Veylori Elves

The silence after is the loudest thing there is.

— Survivor of the Fall

  There were once beautiful cities below the earth, full of gleaming crystal and humming magic. We followed the shining ley lines deep into the roots of the world. We hoarded secrets and arcane knowledge.
  Then the Fall shattered our world.
  We fled upward, into the cruel light, as whole cities were swallowed by the dark. We lost far too many souls to count. All that was left below would haunt us for generations.
  The surface is loud, too bright. As are our kin. Despite all out similarities, it has been difficult for many of us to live with the Hartkin.
  They call us cold. They call us distant. While the Fall affected all mortals, we had no way of going home. Others rebuilt while we dug and found only bones. So we live beneath the sun and try to build something new from the fragments of our lives.
  The few who still dig, who claw their way back to hollows of crystal and rivers of silver, have been met with nothing but darkness. There is no going back. Our homes are silent graves, and that is how they should stay.
 

Depths

  The Deep Elves, who call themselves the Veylori, are a people defined by collapse.
  Once, they lived in vast crystalline cities beneath the surface of Ior, places of layered light, rune-driven mechanisms, and artificial beings shaped from magic and intent.
  Then came the Fall.
  Ley lines fractured, caverns buckled, and entire cities were crushed, flooded, or sealed forever. Survivors fled upward into a world that felt alien and hostile. Though centuries have passed, the Veylori do not speak of this as ancient history. To them, the Fall is ongoing.
  Most Deep Elves now live on the surface, but they have never stopped looking towards the past.
 

Physical Traits

  Veylori Deep Elves are tall, slender, and almost unnervingly still when at rest. They most often have pale or ashen skin, light hair, and light colored eyes in shades of pink, lavender, silver, or blue.
  Their horns curve like those of rams or ibex, heavy and ridged rather than branching. These horns are denser than Hartkin antlers, heavy and twisting with age.
  Deep Elves often show signs of prolonged low-light living: sensitivity to glare, preference for shaded spaces, and minimal tolerance for extremes of heat or cold.
 

Psychology & Social Disposition

  Deep Elves are cautious in speech and action, often pausing before responding, weighing not just meaning but implication. This can read as coldness or arrogance to surfacers, though it is neither. Among their own kind, precision is kindness.
  Many Veylori struggle with surface customs. In general, they find casual conversations and emotional displays pointless and wasteful. Their humor is dry and subtle, often being mistaken for rudeness, and they struggle to improvise.
  Isolationism among the Veylori is common, preferring the company of others of their kind. They will intermingle with other races, with varying degrees of willingness, but younger generations have less difficulty in social interactions.
 

Diet & Sustenance

  Deep Elves remain primarily carnivorous, though necessity has altered their habits.
  Common Foods
 

preserved meats (smoked, dried, salt-cured)

 

subterranean creatures when available

 

bone broths fortified with fungi or mineral salts

 

blood-thick stews favored for endurance

  Plant matter is consumed largely for medicinal or ritual purposes rather than sustenance.
 

Clothing & Personal Adornment

  Veylori clothing favors function and durability. Like the Hartkin, they will generally follow the fashion trends of the area in which they live, but they tend to prefer more utilitarian options. Mineral dyes in greys, blues, and muted purples were common in Veylori settlements, and those hues are still preferred. It is almost out of habit that they continue to gravitate towards clothing designed to protect against sharp stone, unstable footing, and magical anomalies.
  Like their kin, Veylori often decorate their horns. Many deep elves carve runic patterns into the outer layers of their horns, sometimes inlaying them with metal or crystal. Hammered caps and glowing charms are preferred by those who delve the ruins, while younger Veylori have taken to sharpened caps and even pierced rings.
 

The Reclamation Efforts

  A minority of Veylori have turned their lives toward a singular purpose: reclaiming the cities Below.
  These efforts are slow, dangerous, and frequently fatal. The ruins are unstable, with some cities being crushed in massive cave-ins or swallowed by sudden floods. There are areas of wild magic where leylines erupted and feral constructs still carrying out orders for long dead masters in a war that ended centuries ago.
  Still, the Veylori dig. Some of the younger generation are convinced they can reclaim the former glory their ancestors spoke of. The elders simply hope to find fragments worth keeping to remind them of what was lost.
 

Death & Mourning

  Deep Elves do not consume the dead, as the First Ones do, nor do they mark death with feast or song. They will carefully clean the body of their loved one, entombing them in stone or crystal. The memories of those who knew the deceased best are recorded, added to a community archive. They will record as much detail as possible, believing it will aid the passing of Nesmerleth's judgement.