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Elves of Golarion
Elf NamEs
Most elves have four names: a personal or given name; a hidden or intimate name, usually
known only to parents, siblings, lovers or wedded partners, and children; an everyday name (a
nickname most elves firmly choose for themselves, lest they are saddled with one they dislike);
and a family name.
In general, “-el” and “-dlon” are masculine endings, and “-al” and “-dlara” are feminine
endings. Numerous variations exist: elves can also be named after ancestors of different
genders or for famous elves whose character the parents want their offspring to emulate.
male Names
Aerel, Amarandlon, Bhrenit, Caladrel, Duardlon, Erevel, Felaelrel, Genyielt, Heldalel, Imheil,
Izkrael, Jaraerdrel, Kaerishiel, Lanliss, Meirdrarel, Misoyvel, Naronel, Opharnel, Phos, Quais,
Seldlon, Seltyiel, Talathel, Variel, Zirren
female Names
Amrunelara, Cathlessra, Dardlara, Emraeal, Eriet, Faunra, Hyhisis, Idilai, Imdlara, Jathal,
Kameili, Loaiheia, Maraedlara, Merisiel, Nordlara, Oparal, Praeldral, Rhasadilara, Shivira,
Soumral, Tessara, Tiraimi, Varaera, Wyniess, Yalandlara
REgioNs
Elves typically live in or near holdings dominated by their race. The largest
elven populations exist in and around the following regions, though
more might live beyond the realms mentioned here. Although elves rarely
distinguish between subraces, those from particular regions often exhibit
alternate traits (see page 101 of the MM for details on elven subraces).
Elf (High Elf ):
Throughout the Inner Sea region, but particularly common
in Kyonin and northwestern Varisia’s Mierani Forest
Aquatic Elf: The Arcadian Ocean, Mordant Spire
Gray Elf:
Mordant Spire
Wild Elf: The Mwangi Expanse
laNguagEs
Possessing their own complex racial language and
centuries to study the speech of others, many elves
easily master tongues of other countries and races.
Automatic Languages:
Common and Elven
Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome,
Goblin, Hallit, Orc, Polyglot, Sylvan, and Varisian
typical ElvEN DEitiEs
Elves worship a variety of deities, some brought with them from their homeland of Sovyrian, but others discovered upon Golarion.
Deity
Calistria
Desna
Findeladlara
Ketephys
Nethys
Yuelral
AL
CN
CG
CG
CG
N
NG
Portfolios
lust, trickery, revenge
dreams, luck, stars, travelers
art, architecture, twilight
hunting, forestry, running
magic
magic, crystals, jewelers
Domains
Chaos, Charm, Knowledge, Luck, Trickery
Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Travel
Air, Chaos, Community, Creation, Good
Animal, Chaos, Good, Plant, Weather
Destruction, Knowledge, Magic, Protection, Rune
Artifice, Earth, Good, Knowledge, Magic
Favored Weapon
whip
starknife
quarterstaff
bow
quarterstaff
dagger
Basic ElvEN aBilitiEs
All elves possess a number of distinctive special traits and abilities. Those of the various elven subraces might possess further qualities.
• +2 Dexterity, –2 Constitution
• Medium size
• An elf ’s base land speed is 30 feet
• Immunity to sleep spells and effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects
• Low-light vision
• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a
Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it
• Weapon Proficiency: Elves are automatically proficient with the longsword, rapier, longbow, composite longbow, shortbow, and
composite shortbow
COMPANION
Elves of Golarion
T
able of Contents
Introduction
Elves of Golarion
Kyonin: Kingdom of the Elves
Combat: Alchemical Archery
Faith: Born Again
Magic: Mystical Meals
Social: Brightness Seeker
Persona: Queen T
elandia Edasseril
Preview
Editor-in-Chief
• James Jacobs
Art Director
• Drew Pocza
Editors
• Sean K Reynolds and James L. Sutter
Copy Editor
• Christopher Carey
Editorial Assistance
• Jason Bulmahn, F. Wesley Schneider, and Vic Wertz
Editorial Intern •
Claudia Golden
Graphic Design Assistance
• Sarah E. Robinson
Managing Art Director
• James Davis
Publisher
• Erik Mona
Contributing Authors
Jeff Quick, Hal MacLean, and Sean K Reynolds
Cover Artist
Ben Wootten
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Contributing Artists
Julie Dillon, Andrew Hou, Eva Widermann
Paizo CEO
• Lisa Stevens
Vice President of Operations
• Jeff Alvarez
Director of Marketing
• Joshua J. Frost
Corporate Accountant
• Dave Erickson
Sales Manager
• Christopher Self
Technical Director
• Vic Wertz
Online Retail Coordinator
• Jacob Burgess
Special Thanks
The Paizo Customer Service and Warehouse Teams
This product is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the 3.5 edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game. The OGL can be found on page 32 of this product.
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper
names (characters, deities, artifacts, places, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, language, incidents, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress.
Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the contents of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d).
No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Game License and the d20 System License,
please visit wizards.com/d20.
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All Rights Reserved. Printed in China.
COMPANION
Elves of Golarion
Elven culture is ancient. Its people are masters of arcane
magic and share a bond with a natural world that runs
deeper than most. They are sublime artists, musicians,
and courtesans. And they are subtle, graceful warriors.
Most non-elf residents of Golarion find elven behavior
confusing and contradictory. Elves seem frivolous except
when they’re melancholy. Some have the wisdom of a
thousand years but behave recklessly, risking their lives
on apparent whims. They speak gravely of honor and
friendship, then act aloof and detached from even their
closest comrades.
The frustrating part is that when confronted with these
inconsistencies, most elves just laugh. Contradictions
and all, elves must be taken for what they are, though
understanding them is not beyond a discerning mind.
To truly comprehend the elven race, one must first
accept that living a very, very long time affects behavior
unpredictably compared to shorter-lived creatures. Elves
generally do not, as some suppose, think less of the short-
lived races; in fact, most insist that they don’t dismiss
anyone simply because of inexperience. They know that
after living for a thousand years, they still haven’t seen it
all. Why should they look down on a merely 100-year-old
dwarf? That said, though the elves might not denigrate the
other races on principle, it’s hard not to be dismissive of
someone whose entire lineage can come and go in an eye-
blink, and who won’t live long enough to truly understand
any given discipline. It’s nothing personal, as far as the elves
concerned—just bad luck on the part of the other races.
Elves liken many of the contradictions inherent to
their personalities to a vision shift: When looking at
something distant, many creatures’ ability to see nearby
things blurs, and vice versa. Similarly, when focused on
their long memories, elves lose focus on current events.
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Elves of Golarion
When focused on the present, they lose track of a thousand
years of experience. Though they can shift back and
forth relatively quickly, most find it difficult to do both
simultaneously, creating complex patterns of behavior
that exasperate other races.
Furthermore, those seeking insight into elves should
understand that they are so tuned to their environment
that over scores of years, they physically conform to it,
taking on the coloring and even the demeanor of their
surroundings. Elven harmony with nature is more than
a preference, it is part of their physical being. Changes
are seldom quick, but over time, they are dramatic, and
sometimes irreversible.
Elven history is so long, even elves sometimes have
trouble distinguishing fact from legend, and some might
ask whether such a distinction is in fact necessary. Before
the
Starstone
struck in –5293 ar, the elves hardly marked
sequential time, noting important events by seasons and
astrological shifts. Yet as the cycles rolled on, their once-
green fields and forests darkened. Humans grew more
numerous. Bestial things clawed at the edge of elven
control. This world, for so long an elven paradise, grew
strange and horrific.
The elves fought back, but it was clearly a losing battle.
The humans, with their higher birthrate, could swarm
over the valiant elven warriors though each elf was worth
10 of the younger race. With the imminent cataclysm of
Earthfall urging them to action, the elven leaders made a
decision. From across the world, elves used magical gates
and vast caravans to travel to Kyonin’s capital of Iadara, to
step through a portal into the mysterious realm known as
Sovyrian, whispered to be a distant continent, planet, or
even plane or dimension from which the long-lived race
originally sprang.
A few elves remained behind, and of those, precious
few were unchanged by their decision to stay. Some
became hermits, others grew as savage as the humans.
Still others went underground. The majority, however,
remained in Iadara and shrouded their city in illusion,
making themselves caretakers of the queen’s palace,
environs, magic—and, of course, the
Sovyrian Stone,
which maintained the silent link to their brethren.
Locked behind their graceful walls, the Iadaran honor
guard weathered the catastrophic birth of the Age
of Darkness, only to watch in frustration as their
abandoned communities were looted by vandals and
bandits, and their former homes wereoverrun by tribes
of squatters. Artifacts and treasures lifted from these
pillaged communities reached markets across the world,
and to this day many elves of Kyonin consider their sale
a slight against elvenkind.
A Brief History of elves
The most dangerous of these squatters was the demon
called Treerazer, Lord of the Blasted Tarn. In 2497 ar,
Treerazer was cast out of the Abyss by his master, Cyth-
V’sug. Adrift on the Material Plane, Treerazer quickly
embraced his exile, turning the Fireani Forest into his
sordid den. The once verdant woods became twisted and
dark under the demon’s ministrations. All living things
became mockeries of their former glories, and the earth
itself grew poisoned under his command.
Eventually, the demon learned of Iadara’s shrouded
existence and felt the thrum of the
Sovyrian Stone.
True to
his nature, Treerazer set about to pervert it, twisting its
cosmic connection away from Sovyrian to point toward
the Abyss. With it, he sought a means to bring a howling
demon horde to Golarion, a triumph to win back his lord’s
favor—or a back door from which to take his revenge.
These machinations resounded in Sovyrian, and the
elves marched in response. A procession of elven scouts,
warriors, and spellcasters filed through the portal tied
to the Sovyrian Stone, reinforcing the weakened Iadaran
caretakers, restoring the brutalized ecology of the forest,
and driving Treerazer to an entrenched position in the
southern swamps of the Fireani.
Their return to Golarion reminded the elves of their lost
connection with earth, forests, and fey. With Treerazer’s
corruption pruned back, the triumphant warriors peered
cautiously into their former world, and were surprised at its
beauty. Humans had become considerably more reasonable
in their Age of Enthronement, and the elves elected to stay
and become reacquainted with their home. They spread
across the globe, finding their estranged kin, reclaiming
lost groves and artifacts, and reactivating the dormant
magical gates which connected many of their holdings.
The elves asserted their ancient rights, retaking ancestral
lands through diplomacy and force, and ruins across
Avistan and Garund resounded with strange laughter that
heretofore had been only vague legend to humans. But for
every area reclaimed, several more were relinquished—the
elves were too few to resettle all their old holdings, and
had little drive to dig out those entrenched peoples who
relied on land they had abandoned. The majority of the
returning elves simply reclaimed their homeland, Kyonin,
in earnest.
Aside from their initial foray into the world, the elves
have largely maintained a policy of isolationism since their
return to Golarion. Recently, however, political pressures
and their famously low birth rate are pushing the elves to
take a more active role in Inner Sea workings. The elves have
begun experimenting with extending the branch of trade
to their immediate neighbors, including the establishment
of mixed-race trading communities such as Greengold in
Kyonin, but like many shifts in elves, this change proceeds
slowly—perhaps too slowly for some.
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