The darkness Elwens- zorkro (ZOR-kroh), or "the powerful race" in the Primal Tongue- are perhaps the most feared race in Arcadia. The churni haunt the dreams of the other Children of the Stars, and the curalli fill them with scorn, but the zorkro alone have the power to kill them forever. The darkness Elwens are soul-eaters, feeding on that part of a being that is immortal and lasts beyond death. They are the deadliest of the feeding races, and so beautiful besides that their Elwen cousins sometimes feel compelled to stay their hands.
Come among them, if you will- the darkness Elwens, the Children of Jrallar.
PHYSICAL LOOKS
Zorkro have the blackest skin in Arcadia. It is not merely dark, or brown. It is sable. A zorkro with no clothes on- and perhaps with his eyes narrowed, if he has bright ones- can stand in plain sight at midnight and not be seen. When they start to move, they resemble a living piece of darkness- as indeed they can become (see below).
Zorkro mostly have dark, straight hair, usually worn long and flowing to the shoulders (for men) and to the waist (for women). Their hair is, of course, bound up when they run through the forests on hunts, so that it does not snag on branches. At times, however, they have silver or golden hair; some would say that this is a remnant of their kinship with the lukalia. Other metallic colors, and very rarely gem, are at times observed, but almost no other hue.
Zorkro eyes are more varied, commonly silver or crystal as well as black. Gold and blue appear at times, but never in any regular inheritance pattern. Darkness Elwen genetics have never been studied in any detail, but appear to be extremely complicated.
None of this except the darkness of their skin applies to the Trulai, the high and noble, non-soul-eating caste that rules most darkness Elwen cities. They often have hair in bright, non-metallic colors such as blue or red, and their eyes are more often gold or silver than the other colors. At times, very unusual patterns have been observed on them, especially in their hair, which may be flecked with stars or patterned with another color in such shapes as that of a harp. This seems to occur naturally, without the "help" of magic.
Zorkro stand between 5'5" and 6' usually, weighing no more than 160 pounds at the heaviest. They move lightly and very gracefully, almost seeming to float over the ground. They have black teeth, save for the white fangs in front, which are just long enough not to pierce their bottom lips. They have black blood and can run up to ninety miles for short distances over open ground. This is one of the reasons that so few of their prey escape (though see also below, for other reasons why they don't).
Zorkro, unless slain beforehand, live about seventeen thousand years, just like their light Elwen kin.
EMOTIONAL MAKEUP
Most zorkro are filled with what they call fanda nabla, the "clear pride." This is a combination of pride, arrogance, scorn, and joy with which they tend to regard all of life. They face challenges with laughter in their eyes, though whether this laughter is mocking or simply joyous may depend on the seriousness of the challenge. They also tend to go into battle very confidently, knowing they will triumph.
This confidence is a reflection of a fascination with themselves that zorkro often display. Though of course such research is not often shared with outsiders, most darkness Elwens have a remarkable knowledge of their own history, origins, language, and traditions. They simply cannot believe that a people so wonderful exists.
All this sometimes leads their enemies to underestimate darkness Elwens (though not often, given their magic) and think of them as laughing lightweights who can be easily taken. Zorkro are very good at judging the seriousness of a challenge, however, and tend to laugh at them so much only because so many of them have broken on the rock of the Children of Jrallar. If a serious threat falls upon them, zorkro can fight with a stubbornness and determination that will shatter almost any resistance. Even in defeat they can be terrible (see below, the curselight of Darkfang, for an example).
The Trulai are somewhat different from the usual run of darkness Elwens in taking some concern for the wider world. Quite often, they are involved in negotiations to spare the lives of their people with enemies their people know nothing about.
MAGICAL MAKEUP
It is their magic that makes darkness Elwens so formidable. Without it, they would be nuisances at best.
Common to all darkness Elwens are:
Soul-eating. This is by far the most feared power of the Children of Jrallar. Most darkness Elwens consume a drug called reth, (Primal for oblivion) that temporarily suspends the conscience. They need this, for, in eating the soul through a wound usually made in the throat, zorkro feel the pains and emotions and memories of the person whose soul they are taking. Without the drug, they would quickly go mad.
Spirit-song. This is a song that most zorkro hunting with reth in their bodies sing, a darkened version of normal elwensong that ties the hunters to their prey (zorkro customarily hunt in pairs). If the song or the chase goes on long enough, the darkness Elwen will begin to see things through his prey's eyes and experience what he/she is feeling.
Raising the bones. When a soul is taken, the body collapses into a pile of bones with a few shreds of skin clinging to it. Zorkro can command these bones to rise and attack their pursuers. It is unknown how many bodies a darkness Elwen can command at once (another fact they do not share).
Becoming darkness. All zorkro have a kinship to darkness, and can, at will, dissipate into a cloud of it, a mass of what looks like living heavy smoke, moving at the zorkro's will. They cannot be struck in this form; any blow simply passes through it. In addition, the zorkro can see and hear normally. On the other hand, the zorkro cannot attack, other than perhaps circling an opponent's head to blind him/her.
Solidifying darkness. Most zorkro can call darkness that they then solidify into useful things (clothes, ropes, weapons, etc.) Given that one can only disarm a darkness Elwen of this ability by rendering him unconscious, a zorkro is, in effect, never without a weapon.
Common to some zorkro are:
Nirberad and tirberad gifts. These gifts most clearly show the kinship of the zorkro to the lukalia. Some zorkro have the ability to gaze back into the past, using mirrors, water, or crystal (nirberad); others have the ability to look into the future in the same way (tirberad). These are often retained by the Trulai, the former for the intense study of history that occupies much of zorkro time, the latter to spy out coming threats to the Children of Jrallar.
Available to large groups of zorkro are:
Curses. This has only been performed once in modern history, when the dying zorkro of Darkfang, conquered by the Silver Unicorn Empire, cried out as with one voice. Their life force was gathered in by the will they raised and became a curse in the form of green light on the city, destroying nearly all living beings that entered it. The curselight lingers in the city still; it welcomed the zorkro back when they returned, and tends to act now as an advanced guard system. This is a supreme example of Elwen will magic (see Elwens).
In addition to the gifts listed above, many Trulai are mages.
ORIGINS AND MODERN SETTLEMENTS
The zorkro were born as lukalia, near the Lukalia Mountains in the Rivadan Valley (see lukalia). Not far into the Age of Dawn, a group of light Elwens led by a fierce woman named Jrallar were captured by dragons and imprisoned in an underground cavern, in return for some slight paid by their people. In time, the slight was redressed, but Jrallar and her companions were not released. It is possible that her people were quietly glad to be rid of Jrallar, who, by all accounts, caused no end of trouble, and was felt to not quite have the proper disposition for a light Elwen.
Time passed.
The imprisoned lukalia should have died without starlight, without light itself. They did not. Perhaps simply by Jrallar's will, they survived, and became adapted to the darkness.
When they managed to release themselves at last, their former kin were revolted at their lack of need for light and would not accept them back. Jrallar, in her turn, turned her back on them, and led her people into a new world. She was the one who discovered reth, who discovered that her people could eat souls, who devised their new language, who gave them the name of zorkro.
It is no wonder that her people call themselves the Children of Jrallar, for all that they have spread far across Arcadia from their birthplace.
Important modern settlements include:
Darkfang. The sole darkness Elwen city still in the Rivadan Valley, home of the curse that stopped the silver unicorns from taking the Valley in the Age of Life. It is perhaps the largest zorkro city, and the most open. It stubbornly and proudly endures, in spite of the efforts of the light Elwens sharing the Valley to destroy it.
The Cities of Fear. These are the second most important group of zorkro, after Darkfang, located in the southern Nymari. The darkness Elwens of the four cities have made common cause to preserve their race, and hold out against ever more determined attempts to destroy them forever.
Sinoh. This isolated city, in the midst of Fhevu, tends to be quieter and less confrontational than darkness Elwen cities usually are. It confines its hunts to animals as much as possible.
LANGUAGES
All the languages of the zorkro share a single origin: the speech called Tinniltinnoc shaped by Jrallar for the use of her people. It was doubtless influenced by the lukalia Valarian tongues, but Jrallar rejected all conscious signs of that influence. Tinniltinnoc has changed and naturalized a little in the centuries since.
Zorkro language is widely studied only by the zorkro themselves; most other scholars are too afraid of getting eaten. Therefore, only the tongues widely-known to the outside world are here recorded.
Tinniltinnoc. The language of the Valley, probably the closest to Jrallar's original intent. Has eight different genders, none of which has anything to do with masculine or feminine (which the Valarian tongues do).
Finda. The tongue of the Nymari, rich with terms for kinship, which the darkness Elwens of the Cities of Fear study as few of their kind do. Changed the most radically of the known tongues from ancient Tinniltinnoc.
Colanda. The language commonly spoken in Sinoh, often used in secret. The zorkro of Fhevu wish to make their neighbors accept them, and that includes adopting their languages for use in public.
More to come, I promise.
