Stone Elf

Stone elves are a people shaped by centuries of chosen exile, not banishment, but withdrawal. When the great war threatened to consume or subjugate their kind, their cultural leader chose a third path: vanishing entirely. They retreated to a chain of mountains wrapped in deep forest, raised magical barriers, and let the surface world forget them. The few who have emerged since are cautionary tales told to children: ashen figures with gemstone eyes watching from haunted woodlines.

What outsiders rarely grasp is that their isolation was not born of cowardice but of grief. They lost their world once. They will not lose it again.

Underground, the stone elves built something worth protecting. They became keepers of Gem Dragon lore, trading worship for wisdom and service for power. Their gemstone-colored eyes (amethyst, sapphire, amber, emerald) are believed to mirror the scales of the dragons they venerate, and through that kinship they developed what their scholars call the depth sense: a psychic attunement to emotion, intent, and the unseen. In the underground tunnels of Laristae, where light never reached and politics ran as treacherous as underground rivers, this gift was not a luxury.

Their cultural leader, who guided them into exile, eventually walked so deeply into the divine that she ascended beyond mortality entirely. Now venerated as Irianel, the Saint of the Hidden Path, her name is spoken at crossroads and thresholds, at every moment of irreversible choice.

Stone Elf Traits

Stone elf heroes have access to the following traits.

Signature Trait: Gem Dragon's Sight

Your gemstone eyes, said to mirror the scales of the Gem Dragons your people venerate, grant extraordinary perception. You gain an edge on tests made to notice threats. You don't take a bane on strikes made against creatures with concealment due to darkness or dim light.

Purchased Stone Elf Traits

You have 3 ancestry points to spend on the following traits.

Cavernborn (1 Point)

Centuries underground have made difficult terrain a home rather than a hindrance. You can shift into and while within difficult terrain created by rubble, cave formations, or underground features.

Dragon Bond (1 Point)

Your people's ancient connection to the Gem Dragons runs deeper than faith; it lives in your blood. You gain an edge on Intuition tests made to sense the emotions and motivations of dragons and dragon-adjacent creatures.

Irianel's Grace (2 Points)

The blessing of your people's ascended patron strengthens your will. Whenever you make a saving throw, you succeed on a roll of 5 or higher.

Psychic Touch (2 Points)

You have the following signature ability. Signature abilities can be used at will.

Psychic Touch

Your mind reaches out and strikes like a hand.

Psionic, Ranged, Strike	Main action
📏 Ranged 10	🎯 One creature or object

Power Roll + Reason, Intuition, or Presence:

• ≤11: 2 + R, I, or P psychic damage; slide 1
• 12-16: 5 + R, I, or P psychic damage; slide 2
• 17+: 7 + R, I, or P psychic damage; slide 3

Revisit Memory (1 Point)

Accessing memories is as easy as living in the present for you. You gain an edge on tests made to recall lore.

Unwavering Mind (2 Points)

Your ordered mind can't be rattled by outside forces. You can't be made dazed.

On Stone Elves

Deep in the underground city of Laristae, the sound of breaking wood, painful groans, and a quiet feminine laugh drifted from the Takenrae manor.

At the edge of the training room sat Lady Jul'amer. Her gown, bright silk shot through with gold thread, contrasted her dark skin and even darker hair, her amethyst eyes calm as she watched the session conclude. In the center of the floor, Myr'tana stood among a dozen shattered training swords and the guards who had wielded them; several sat dazed against the walls, one or two in genuine need of attention. The younger stone elf wore black leathers, her silver hair neatly braided save for a few strands the skirmish had worked loose. Her slight smile had curdled. None of her sparring partners were getting up.

"We are done with today's session," Jul'amer said, clasping her hands.

I don't want to. They are still breathing. Myr'tana struck the air with the remnant of her wooden sword.

"Myr'tana. We are leaving."

"Yes, mistress." She let go of the broken weapon and let it fall among the rest. The irritation left her face just as quickly. She fell in behind Lady Jul'amer and followed her out.

"Are you getting along with the new guards?" Jul'amer asked as they walked the manor hallways, her skirts whispering over the stone. Myr'tana kept a pace behind. "Myr'tana?" she pressed a moment later.

"It's inconsequential." Her amethyst eyes moved away from her mistress's back.

"Don't say that. What do you think of them?"

"They are weak."

"They're fairly new. You should try to make friends."

"Friendship is of no value to my work."

Jul'amer said nothing for a few paces. Candles guttered in their brackets as they passed.

"You are specially tasked to protect me. But as the new head of this house, you are all working for me. If you got along, things would be easier." She paused. "Unless. Were they mean to you?"

"Nothing unusual."

"So they were mean." A pause. "Maybe we should teach them a lesson. Show them not to run their mouth at you."

"You said we should all get along."

Jul'amer stopped and turned.

"Listen." She looked at Myr'tana. "You do know which comments are mean. Like when they talk about your food?"

"Yes, mistress."

"Well, next time it happens, give them a little scare. Fight back."

"So I can kill them?"

"Just a scare. We still need them to guard the house, so they'll need their limbs. And their eyes." A slight pause. "Maybe their tongues."

"Yes, mistress."

"Good girl. Let's go, Ris is waiting."