Tide Elves

Tide Elf
Major race
Example appearance
Attributes
Average lifespan (max)	800 years (1600)
Age of maturity	150 years
Height range	1.75 - 2.20 m (5′9′′ - 7′30′′)

Parent Race: Elf

Note: The Tide Elves are considered an extint race. They should not be used as a playable race by new characters.

The Tide Elves, or Dor’nai, were a minor race of noble seafaring elves directly descended from the Star Elves (Sira’nai), a civilization of elves renowned for its celestial study, mathematical systems, and contemplation. Following the migration to an ancient archipelago Alathra, the Tide Elves emerged as a distinct culture adapted to ocean life. Rejecting the rigid ideologies of the High Elves (Vel’nai), the Dor’nai embraced the rhythms of the ocean and the constellations that governed their navegation and maritime rites.

Their civilization flourished across coral citadels, oceanic temples, and harbor cities aligned with celestial tides. The Dor’nai favored fluidity over hierarchy, favoring adaptability, shared memory, and natural alignment with sea and sky. They cultivated a refined magical tradition based on lunar gravity, astral navigation, and salt-bound ritual.

Culturally, the Dor’nai stood in quiet opposition to Vel’nai centralism, advocating for independence, maritime sovereignty, and ancestral multiplicity. Their society was bonded not by bloodlines, but by ritual oaths and collective stewardship of the ocean's mystery.

The Dor’nai are now believed extinct. During the height of the Tide War—a prolonged ideological and arcane conflict with the Vel’nai—their archipelago was submerged in a cataclysm widely attributed to unacknowledged magical devastation. Since that time, no Tide Elf has been seen upon the shores of Alathra. Their name survives only in submerged ruins, sailor’s songs, and the mourning of their Mor’nai kin.

Etymology

• Dor’nai: Endonym; from dor (sea) + ’nai (essence, bound), meaning “Those with the heart of the sea.”
• Tide Elves: A common name used to distinguish this lineage from other elven branches.

Physical Traits

The Dor’nai bore the sea in their bones and skin:

• Skin tones: Pale pearl, deep blue-grey, or kelp-green with iridescent undertones.
• Eyes: Seafoam, moonlit silver, or dark indigo, often with a reflective sheen.
• Hair: Ranged from seaweed black and storm-grey to silver-white and aquamarine.
• Posture: Graceful and wave-like in motion; comfortable in both water and land.
• Aquatic Adaptation: Extended lung capacity, strong swimmers, with subtle webbing between fingers and toes.
• Tidal Sensory: Sensitive to lunar shifts, pressure changes, and water currents; many were known to navigate by starlight and scent.

• 
  Tide Elf Princess
• 
  Tide Elf Seer
• 
  Tide Elf Navigator
• 
  Tide Elf Warrior
• 
  Tide Elf Guard

Elven Lineage

The elves of Alathra trace their origins to the L’nai, the First Elves—primordial beings of long life, arcane potential, and fluid essence. Over the ages, the L’nai gave rise to multiple branches through divergence in philosophy, environment, and magical affinity.

From the L’nai emerged the Aure’lai (Sun Elves), Sira’nai (Star Elves), and Elva’rai (Moon Elves), who formed the three great ancient lineages. Each of these lines would, in time, fragment further into the modern elven subraces of today: the imperial Vel’nai (High Elves), exiled subterranean Mor’nai (Low Elves), extinct seaborne Dor’nai (Tide Elves), forest-bound Silva’rai (Wood Elves), and the remote Zaure’lai (Ash Elves).

Scattered among all lineages are the rare Veyari, shapeshifters born with residual echoes of the L’nai essence. Though rare, they are found across all elven communities and maintain no distinct homeland of their own.

Ancestry

The Dor’nai descended from the Sira’nai (Star Elves), whose spiritual philosophies and luminous traditions inspired many diverging elven lineages. While the High Elves turned inland and upward, the Tide Elves looked outward to the sea. They believed that freedom, change, and convergence were not only natural, but essential.

This put them at odds with the Vel’nai. Where the High Elves pursued exclusivity and structured advancement, the Tide Elves embraced fluidity and adaptation. As High Elf philosophy hardened into supremacist ideology, tensions deepened. The Tide Elves refused to align with the Purity Doctrine and sheltered exiles, heretics, and rejected lineages.

When the Vel’nai turned to war, the Dor’nai stood alone.

Homeland

The Dor’nai homeland was a solitary archipelago located off the southern coast of Alathra. Composed of coral atolls, volcanic isles, and shifting sandbars, it housed a singular great city, Lareth Thalorien, the Pearl Spire—surrounded by several smaller settlements.

Each island was shaped to the rhythm of the tide and moon. Structures were built of prisarine, sea-glass, stone, and coral, with canopies of woven kelp and light-crystals strung between tide-marked pylons.

The archipelago no longer exists. During the final days of the Tide War, the islands were sunk in a sudden, overwhelming cataclysm. While some believe it was a natural disaster, many records point to a deliberate and coordinated magical strike. The Vel’nai have never confirmed or denied involvement.

Culture

The Dor’nai way of life was rooted in balance, exchange, and fluid social order. Hierarchy was minimal and leadership rotated with the moon. They held sacred the act of navigation across action, thought and spirit.

Cultural touchstones included:

• Tide Oracles: Diviners who read waves, dreams, and lunar paths.
• Confluence Councils: Consensus assemblies held on the full moon.
• Song-Pillars: Towering monuments that resonated with harmonic sounds of the sea.

Religion and Beliefs

The Dor’nai did not worship gods but honored forces—the shifting pull of moonlight, the vast intelligence of the ocean, and the ancient knowledge embedded in stars. Their beliefs centered on:

• The Grand Current: A metaphor for fate, time, and energy that flows through all things.
• Moon-Sent: Sacred dreams and visions received during lunar alignments.
• Return to Water: A funerary belief that all elves came from the sea and would return to it.

Temples were open-air sanctuaries built above tide pools or beneath star-sheltering domes. Ceremonies were tidal, not timed, and involved collective chanting, water offerings, and memory baths.

Language

The Dor’nai spoke Thalorin, a melodic and breath-rich language tuned to wind, water, and breath. It made heavy use of pitch, fluid vowel clusters, and gesture. Their script, called Shellscript, was inscribed on curved surfaces using spiral glyphs and coral-etched tablets.

Abilities & Behaviors

Strengths

• Aquatic Agility: Natural swimmers with extraordinary lung capacity and water navigation.
• Lunar Intuition: Sensitive to lunar tides, often used in magic and long-distance communion.
• Tide Magic: Masters of water manipulation, star-based divination, and dream-binding.
• Resilience: Physically and mentally adaptable to shifting environments.

Weaknesses

• Land Dependency: Uncomfortable far from the sea for extended periods.
• Isolation: Geographical separation led to limited military allies.
• Cultural Fragility: Much of their heritage was bound to physical locations now lost.

Behavioral Patterns

• Instincts: Communal, adaptive, drawn to cycles and seasonal rhythms.
• Social Structure: Matrilineal lines with fluid leadership cycles.
• Surface Interaction: Rare, often reserved for diplomacy or crisis.
• Conflict Style: Naval maneuvers, elemental illusions, guerrilla skirmishes.