Warriors of the forest (cf. House Scathach, SH).

- Court: Seelie

- Birthrights:

• Move Silently: This Birthright permits the wood elf to move and to fight with eerie silence; treat as Silence of Death (Basic Quietus; costs 1 Mana, lasts 1 Scene), except that it only masks sounds made by the elf herself or what she is touching (she must end it in order to speak). In addition, the wood elf gains 1 free Stealth or Survival Ability.
• Battle Ready: 1 free Specialization in a combat Ability; + 1 free Steady or Stalwart trait (which can exceed the limit); this Birthright can usually be used in human Seeming (unless the Specialization involves the use of the Antlers Merit; see below).

• Battle Madness: A wood elf must spend a Willpower trait to leave the field before all enemies have been defeated (but they do not "frenzy" against their friends).
• Inferiority Complex: Wood elves suffer a two-trait penalty in Social challenges against high elves. Also, wood elves may not possess the Title Background (their "kings" are usually well respected among fae of the Seelie Court, but they still rank as commoners).
• Touch Wood: Wood elves suffer a severe drawback in the modern world: Their feet cannot tread upon the "unnatural" -- concrete and cement, plastics, worked metals, artificial tiles and paving, etc. (Footwear makes no difference -- not even wooden shoes -- but you certainly won't find wood elves in rubber boots.) For each Scene that a wood elf spends out of natural surroundings, he must succeed in a static Mental challenge or lose a Mental trait; when he is out of Mental traits for any reason in an artificial environment, he must make a Forgetting challenge.

- Immunity: Wood elves gain a free retest against attempts to track, spot, or locate them if they are actively trying not to be found, but they must be in their true form.

- Bans: Wood Elf Birthrights do not function at all inside buildings constructed by mortals; [and TWO of player choice].

- Weakness: Cold Iron.

- Binding: Wood elves have no Binding; instead, they have an additional Weakness and Ban related to their unsuitability for urban living.

- Regaining Mana: Degeneration, Reverie, Harvesting.

- Preferred Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude OR Obfuscate, Protean OR Thaumaturgy (Elemental Mastery, Fairies' Fortune, The Green Path, Oneiromancy, Weather Control). -- Due to an ancient pact, wood elves may never learn Dominate or Presence (although wood elf mages may use spells with similar effects).

- Origin: Wood elves of Earthly Origin tended more often than not to choose their exile from the Otherworlds, to stay with the forests they loved, or to watch over the slumbering dryads and ghille dhu, or to guard against other things that stayed in the wild places of the earth. Earthly wood elves therefore often have Allies among other nature-oriented fae, Contacts among rural humans, Sanctums (or Sancta, if you prefer) and Nodes deep in the woods, and Lore concerning fairy-kind and even other creatures.

- Appearance: Wood elves are less varied in coloration than the sidhe, tending towards the color ranges available to humans or sometimes dryads. Otherwise, they are very similar to the sidhe -- except usually more rugged and with a beauty more approaching what is possible for mortals to achieve. Wood elves of low Rank and human coloring may pass as human without too much difficulty, even without the Seeming Background. -- Occasionally, one finds a wood elf with antlers; such elves require a Seeming or other magic to hide their true nature.

- Special: Antlers (4M, 5M for other nature-oriented fae): Wood elves with this Merit have an impressive set of antlers branching out from their foreheads, granting them a bonus trait and the ability to cause Aggravated damage in unarmed combat, as well as an additional Respected Status trait among wood elves, ghille-dhu, dryads, and saytrs. Even wood elves without antlers tend to develop them (rather than talons) as a Protean power (but this does not provide the additional Status). This Merit grants no benefits to fae in human Seeming. -- Satyrs with this Merit simply have more impressive, combat-ready horns; the antlers of ghille-dhu and dryads resemble thorny branches. -- Finally, trolls, ogres, and even some pooka may purchase this Merit at the higher cost, but do not gain the Status trait.

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