#asrai

Sisters of Twilight

Abatwa – Said to be the tiniest creatures of human form in existence, these little people co-exist peacefully with the ants in the anthills of Southern Africa and live on the foraging from the roots of grasses and other plants. They are very shy and are not often seen, however, should you encounter one, they are wary of shaven heads and pregnant women.

Aine – A Fairy Queen of southern Munster, she is associated with the sun and love. Aavel herself is the root of the word Aine, meaning “brightness, glow, joy, and pleasure.” Aine had the power to inspire love in people and animals, and to ensure human and animal fertility, productivity, and access to the unseen world.

Asrai – These beautiful and delicate fairies live in water, and are very shy creatures. If captured or exposed to sunlight they would melt away, and in some versions, their new hunting ground will become filled with flowers because they will remember their lover.

Adhene – The subterranean race of fairies on the Isle of Man.

Anthropophagi – A cannibal tribe. It is said that they keep across their shoulders and stomach not only their shoulders and arms but their heads as well.

Ankou – Usually female, she had wings on her shoulders. She helps humans and animals to pass from the physical plane to the spiritual plane.

Aos Sí – The People of the Hollow Hill. Derived from the Tuatha Dé Danann who, when they retreated underground, became the fairies. Said to be divine creatures living in raths, forts, and tumuli, they are sometimes friendly, sometimes not, and very protective of their homes.

Bean-Nighe – A Scottish banshee. The washer at the ford. Appears beside streams washing the bloodstained clothes of those about to die.

Boggart – Brownie that has gone bad. Destroys household belongings, curdles milk, and leads travelers astray.

Bohun Upas – A forest tree in Java which was said to exhale a poisonous vapor so detrimental to life that no animal or living thing could exist near it.

Banshee – Banshee, Bean Sidhe, or Bean Sith, is the spirit woman who, in Irish folklore, wails near a house when someone inside is about to die.

Boggane – The most powerful of the racial class of goblins found on the Isle of Man. They were the wild spirits that haunted old ruins, trees, and mountains.

Browny/Bruni – Household spirit. It was supposed to do the drudgery about the house—cleaning, cooking, and threshing corn. Rewarded by offerings of food.

Bendith y Mamau – The Mother’s Blessing—A race of Welsh elves similar to the Tylwyth Teg. Said to entrap travelers and force them to dance until they were exhausted.

Bogie – A generic name for an evil spirit, ghost, goblin, or devil.

Bucca/Bocka – A sea spirit in Cornish folklore. There are said to be two kinds, the Bucca Gwidder (good) and the Bucca Dhu (evil).

Bean-Tighe – Pronounced Ban-tee, meaning “Lady of the House.” A kind of household fairy found in the west of Ireland.

Brollachan – A formless creature, the child of the Fuath, who is the most terrible in Scottish folklore.

Bunyip – Man of the Moha – the Bunyip of the Seea People. Aboriginal Australians say he is said to haunt creeks, swamps, marshes, billabongs, and waterholes.

Boobrie – A shapeshifting waterbird found primarily in the Scottish Highlands.

Balor – A malevolent one-eyed giant in Irish mythology.

Banshie/Banshye – Scottish form of Bean-Sidhe.

Baobhan Sith – Pronounced Bov-vhan Shee. A Scottish bloodsucking fairy comparable to a vampire.

Bubak – A malevolent scarecrow-like creature said to mimic the cries of children to kidnap hapless souls.

Lil lighting practice to not rely so much on lines (I failed I'll need to practice a whole lot more )

The first group I want to bring up are the Wood Elves or Asrai. The Wood Elves are a branch (hehe) of Elf that have splintered (hehe) off from the Elves of Ulthuan (to be covered more when discussing High Elves, Dark Elves, Chaos, and such) largely as a result of an ancient pact between Elves and forest spirits.

As I understand the lore, Forest spirits are similar enough to demons in The Old World but are bound or tied to woodlands. Places where travelers become lost forever amidst twisting pathways where time works differently. They are not necessarily as malicious as demons, but much like other spirits and similar entities; forest spirits are imbued with their own branches (hehe) of the winds of magic.

The Wood Elves came from Elven colonists who were settling in these woodlands long before anyone else lived in these places. Their bond with the forest angered some of the forest spirits, but they have been accepted and now live in harmony with the forest. This means they hunt, gather, only use fallen wood or their woodsinging for wood crafting, and upon death their bodies and spirits/souls are sent into the woods in a cycle of Life, Death, and rebirth.

I'll go more in depth on magic in the setting later, but for now I want to comment that they do definitely practice magic, have specific gods that they follow and generally (despite Total Warhammer's factions listed) really only live in the large forest of Athel Loren or the smaller forest of Laurelorn.

Wood Elves, as all Elves; are generally more resistant to the influences of Chaos than humans are. So, the manipulations of the forces of Chaos happen more subtly. In the Wood Elves, this is represented by isolationism and paranoia. The defense of their forests is their primary goal as a faction, and they rarely send forces out unless it is going to help the protection of their woodlands homes to some degree.