Callarii elves
by Joaquin MenchacaThe Callarii are a proud warrior clan that prides themselves as being efficient and elite warriors. They train as warriors at a very young age. When a Callarii reaches adulthood, the Callarii becomes a trained warrior. This training happens for both men and women of the society. Even in times of peace, the Callarii train themselves for excellence in physical and mental shape, and in the art of warfare. The Callarii go through rigorous physical exercise and they discipline their minds through strategy games and puzzles.
The word of a Callarii will always be honoured. The Callarii pride themselves as being honourable and thus it is a worse fate than death to default on one's promise or word. A Callarii would gladly give up his life if this means to keep one's word. To break one's word as a Callarii is to disgrace oneself, one's family and clan, and one's race.
The Callarii believe that the eventual goal in warfare is to defeat an opponent. Any means through personal combat to accomplish this goal of defeating the opponent is acceptable. This includes both ranged weapons and magical spells. However the Callarii disdain from using poison and indirect ways to defeat an opponent. On the battle field, the Callarii would prefer not to use traps, or magical spells which indirectly attack an opponent. They will use spells that weaken an opponent, enhance themselves, or to attack an opponent directly.
The Callarii as with other elves, share a deep appreciation for life, especially their own. A Callarii warrior will not foolishly risk ones life. A Callarii warrior almost never puts oneself into the centre of combat or draws unnecessary attention to themselves. The Callarii would never dare take a life of another elf unless in the most dire of circumstances, such as saving the lives of many elves. The Callarii make an effort to not destroy life unnecessarily, but they do understand that this is sometimes necessary for the greater good of all life. As part of the Callarii training, it is understood that it takes more courage and honour not to destroy life. The more trained and skilled a warrior has become, it is easier not to take life.
In their vision to find excellence in the art of combat, the Callarii will seek to develop and adopt more advanced weapons and forms of combat. If the Callarii were to find a more efficient weapon than the long sword, this weapon would be almost immediately adopted into their society. If the Callarii found new ways to use a weapon or a form of unarmed combat, the Callarii would blend this into their training and culture. The Callarii are both humble and eager to learn news ways of combat. Thus some Callarii are observant of Gnomish inventions such as the arquebus. The Callarii sometimes travel the world as adventurers in hopes to find new techniques.
The Callarii have developed a new magic style called Battle Magic which reduces the somatic components of the spell and increases the casting time of a spell. When using Battle Magic, the Callarii may cast spells while wearing armour and decreases the casting time by 2 segments, for a minimum of 1 segment. The favoured type of spells are combat spells such as shocking grasp or spells which enhance the combat ability. In order to receive these bonuses, the Callarii must learn this magic from another Callarii, as Battle Magic spells are different from other spells. The Callarii may learn spells normally from scrolls or non-Callarii spell books, but these spells do not afford the bonuses that come with Battle Magic. As with all elven spells, the spells are inscribed in ancient Elven Glyphs, which requires a Read/Write proficiency in addition to the normal Read/Write Elven.
Callarii do not obsessed acquiring wealth like Humans and Dwarves. To acquire wealth will only slow one down. The Callarii however do understand the need for money in the human world, thus they take what they need and give the rest to their clan. The clan uses this money to improve weapon technology and magic as well as the total benefit of the entire clan. The Callarii promote mutual cooperation with Duke Stefan of Karameikos.
The Callarii are indifferent towards humans. They do not concern themselves in the affairs of human tribes or nations. The Callarii consider the humans to be very disorderly and disorganised. Despite their indifference the Callarii always wish to maintain peaceful relationships with the humans. They have been on good terms with the Traldar for years leaving each other alone in their perspective isolation, but recently the political environment has changed. Now the lands are conquered by the Thyatian Empire. The Callarii hope to still maintain good relations with the new government, or any government for that matter. The Callarii promote mutual cooperation with Duke Stefan Karameikos and they actually have a garrison of troops to protect the parks at Specularum, later called Mirros. The Callarii admire the Order of Griffon and to some extent the Church of Karameikos, as bring order to the lands. Any organisation that establishes order cannot be all that bad.
As the Callarii are a well order and organised society their alignments tend to be Lawful good and Lawful neutral. Any Callarii that exhibits chaotic behaviour will be banished from the clan.
The Callarii are mostly warriors and they typically are either Fighters or Fighter/Mages. However there are some in there society that have priestly magic which is considered a waste of time by many. These rare scholars will be either Fighter/Clerics or Clerics. (For OD&D, new classes could be created to fulfil these roles of Warrior, Knight, Artificer, and Scholar).
Proficiencies of the Callarii Clan
Battle Meditation (Wis -2)
The Callarii warrior meditates for a moment to gather all of his energies for an upcoming battle. The total process takes full turn of mediation. In the next battle, which must occur within the next 10 rounds, the Callarii elf receives the benefits of having a +1 to both hit, damage, and saving throws. The Callarii warrior also increases his Strength to 15 or by +1 adjustment if the Strength is over 15. If the Strength is over 18, then the Strength will be moved up by one category, eg an 18/56 will move to 18/75. Also, this can never increase the strength beyond 18/00.
Battle Rest (Wis -1)
The Callarii warrior can go into a sleep where part of his mind is aware of his surroundings. While steadfast asleep, part of his mind is still listening and ready to alert the rest of the mind in an instant upon any threat of danger. The Callarii must set the reason of what would be considered a danger. For example, this could be any and all movement within the area, or possibly running within the area, but quiet movement of a single person is ok. The Callarii must set these conditions before sleeping as the full cognitive powers of thinking are not available when the Callarii warrior is asleep.
Blade Song Fighting Style (2 Weap. Prof.)
As per The Complete Book of the
Elves. (Not reproduced to avoid copyright infringement)