the Savage Elves (bored with Drow?)

[tantric]

i was skimming some stuff about the drow online, and decided to introduce y'all to one of my dark elven races....

Fusuliashi

Fusuliashi are the Savage Elves of the Mistflower Jungles. They are tall and thin with yellow-green skin and a variety of pastel hair colors. Their eyes are the same color as the individual's hair, only metallic. Females tattoo their skins with black ink, whereas males use multicolored inks. The tattoos are in abstract, jagged patterns like that of shadows on the jungle floor. They wear skins as loincloths. Their stark and ugly cities are scattered throughout the Mistflower Jungles.

Savage Elves are of the Iron Alliance, and further more are Cannibals and Necromancers. Specifically, they torture and bleed Faeries and kill and reanimate Shifter (and animals), but reserve their greatest horror for other Elves - a process by which Seelie and Aseelie Elves can be turned into Savage Elves. Nevertheless, they are terrified of the SpiritFolk, and with good reason. There are few other races who inhabit their cities, notably Goblins and FlowerMantids, but most other Unseelie avoid them. There are, of course, many kinds of Undead. They power their civilization with Necromantic Technology, from Zombi Slavelabour to TalkingHead computers.


The mania of the Fusuliashi is unlike that of the sadistic Damethear or the inhuman Astsantse. The Savage Elves are positively gleeful, rather like perverse ultra powerful children. Even their obsessive focus on sex, in every disgusting permutation, seems childish. Their major form of entertainment involves dressing their Zombis in elaborate costumes and staging plays. Of all the Iron Alliance elves, only the Savage Elves have a sense of humor, for what it's worth.

They do not (often) hate their victims. For the most part, the Savages love and admire the Good Sports among the Flowerfolk. The Raids are fun, and the Florans put up a lovely fight. Fusuliashi have no concern of death at all. Attackers may wear Televoyance headbands for viewers back home. They have been know to leave presents in the raided villages, to send "get well" cards and even reparations. And Audience Appreciate Gifts. And just as often suicide bombers and trojan horses full of who knows what? Savages are *mad* - they will walk directly into a FlowerFolk village, sit at the bar and ask for tea - *they* expect to be held in friendly regard. A Sprite coming into a Savage city might be safe, for a while, or not, but he would not be treated rudely. Lots of visitors come for the Big Shows, and no one would dare harm or annoy an audience member/critic

The goings-on of the Fusuliashi are called Events by the Natives. There are Fetes, Galas, Shows, Tourneys and worse besides. The majority of Fusuliashi culture exists in the form of Literature, in the form of Thatch books, which are performed. There are thousands of works, hundreds of Classics, and every single Savage Elf is either a writer, an actor or a director (or some combination) and an informed critic. These Performances, which use large numbers of Zombis (controlled by the Directors), are called Shows. Tourneys, on the other hand, are improvisational and often feature fights, torture and/or copulation involving Chonchons, Jujus and Inaminals. Fetes, which also take place in the same structures, are parties in honor of someone or something, whereas Galas are Carnival style street parties which venture out into the Jungles beyond the city. The ultimate expression of Savage Elf performance art is the travelling Circus, which, on occasion, will take a tour of the Centrality or the Rootsworld of the Damethear. The Circus is tolerated, provided no locals are involuntarily molested, but not especially welcomed. On the other hand, the Circus performers truly outdo themselves while on tour, with shows the exceed anything performed in their homeland.

Fusuliashi have no concept of family. It seems they raise their children for the sole purpose of warping and humiliating them. When babies are born, their Spirits are drain into Token, usually by the mother. The children are not exactly Liches, though they do mature quickly. Younger Fusuliashi are not given the knowledge of Necromancy, and thus must beg and serve the Necromancers. The Savage Elves are reasonably Fecund, for Elves, and each Necromancer has several Assistants. When a Savage regains his Spirit, he gets the adult tattoos, which are done with Tisane Inks and serve as a barrier and protect for their Spirits.

Their groups are more like gangs than tribes, dominated by whoever has the most Undead (and thus artistic license). Any spark will throw the gang into high drama, and the continued existance of the Race is mostly due to a kind of universal aversion towards physically harming each other. Indeed, the Fusuliashi cherish and adore one another - they especially love having Stylistic Foes, who do their combat in the form of Farces and Mockeries.

Most Fusuliashi are artists, some of astounding talent and profundity. They are base, corrupt and mad, but they create great literature. If one can get over the fact that their plays are preformed by Undead, the artistry is undeniable. For instance, the best composers select Zombis that can sing one single pure note, and arrange them into choruses. The songs so produces are divine and inspired - it's the instruments that are questionable. For all Faeries, and others besides, there is a kind of religion associated with Art. For those who practice ArtCraft, it is the Graces. For the workers of more emphemeral media there are the Muses. The Fusuliashi, however, count thirteen instead of the usual nine, adding Anomnia for boredom, Euthanopes for horror, Polymene for mystery and Phrice for terror. Polymene and Anomnia are Oracles, whereas the other two are (unfortunately) Cartyrids.

Fusuliashi Cities

The Cities of the Fusulashi are clusters of amphitheaters and pyramids in and on which they perform their Fetes and Galas. To understand the "civilization" of the Savages, one must understand their building materials. The Savage Elves use their Tisanes to turn living matter into something akin to plastic - Metateratomic Materials (things made monsterous).

Their amphitheaters are thus built of gray and black Adobe slabs, and may be full round, conical or otherwise. Their pyramids are stair step and may have three, four or six sides, likewise of pristine and sterile Adobe. Their structures are permanent, erosion proof and utterly non biodegradable, and thus require no upkeep. For their homes, they make dome struts from Plywood and Rubbervines, then hang Thatch. When speaking of Fusuliashi architecture, it must the understood that the "they" doing the building are Zombis and Drones directed by a Necromancer - the Elves themselves do no labor. Building by proxy is still a complicated task, and thus the short attention span Savages favor simple styles or works in progress. The Fusuliashi do not name their Cities, but do name their Stages, Promenades and Stadiums.


Like all the major cultures of Worldstrees, Fusuliashi live with an assortment of cohabitants. Their Undead slaves: Zombis, Jujus, Chonchons, and Jellybabies and their semisentient Inanimal races, particularly Drones and now Cacmaws make up the majority of these. There are also sentient Undead, Banshees (died for art), Lotusmoke Wraiths and Liches. The Littlepeople who chose to live among the Cannibals are mostly parasites and bloodsuckers. There are Ixies (ticks, which ride around on emaciated Agoutis), Vampire Slyphs, Blueflies, Botflies, Midges, included the dreaded SavageMidge (which transmitts cannibalism) and Ichneumen Pixies. Both Whippersnaps and FlowerMantid can hold their own in Cannibal Cities. Most Goblins and even civilized Unseelies abhor the Savages.


(there's more, let me know if it tickles your fancy)

[Ziegander]

This is beautiful and twisted. Do you have a full setting document or anything like that?

[Steel Mirror]

I didn't understand about a quarter of what just happened, but I love it. Making elves inscrutably monstrous and yet childishly uninhibited (which is also monstrous) again. I approve.

[tantric]

sorry for the delay, yes, there's much more - even a campaign arc and some fiction

History of the Mistflower Jungles

After the War of Sundering, some 15,000 years ago, the Fusulishi settled in the region of the Mistflower Jungles known as the Tepuin. At the time it was inhabited by neolithic tribesmen, Shifters, LittlePeople, Dryads, a local variety of Satyr known as a Chevrotain and a fairly advanced collective of Macaw species (minimacaws).

For the Fusuliashi, this was prime pickings. They enslaved and zombified anyone they could catch. What followed was the true bloom of Savage civilization. Unfettered by the moral chain of the Centrality, surrounded by hapless native who knew no fear, the sky was their limit. Necrotech advanced by leaps and bounds, ultimately resulting in the Talking Heads, leading to something similar to an information age.

During this time the local Shifter were reduced to slaves. When the slave reached a post-reproductive age, he was made undead to serve forever. The LittlePeople were left wild and hunted. When captured, their bodies were drained for their essential humours to make the disgusting Tisanes. The local animals were used mostly for experimentation. Some were very successful, especially the Drones created from ordinary beetles.

However, during these ten thousand years, a revolution was brewing. Faerie races have no psychic abilities whatsoever, but this is not the case for the more intelligent animals. The Macaws in particular have always had minor gifts. By care selective breeding, they began to concentrate their powers into a few new lines. They created five new clans specializing in the battle skills: Necrokinesis, ESP, Ergokinesis, Telekinesis and Telecontrol, along with a sixth race to unite and lead them.

Five thousand years ago, it was on. The Savages were taken completely by surprise. By means of Necrokinesis, the Macaws could usurp the Savages' control over their Zombi and Drone armies. It was more massacre than war and history records it as the Tepuin Genocide.

The Savages fled, crossing the Great Escarpment, mostly in ill constructed rafts with slave porters. They crossed the Greenfalls, then began to settle and rebuild between the Yellowfalls and Lake Serenity.

The Fusuliashi hit the Flowerfolk like a particularly tacky tsunami. Still in shock from the Tepuin Genocide and loaded for bear, they destroyed thousands of peaceful Floran villages merely in passing. Florans used Lorecraft, which is a lesser form of magic that is almost useless against the Necrotech of the Savages. The Rioflorans were exterpated from the Green and Gold rivers.

Savage Elf culture is in a long, slow decline. They never rebuilt the grandeur of the Tepuin cities and worse, there is a strong cultural malaise. Though they have their own strange and terrible Muses, the true zeitgeist of this age is Ennui.

After recovering from the initial shock of the invasion, the Floran launched a guerrilla warfare campaign against the Savages. In response, the Savages created Godzillas, 45m tall Inanimal lizard things whose only food source was Hometrees. The Godzillas were defeated at great cost, and the Florans retreated into the selva densa to lick their wounds.

The one exception to this blitzkrieg was the city of Serenity. Long established on the north shore of Lake Serenity, trading ships from the Centrality were accustomed to docking there during the rainy season to take on cargoes of spices and drugs. Serenity has its own government and police force, and the Savages decided to assimilate and enjoy the fruits of trade.

A few hundred years into the Occupation, a bioprospector discovered a new species of psuedofungus growing the the ruins of the Riofloran villages. The sap from this fungal flower (it appears to be a fusion between an orchid and a fungus) yielded a powerful drug. Unlike any other drug on Erywhone, Lotus dust is powerfully addictive. Thus began the second phase of the Occupation.

The hedonistic Centrality pays top dollar for novel psychedelics. The channels were already there - the Floran export tons of local ethnobotanicals, but none of them compare with Lotus Dust. Soon money was pooring in and Serenity took on all the bad characteristics of a wild west boom town.

The Florans have been regrouping with a will. Their technology is growing at a phenomenal pace (for Erywhone). They have founded new cities, developed new weapons and acquired new allies. Nevertheless, the Savages still raid their villages for slaves. The raids are infrequent and not a threat to Floran civilization.

The Floran are excellent sociologists and their best predictions say that the Fusuliashi culture is doomed. While Lotus Dust brought in money, it is also eating away at their heart. Most of their Redoubt cities are abandoned or half-finished, and many of their vital technologies have been lost. By most estimates, within 10,000 years, the Savages will be extinct.

Thuksala ZombiMaster

Thuksala is the most powerful Necromancer amongst the Fu'suliashi. Though just as insane as the rest of his race, he is more focused. In particular, he is fond of (actually, monomaniacal about) himself, which is not unusual for Savage Elves. He has convinced several hundred of his Tribe to engage in his mad game of trade and Empire - the Trust Coperation. Thuksala occupies a large portion of the Temple of Flesh, built by the Ahuitzotls for their own reasons.


The Ahuitzotls have taken Thuksala as some kind of divinity, much to the ZombiMaster's delight. There is an uneasy truce between the Fu'suliashi of the Temple and the Ahuitzotls maintained purely by Thuksala's force of will. He intends to learn to control the creatures, or at least communicate with them, but is pressed for time at the moment. He is keenly interested in their reproductive cycle, with the intent of breeding an army of them. Most of the Ahuitzotls' worship seems to be based on his pet Chemosit bodyguards (Left and Right), but even Thuksala doesn't really understand why the ape-demons serve him.

Thuksala himself is an imposing specimen, almost 2 meters tall and bone thin. His puce hair and metallic purple eyes contrast garishly with his livid cyan skin. Like all Necromancers, he wears necklaces made of the shrunken but still beating hearts of the Jujus he controls. In Thuksala's case, there are over 100 arranged in concentric necklaces from torc size to one that reaches his midriff. His tattoos are blue and red and cover his entire body and he wears a ceremonial cape of Macaw feathers.

Thuksala's charisma is such that he can actually convince certain Fu'suliashi to work cooperatively. It is thus that he maintains the most complete Necromantic laboratory ever assembled. His "larder" contains representatives of almost all the Faerie races bound in resin and force fed through tubes. They are all completely mad, of course, but that just makes it better for Thuksala. Not satisfied with the power of his personality, Thuksala controls his apprentices with addictive drugs and slow acting poisons, and only he knows the full formulas for every concoction.

Also unusual for a Fu'suliashi, Thuksala engages in trade. The Temple of Flesh is productive enough to create an excess of several Necromantic potions, and his Zombis actively harvest rare ingredients for the magic trade. Attempting to bargain with such a monster is perilous, of course, but there are always takers.

Thuksala is actively interested in the world outside the Mistflower Jungles. In return for a written treatsie on basic Necromantic rituals, he received an honorary membership in the Collegium. This in hand, he is now attempting to sponsor several of his apprentices in the Collegium, in order to bring the secrets of Lorecraft and ArtCraft under his control. In the same vein, he has ordered his people to cease harassing the Hierophants resident in the jungles, and a few Fu'suliashi are now counted as Neophyte Hierophants. He is also a sponsor of the Savage Elf contingent of the Knights of Everdark. These activities are a source of great concern amoungst wise Seelie throughout Worldstree, who have no wish at all for the Savage Elves to enter into the mainstream civilization.

Trust Corporation

The Trust Corp is Thuksala's cooperate government. It's business is both death and life - they produce Zombis and Undead, for sale, and Tisanes. They also produce Savage Elves. The Trust Corp actually has a Orphanage and Prep School, which is actually worse than one might imagine. They trade their Tisanes to other Savages for children, and are especially proud of their Halfway House for converted nonSavage elves. The Trust Coperation is about army building. The fosterlings have their various insanities matched with Training and Occupation. The teachers are all various types of Pedophiles, of courses. Or misapeds. Whatever. This is, nevertheless, the first and only attempt at child rearing and family every practiced in Savage society, and it has a powerful affect. It has been said that the Fusuliashi are more mad than evil, and Trust Coperation does feature something like love. Or obsession. Both, often.

The Bored of Directors has 14 members beside the Zombimaster Himself. The positions assigned to Directors seem as if they were made up before the Corp started functioning, and then had duties assinged to them. That is say, they are not especially rational or useful. His sister and second in command is Dvihinsa Ladydark, Director of Security and Cosmoknight. Shumzula Gigglemaster is the manic-depressive Director of Morale. Umsa'an Fluxmaster is the Director of Commerce and compulsive kleptomaniac. Akee'zha Truthmaster is the Director of Diplomance, she suffers from antisocial personality disorder. Zumzumsaa Potionmaster is Director of Fabrication and is deeply addicted to several of his alchemical creations. Duktharan Mazemaster is a terminally ill immortal who controls the ranks of zombies as Director of Impersonel. Aganti Ticklemater, the Director of Acquisitions, suffers from near delusional bigotry. Dinkaa Painmaster is the S&M Director of Resources - this including captured victims. Ee'za Mindmaster is the Director of Information and a paranoid with delusions of telepathy. Ekonosoli Shadowmaster is the schizophrenic Director of Technology. The Director of Etiquette is Zhang Taskmaster, who is OCD with a germ fetish. Aa'hui Waymaster is the compulsive liar/Director of Propaganda - the Cacmaws are also his Brainchild (or, rather, he says they are someone else's idea). There are two non-Fusuliashi, Madame Cuckoo and Madame Invivo. M. Cockoo is an Ebony Dryad, the Director of Education and head of the Nursery. She is a truely deranged pedophile. Madame Invivo is a Red Hag and Director of Personnel and thus the Fertility Clinic.

Fu!suliashi Necromancy

One of the favorite and most despised tactics of the Savage Elves is the reanimate bodies of their fallen enemies (and friends). Only the bodies of Celenes (and presumably other mortals) can be brought back, due to the complicated nature of the Lifeforce that drives them. The simplest is the Zombi, made by removing the brain from a corpse and shrinking it. The body is also treated with herbal salves to slow decay. The brains are worn as power markers, usually in belts. Zombis have no mind or will whatsoever. They follow the instructs of their driver directly and literally who communicates with the Zombi by holding and squeezing it's shrunken brain.. Left alone, they will just stand still forever. The Juju, though resembling a Zombi, is a creature created by the enslavement of the heart/animus instead of the mind/soul. The cardiectomy must be performed on a living sacrifice. Jujui maintain a evil will, but cannot help but to obey the one who holds the still beating heart. Chonchon are the most repulsive undead. During daylight they resemble sleeping humanoids, but nightly the head and dangling cords of viscera detach and go in search of prey. The dangling intestines can entangle, strangle, and suck blood. They can make Clones, though brief lived, and TalkingHeads, which they use as a kind of recorder/computer. Another of their potions will pervert the souls of animals, causing them to become mutated and undying Inanimals. The Savage Elves are not openly muderous towards living Weres - they consider live slaves more useful than Zombis, especially if they are entertaining. Each of these rites comprises one of the Cannibal Codices of Sorcery. Necromantic Alchemy is Wizardry - practitioners gain their powers through an (extremely painful) rite of Initiation. The Tisane Path and the Sacrificial Arts are separate Paths. Thuksula Zombimaster has produced a Codex of Tisanery, the first such as most Alchemist are jealous of their Knowledge.


Inanimals and Drones

Inanimals can be created through the Necromancy of the Fu!suliashi or an act of Witchcraft. Any natural animal, meaning Insects, Reptiles, Fish, Mullosks, Birds, Rodentkin and even Elephants, can be subjected to the treatment whereby its portion of the Animus is cut off and warped. The body of the animals reflects its peversion, becoming twisted and deformed. Intelligence is also affected: nonsentient snakes being to think and sentient birds become savages. Inanimals are often large - Birds tend to become somewhat Ratite/Diatryma-like and flightless, for instance, and Giant Insect Inanimals are common. Nevertheless, each Inanimal is somewhat unique - it's very nature is that is not a part of any species or group. Inanimals are normally immortal but unhealing. They need the living Anima of ordinary Animals for energy, usually in the form of blood or body heat. Thus although the do not need to "eat" often, they do require that their prey be captured alive. Naturally, Inanimals are Cannibals and prefer a diet of their own former species. Animals can sense the presence of an Inanimals, though not all run away (predators, for instance, are perfectly content to dine on the flesh of mutants). Inanimals can breed, though their fertility is unpredictable, and some have naturalized fully.

Drones are Inanimal Giant Beetles. Servitor Drones resemble the robot "Twinkie" in "BuckRogers" with an extra set of arms. They are both comic and pathetic. Though they can memorize very complex routines and understand verbal directives, they are just below being sentient. They can be taught to simulate emotions and are great mimics. Though sexless, they are often fitted with faux sex organs for the amusement of the Savages. On the whole, however, they are mostly ignored, as they are considered boring. Only Savage children bother to tormet and/or befriend them.

Soldier Drones are very different. They are trisymmetrical warriors. They have three legs, three arms, a band of eyes and antennae with a dorsal mouth. The hands have two fingers and thumb and can use weapons, though they do cutting damage by themselves. Tank Drones are much larger (3m) and have slug-like lower bodies protected by a chiton curtain. Their armor is much denser and their third 'backward' hand is larger and designed for throwing. Artillery Drones have one unjointed arm that acts as a nozzel. Their natural spray is a caustic irritant, but they can be loaded with various Tisanes. Scout Drones are tiny flying models with four legs and wings.

Though they also know Revenantry, Faeries have more interesting uses to the Fu!suliashi. Lacking mortal biologies, Faeries instead have four bodily Humours; blood, bile, lymph and phlegm. With a sufficiently sharp and hollow reed, these can be drained from subjects without actually killing them. As the Savage Ones uses these biles to make their Tisanes, the trade and capture of such prisoners is of great import. Their greatest ritual, however, is reserved for other Elves - a potion that turns them into maniacs and cannibals and eventually into Savage Elves. The potions of Necromancy are different from those of Greater Alchemy in that they have a psychoactive component, in addition to being more powerful and undetectable to ordinary Magic (meaning Lorecraft and Savantry). Beings under the influence of Necromantic Tisanes are infected with a sense of wicked glee, and almost compelled to abuse their power. Not only do the Fu!suliashi perform their desacration on each other, they do it recreationally. They believe that it is possible to have too much of the Humours, this leading to sickness or discomfort, which is then cured by "bleeding". The process is considered erotic, and is often combined with sex. Typically, there are reeds for the femoral artery, urethra, nose and coccyx, with a supplementary tube for forced ingestion. Though the process of being drained is not in itself lethal, most Faeries expire from sheer horror - and often rise as Revenants, if their bodies are not specially dealt with. A more advanced process involved specialized parasitic GuineaWorms, which attach to the various internal stores of the fluids and extend their tails out through blisters on the skin, and are thereby milked. This technique, employed by the Zombimaster, gives victims a much longer lifespan due to organic narcotics produced by the worms. Victims that die from being drained completely (not those that die of horror during the process) are not subject to reanimation in any form.

A healthy Elf contains 5 liters of Blood, about a quart of Bile, a cup of Lymph and a few drams of Phlegm. These are all equally potent, and smaller beings contain the same amounts of useful ingredients, though more concentrated. Thus the standard unit is a Dramen, being the completely drained Humor of one being of any size, evaporated or solvated (with distilled water only) to one dram fluid volume. Necromantic Alchemy is much more like Mundane Chemistry than is Hedge Alchemy or Greater Alchemy. Only distilled water is used as a medium, and only vitredur flasks as containers. Some mixtures have to be heated, refluxed or distilled, but the process is still fairly lowtech. Typically, the quantities used to create a single-use Firstwave Tisane are in milldrams.Tisanes are wickedly potent - literally microscopic amounts can have punishing effects.

The technology of the SavageElves can make the following Tisanes: First wave) Invulnerability, Endurance, Warrior, Speed, Strength, Stealth, Leadership, Odiousness, Madness, Jealousy, Sleep, Mana Drain, Mana Flux, Self-Love, Hatred, Fear, Weakness, Lecherousness, Love, Telecommunication, Drunkenness, Frustration, Foolishness, Death, Aging, True Sight, Invisibility, Water Breathing, Luck, Health, Youth; Second wave) Reanimation - Chonchon, Reanimation - Zombi, Reanimation - Juju, Animacide; Third wave) EmBalm, Adobe, Plywood, Thatch, Ether Static, Rubbervine, Malleator, Vitragel, Memomist, True Paint, Ghostgas, Sillyputty; Fourth wave), Reanimation - Vampire (Thuksala only), Inanimagensis, Reanimation - TalkingHead, . These potions are Noble Magic, and thus cannot be negated or even detect by Base Magic (Lorecraft, etc). The Telecomm Tisane, for instance, is unjammable or interceptible long distance audio only communication. They also come in many formats, from pill to semimaterial ghostgas. Ghostgas is gaseous ectoplasm made with a Revenant as the carrier. It is immaterial and can penetrate anything but gold, assuming the revenant that when into it wasn't Seelie. It is harmed by sunlight, but can be attracted to certain things, depending on the Tisane. Typically, Manadrain Ghostgas bombs are used, so the the gas will activity seek out magic and drain it. Ghostgas requires 10x as much Tisane as a regular Gasbomb. They can also mix a few Tisanes with Latex and make magical garmets. These usually can't be cut and have to be poured on. Invulnerability, Undetectabily, Warrior, Speed, all very often used. Only one Tisane per suit, and it requires mana to power the affect, though it is still Noble Magic. Latexane Suits can have random side effects, even mutating their wearers, which much adds to the fun. They are also known energy theives, which can drain and even kill.