Duskling, Fae

Origin

Another world which briefly bled over into Erde via a portal ten years ago (as of the present time.) There is no longer any contact between this world and what these Dusklings call "The Other World," and travel back and forth is not possible. Those who were dragged to this world by magic are here permanently. Due to this exceedingly unusual origin, the number of Elemental Dusklings on Erde is small. The population is currently estimated as approximately 20 individuals, the youngest of whom were born on Erde.

Appearance

Height generally ranges from 4'5" to 5'3", with males usually somewhat taller than females. Average height would be approximately five feet for males, slightly lower for females. Though they are small, they are usually fairly tough, and can survive a surprising amount of damage.

All of these Dusklings have blue skin, though the shade can range between dark and fairly light, and can include grey, purple, or even almost green undertones. Most have black hair, though other colours (usually still dark) are seen occasionally, and the most common hair type is straight. Long hair is the standard for females, and males often wear their hair cut to the shoulder or below, and usually have beards. Ears are pointed. The most typical eye colours are purple, green, and an electric blue of the sort that would be considered "unnatural" in humans; the more subdued blues or the browns found among humans would almost never occur naturally among these Dusklings.

Magic

Dusklings of this type are, to a greater or lesser degree, imbued with magic of one of the four elements recognized by Dusklings: air, fire, water, and the ground of their home. While this ground is equivalent to the element "earth" in other systems, it is not found on Erde in its pure form, and so Dusklings of that element would not survive in this world. For all practical purposes, then, Elemental Dusklings will be imbued with one of the other three.

Exactly how this imbuing happens is a mystery to Dusklings, but they believe that all Dusklings are made from a combination of these elements, and their magic will be focused on whichever is strongest in the individual. However, the element-focus seems to run along hereditary lines, too. Some Dusklings theorize that family bloodlines are therefore the primary method of transmission, while others argue that pregnancies with a fetus of a different element than the mother, or from an elementally incompatible mother and father, will result in miscarriage. Most Elemental Dusklings do not speculate about it, but simply accept that it is the way it is.

How this magic is manifested will vary entirely by individual. The are no Elemental Dusklings who are not magical in some way, but for the majority, the magic simply sustains their own life, and does not produce any outward results. Others will have lesser or greater powers, in some way tied to their element.

Common personality characteristics

(Note: These are the cultural norms of the "typical" Elemental Duskling personality, but should not be seen as absolute. It is unlikely that any individual Duskling would conform exactly to this standard type. As a group, these are the behaviours that would be recognized and encouraged, and because they are encouraged they tend to persist. Additionally, heredity plays some part, as the gene pool is fairly limited. Still, nothing in the common personality type should be seen as entirely universal.)

Elemental Dusklings tend to be playful and chaotic types, running hot and cold with short bursts of dramatic emotion. Creative people are common within the population, but a tendency toward distractability often prevents them from reaching great artistic heights.

Those members of the tribe who are seen as overly serious or burdened by the problems of the world are encouraged to lighten up, and if they will not (or cannot) they are often viewed with some level of scorn, and treated as oddballs.

Elemental Dusklings are almost never violent toward each other, and with outsiders they rarely initiate violence, though they will fight back fiercely and usually pretty effectively if attacked. They tend to be tricksters and to enjoy playing games, but these tricks and games are generally quite harmless, and usually involve only other Dusklings. Seeking out a member of another race for games or tricks is likely only when no other Dusklings are available, or when contact must be made with the other group for a more practical reason as well.

These Dusklings place their highest value on family and community. An Elemental Duskling who is without family is seen as a sad case, regardless of age-- family is considered equally necessary for adults as for children. Usually these "alone Dusklings" will feel lost, confused, disconnected, and scared, and will not function at their highest mental and emotional level until they find someone to connect with. The occasional Duskling is born who enjoys the wandering life and feels no pull toward family, but this is uncommon to the extreme.

Within a family, these Dusklings usually develop very tight and permanent bonds. Those individuals who do not bond are seen as an anomaly. An Elemental Duskling who is properly bonded will generally feel safe and secure, and this is considered the proper order of things.

Elemental Dusklings tend to be stubborn, determined as long as distraction doesn't get in the way, loyal, and act relatively friendly. They run the same spectrum of morality as humans do, however, and they should not be assumed to be universally good or benevolent.

Social structure

A nomadic people, who do not stick to a fixed territory in their wanderings. They will usually only camp in a site for a few days before moving on. Sometimes they will improvise structures out of branches, leaves, and other natural materials, but they prefer to stick to areas that are temperate enough that they can sleep under the stars. Thus their summer wanderings are more extensive in geographic range than their winter travels.

Elemental Dusklings are tribal and extremely family-oriented. Tribes are ruled by a council of elders, who can be male or female. The elders' primary method of enforcement is social pressure; it is rare for violence to be done within a tribe, but it would rarely be necessary. The need to fit in will generally be enough to convince a Duskling to conform to the will of the community and to respect the elders.

Under ideal circumstances, a tribe is typically formed from a number of families with magic deriving from the same element. However, the small number of them currently existing on Erde makes this ideal situation impossible for the immediate future, and so a tribal formation is not likely to distinguish between those Dusklings imbued with different elements.

Until more births swell their numbers, the Elemental Dusklings on Erde are traveling and functioning as a single tribe. This is considered a temporary situation while the population is so low. All the members of the tribe (and, in future, tribes plural) on Erde will be imbued with one of the elements recognized by Dusklings, but it will not necessarily be the same element.

Elemental Dusklings generally stay within the tribe upon reaching adulthood. The need for contact with parents and extended family is seen as a permanent one, not something that is only necessary before the child reaches maturity. However, as they mature, Elemental Dusklings will marry and start their own nuclear families.

Sexual relations between these Dusklings may happen before marriage without breaking any cultural taboos, and there is no particular value placed on being a virgin at the time of marriage. However, sex is only seen as acceptable within a committed relationship, and the couple must be prepared to marry if a child results. These Dusklings have developed fairly reliable methods of birth control, though, and pregnancies are generally planned. Talk about sexuality by these Dusklings is usually pretty frank and open.

Elemental Dusklings do not have any measure of time other than the change of seasons, and time is essentially meaningless to them as they have no fixed lifespan. They can be killed by violence or accident, assuming their magic is not sufficient to protect them, but they do not die of old age in the sense humans understand it. However, nor do they live forever. At some point in an Elemental Duskling's life, the individual will decide that they are "done," and life will ebb away. This is often tied to the death of the spouse, but that is not a hard and fast rule, and some do survive bereavement. Living forever is not seen as a positive, and it is expected that at some point an Elemental Duskling will relinquish his or her hold on life.

Elemental Duskling ideas of the afterlife are vague, usually divided into "the good place" and "the bad place," also known as "the cold, dark place," with the individual's fate determined by conduct. A positive afterlife includes reunion with family and ancestors, while a negative afterlife means an eternity of being alone-- a true hell for them.

Their religion does not involve the worship of any gods or goddesses, but instead they revere the elements first, and the spirits second. These spirits are in many different forms: spirits of nature, spirits of the dead, and sometimes spirits that just exist. However, conduct is valued much more highly than religious practice, and there is no standard for religious orthodoxy.

Interactions with other races

Interaction between Elemental Dusklings and other races is fairly rare; the more common interactions for these Dusklings would be within the tribe-- or, when they are more numerous, with other tribes. However, when interaction with others does occur, it is usually cordial and mutually beneficial.

Elemental Dusklings have their own native language, but are capable of communication in other languages as well to varying degrees of fluency. They tend to pick up languages fairly fast, but they are often unable to follow other groups' unique idiomatic expressions without a great deal of exposure and practice, and have no concept of the rhetorical question. If you ask a question of an Elemental Duskling, expect an answer, even in cases where most humans would recognize that an answer is not really desired.

The most common relationship with another race would be a temporary trade partnership (as the Dusklings' nomadic tendencies would make a more permanent arrangement logistically difficult,) but sometimes more personal relationships, and even friendships, develop.

These friendships, however, are more likely to be acquaintance relationships than close bonds, and Elemental Dusklings are usually encouraged by their tribe to keep non-Dusklings at arms length emotionally. Romantic and/or sexual relationships with other races are highly frowned upon, and marriages with members of other races are not recognized as valid. Mixed race children from such a union are seen as an embarrassment or even an abomination, and the birth of such a child is seen as a reason for exile from the tribe.

Needless to say, such children are conceived infrequently. The only known marriage between an Elemental Duskling and an outsider is the pairing of Lylessa Uluki and the human Rollick, and the only known mixed race child is their son Martin. However, the operative word here is "known," because the couples are not allowed to remain with the tribe, and such pairings are seen as unfit topics of conversation. It is highly likely that other such marriages have happened, and that other children have resulted-- but given a population of only 20 Elemental Dusklings on Erde, it probably didn't happen here.

Other notes

"Elemental Dusklings" is not a self-given name, and should not be used in play. These Dusklings would call themselves simply "Dusklings," and would not draw any particular distinction between themselves and any other Duskling group. I use the label in this description only for ease of player reference.

Characters of this race should be extremely rare in the setting, given their origins. Because of their nomadic, tribal, and slightly insular tendencies, they are unlikely to be encountered alone and without their clan, or to be a permanent resident of the location where they are found.