Vuulari

Vuulari
Racial Characteristics
Hair Color:	White
Eye Color:	Red
Other Information
Country of Origin:	Elvendeep-area
Significant Populations:	Chath'z'ress
Related Races:	Drow, Elves, Gulanadurians

Commonly known as dark elves to surface-dwelling races, The Vuulari are a group of elves that splintered away from the rest of the elven nation in the distant past as a result of the ancient wars between elves and the dragons. They turned to a pantheon of insectoid deities and forsook the surface to dwell in the deep places of the World Underneath.

Even many thousands of years later, the Vuulari's schism is still an open wound in the long elven cultural memory that evokes a great deal of animosity on both sides. Surface elves commonly refer to Vuulari as Lurkers, Apostates, Kinslayers or even less pleasant epithets. Both sides consider the idea of interbreeding repulsive and a sign of deviance. Vuulari possess dark skin that ranges anywhere from ashen grey to coal black. Their hair is frequently white or silver, and their eyes most commonly red or purple, but many hair hair and eye colors found among surface elves have some degree of expression in Vuulari communities. The Vuulari language has diverged significantly from surface elven dialects in their millennia of separation, and the two groups have difficulty communicating with one another when they wish to do more than exchange insults and threats. Many surface races feel that the Vuulari tongue has a much harsher sound than the melodious tones of surface elven races.

Race Origins

In the most ancient days of elven civilization, when the world was still young, the Vuulari were merely one of the various elven nations scattered across the world. In those days, dragons were far more numerous, and with the aid of tribes of lizardmen that worshiped them as gods, they carved out wide swathes of territory as their domain. The empires of the elves were expanding, and as they claimed new lands, they came into conflict with the dragons and their reptilian minions. The elves felt that the dragons claimed far too much land and did not leave enough for others. The dragons, for their part, resented the intrusion and had no more wish to negotiate with these little pests than a farmer wishes to negotiate with the crows in his field. And as the conflict grew, the elven knowledge of magic flourished as elves looked for a way to battle their foes and even the odds. Eventually, this led some to the exploration of dark magics, such as necromancy and demonology. The Vuulari were at the forefront of the research into the dark disciplines, so heavily besieged by the dragons and their servitors were they that they began to build their cities underground to protect them from dragon's fire. Maldrathass revealed herself to one such student of fell arts, a sorceress named Vic'inid, offering the Vuulari great power in return for becoming her chosen children.

The terrible powers offered by Maldrathass and the other Vermin Lords allowed the Vuulari to win smashing victories against the dragons, binding them to earth with her black arts so that they could be set upon by Vuulari warriors seeking vengeance. The faith of Maldrathass and the other insect Spirits spread throughout the Vuulari nation, at first existing beside the elves' traditional practices, but gradually eclipsing them. In time, the Vuulari ceased to pay homage even to the great Celestial Divinities, calling the Weaver of Webs their mother.

Due to the far-flung nature of the ancient elven nations, the other elven peoples were not aware of the extent of the changes that were occurring among their brothers and sisters until it was far too late. While elves who were in regular correspondence with the Vuulari expressed concern for their willingness to consort with demons, and about nature of the magical innovations coming from their wizards, the worst tales of what was occurring within their borders were dismissed as wild rumors. The Vuulari noble houses, now dominated by priestesses of Maldrathass, did their best to conceal the truth from the wider world until they could start making converts in other nations

No longer content with merely removing the threat to their borders, the Vuulari went on the offensive against the dragons, attacking their strongholds, and slaughtering the dragons' servitors without quarter. And as the servants of Maldrathass attempted to infiltrate other elven nations and turn others to the worship of the Spider, they were surprised that their advances were rebuffed, and that other elves were repulsed by the change that had come over their brethren. This led to increasing hostility between the Vuulari and other elven nations, whose pleas for the Vuulari to abandon their dark ways and return to the light of the Celestial Court only offended the dark elves. Tensions between the Vuulari and other elven nations escalated until a group of Vuulari soldiers attacked a Symaru settlement under questionable circumstances, shedding the blood of their elven kinsmen.

The alarmed leaders of the elven nations convened a council to resolve their differences and avert the war looming on the horizon. At the council, many distinguished elven orators entreated the representatives Vuulari to see the error of their ways, and to reconcile with their fellow elves. They made empassioned pleas to avoid a fratricidal war that would only weaken them, and leave them open to attack from the dragons. The representatives of the Vuulari sat stone-faced throughout the long hours of orations, and when called upon to give their response, they berated the representatives of the other nations for their stupidity. For had they not offered the means to achieve final victory over their adversary, only to have their gifts spurned? They derided the assembled council for their blind faith in weak and useless gods, and concluded with a litany of blasphemies, rejecting the Celestial Court and each of the great bird Spirits that served them.

As the stunned silence in the council chamber gave way to howls of outrage, the priestesses leading the delegation of the Vuulari announced that they would have nothing further to do with those unworthy of the name of elf, and that they were leaving them to their deaths at the end of a dragon's claws. They departed from that last council, and not long after, the entire nation abandoned the surface, conducting foul rituals to the Vermin Lords before setting fire to their remaining holdings on the surface. Under the infernal glow of the conflagrations, they turned their back on the sky and the Celestial Court forever, delving deep into the earth to conquer a harsh land pleasing to their terrible gods.