Elven Magic

Creatures Etc.

  Magical beings are manifest in the elven world largely as the result of spells cast by elven wizards. There are some, however, that derive their existence from more mysterious sources. Sometimes old ruins will have such things lurking in them. Here are some examples of both simple spells and ancient beasts.

Enchanted Animals

Any animal can be induced to attack someone by using enough veldt elven magic. Antimagic used on such an animal would only break the spell, and would not keep the animal from attacking if it still wants to. In addition, some animals have magic of their own. These animals, while rare, will generally not be killed by antimagic, and their powers will return naturally the same as an elven. Examples include Scorpians, Leviathans, and Fireflies.

Blue Maiden's Children

Giant creatures that guard the ruins of The'valde. Running into one assures that there is an artifact of great power near by, even outside the ruins (they follow the artifacts if stolen). They are intelligent and seem to be born of and able to use a variety of magics. They seem to think of elven as "demons" and will incapicitate and then kill anyone invading The'valde as long as they can do so without abandoning their guard of the artifacts.

Bug Demon

One the Blue Maiden's children, this was the first creature encountered on The'valde, The'elven's lost continent. Clearly related to Cave Elven Creatures, it had odd coloration and was able to speak (only B'khee heard it speak). It also used white magic. It was six-legged and the size of a skiff, green with a hard brown shell, one large eye and a slime-spewing round mouth. It was resistant to fire, fought a dragon till the caster fainted, and was killed by a cursed magical artifact of great power.

Cave Elven Creatures

A creature summoned by a cave elven spell will have certain characteristics. They are generally made of black smooth flesh, white bone and green slime. They have no internal structure beyond bones. Even their eyes are made of these elements. The caster can see and hear what the creature sees and hears, and the creature only exists as long as the caster is consciously maintaining the spell. Maintaining a creature drains the caster's energy in relation to the creature's size, power, etc, and injuries to the creature increase the amount of drain. A caster who loses a low level creature in an attack may not feel it, while losing a high level creature often results in the caster passing out. Injuries usually result in oozing green slime. Common creatures include bat-like, snake-like, and dragon-like forms. Antimagic disintegrates any part of a creature it touches, while disabling the caster's casting ability makes the creature disappear. The more power put into a creature, the more independant it can act, but still if the caster sneezes (etc), the creature is simply gone.

Dragons

Dragons are invariably cave elven creatures. There are no "real dragons". A dragon is a large and high-level creature. It may take any form the caster desires, though it takes skill to master new forms so most casters stick to one "signature" dragon once they learn to summon them. Any cave-elven creature larger than a horse is usually deemed a dragon. They do not have "powers", although often they have large enough wings to allow flight.

Dryads

An elven woman created from an adult tree by forest elven magic. A high-level creature that must be consciously maintained by the caster lest it revert to a tree. The caster isn't affected by wounds the dryad receives. Dryads usually have green hair and bark-colored and patterned skin, with the textures being those of a woman's hair and skin. The magic makes them drunk, happy and friendly, and heals any pre-existing wounds and returns them to healthy youth. A dryad's injuries look like a tree's injuries, with wood and sap, and are as disabling as they would be to an elven (ie a dismembered hand cannot move, a decapitated dryad dies, etc). If a dryad dies, it reverts to a dead tree. Only when the whole reverts, does any other part revert (even the dismembered hand stays a hand until the spell ends). Antimagic petrifies parts of a dryad, and if the whole dryad is hit, it reverts to a tree. An old dying tree becomes a young healthy dryad which becomes a young, healthy tree; unless the dryad is injured while a dryad, in which case the reverted tree shares those injuries (even death).

Faeries

Mythical forest elven race, said to have descended from the forest elven themselves. These tiny elven-like beings are generally about as tall as an elven head. They have small, translucent wings, which their clothes account for. They are able to use forest elven magic with extreme proficiency for small things, but could not for example produce a Dryads. They are also said to be invisible most of the time, except to the insane. Diane has claimed to see fairies, so she's presumably nuts (either because they are hallucinations, or because they are real and only the insane can see them).

Fireflies

Small, glowing insects that live around fresh water and swamps. Most locations only have one color of Firefly, except for in Valde (aka The'valde) where colors can vary. They can be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, or violet. They are useful as ingredients in potions. Certain phenomena have been noted around each color, such as hallucinations around yellow fireflies and difficulty using magic or lighting a fire around red fireflies. These effects are more noticeable near larger groups of the insects, and can usually be dispelled by "putting out the lights" with antimagic. This does not hurt the insects and is temporary.

Leviathans

Leviathans are giant sea-creatures, some as big as a small island. They are rumored to travel in the eyes of hurricanes, and indeed clouds don't form near Leviathans. Ships with nets out are sometimes attacked by Leviathans, or those with ropes out in bloody water. Sea elven try to appease Leviathans or even attract them (when they aren't fishing) in order to receive the rumored good-weather benefit (Leviathans are rumored to cause "good winds" as well), and ships often have "Leviathan" in their name. Leviathans attack with their huge crushing jaws and by controlling ocean waves. Antimagic can keep them from controlling waves, and presumably allow clouds to form near them, but only temporarily.

Plants

A plant is not a creature, however a forest elven spells can cause plants to move in unexpected ways or even transform into other plants. This is often used to cause plants to attack. Plants used in this way will always look like plants. An adult tree may also be turned into a dryad, however this is a different spell (see Dryads). Enchanted plants move much like snakes, and can stretch, grow, and shrink in plausible ways.

Scorpians

Giant arachnids with stingers on their tails, they live in the desert elven homeland and range in size from as big as a house to as small as a mouse. Most grow to be about the size of a horse. They have two claws and six legs, and armored bodies. The gray ones can manifest fire at any point along their bodies, throw fire from their claws, and even belch fiery blasts. The red ones emit an antimagic field around their bodies, which negates weaker antimagic fields. Antimagic or anti-heat magic eliminates the gray Scorpian's fire. There have been rare instances of female Scorpians that were gray and red tiger-striped, that could belch fire and negate magic with their claws. The amount of fire or antimagic is equal to the size of the Scorpian, therefore a mouse-sized Scorpian could create at the most a fire-belch as big as a mouse. They are animals, and antimagic attacks on them wear off in time as they would on an elven.

Spirits

Spirits of the dead can be summoned and spoken to by cave elven witches. They can be made to manifest as scary apparitions as well. Such spirits can attempt to possess the living. Cave elven witches can also summon spirits that do not have an identity, basically "creating" them out of ethereal energy. Such created spirits can attempt to possess the dead (see Zombies). A living elven can resist possession by force of will, and by avoiding contact with the spirit (ie running away). Possession is very temprorary and obvious. Antimagic returns the spirits to their natural state, invisible and with limitted power.

Weirs

Another technicality, Weirs are technically not creatures, but elven that have taken on animal characteristics using Wild Elven magic. They can usually be distinguished from cave elven creatures because they are still relatively elven shaped. The more characteristics of an animal a caster takes on, the more like that creature they are prone to think, and the less sanely. For example, someone who looks like a elven-shaped wolf will likely act similarly to an stark mad wolf. Weirs are obviously only found in areas where there are users of Wild Elven magic, and more specifically have yet to be seen outside the jungles of the Veldt Elven homeland.

Wraiths

Wraiths are cave elven creatures, but unlike the other creatures their visibility and tangibility are controlled by the caster. They are much harder to maintain than even dragons, though easier to create. A caster must be very close to the wraith at all time. The most likely way to defeat a wraith is by breaking the caster's concentration, although antimagic might also be successful.

Zombies

Zombies in this context are elven corpses in various states of decay that are posessed by spirits summoned by a cave elven witch. The bones of the corpse must be intact to allow for actions requiring bones. Any other tissue is "extra". A recently deceased body that is relatively well-preserved will be more powerful than a mere skeleton. They can be controlled in a puppet-like manner by a witch, and will attack in a mindless, clawing fashion any target they are given. They cannot use magic, do not feel pain, and de-animate if the witch loses consciousness or travels too far away. Parts can be individually animated (ie a disembodied hand), but will have difficulty moving (ie a disembodied thighbone would be useless). Antimagic removes the spirit from any portion of the body it hits, rendering that portion useless to the zombie. The entire zombie can be de-animated this way. A successful antimagic attack on the caster would de-animate the zombie as well.