Once upon a time, in the lands of Arcadia, there dwelt the humans of Ion, and the Elves of Arcasia. The elves of Arcasia were very fair and very beautiful to look upon. Both peoples had little contact with each other, as the Ionians had their way and the Arcasian Elves had theirs.
Called the Fair Elves, the Arcasian Elves -- led by Taurëanis the Fair -- worked hard to build a city and a forest at the same time, foresting the land they called Arcasia, and transforming the land into a piece of Arvandor. The elves prospered and developed music, arts, and law. Ahead of the Barbaric humans called the Ionians at the time, the Fair Elves were developing in a culture that would recreate Arvandor.
Sending out colonies, the Arcasian Elves sent out colonies across the world so that they could spread Arvandor in other parts of the world. There are three colonies started by them that florished. Olivinae, Shadowglen, and Massalia. Then the people of Arcasia fell into the same traps that the people of Sybaris did. Arcasia fell into extreme luxury. They neglected the poor and their dead. In worship to their gods, the Arcasian elves would shut out the poor because of their course apparel. Fine apparel was of the day during worship. The people grew worse. The men became effeminate, and the women started to become hateful and spiteful. Many men sought lovers of their own flesh, and the women too. And this became accepted and even encouraged. Copyright was invented, and it was applied to recipes, books, and what have you. Originally designed to protect fraud, it became a tool to hurt others legally and to protect monopolies on art, culture, and science.
Creation of the Massalian Elves[]
A Massalian Elf greets the dawn.
Angry at the Elves for becoming a wicked and spiteful people, the God of the Humans whispered into the ears of the Pelagasiri Elves that the Arcasian Elves were ripe and ready for the taking over a period of fifty years. Seeing that the Arcasian Elves were weak at a critical moment, the Pelagasiri Elves marched an army intent on destroying and occupying their land. A terrible war happened and the Arcasian Elves lost to their barbarian brothers at every turn. The Pelagasiri sacked Arcasia and razed it to the ground -- killing every man, woman, child, and livestock that they could. Those that survived escaped by spreading out across the land, but those that didn't were taken into captivity.
Half of the survivors stayed in the land, and the others were taken back to the Pelagasiri homelands to live as slaves. Angered by the destruction of their homeland, the Elves in Massalia didn't take this sitting down. In order to free their mother country, the Massalians sent three fleets of ships to rescue Arcasia from the Pelagasiri. The result was death for the fleets as each were utterly defeated.
Angered, the Massalian elves turned to dark powers. Getting the power they needed from demons, the Elves tried one more time, and they were summarily defeated. Hateful of what the Pelagasiri Elves did, the Massalians dug in to recover their losses and regain their strength. Now they use demonic magic and energy to recreate Arvandor. Although the forest around Massalia is incredibly beautiful, the woods vibrate a strong malfeasance towards visitors, especially towards the Arcadian or High Elves.
With the founding of Phaeselis, many Massalian Elves have made their way to Phaeselis and completed an Enclave of their own within the city. Strict magic users, a fair number of them in the city are psychically gifted.
Male Names: Caladrel, Heldalel, Lanliss, Meirdrarel, Seldlon, Talathel, Variel, Zordlon.
Arcane Focus: Some elven families have such long traditions of producing wizards (and other arcane spellcasters) that they raise their children with the assumption each is destined to be a powerful magic-user, with little need for mundane concerns such as skill with weapons. Elves with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on concentration checks made to cast arcane spells defensively. This racial trait replaces weapon familiarity.
Eternal Grudge: Some elves grow up in secluded, isolationist communities where generations-old slights and quarrels linger as eternal blood feuds. Massalian Elves bear an eternal grudge against the Arcadian or High Elves for destroying their ancestors.
Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and Elven. Elves with high Intelligencescores can choose from the following: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
