Who are they?

The Pretas are a fairly new elf breed. ('New' meaning evolving to their current point over the last 2000 years.) They're a sub-race of elves (possibly descended from Sun Elves) that, over time, inter-bred with Demon-kin and Drow.

They're a warrior breed, but unlike their cold Drow ancestors, they are very personable and fun loving. Thanks to their demonic heritage, they enjoy mischief, magic and risk taking, and often find ways to incorporate these things into competitions for one of their many festivals, and even in daily life. They're a fair bit more careless and reckless in comparison to other elf breeds, relying on their usually well developed intuition to save them from danger.

For the last 2000 years they're been secretly growing and developing into a race well separated from their surface-kin, and their lack of contact with the upper and lower worlds has made them a secret to all but the Illithids they'd been at war with for 200 years.

Where are they?

 Their home, the subterranean empire of Val'Daray, is in a secluded and nearly uninhabitable part of the Underdark. Like most Underdark cities, the way there is dangerous and difficult at best. The paths and tunnels are twisted and confusing, filled with creatures and obstacles of every measure.

The City itself is sitting on a collection of high hills, almost completely surrounded by a lake of magma. How has it not just sunken into the lake and burned up, you ask? Simple! Once upon a time, a large group of Pretian mages, wizards and enchanters got together and warded the entire lake and surrounding hills against volatile eruption. To this day is still takes a great deal of power and upkeep to keep those wards in place, but they manage.

How did they get started?

Well, the stories say that a group of outcast surface elves decided that the Underdark would be a better place to live (and hide). So they migrated bellow and found an area where not even the Drow would want to live.

 Settling there was far from easy, but they adapted and began to expand. Before long they began welcoming many outcast Drow and even a few varying Demonic breeds that had seeped up from the Underworld. They grew in numbers, inter-mating and mingling the bloodlines until they became what they are today.

How can you recognize them?

They can be easily mistaken for their Surface Elf cousins, in that they most always look like Surface dweller types... except for the fact that they are unusually tall! The average Pretian girl stands between 5'9" and 6'3", whereas the males can be around 6' to 7' and sometimes taller. They're also usually are born with darker hair and eyes, but as they grow they can change and oddly enough become much lighter in coloring. You can blame the close proximity to blazing lava for that change.

Like other races, they do have the Fey'ri or Planetouched, which means the occasional person born with horns, wings, strangely colored skin, or any of the other  oddities. Fey'ri are easily the most common of these. With as much demonic blood as the Pretas have in heir veins, it's not too unusual to see a child with small draconic looking wings, or a beautiful woman with well tended horns.

 You'll also notice that they rarely look older than 20. Something about the demonic ancestry makes them stop aging at a certain point. This also makes them immortal to an extent.

There are a few of the greater elders who have continued to age, showing less evidence of the demonic taint. These few are referred to as the 'Dlu D�lv' meaning 'Blood Elder'. They can still manage to live to be a lofty several hundred years old, but unlike the younger generations, they can eventually pass away.

One near-constant is the Pretian's fairly tan or grey looking skin. Whether it has something to do with their faint Drow bloodlines or their constant exposure to heat and ash is not clear.

So, can they die?

They can die by most weapons and magics, if they are wounded well enough, but they will rarely die of old age.

Not that they're all that easy to kill any other way. Their precognitive instincts and elite battle skills make them a hard target, but if you know their weaknesses or catch them at a bad time, they can go down.

Return to Val'Daray Main Road

What can they do?

Pretas Elves are very skilled physically as well as magically and mentally. They are excellent hunters and fighters, taught from youth to first learn their opponent, before doing much else. Due to centuries of harsh living conditions and war they have developed innate healing abilities, often able to heal themselves, and others, as long as the wound is not fatal.

They are shadow walkers, which means they can moves about from place to place through the shadows by casting portals within them, as well as use the power of the shadows in their magic. They usually train to control one of three elements: earth, fire and ice. Though some have been able to weald more than that. They are also immune to most poisons, another benefit of the demon and Drow blood mix. And living above a molten lake has made them highly resilient to heat, but more susceptible to cold.

Out of necessity to their war with the Illithid they've managed to develop a fair measure of mental discipline and defense. This is also what their minor clairvoyant skill resulted from. That ability gives them an off and on chance at recognizing danger about to befall them... also great when gambling!

They are not invincible, but giving away all their weaknesses just wouldn't be very prudent, now would it?

War? What's this about a war?

Well, the bigger the Pretas kingdom grew, the more they gained the attention of the Illithid (aka Mind Flayers) who also shared that part of the Underdark. Before long, the Illithid began to get a bit edgy and, as I seem to love doing, they started an all out war with the Pretas. It was bloody and difficult (to say the least) for the Elves to fight such powerful enemies, but because of such strange bloodlines, and after 200 some-odd years, the Pretas were able to outlast the Illithid and push them out of  their cities making it part of their Empire.

Other Worldly Ancestry

When it is said that the Pretas have demonic ancestors, this isn't referring to those big, flaming-eyed, foul-breathed lugs you might normally thing of. No, this is more along the lines of Tieflings, Gloamings and an occasional Dragonkin. Where did they come in? It's actually a long story involving a Demon Overlord who'd tried to enslave a large portion of the Underworld, and a group of runaways that got lucky enough to pop out of one of the Pretian Shadow Portals. From there it leads to a short (but messy) war and a liberation festival. You get the picture.