'How hasty you are to point out that my people owe allegiance to your Senator. But your petty strife and pitiful intrigues bore us, Imperial, and our allegiance is merely ink on paper, not invoked by blood. We never shared battle, nor feasts, nor kinship. The Senator thought to purchase us with that crude contract but we are Moreldin, descendants of Caladnir Aen Daglunath and the great heroes of the Second Age, the victors of the Forgeheart Massacre, the defenders of the Kavraenar Ziggurath, and scions of Dread Skar'Voran. My kin owes nothing to yours save for the silver already paid as per your sorry little contract. Tell this to your Senator.'

- The Dark Elf Prince Laekor to the envoy of Senator Adarius of Deven

Dark Elves are the cruel, vengeful descendants of the ancient Elven clan that turned on its own kin and was exiled into darkness in the Second Age. Against all odds, however, the displaced group ended up founding a realm of their own underground where the accusing rays of the sun could not reach them. Turning from everything that defined Elves and losing their immortality, these people have become bitter and malevolent. They constantly raid the surface, taking slaves and murdering without a second thought. The Dark Elves built their shadowy cities and conquered most of the vast underground cave systems that stretch beneath both continents. Although each such city state is ruled by a different Prince, a coalition of the most powerful Dark Elf sovereigns have been allies of the Empire for long centuries.

Roaming the Riven Realms will sooner or later take you to places where Dark Elves dwell - perhaps to underground halls or to one of the Imperial cities built into caves. Marauding parties of the cruel race can also be encountered here and there. When in combat, players can see two kinds of Dark Elves: marauders who belong to an army or guard of a Prince, and are thus clad in dark metal armor and uniforms; and mercenaries who appear more haggard, looking less like proper soldiers. When it comes to stats, however, they are the same, but we'll discuss that in a future post.

The keywords when designing these dark warriors were 'cruel', 'lithe', 'martial', and 'dark', and I think based on that, Szonja did a great job of drawing a character that invokes classical Dark Elves from several settings but has also become its own thing.

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