As a result, blood elves are largely mistrusted or despised, with some exceptions. It’s true that many of their numbers fall fully into madness from their arcane addiction. These elves truly deserve their sobriquet of “The Wretched,” for truly they are wretched creatures. Rather than trying to resist, they give themselves fully to the hunt for magical energy, and will risk anything and stop at nothing to sate their thirst for it.

Still, at least as many of the blood elves take pains to hold back their addiction. To these strong ones, the idea of becoming one of the wretched is a fate worse than death. Alone or together, it is every blood elf’s goal to find a cure for their race’s affliction.

For a much more indepth description of blood elves, see their entry on WoWWiki.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 5′3″-5′11″
Average Weight: 120-170 lbs.

Ability Scores: +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, Thalassian
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 History

Magical Addiction: Every day, you must absorb magical energy or suffer the effects of withdrawal. You may absorb the magical energy in one of the following ways:

• Sacrifice a daily spell whose level is within 10 of your own.
• Have someone else sacrifice such a spell on your behalf.
• Drink the blood of an immortal, aberrant or elemental creature. The blood may not be more than a week old.

If you fail to absorb magical energy on some day, you take a -1 penalty to your will defense and lose one healing surge. The penalty and amount of healing surges lost double each consecutive day you fail to feed your addiction.

Spell Mastery: You gain a +1 racial bonus on all attack rolls with spells.

Arcane Torrent: You can use Arcane Torrent as an encounter power.

Download PDF of the above monsters.

The elves are a warrior people, and fighting is very important to them. They practice a martial art of their own development called “capoeira*,” which emphasizes graceful mobility, dodges and kicks. Often times, the elves go into battle with small drums secured to their chests. Even as they lash out with their legs, their hands busily drum out a beat to demoralize their foes and bolster themselves.

Battle is a long, drawn out affair for the elves. Blades attached to the soles of their shoes deliver shallow cuts, slowly bleeding their enemies. This is in stark contrast to the human barbarians, which favor powerful blows which rarely connect, but often kill on the first hit.

The human barbarians actually enjoy fighting the elves, as they are a masochistic culture. To them, pain is strength. Most of their customs involve tests of endurance to see who can withstand the most pain for the longest. Their marriage ceremony culminates with the husband and wife choking each other until one passes out.

The most dedicated of their warriors undergo the ritual of Kardak, thrusting their left hand into a bear paw-shaped mold filled with molten iron. Afterwards, they are anointed as priests of Magdar, and adamantine claws are attached to the iron forever grafted to their hand.

*Capoeira is a Brazillian martial art. Go check out some youtube videos of it.

Encounters with the Barbarians of Mosh’tardin

One of the PCs gains the respect of an elder human barbarian. After several nights of revelry, the elder invites the PC to undergo the Kardak. Not accepting would be taken as an unrivaled insult to the barbarians.

The PCs are asked to capture one of the rare silver-pawed monkeys from the Mosh’tardin forest. Naturally, they run afoul of the elvish barbarians in attempting to do so.

Galadir the Eagle is young by human standards, let alone elven. He’s only 18 years old, but many who meet him describe his personality as powerful and wise beyond his years. He is charismatic and brave and fights without question for what he feels is right. Were this all he had going for him, his task would be impossibly difficult.

There are whispers– unbelieving, but hopeful rumors– that Galadir possesses the Fourth Legacy. According to elven legend, three times in their race’s long history the very essence of nature itself has bestowed gifts upon a great elf in times of chaos and strife. The First Legacy helped establish the elves as a race; the Second Legacy was used to take their world back from the demons which had invaded; and the Third Legacy helped the elves transition to this world when their last one died.

Those in power see Galadir as little more than a nuisance, though they reluctantly recognize that he’s growing in power and influence. To the rank and file among the elves, he is seen as a rebel, a pretender to the throne, or by a growing minority as a hero. Galadir’s New Allegiance has recently even set up a new capital city called Dor’tannith– Elven for “The Promised Land.”

The Shan Tor’athos, in particular, are worried about Galadir and wish to see him exterminated. More so than any other elvish nation, they are losing more and more of their people to The New Allegiance. There are even rumors that the Shan Tor’athos have allied with the hated Nacrisseans in an attempt to wipe out Galadir and his followers.

Encounters with The New Allegiance

As the PCs are walking along a road through the forest, an arrow whizzes by their heads… followed by another from the other direction. It quickly becomes obvious that they are not the targets, though, as a group of Galadir’s elves and some of the Shan Tor’athos are engaged in a battle the PCs just stumbled into.

One of Galadir’s followers, a minstrel, is singing in a tavern as the PCs enter:
You will find the New Allegiance like a beacon in the night
If you’re searching for salvation reach inside
There’s a new world approaching
A fire to be seen in following The Fourth Legacy

Inspiration, and lyrics, from Kamelot’s title song from the album The Fourth Legacy

The Shaintree is covered in a thin blanket of snow throughout all but the hottest months of the year, and the Shan Tor’athos believe it is a gift from the world. The snow covers even the most misshapen rocks or rotting carcasses with a pristine samite, leaving only the evergreen trees visible.

The Shan Tor’athos are concerned with pomp and circumstance to the point of obsession. Something as simple as a brief pause in speech or a slightly off-centered cloak could easily be construed as a serious insult, and they have no sense of a measured response. Earn the ire of one of these elves and you’d do well not to sleep until the Shaintree is far behind you.

Needless to say, the courts of the Shan Tor’athos are hotbeds of intrigue, doubletalk and backstabbing. The Chosen are masters of diplomacy, but the Shan Tor’athos seem to engage in politics solely for the purpose of engaging in politics. They make games of posturing and politicking with little regard for what they’re actually arguing; all that matters is winning.

One of the greatest figures of Shan Tor’athos myth is Talthim Deltoro, an elf of legendary beauty. It is said that he was spurned by the then-king, whose name has been lost to time, and rallied the other races of the world into a war against the Shan Tor’athos in his rage, bringing an end to their empire. Talthim, officially, is seen as a traitor but every elf secretly wishes that they were so skilled in the arts of persuasion.

Shan Tor’athos ambassadors, and others who find themselves leaving the fabled perfection of the Shaintree, typically wear ivory masks to hide their faces from those unworthy to behold them. Despite their simplicity and surprising lack of ornamentation, the masks are hauntingly beautiful and many find they give the elves a disconcerting countenance.

Encounters with the Shan Tor’athos

The characters are assigned to escort and guard Ambassador Altraea, a Shan Tor’athos with little actual power who was sent on this mission mostly as a punishment. She is tasked with working out a non-aggression pact between Radcliffe’s Holde, a small agrarian community, and Keldonia, a moderately sized trading city several hundred miles away with two rivers and a small mountain range between them.

Ambassador Altraea is an ungrateful, spoiled brat who bosses the characters around mercilessly. However, to mistreat her would be to invite the wrath of the Shan Tor’athos on Radcliffe’s Hold, and the people there would be slaughtered if such a thing happened.