Common Ethnic Traits:

• Suggested Naming Conventions: Elvin

• Hair Color: Any, with a tendency toward darker colors.

• Eye Colors: Any, with most having an amber color.

• Complexions: Tan-Dark. Elvin skin doesn't really tan or burn in the sun. Dune elf skin has a glossy, reflective look, likely adapted to help keep the heat of the sun at bay.

• Height Average: Dune Elves, male and Female, tend to average around 5ft 4in

• Ears: Angular, Narrow, Slightly bent

• Concordant with the Psalm of Wind: Dune Elves are tied to the psalm of wind, much in the same way the Wood Elves are tied to the earth. And like their earthen cousins, the Dune Elves are one of the last of the elvin races to have never deviated far from the psalm

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Synopsis:

Though commonly referred to as a “Dark elf” race by ignorant Estellonian people who have only seen a dark skinned elf in the form of the Ash Elves, the Dune elves bare closer relation to their Wood Elf kin, in that they still have a fae-like connection to the world through the Psalm of Wind. Obviously, any wood elf would be more likely than a High Elf to make the connection upon a first encounter. As their name suggests, Dune Elves are most commonly encountered in the deep deserts that exist between the Shongari and Darsian empires. Dwelling the dunes, and dusty mountains in small nomadic tribes, or villages in the Fire Dunes that are inhospitable to most other races. Although many can be found further south in the jungles and Savannah as well. They bare no racial difference from their dune dwelling kin, and likely only received their northern name because no northerners have actually penetrated the Shongari lands. (Not without a Dune Elf guide, at least). Contrary to popular belief, the Dune Elves have a higher druidic connection to the wind and the stars than they do with sands. Although very heat tolerant, with skin that has a nearly reflective shine to it, one is more likely to find them in the Oasis glades, they are a race that ever look towards the sky. Nomadic tribes travel at night, reading the stars and constellations with enviable precision to even the Vanard and Ramacci Sailors. They travel between various wells, and Oasis villages, spreading news, resources, and songs with each place they visit. As such, while one would be tempted to assume that since they are comparatively more primitive than their wood elf cousins, they are a disorganized, barbaric, and easily conquerable force to contend with. That’s far from the case. The truth is, the tribes and villages of the Fire Dune are not separate entities from one another. They are a sophisticated society with an organized system of information. And though they have proved to be deadly hunters towards outside incursions. But by far, their greatest weapon is their knowledge of their homelands. The tribes of the fire belts recognize no distinction between each other, when one village is threatened. And they know every trick in the book at using their own environment against outsiders. It’s best to have them on your side, if you intend to cross the dunes.

 

But if forcefully removed from their homeland, Dune Elves can easily be prone to discordancy with their psalm. For all Dune Elf civilization in the firebelt is tied to the rhythm of the song of wind, and they find it fairly hard to adapt outside of it. You can find Dune Elves all over Nomeria, of course. And some even live along side the Darsians. Such Dune Elves were perhaps born into captivity, however, as Dune Elves were once, (and still are in some parts of northern Nomeria) prized slaves. And perhaps disturbingly, this is because the Dune Elves have a tendency to be very androgynous, even by elf standards. With even their men appearing a little more effeminate towards outside races, they were seen as mostly house slaves to magicians, thanks to both their ascetics and their natural elvin magical affinity. But places such as Nirdam and the Darsian Empire have put a stop to slavery in their lands at least, and have elevated the freed slaves into their nations as citizens. And in the Darsian empire in particular, where a deep fascination of magic permeates into the lives of the citizens, many Dune Elves have had the chance to become magicians themselves. Dune Elves born in human lands are more easily urban life, and can still find a rhythm in their inner psalms. A luxury that many who still reside in slavery can't seem to find. For much like the wood elves, Dune Elves are wild creatures. Not in an unruly sense, as one of the reasons they were thought to be good slaves in the first place was because they are actually quite docile by nature. But only because wild Dune Elves are highly sensitive to the harmony between people. They live by an unspoken law of mutual respect and nonviolation. And to go against that is to go against their psalm, or their intrinsic nature. It's no surprise that captured Dune Elves are prone to fall into a depression. Although slaves in northern Nomeria are seen as commodities, so they are perhaps better treated than some of the Shongari, and are rarely put to manual labor.

 

Adventuring culture isn only just starting to pick up traction in Nomeria as Nirdamite warriors and Darsian magicians who have traveled north to experience the trade for themselves are only beginning to awaken awareness and public opinion with the treasures they have started to send home. Many dune elf adventurers are thus in the wizard category, as their involvement in the exchange of knowledge in Estellon and Nomeria puts them rather close to the first wave of Darsian adventurers. Meaning that dune elf adventurers are actually quite rare. Although there are many who travel the upper deserts from their homeland who may have several skills that adventurers might want to add into their parties. The Dune Elves have many druids, wind sorcerers, and hunters and trackers (Rangers) that occasionally travel northward to investigate and put an end to the trafficking of their kind in the Dhaafir Sultanate, or look into other types of disturbances that may have garnered the concerns of the oracles with the growing disharmony in the song of creation that their distant northern cousins, the Ice Elves, might be creating. And Estellonian adventuring groups have been looking to open a market in Nomeria for quite a while. The lands have much to promise to enterprising adventurers, with many ancient ruins and dungeons left over from the ancient empires like the Shiori and old Sheqadah that have never been disturbed. It's not a matter of "if", but "when" the wild Dune Elves will cross paths with the adventurers.