The Elthari

The Elthari are an ancient branch of the Elfin folk whose ancestors chose to make their homes within the deepest and oldest forests of Elyiore.

Long ago, these Elfin clans moved increasingly far from the great settlements of their kin and made the primal woodland their permanent home. Generation after generation, they lived not beside the forest, but within it.

Over centuries, something changed

The descendants of these woodland clans gradually developed the distinctive forms now associated with the Elthari

• furred lower bodies
• digitigrade legs
• Hooves and growing horns or antlers.

Some Elfin scholars believe it was natural adaptation. Others point to the ancient power that saturated Elyiore’s oldest forests. The Elthari themselves rarely feel the need to separate the two.

Although their groves lay within the vast forests geographically regarded as Elyiore, the Elthari rarely lived under the everyday authority of the Elyiore High Council

• The High Council governed the cities, settlements and wider affairs of Elfin civilisation.
• The Elthari governed themselves beneath the deeper canopy.

Their clans could visit the Heartwood, trade with other Elfin and answer shared threats to Elyiore, but within an ancestral grove the customs and judgement of local elders held greater weight than decrees from distant Elfin stewards.

Elthari society is traditionally organised around clans and ancestral groves rather than cities, kingdoms or noble houses. Each grove largely governs itself. Leadership is earned through wisdom, experience and knowledge of the woodland, with respected elders guiding their communities rather than ruling through title or bloodline.

Different clans may maintain their own markings, rites, crafts and traditions, but all recognise one another as Elthari.

Daily life is closely tied to the forest. Hunting, foraging, herblore, pathfinding and woodland crafts are common skills, with resources gathered carefully rather than through widespread clearing.

Even their homes reflect this philosophy.

Traditional Elthari structures are grown as much as built, with trees, roots, branches and vines patiently guided over many years into shelters much like the art of Bonsai

Music, rhythmic dance, storytelling and firelit gatherings are also important parts of community life

Elthari retain the upper-body features of their Elfin ancestors but possess a distinctive faun-like lower form, with two furred digitigrade legs ending in hooves.

Fur colour varies considerably, ranging from deep browns and auburn through to ash-grey and muted gold. Most stand between 5'6" and 6'4", although their overall height can appear greater depending upon their horns or antlers.

Horns and antlers develop as an Elthari ages, beginning relatively small in youth before becoming larger and more elaborate. Older Elthari often decorate or carve theirs with runes representing important aspects of their life

Tattoos and personal markings are also common, alongside jewellery made from materials such as wood, bone, silver and amber.

An Elthari raised within the deep forests may also find the settlements of other races unusual. Walls, paved streets, large-scale farming and rigid structures can all feel very different from life within a grove.

When the Fading spread through Elyiore, the Elthari were among the last to abandon its forests.

Their groves were living homes shaped over centuries . Many Elthari initially remained behind to tend the dying woodland, protect displaced wildlife and search for some way to preserve what was being lost.

Some stayed far too long.

Those who endured the worst of the Fading can bear permanent physical scars and are known among the Elthari as the Duskmarked.

The Duskmarked should not be confused with the Fadewrought.

Fadewrought Elfin were gradually and subtly changed through prolonged proximity to the Fading. The Duskmarked instead show the harsher physical damage suffered by Elthari who remained within Elyiore's dying forests for longer. Being Duskmarked grants no authority or elevated position within Elthari society, though others may quietly respect what an individual endured.

Eventually, survival outweighed even their devotion to their ancestral groves. The clans departed Elyiore in scattered waves, joining the wider Elfin evacuation across the Great Sea and leaving behind forests their ancestors had called home for generations.