Races

Half-Shei - by T.A. Saunders ©2010 v1.0

Racial Articles Children of a Dying Light: The History of the Half-Shei

Forbidden. This was the law set down by the Prince of the Sivanoshei when Humans were first discovered wandering Ishaela as tribal nomads. The lines of racial purity were drawn then, as the Prince felt that the Sivanoshei could not educate, guide and enlighten the Humans, if lust or love mingled in their interactions. Elfkind was to remain aloof to such temptations, so that Humans would look upon them as teachers, rather than something to satiate lust upon.

This unfortunately, like the secret of Magic, was not kept to and before too long Half-Sivanoshei children began popping up here and there. Often, the parents were both exiled from the kingdom and left to live in the wild, where they could raise the fruit of their transgression away from the light that was Am-Shei. There are almost no records of Half-Sivanoshei children, simply because such births were never recorded. Any Half-Elvish children that grew up were likewise shunned from society and forced to live off the land or turn to the Kaal`Kor for shelter.

The Dwarves thought this policy of the Elves was foolish and more often than not, were willing to take in the Half-Sivanoshei outcasts. Many were taught the secrets of engineering, mining and rune-forging as well as knowledge of their patron god, Kaal. Most of the Half-Sivanoshei outcasts grew to despise their Elvish roots and found themselves more inclined to follow the path of those Humans under the guidance of the Dwarves.

When Khavos began attracting followers, there were many Half-Sivanoshei amongst them; being brushed aside by their Elvish bloodline, they felt a deep-seeded resentment towards the Prince and his ‘oppression' of the Human people under his regime. By the time of the Great Sundering, almost all Half-Sivanoshei were populated in Sengaard and did not cross to Imarel when the Portal was opened. It is believed since there are no Half-Sivanoshei vampires in modern Sengaard, that all were slain at Khavos' command, to ensure that there were no spies amongst their ranks, or perhaps slain by their own Human brethren in fear of any ‘Elf-like' mannerisms they possessed.

With the emergence of the Tallis-Shei and the Humans that came with them, on Imarel, many of the old ways were cast aside. With Humans living amongst them in copious amounts, it did not take long for Half-Moon Elf babies to start showing up all across Shalzaar. Unlike before, the Half-Elf children were embraced and raised with the moral values of a Sivanoshei society, while tempering it with the open-mindedness of their Human allies. This racial blending continues to this day, in the Republic of Windsong, mostly where the remains of the original Moon Elf population and the Shalzaari Humans that came with them now hold residence.

The War of Eternals did considerably thin out the Moon Elves, however; a race who numbered in the several million before the war, now lingers at a few thousand, to this day. It is expected that in a few dozen generations, there will be no true Moon Elves left and the abundance of Half-Elves will be all that remains of their legacy. Many of the free-thinking and warm-hearted Moon Elves are fine with this eventuality, should it come to pass; it is enough that children were born and loved to them, than what their cultural identity might be.