Shale elf

"A race of learners and leaders that wove winding parapets of stone, the wandering course of history has left them a recently homeless culture, and the world is paler for this loss."

- Cale Lionyia

A nearly wiped out race save for some small refugee communities in Maurudren and only recently in Kondaria, shale elves are perhaps now the smallest elven community and the rarest of all elvenkind.

Appearance
Appropriately, their appearances often reflect that of their beloved mountain homes: a shale elf’s hair colors tend to be much more subdued than their high elf kin, with brown, silver and slate being the most common, while eye colors can vary vastly, with any gemstone hue or color seemingly possible.

Culture
Though their early historic records are few and far between, their ancestors set out after the Old War and found their way to the Middle Kingdoms. There they claimed the southern most mountain chain and, eventually, the plains beyond it, dubbing it Maurudren and carving spiraling towers and parapets from the grey mountains, the chiefest of which is High Caermont.

They are architects and learners, light-hearted, but wise. Most who knew them before their culture fell on hard times would describe them as passionate and altruistic. While this remains true today and is still a deep value, as most shale elves sincerely believe in the good in people and the world, the recent collapse of their society has left them pale and questioning. Suspicion is now common, but they remain generally fair towards proven allies or non-hostiles.

Though they are similar to their cousins across the ocean in the Mireny Imperium and are a fairly arcane people, it is a way of life for the shale elves to partake in magic of some kind and most become wizards, bards or magi. Even those that favor the martial lifestyles will favor some kind of magical augment or training, where a high elf of such inclinations generally will devout themselves to it solely.

Recent hard times following the War of Ash left them a scattered people and hateful towards any of the ashwalkers that now inhabit Maurudren. As a whole, they despise undead creatures, the ashwalkers in particular, and not even a close ally will stop a shale elf from attempting to put the abominations to blade or spell.

Religion
Shale elves are equally devout to the eight Divinities, similar to their neighbors in the north in Kondaria. Unlike high elves or elves of other subraces, they have no particular attachment to one Divinity over another or to any other god besides. That being said, an individual might chose to devoutly follow one god more closely, in particularly influenced by the arcane schools or domains that they might favor.

Statistical Information
''Ithian shale elves may select, if desired, the following alternate racial traits provided they are backed up by character background. These are not a hard rule and other alternate racial traits are also viable, but these are fair suggestions given shale elven society in Ithia.''
 * Arcane Focus: Some elven families have such long traditions of producing wizards (and other arcane spellcasters) that they raise their children with the assumption each is destined to be a powerful magic-user, with little need for mundane concerns such as skill with weapons. Elves with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on concentration checks made to cast arcane spells defensively. This racial trait replaces weapon familiarity.
 * Urbanite: Elves who live in cities for more than a century can grow to know the ebb and flow of social situations just as their forest-dwelling cousins know the rules of the wild. Elves with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks made to gather information and Sense Motive checks made to get a hunch about a social situation. This racial trait replaces keen senses.