Cloud Elves

I must confess that I doubt I’ll ever run an Oriental Adventures or a Rokugan campaign (I don’t even have time for a European one!). But that’s no reason to let an excellent book with some evocative classes go to waste…

The Lyrithen, or cloud elves, are a reclusive clan of elves that live in the cloud forests of the Stoneheart mountain range. They are known for green, white, and silver garb, and some occasionally sport silver hair as well.

Cloud elves are contemplative and solitary by nature. They spend much of their time hunting for mushrooms and mosses in the misty terrain or tending small flocks of goats or vicuñas. Many are accomplished musicians, particularly with simple wind instruments like flutes, double flutes, and panpipes.

Though they are as drawn to magic as most elves, Lyrithen spellcasters tend to be druids or windspeakers. A windspeaker has the same abilities as a shugenja, with air as her favored element. A few individuals occasionally favor water or earth instead; though they are properly termed river- or stonespeakers, they are usually referred to as windspeakers anyway. Although they may learn fire spells, no Lyrithen ever favors the element.

Advanced windspeakers are known for their skill at divination and for the whirlwinds they conjure in self-defense. Truly exceptional individuals also befriend sky wyrms (Dragon’s “Voyage of the Princess Ark”)—great beasts with lion forefronts, feathered wings, and dragon tails from the Elemental Plane of Air.