Hey I'm interested to be in a dark elf. What exactly is the culture and society of the dark elves? Are there any rituals they engage in? As they live in the far north, I can't imagine there being large settlements given the harsh cold. I'd think the dark elves would be somewhat nomadic and arranged into different clans. Is there anything else I should know about them? How would the dark elves interact with the Ingvarr and the people of Estival? Would an Adventurer's guild accept a dark elf? I should have asked first before I typed this but since I'm already here, let me know if there are things I should change for my character's background. [hider=TLDR Timeline] Timeline: Astira flees towards Estival at the age of 31 when her clan is massacred She arrives at the southern borders nearly a year later and settles in a large town with rudimentary understanding of human society and language The next 4 years she acclimates herself to human society working in the adventurer’s guild as a barmaid and assistant receptionist. Actually gets along well with the patrons. At the age of 35 when she feels more comfortable, she becomes an adventurer herself and hones her trade (human magic and spearmanship) over the course of some 15 years. It is only in the last 3 years or so does she develop a reputation taking jobs as a bounty hunter On one of her jobs exploring an old ruin with a party, she comes across a hostile Ithillin party research party and kills them in self defense. Nearly 50 years old, she decides to leave town and head further south after learning of some unsubstantiated rumors of stirrings in the north. The trauma of her clan’s massacre still lingering in her heart plays a role as well. Ends up joining the Lions as she relocates to Velt. [hider=Somewhat longer detailed background] Astria Bodil is a dark elf hailing from the far north who fled south after her clan was massacred for reasons that are unknown to her. To her knowledge, she is the lone survivor of the Nordac clan, a small but prominent clan known for their spellcasters. She practices a rare and esoteric form of ice magic, one that is well suited for surviving the harsh frozen wastelands. Fearing for her life, Astria ran all the way towards the southern borders of Estival closer towards Velt and eventually settled in a large and bustling town. In an unknown land with a culture and language that was near incomprehensible, it took Astria several years until she become comfortable with the vernacular. During her time in Estival, she became a part of the adventurer’s guild, performing her duties as a barmaid and eventually promoted to an assistant receptionist. She interacted with guests to become more familiarized with her surroundings and giving herself the time to study the human language. As one of the very few dark elves in the area, she became somewhat of a local draw for many. Once she had a more intimate bearing on her surrounding, Astria became an adventurer herself. To the surprise of many who had become accustomed to her presence as just a barmaid, she became a highly effective adventurer and was amongst the top in the local guild. In her downtime, Astria enjoyed gossiping with the patrons of the guild. She’d also spend her days learning about “standard” magic and combine them with the magic she knew to make her magic not look too heretical. In addition, she took time to learn spearmanship within the training grounds of the guild. While Astria initially took low key jobs, eventually her main source of income comes from jobs clearing marks. Often times this included skirmishes with monsters or hunting them down. However, Astria has also taken jobs to clean up “truants”, former adventurers the guild has deemed too dangerous to be left alone and wanted dead or alive. Astria found and killed many of her marks leaving nothing but a frozen corpse for the guild to inspect. She grew to have a fearsome and reliable reputation. A key experience involved one with the Ithillins. Astria was leading a party down a newly discovered ruin when she encountered them. They were immediately hostile and the experience leaves a sour taste in her mouth as she and her party were forced to overcome and kill the Ithillins. She shattered their corpses with ice magic and swears her remaining party members into silence as this could be an international incident. Even though her time in the adventurer’s guild was success story, Astria always felt uneasy at a subconscious level. The specter of that day was still close to her heart and had not heal in spite of all this time. Though news was slow to travel north, eventually someone would take notice and investigate a certain dark elf making a name for herself. Someone would come for her to finish the job and there were uncomfortable rumors of stirrings happening in the far north. Astira retired from the guild and with her sizable fortune accumulated throughout the years, traveled southeast towards Velt to start a new life for herself. [/hider] [hider=Astira's esoteric ice magic background] I can rework this if it fits, otherwise I can just toss this. A snow priest was essentially a dark elf shaman who was in tune and communed with the cold. Few in number, the responsibility of a snow priest was immense. In the dark and cold tundra of the north, the rites and magic which they learned and performed was of such importance it would have gave them political power in the form of tribal chieftains to military leaders. To become a snow priest required immense training and trials. Astira was part of a small clan of dark elves. She was selected to become one after showing an potent affinity for ice magic. At the age of 12, she began a nearly 20 year journey to become a snow priest. Through all of her trials and tribulations, she showed the most promise amongst the other disciples. However, she did not get respect from her peers as she her clan was considered to be low standing. In response, she simply held her head high and let her actions speak for themselves. Sadly, Astira never formally finished her education as she was forced to flee after the death of her clan. [/hider] [/hider]