Elshin

Elshin, a member of the Rebel Army who ran with Jellihondor's battalion for a short time, is a man internally at war with himself. Though he identifies as a red elf, it is quite clear to those who meet him that there is more to the story: he has the rosy skin and ease with social magicks of an Athenorkos elf, but his black hair, brown eyes, and muscular build betray his mixed heritage.

Elshin was born to a young human woman in the Fethil about 150 years ago after she had had a fleeting tryst with a handsome red elf at a dancing circle where the pipeherb and ale flowed perhaps too freely. Thinking herself a single mother, with a child who was not fully human no less, the girl steeled herself against the prejudice she knew she'd face raising him alone, and named him Otellian to give him the strength of Elothnin's founder.

Only two days after the baby was born, the handsome red elf returned to the girl. At first she thought he had come to her to make her his wife and to raise the child together, but it soon became clear that he had no such intention. With cold, hard eyes that looked nothing like what she remembered from that fateful night, the elf demanded the baby boy, explaining that should he inherit his father's magickal abilities, it was important that the child grow up among his kind. when the girl pointed out that humans were the baby's kind as well, the elf gave her a withering look and replied that humans were little more than greedy children themselves and shouldn't be allowed to raise their own young anyway ¹. Scared and shamfaced, the girl handed the baby over to be raised by the elves and told the human villagers it had died in the crib the night before.

The elf, knowing that the black hair and brown eyes that were already noticeable would set the child apart from his future playmates, named him Elshin - the Athenorkos word for strength of character. Such a name was fitting for the boy, who grew up having to defend his odd background, explain his strange features, and prove over and over again that he was as magickal as the next elf.

Elshin's earliest memory was not of games or a meal at home, but instead was of Imperial soldiers surrounding and burning his compound to the ground. The smell of burning thatch and the stark shadows cast by the sweeping flames still haunt Elshin's dreams, and the knowledge that the soulless, heartless beings that cause him and his family such trauma were a part of him only feuled his hatred of humans. For the rest of his life, Elshin truly never accepted the human side of himself - he admitted that it was true that he was a 'halfie,' but never acknowledged that his human traits were more than cosmetic, which marked him out from the other elves. Elshin was tempestuous and headstrong, willing to trample friendships and feelings to make a point, which was in stark contrast to the ways of red elves.

It was no surprise to anyone who knew him that Elshin joined the Rebel Forces. Ironically, his mixed heritage made him an excellent soldier: all the grace and dexterity of an elf, but with the extra strength and size of a human. Elshin thrives on being in the thick of battle, and feels more fully elvish with every human soldier he mercilessly strikes down. When Jellihondor's battalion struckout on its northbound journey to the Dark Lands, Elshin found himself getting more and more frustrated with the lack of combat. He cordially took his leave of the group when the oppurtunity presented itself to him in the City of Mages and gratefully returned to the front lines.
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¹As Elshin was born in the height of the Years of Red Grain, this likely refers to the elves' perception of humasn as encroaching on their land out of selfishness and greed.