Location and General Information Creatures who inhabit the forests of Altern, particularly around the area of Barksville. They are generally considered beings of folklore, rather than reality. Description Males are generally shorter than the females, have giant noses, white hair, and large heads. They wear robes or suits and sometimes walk with a cane. They also have eyes that are narrow and yellow; much like a bird of prey. Females are tall and unusually beautiful in a more “strange” way than a “typical” way. Their beauty is cause for intense curiosity from human males. They are tall, generally long-haired and blonde, and have piercing eyes. Both male and females have gaping holes where their backs should be, as if their fronts were created to seem human, but the rest of them were left mostly unfinished (although they do have bottoms and legs, just no backs). Magic The Ellefolk are primarily masters of the art of manipulation, and mainly the manipulation of males. Their magic is exceedingly effective against human males, who tend to be more inclined to curiosity and, unfortunately, weaker willed when it comes to temptation. One of the key magics of the Ellefolk is the use of magic as a means of controlling by inserting emotion or sensation. They are capable of controlling men by making them genuinely obsessed with pleasing the ladies of the Elle, which can sometimes spark intense jealousy amongst the affected males. Generally, this magic is difficult to break. One must wait quite a long time for the magic to wear off or someone must kill the lady whose magic has hold of an individual. The easiest way to break the spell is to keep knots, holes, and cracks in trees covered up or stuff full of clay or some other substance Women are rarely affected by the Ellefolk, though they can be, on rare occasions, struck by a similar manipulative magic found within Ellemen. This magic, if it works on the individual woman, will be instantaneous, but less difficult to break than the hold the ladies of the Elle have over human men. The limiting factor, however, is that the Ellefolk’s manipulative magic is only effective when the target looks through the knot, hole, or crack in a tree. Other magic includes creating a genuinely pleasant environment that glitters. Their homes in the forest are filled with glittering gold particles that make anyone caught within it happy by default. This isn’t so much a spell as an environmental thing, as the Ellefolk are not actually in control of this so much as just living in it. The breath of a lady of the Elle is like a corrosive acid. It causes death in seconds and melts the skin and tissue from the victim’s face, causing agonizing pain. Creation The Ellefolk are not born normally, as most creatures are in Altern. While humans breed through intercourse, the Ellefolk do not breed at all. All the Ellefolk on Altern were there from the beginning, or what seems like the beginning, and as such there is a finite number of them. They cannot create new Ellefolk, nor can anyone else. As such, the Ellefolk are essentially immortal, part of a spiritual/faery world rather than what one might consider the human world of mortality. They can be killed, of course, and generally this is pretty easy as thy are subject to the same physical weaknesses as humans. Ellefolk are born in giant stone eggs found buried in the Earth. The Ellefolk are constantly searching for their kin, digging wherever they can find them. This is a constant preoccupation, which goes hand in hand with their ability to manipulate human men, providing them with free labor. The stones are brought to the surface, dipped in enormous containers of water, and left to sit. Eventually the rock softens and becomes more like a boiled chicken egg without a shell and then the Ellefolk inside breaks out and is born. At least, that’s how the folklore goes; nobody actually knows how they bring out their young from the stone eggs. War The Ellefolk never have any wars. Because there are a limited amount of them across all of Altern it is not considered worth dealing with the complications and ramifications of war. Why fight your own kind when you can move and maintain the population? Whenever a dispute arises, members of a particular group assess the situation and make a mutual beneficial decision (usually one group moves elsewhere with the help of the group that gets to stay). This may seem quite civilized, but it should be known that if the Ellefolk reproduced normally, no such peaceful decisions would be made. It’s simply thought as better for the species not to fight over anything, no matter how horrible or annoying. Culture The Ellefolk have a very simplistic culture in comparison to the cultures of mankind. They are dominated by the desire to essentially dig up their own kind. This prevents them from developing cities or separate cultures. In a way they are like animals–lions might be a good example. Their young, once dug up and brought to life, either remain with their “parents” or move on to other groups or create groups of their own, expanding and seeking to hunt down their kind from other locations–to be released, of course. Beyond this, the Ellefolk lack any sort of complex culture. They do no create music, except in certain regions where non-human, sentient creatures exist who are not so easily swayed by Ellefolk magic–and music has a higher success rate with certain creatures, and a lower success rate with human beings. They are not, by default, an artistic people, creating little art, except the glittering gold air of their woodland homes that produces bliss for anyone within its grasp, which might be considered artistic. In fact, the only thing that makes the Ellefolk more than animals is the fact that they are sentient, capable of intentionally luring humans (and other

Yes, Erdluitles are in my WISB universe, but I like them so much I want to keep them for the world of Altern. Besides, they fit into the scheme of things anyway. So here is what you need to know about these little guys: Location and General Information Erdluitles are primarily found in plain lands or farming areas and almost always avoid wooded areas–the exception being for the relatively few who have acclimated to life in human cities. Due to their affinity with farming communities, particularly their good nature and willingness to help farmers either by offering magical aid to crops or by offering their services as laborers, they are often seen as good omens or markers of particularly fine products wherever they are found. As such, they are loved by farmers and often well fed, though Erdluitles will make it very clear that they require no handouts at any time, seeing as they are quite prideful little people and don’t take kindly to what they perceive as insults to their kind. They also vehemently defend other little people. When they are offended they can do unimaginable damage to one’s crops or livelihood until the Erdluitle in question is appeased. It is considered a great offense in human culture to do anything questionable when an Erdluitle is around. Description Erdluitles are short–around three feet tall–and thin. They always wear suits, including a small, rimmed hat, and have pointed ears, though less so than elves or other little people; females wear long, green dresses with frills and neither males nor females have any facial hair. The most pronounced feature of these small peoples are their feet: they have goose feet instead of regular five-toed feet. This, unfortunately, is something they are most ashamed of. As a result they almost never expose their feet, even when washing, choosing instead to soak their shoes rather than risk someone laughing at what they consider to be a disfigurement. Beyond these simple differences they are practically human in appearance, just short and extremely proud of it. Magic Erdluitles are some of the more magical of beings in Altern. While many creatures have little magic, the Erdluitles are exceptional magic users. They are able to manipulate the weather, levitate objects, and even cause physical harm to someone. Their most powerful magic, however, is related to plant life, as they are powerful in the art of growth, making plants grow in record time, bear incredible fruit and vegetables, etc. They take great delight in matters of growth and can be found dancing or frolicking gleefully whilst making peach trees shoot up to record heights with massive, gushing peaches bursting from the branches–they are often mistaken for children when doing this. They have great control over magic, as stated, but it should be noted that they rarely use magic that doesn’t have something to do with farming or growth for they consider physical attacks or destructive magic to be mostly vulgar and for last options. They are destructive creatures when offended. Creation It’s not entirely clear where the Erdluitles came from. Some human cultures believe they are the spawns of elves and lesser little people, while others have considered the myth that they are related to the very fabric of the universe, from which the stars and Altern itself was created. The reality is, however, that Erdluitles simply popped into existence…and that’s how they all come into Altern–pop, pop, pop. The most disturbing thing about this is that they have no idea that it is going to happen and are always exceedingly confused when they suddenly appear in a field or under a rock or, on rare occasions, in the cell of a jailhouse. This explains their being spread quite thinly across the continent of Altern. The process of their existence seems random, but all Erdluitles believe there is a reason for it all; elderly Erdluitles who are no longer capable of tending to fields–due to being retired, of course, since it would be quite insulting to tell an Erdluitle he or she is just too old–spend their days contemplating the reasons for their existence. No answers have been found to date (Erdluitles want their existence to have a higher purpose in the world). Culture Erdluitle culture tends to be small, yet complex. They don’t share a religion of any sort, but there is a great gathering every year where Erdluitles from all across Altern meet in a predestined place–usually the home of the most successful Erdluitle of the year–and celebrate a year well done. There is a massive feast and it is generally acceptable to invite human farmers and their families to the celebration. Dancing, singing, and music playing is a necessity. The last party that lacked one of those three things ended in a two hundred year war between different “clans” of Erdluitles, which made the lives of farmers particularly uncomfortable: it isn’t easy to appease a very angry Erdluitle. Their music is not entirely unique, usually stealing from whatever place they might be in at any time, but it is almost always beautiful. They do not have the greatest of singing voices, but they are exceptional dancers. Some Erdluitles have found pleasure in poetry, churning out farmer’s epics with complex rhymes and structures. Additionally other avenues of art have found their way into Erdluitle culture in recent years, such as painting, which they find to be a particularly fascinating venture. Erdluitles do not generally build towns; it does happen, but it is rare. They are often given shelter by farmers, who are kind enough to allow the little people to occupy their barns or attics. They do have a complex set of rules that governs the proper method of interaction between Erdluitles, which is too complicated for any human to even begin to understand. This they take pride in and talk “down” to humans who simply cannot fathom all the bizarre rules that come with Erdluitle culture (such as one must never bow more