Aura

See also: Aura (Prime Skill)

All of the race of Elf are gifted with an Aura, though it was not always known to be so. The Aura of High Elves is more obvious than that of Dark Elves, but it is now known to be no more or less potent.

An Aura is a supernatural manifestation of an elf's innate connection to the natural world, and to the energies that permeate it. The classic High Elven Aura manifests as a slight intensification of natural phenomena--in sunlight, a High Elf might appear silhouetted in a subtle haze of golden light, while at night, she might be outlined in the pale blue light of Olorin or the Dark Star. When her tempers are aroused, winds might pick up in her vicinity, trees might sway, and, in extreme cases, the earth itself may seem to shudder.

For a Dark Elf, the Aura has a different effect--while a High Elven Aura seems to emit and magnify energy, the Dark Elven Aura absorbs and inhibits it. This leads to few visible effects--the aforementioned "halo" effect is reversed, a much more difficult phenomenon to observe with the naked eye--but, more importantly, leads to various psychological and spiritual ones: Dark Elves internalize all energies they absorb, and in the presence of prolonged negative energy, they can be severely degraded by this.

For a long time, it was assumed that only High Elves possessed the Aura. While it is now acknowledged that Dark Elves have one of their own, it is still widely believed that the Aura of a High Elf is strictly outgoing--as in, emitting energy--while that of a Dark Elf is strictly incoming--absorbing energy. In fact, the Aura is essentially identical in both subraces, but many factors converged throughout history so as to make it appear this were not so.

Thus, a High Elf, in the presence of positive energies--life, warmth, light, positive emotion, etc--will be empowered in spirit. This leads to the widely-known visual manifestations, as the excess energy "leaks" out. Practitioners of various magical arts can harness this excess energy, rather than simply allowing it to bleed out into the greater world.

Whereas, a Dark Elf, in times of slavery, would be subjected to cruel treatment and disregard; this negative energy weakened their spirit, causing their Aura to become feeble, or, in extreme cases, outright negative. This led to the illusion that they had no Aura at all, and to the widespread (but mistaken) belief after the Emancipation that their Auras were "inverted", emitting negative energy instead of positive.

A longtime argument of those supporting the "inverse" theory is that not all Dark Elves were treated cruelly. In fact, it was (and still is) a widespread practice among clan matrons to retain a small cadre of elite Dark Elven slaves, who are allowed many privileges and luxuries unavailable to others, in return for their services--in particular, such high-profile and difficult tasks as spying, enforcement, and assassination, those tasks too unpleasant to delegate to anyone with a "more sensitive" Aura.

In fact, millennia of selection and breeding have produced a rare strain of Dark Elf--she with such an affirmed sense of self, such a powerful and resilient spirit, that she can endure the ravages of the cruelty of her condition, only to further strengthen her resolve. This willpower also means she can "hold back" the outward manifestations of her Aura, even when flush with positive energy.

This strain has become far more prevalent since the Emancipation, as these "special servants" became matrons in their own right, reproducing en masse for the first time, while limiting the ability of weaker females to do the same. After more than a thousand years, the makeup of free Dark Elves has changed dramatically--the average Dark Elf found outside the High Forest has an innately "defensive" aura, the ability to protect oneself against harmful energies while permitting benign ones, and the willpower to avoid any "runoff" of energy that might waste its potential.