Aquarian Dawn: Elves

Elves in Aquarian Dawn are a little... different. Not quite as different as Aquarians, nor dwarves (forthcoming), but still not quite the traditional fantasy thing. If you like these elves, check out my very old post of 20 Weird & Wonderful Elves. If you'd like to learn more about my Aquarian Dawn campaign, check out my Tunnels & Trolls Hack / Cheatsheet / Impressions  (recently featured on Ynas Midgard's Excellence from the Blogosphere (March-April)), or my campaign scenario.

Most of the elves left for another realm. Some accounts say this occurred during the High Age, others say well before it, and others still say that it was a more gradual process that continued even as the High Age declined. The remaining elves either abandoned or were never part of elven society, and live in the forests, jungles, and seas, places rich with life. There are primarily two cultures of the remaining elves.

The grendels are the most common. They're legs are bent like satyrs. They have lean, ropey muscles and lanky arms like orangutans. There skin varies in tone from yellow, brown, black, orange, and green, and is often spotted or striped. They have large eyes and narrow faces like a cat. Their appearance is striking and animalistic, but graceful. They mainly group into small prides, although it's not uncommon for grendels to live and hunt in solidarity. 

The lamia have only recently surfaced from the ocean, along with the aquarians. In their natural form they have patches of rough, scaly skin along their shoulders, backs, and sides, and upper arms, serpentine faces and fangs, and a mer-folk or serpentine torso. However, by molting their skin and muscle during rest, they can take on a more humanoid form, closer to grendels or human-like "half-elves". While their culture is naturalistic like the grendels, they seem to yearn for knowledge and civilization, and have coerced some grendel prides into joining them. While in the deep ocean, the lamia became more animal than human, only regaining their sapience after being dredged from the ocean, and so much of their history has been lost.  From what they've pieced together, they believe that they lost their oceanic home due to aquarian expansion and hold contempt for aquarians, and to a lesser extent humanity, who they resent as aggressors against elves prior to the High Age, although why they believe this is not known.