dolphin goddess and the primary consort of Deep Sashelas, was also worshiped by aquatic elves, particularly those of the Sea of Fallen Stars. The relationship between these two gods was one of the reasons aquatic elves were on such good terms with dolphins. Some aquatic elves were also known to worship the water primordial Istishia The marel subrace of aquatic elves worshiped Umberlee. Some of the kraken priests of the kraken Slarkrethel found near Purple Rocks were aquatic elves.

Arts, Crafting & Leisure: Sculpture was the primary art form of aquatic elves, as other mediums were likely to be destroyed by the water in short order. Intricately carved reliefs cover the walls of most cities, and statues were common. Aquatic elves were also quite musical. Their powerful voices traveled farther than expected underwater, and their thrumming songs brought to mind whale song and dolphin noises. The songs were often very long and evoked the rolling calm of the ocean. Bards were common in aquatic elven society Because they lived underwater, the products of aquatic elven crafting often differed significantly from their counterparts on the surface. They developed a range of waterproof magical items, and a system of writing underwater using either cured sharkskin or thick seaweed and an extremely viscous ink. They did not commonly use metal, as it was almost impossible to forge underwater and would corrode quickly. What little metal they did use was traded for or scavenged from shipwrecks.

Arts, Crafting & Leisure continued: The exception to this was gold, which would not corrode and was easily shaped in its raw form. Beaten gold jewelry was common among aquatic elves. Most aquatic elven items were crafted from stone, coral, shells, and animal materials such as bone, narwhal horns, turtle shells, sharkskin, or chitin. Aquatic elves commonly crafted tridents of serenity, a type of magical weapon which would keep sahuagin in the vicinity of the weapon from entering a blood frenzy and were given to elves patrolling the borders of a territory. They also developed longbows with bowstrings made of a special kelp that damped vibrations and turbulence. Combined with specially crafted arrows, these bows functioned without the usual drastic loss of momentum that most ranged weapons suffered underwater. Chitinous armor was commonly used, and the elves of the Inner Sea wore silverweave armor crafted from coral that had been specially treated by the local tritons or shalarin, although this was usually limited to a pair of armored leggings to maintain their mobility. Evil aquatic elves developed a type of armor made with sharkskin and teeth, but most aquatic elves despised sharks and found the idea of wearing their skins repugnant.

Relations: Aquatic elves were extremely isolationist. There were some aquatic elves who did not even know that the surface existed, let alone a whole world beyond it. Even other underwater races were generally kept at a distance, regardless of alignment. Aquatic elves fought fiercely against evil races and did not see the point of mingling with their shorter-lived neighbors even if they were of similar alignment. This isolation extended even to other elves, although if aquatic elves had to interact with anyone they preferred that it be their surface kin. However, at east in lumathiashae, the elves cared deeply for the surface elves and appreciated the contact they did have with them even if they still kept mainly to themselves. The aquatic elves of Hyaline in Lake Sember were less isolated from their kin, having decided that it was necessary for the survival of their children to learn more of the surface world. Aquatic elves there regularly interacted with the elves of Semberholme and their children were taught in the many schools within the city. This colony also had friendly relations with the treants on the southern shore of their lake. In general, aquatic elves saw little difference between the subraces of surface elves. Surprisingly, the haughty sun elves viewed aquatic elves as almost their equals They believed that aquatic elves served the same purpose below the waters as the sun elves did above, bringing civilization to the world and preserving elven traditions and knowledge. Aquatic elves hated sahuagin and sharks more than any other creature and would often attack them on sight. They were driven to destroy them at every opportunity. Aquatic elven societies were occasionally infiltrated by a certain type of mutated sahuagin that looked almost exactly like them, known as a malenti. Interestingly, normal sahuagin only spawned malenti when they lived in close proximity to aquatic elven communities.

Relations continued: Tritons believed that this was because the two races were related, the sahuagin having been created by drow experiments upon aquatic elven captives. The elves flatly denied this shared origin, and in fact many believed that malenti did not exist at all. They were also incredibly wary of human fisherman since aquatic elves who were caught in their nets were often mistaken for sahuagin and killed. Aquatic elves maintained neutral relations with merfolk and locathah. Tritons and marine storm giants sometimes lived in harmony with aquatic elven settlements. Relations with the shalarin varied. The aquatic elves attempted to drive the shalarin out of the Inner Sea following both the First and Second Passings in unprovoked attacks that devastated the shalarin population and in the later case prompted the Fifth Serôs War. As such, shalarin remained wary of interacting with aquatic elves. The Nantarn Alliance led to the improvement of relations to some degree between all involved parties (including aquatic elves, merfolk, shalarin, and morkoth) as they worked together to drive lakhovas the Ravager out of the Inner Sea and restore Myth Nantar. By 1371 DR, aquatic elves and shalarin were working to restore Alsyrrt and jointly ruled the settlement of Lyrathil, although this was still noted to be uncommon. Aquatic half-elves were very rare since aquatic elves could not leave the water often and had little interest in interacting with humans. Additionally, the ability of aquatic half-elves to breathe underwater was variable, and as such even those few that did exist were often cut off from sea elven culture. However, a few aquatic elves remained invested in their children's lives, and would visit them when they came out onto the water. Aquatic elves did also sometimes reproduce with surface elves (generally sun or moon elves), which resulted in an elf who looked like the subrace of their surface parent except for the greenish tinge to their hair.

Relations continued: Unlike aquatic half-elves or even their full blood parents, all such offspring were fully amphibious, having gills that were hidden on their necks but being able to comfortably breathe air indefinitely. As such, they were fully capable of living among their aquatic kin, and those whose mothers were aquatic elves often did. Aquatic elves would sometimes take in water genasi children to raise, although in general the genasi secretly pitied the elves for not being able to leave the water for long periods. Water genasi who served Deep Sashelas sometimes worked as emissaries between aquatic elves and their surface cousins. Aquatic elves had stories of planetouched aquatic elves (similar to water genasi) descended from servants of Deep Sashelas, but there have been no recent examples of such people. The creatures aquatic elves had the closest relationship with were dolphins. Any large group of aquatic elves had a 50% chance of being accompanied by a number of dolphins. They held whales in great reverence as well, with many of their settlements being built on whale migration routes so that they could interact with the creatures regularly Young aquatic elves would even travel with a whale pod for a year as a sort of pilgrimage, Hippocampi and giant seahorses were the favored mounts of aquatic elves. Many other marine creatures were also tamed as mounts, beasts of burden, and pets.

He is reserved and untrusting of new people that are not other Aquatic elves like himself. He is cautious of surface dwellers and merfolk alike. He has a deep melodic voice that can travel through the water smoothly. When outside the water his voice is still deep, but rough and very gravelly sounding. He is a warrior aquatic elf, and has incredible underwater fighting skills.

He has glowing turquoise eyes. He has pale silver-green skin with slightly darker patterns across his body. He has teal colored gills that are visible on both sides of his neck and over his ribs. He has medium length, thick, stringy red hair. His fingers and toes were generally about twice as long as a human's, and had thick webbing between them, and sharp nails. He has thick skin that protects him from the cold depths of the sea. He is 6 feet and 6 inches tall. He his bulky and well built. He has long pointed elf ears with a few scars on them. He has scars on his body due to being a warrior.

His solitude. Pearls. Artifacts from shipwrecks. Braiding seaweed for baskets and bags.

Rude people. When his garden is messed with. Outsiders that have no business in the sea.