"The high desert is no place for man or beast. It’s the hardest place to live in the realm. There’s no water, no food, no shelter, and the things that live out there see you as the only food for miles. Or so you think until you see a family of Desert Elves come walking out of it with full bellies and broad smiles. They usually only stay long enough to sell a few pelts of desert predators, enjoy drink at the tavern, and then walk back into the desert to sleep."

Caleb Throckmorton, Guard Captain of Sand’s Edge

 

Desert Elves choose to live where others do not, deep in the interior of the vast wastelands that sprawl across the center of the realms. How they live there is a mystery to all but themselves. They see their survival as nothing more than good common sense and preparation. They are rarely seen outside of their desert homes, though with the extent of the wastelands, that includes them in a great many clans and in all three kingdoms.

Desert Elves have a reputation for being serious and practical. Living in the desert has taught them the value of herbs and alchemy gathered from the small plants that dot the landscape. Navigating the wastes by the stars has given them a very personal knowledge of Astrology. Desert Elves favor the longsword, and many are known to wield those blades in each hand.

Because of their lack of contact with civilization, Desert Elves have trouble creating and operating mechanical devices. Their acclimatization to their dry climate has also made them more vulnerable to water-based magic such as Ice.

All Desert Elves wear their unique racial mark somewhere on their face. They are born with this mark, but it is purple. Only once a Desert Elf undergoes their coming of age, five days alone in the desert with only a single skin of water and a knife, that the mark darkens into black.

Advantages:
-1 Build Point cost Alchemy
-1 Build Point cost Astrology
May purchase Two Blades

Makeup:
Purple or Black Racial mark on face (must match as drawn on page 49 of the rulebook)
Pointed Ears

Disadvantages:
Double damage from Ice
Double Build Point cost for Pick Locks
+1 Build Point penalty cost to Tinkering
May not wear armor heavier than Leather