Dark Elf R.C.C.:

Dark Elves are an out-shoot of normal elves that have an evil reputation. This is due to the fact that most Dark Elves are Nihilists. They believe that the entire Mega-Verse, including themselves, should be wiped clean, and that Life should be given a chance to start all over again. They view all current Life as being anywhere from stunted to outright WRONG, and will do their best to wipe it out, or at least work towards wiping it out. This is not to say that they that they believe themselves to be any better at all. Matter of fact, they see their own eventual demise as being as necessary as the destruction of all other life. It is merely that they have taken it up them to insure that Life does indeed get a second chance to get it right. And that is by removing all current Life, *including* themselves.

Even though the Dark Elves do tend to be viewed as sadistic beings, this is not true: They fully believe that what they are doing is right, and will in fact try to prevent any unnecessary suffering on the part of their victims. It is bad enough that the Universe dealt life a bad hand the first time around, and that this should be corrected, one should not go around making life (short as it may turn out to be) even more miserable for others than it already is. Dark Elves have often surprised people by healing wounded or sick people, only to poison the water supply of the town when they left, insuring a fast and painless death for the entire town....

Although most Dark Elves are willing to wait until they have the opportunity to destroy the entire Mega-Verse, or at least sizable parts, on occasion a member of the race or even a small to medium group of them will decide that they need to start somewhere and start destroying whatever they have the ability to. On occasion this has even led to conflict between impatient groups and those who would wait for the right time.

The other reason that Dark Elves are often seen as evil is due to the Nihilist attitude of Dark Elves, which often attract various evil and destructive Supernatural Intelligences. As time has gone on, more and more groups of Dark Elves have come under the control of a Supernatural Intelligence. These groups often lose their original philosophy and instead simply becomes the minions and servants to the Intelligence which is often worse.

This is not to say that all dark elves have this attitude. Some Dark Elves that have lived alongside other races have discarded this attitude. As well, an occasional Dark Elf in the mainstream society will discard the attitude as well as being unworkable. These Dark Elves are either driven from the community, usually running away before being killed, or are killed.

Dark Elves most often live underground in caves, caverns, old tunnels, and even huge underground cities they have created. Dark Elves are excellent engineers and are the equivalent of Kobolds in their underground skills.

They are also excellent weapon makers and make weapons equal to Kobolds. For clothing, they normally wear Dark or Black Clothing. They have cloaks that act as the spell Chameleon as well as hiding their heat signature. They also make special lightweight armors.

Dark Elf society is rather harsh with only the stronger surviving. Early in their lives, when they are still kids, they are tested to see if they are strong enough to fulfill the task that lies ahead of them. And the testing for strength never really ends. A often heard remark in Dark Elf society is that "Tests are not for grades. They are for life!". It should be no surprise that assassination is considered a high skill in their society, and is in fact a recognized and honorable tool by which to prove ones fitness to live (or another persons unfitness to live off course). Dark Elves are normally organized into clan groups with the strongest elder, male or female, being the king or queen. In such a competitive society as that of the Dark Elves, the position of King or Queen is a hotly contested one, and more than anyone else the clan leader is constantly tested for his or her strength. Few are the clan leaders that have died of old age, and even fewer are the ones that have build such a reputation that no one dares to challenge them anymore.

The groups dominated by Supernatural Intelligences are extremely harsh. Total submission to the Intelligence is required to survive in these clan groups and the Intelligence are either in control of the clan or they have a king or queen as a figurehead. Fighting is much of what drives the various clans. Different groups are often fighting among each other. This is often between the groups controlled by Supernatural Intelligences and either those controlled by other Intelligences or those that are independent.

Due to some unusual adaption to underground environment, they have trouble with sunlight and prefer to stay in dark environments. They can reduce their problems with sunlight by wearing precautions such as eye protection and cloaks to shroud their bodies from direct sunlight. What gives their name is the fact that the classic dark elf skin color is ebony black although some dark elf skin is dark grey or blue black as well. Their hair is also varied a bit. White and silver are common hair colors but black is not uncommon as well for them. Their eyes can be purple, green, dark blue, or lavender and they can see in infra-red light. When seeing in the infra-red their eyes have a disturbing red glow over them, no matter what the original color of the eyes. Dark elves, like all other elves, tend to be very tall and athletic.

Alignment: Any, but mostly selfish and evil
Attributes: The Number of 6 sided dice rolled is as designated: I.Q.: 3D6+1, ME: 3D6, MA: 2D6, PS: 3D6, PP: 4D6, PE: 3D6, PB: 5D6, SPD: 3D6 (Attributes are NOT supernatural)
Hit Points: PE + 1D6 per level of experience
S.D.C.: 10, plus those gained from OCC's and physical skills.
Horror Factor: 8 (10 when eyes are glowing)
PPE: 5D6
Natural Abilities: High Agility and Beauty. Have generally high intelligence. Night vision 120 feet (36.6 meters). Night Vision is combined infra red vision (both light emitting and non light emitting)and light amplification. When using active infra red vision, eyes glow red. Naturally ambidextrous and automatically have paired weapons in one weapon that they learned in their youth. Dark Elves get +2% on Prowl, any tracking skills, and the Skill "Identify Plants and Fruit" specialized for underground plants. All dark elves have the ability to meld with shadows equal to the fourth level Wizard / Ley Line Walker spell.
Disadvantages: Lose standard Elven bonuses to using a bow (no extra attack) and do not get +2% bonus to wilderness skills. Without protection against bright light, Dark Elves get - 2 to strike, parry, and dodge as well as -10% to skill proficiencies in bright light (Includes sun light or globe of daylight) without protection against the light.
Combat: Two without combat training, or those gained from hand to hand combat and / or boxing.
Bonuses: Only those gained from attributes, O.C.C., and skill bonuses.
Psionics: Standard, basically same as humans.
Averages life span: 550 years (Slightly less than common elves)
OCC's (Palladium): Virtually any OCC, Necromancer is a very common OCC for Dark Elves
OCC's Rifts: Virtually Any, except for Coalition Military. Necromancer, Shifter, Temporal Warrior, Temporal Wizard, and Mystic Knight are common OCCs for Dark Elves.
Skills of Note: 90% speak and read the Dragonese/Elf languages at 98% (They have a variant of this language as well), Speak Gobbley, speak and will be literate in one other language, know basic math (All at +20%), in addition to OCC Skills.
Habitat: Dark Areas, includes caves, caverns, old tunnels, and even huge underground cities. On Rifts Earth, most common in the Federation of Magic.
Enemies: Most races due to their reputation. Elves and Dwarves are among their greatest enemies.
Allies: None but use Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, and Trolls often as minions.
Size: 6 feet + 1D6 inches tall.
Weight: 150 to 230 lbs.
Notes: Dark Elves tend to have attitudes that are very hard to understand. They might help a village and then the week after decide to destroy the village. They are even in smaller amount on Rifts Earth than normal Elves, they may be 500 on the whole of Rifts Earth. Dark Elves also have very high quality melee weapons. Use Kobold weapon qualities.

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Writeup by Mischa (E-Mail Mischa) and Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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