The
Pallid Elves, also known as the
Pale Elves are simply
Uzaian Elves, are an subrace of
Elf which currently makes up the main ruling class of the continent of Uzai. Named for their blanched complexions, the Pallid Elves were once denizens of the
Feywild before migrating to Teranuz during the time of the Pre-Vancian Era.
History
Before their arrival to the Prime Material Plane, the Pallid Elves were once known as the Twilight
Eladrin, occupying the Feywild's Twilit Border between the domains of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Boxed in on either side by their more powerful neighbors, the Twilight Eladrin dreamed of a chance to expand their influence, which they would one day receive with the discovery of another world: the world of Teranuz, located within the Prime Material Plane.
While the Seelie and Unseelie Courts squabbled for control of Teranuz's
western continent, the Twilight Eladrin set their sights on a different goal: the eastern continent of Uzai, overlooked by the larger Eladrin courts due to its smaller size and less impressive array of natural resources.
The precursors to the Pallid Elves differed from the other Eladrin not just in their choice of target, but also in the strategy they employed to obtain it: rather than simply seize the landmass from its native inhabitants by force, the Twilight Eladrin appeared to the native races of Uzai and offered them a choice: swear fealty to them, and in exchange the elves would share their knowledge of
arcane magic with their newfound allies. A divide was created between the
human denizens of Uzai; those that chose to swear fealty to these elven visitors in exchange for the wonders they promised, and those who saw the elves' proposal as blasphemous and believed it would result in their freedom becoming restricted under elven rule. These divided human groups, those that allied themselves with the elves and those who refused, would become known as the Dethiri and the Vesh, respectively.
Because of their lack of involvement in the Millennium War to the West, the Twilight Eladrin (now known as the Pallid Elves) were largely unaffected by the results of the Fade; however, this is not saying much, as the magical knowledge of the Pallid Elves, while still impressive, had never quite reached the world-altering heights of their Seelie and Unseelie neighbors, and the incentives for advancing the understanding of magic brought about by the War were not present in Uzai. As such, the Pallid Elves were left to develop their own corner of Teranuz as they saw fit, slowly but surely building the continent into a modest magical empire.
Society
In the modern era, the Pallid Elves remain the political rulers of Uzai, the continent divided into eight territories each ruled by an elven clan headed by a clan leader known as a
Daimyo. Each of these eight clans is further supported by the non-elven citizenry of their territories, primarily composed of Dethiri humans and other races who have sworn fealty to the resident Daimyo.
As former denizens of another plane themselves, the Pallid Elves place a great amount of spiritual importance on the eight planes of existence, believing them to exist in a cosmic balance where one plane cannot exist without its cosmic connection to the others. In particular, the Pallid Elves place great reverence on the
Ethereal Plane, which they believe to be the connective tissue between all physical realms, and the plane of
Maelstrom, known to the Pallid Elves as the Paledream, which connects the realms of the mind.
The spiritual beliefs of the Pallid Elves are in turn the adopted religion of the Dethiri and other supporters of the elves' rule, renouncing their ancestral religions as part of the process; this divide in religious beliefs is the main reason for the elves' rejection by the Vesh, who to this day still worship and revere the original Uzaian pantheon of deities, known to the Vesh as the Dualities.
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