Dark Faeli

Few in number, the Dark Faeli are an offshoot of the Faeli race created by Asharra through the infusion of her blood and power. They are identical in build and height to normal Faeli, but their skin is stained black and their eyes are a deep reddish hue. Dark Faeli are often powerful sorcerers, as the cursed blood of their goddess gives them potent arcane powers. They were once a fanatically religious race, and their worship of their goddess was essentially the basis for their entire culture. The Dark Faeli believed themselves the greatest and most favored of the Dark Lady's children. They formerly lived alongside communities of Illithids, but their failures during the War of the Sun led to the Dark Lady cutting their priests from her power and abandoning them. Now called the Fey'ri, a word meaning "Broken", they languish in the underdark, seeking to avoid the predations of their goddess' other children.

The taint of their lady's blood is powerful, causing many Dark Faeli to become cruel, lustful and self-centered. Strange obsessions plague the race, most often power lust, and few things can stop a Dark Faeli once it has made up its mind. Their former peaceful nature has warped into a deep longing to have as much as they can gather, whether it be power, items, land, servants, or lovers. As their goddess was the source of their power, many are fiercely devoted to redeeming themselves in her eyes with sacrifices and bloodletting. Others refuse to believe that they have been forsaken, and blame some other, unknown force for their loss of power. They point to the fact that their sorcerers still draw power from the lady's blessing.

Dark Faeli can reproduce in the traditional manner... or via a dark ritual in which a Dark Faeli lies with a normal Faeli and passes on the goddess' touch via a combination of sex and spilling some of the Faeli's blood in the goddess' name. The original Dark Faeli were all willing receivers of this ritual, but they can also perform it upon the unwilling if they can be restrained. The newly emerging Dark Faeli retains it's mind and memories of the process, and will likely hate it's captors... so often they are simply claimed by Tsochar or forced to breed more Dark Faeli children that can be raised to worship the Dark Lady properly.

Recently, the dragon god Namtar has invaded the underdark and attempted to conquer the Dark Faeli. His army of Deep Dragons spreads propaganda in his favor, and many have been converted. Those who choose to worship Namtar, or his father Minrhet have begun to rekindle their divine power, becoming fanatically devout as they begin to once again obtain the powers described in the ancient legends of times before Asharra's abandonment. A few others have encountered the Genasi people and have adopted their atheistic beliefs of Marcoism. These atheists, however, are fiercely hunted to extermination by those devoted to Asharra and those devoted to Namtar.

Terrible devastation has been visited upon the Dark Faeli with the complete destruction of the underdark. Namtar saved a small group loyal to him, but the entire rest of the race living underground has been destroyed. The survivors are rebuilding their race in the Caverns Beneath located under Testament, the home of the Deep Dragons. Apart from these survivors, there exists a small colony of "Dark" Faeli upon Progress, those these have been above ground so long and interbred with normal Faeli so long that they have all but lost their heritage.

Dark Faeli Racial Traits
Dark Faeli are identical to elves in the PHB except as follows.
 * -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Charisma. Like the Faeli, Dark Faeli are slender and quick. They move with grace and possess strong wills and assertive natures.
 * Darkvision out to 60 feet.
 * Weapon Proficiency: Dark Faeli are proficient with longswords, scimitars, light crossbows, heavy crossbows, and hand crossbows. This replaces the standard weapon proficiency.
 * Light Sensitivity: Dark Faeli are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
 * Favored Class: Sorcerer or Beguiler. Dark Faeli heroes often use magic over physical prowess. Sorcerers, Beguilers and Clerics of the Lady are their most common taken classes. High leveled Dark Faeli often take levels in Alienist or Nightmare Spinner.