Behind the Dark Fist - Kofu

I once heard an interview on NPR with Blizzard's Chris Metzen, where  
he described how clever he thought he was that he'd made Warcraft's  
dark elves good guys rather than bad.

Well, whether or not Metzen is the creative genius he clearly thinks  
he is is up for a good scholarly debate. Meanwhile, I proffer another  
race for Behind the Dark Fist that sort of follows in the same vein,  
without being as stupid or annoying as the Night Elves. (okay okay,  
please don't jump on me for saying that, I play a night elf hunter so  
I'm allowed to say my people are stupid and annoying, okay?)

When I initially wrote up the Kofu in my own private homebrewin'  
laboratory, I actually based them off the Drow in terms of their  
presentation as player characters. But, after a re-read of their  
blurb in UTDF, I went a different direction with them. They look like  
Drow, but they're not. They're High Elves, for all intents and  
purposes. Except they have drow-like coloration. And they ride  
dinosaurs (for some reason!? man what was I doing when I said they  
ride dinosaurs...).

As often as I badmouth Chris Metzen (with funny voices and even a  
Metzen dance when I'm especially into it), I was sort of aping him  
here with the Kofu's rejection by the IEN. Without even realizing it,  
I had duplicated Metzen's dumb elf-on-elf dichotomy. I hope it works  
here and is at least passable... I do think that it's unavoidable,  
given the presence of the IEN as peacekeepers in the Twelve Spheres,  
that some mention of an encounter between the IEN and the Kofu take  
place. The IEN being what it is, I couldn't see them admitting the  
Kofu into their fleet under any circumstances (if their association  
with the Vodoni wasn't enough, their Drow-like appearance most  
definitely is).

As a side note, I do notice (as I work on this) that the Vodoni  
Empire is populated by a lot of stupidly pacifistic races. Most of  
the descriptions of the Twelve Spheres include the word "peaceful,"  
or "pacifistic," or perhaps "peace-loving" is also in there  
somewhere. I forget. I considered either changing or ignoring that  
for some races, or else having them learn and grow more cynical and  
jaded following the death of Vulkaran... I went mostly with the  
latter, though I tried to change it up and have each race mature from  
the experience of being enslaved by the Vodoni in different ways. The  
Kofu have growed up by joining a resistance movement! Take that,  
pacifism! Next thing you know they'll be worshipping demon spiders  
and practicing human sacrifice -- adding a little dash of M. Night  
Shyamalan to the Metzenized mix there.

One last note: I really want to have the Kofu worship Ka the  
Preserver -- the Mystaran god responsible for a lot of the Hollow  
World. This was originally a thought derived from the way Kofuspace  
is built (three hollow worlds, basically), but it does sort of seem  
to fit. Or, it does if you're me anyway. Hey! Maybe that's why I made  
them dino riders.

Anyway, here are night elves. I mean, Kofu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Kofu - The Kofu of Kofuspace are a race of forgotten elves native  
to an anomalous sphere. Kofuspace is a completely solid crystal  
sphere: the entire shell is a thick mass of the black crystal that  
makes up the spheres that contain the worlds of known space. The  
"worlds" in Kofu space are actually three planet-sized pockets of  
air, spaced evenly around a central point within the sphere. Each of  
these three worlds (named Kofu, Kofohr and Kanin) has a small "sun"  
at its center, which provides both light and heat to the inhabitants.
Though they function in most ways just as normal elves do, their dark  
skin and pale white hair mark them with a rather unfortunate  
resemblance to the Drow. (though, to be fair, the dinosaurs that the  
Kofu raise as cattle, mounts and beasts of burden do help lend  
something to this comparison, as the Drow are known at times to use  
giant lizards as mounts) Thus although they speak the same language  
as the High Elves, when they petitioned the Imperial Elven Navy for  
membership following the fall of Vulkaran, they were denied without  
even the benefit of an excuse. Somewhat jaded by this experience, the  
Kofu instead started giving aid and support to the various insurgency  
groups in the Twelve Spheres, especially the Neo-Imperialist movement.
The Kofu are at heart a peaceful race, though their encounters with  
outsiders has somewhat broken them of their naivete. Even so, their  
preferred classes are the Wizard, the Priest or the Bard (with the  
Minstrel kit). In those classes, Kofu may reach 15th, 12th and 15th  
levels (respectively). Kofu may also be Psionicists, advancing to the  
7th level of ability in that class. Some Kofu have begun to study the  
foreign practice of making warfare, though they may only advance to  
4th level as Fighters. This presents the Kofu with their only multi- 
classed option, allowing them to become Fighter-Wizards. As thievery  
runs contrary to the precepts of the Kofu's pacifistic,  
quintessentially good society, the Kofu may never be thieves.  
Finally, in addition to all the usual abilities of Elves, Kofu who  
reach 8th level gain the innate ability to create portals in the  
surfaces of crystal shells at will. While most similar abilities do  
not function for other races within Kofuspace, the Kofu can use this  
ability both on crystal shells other than their own (with some  
exceptions) as well as using it to create portals between Kofu,  
Kofohr and Kanin.
	•Half-Kofu - There are some rare occurences of half-elves in the air- 
bubble worlds of the Kofu, usually born of marriages with human  
travellers (most often Vodoni, since the Golotians aren't normally  
allowed to travel freely, and a Vergon would not marry a member of  
such a weakling race as the Kofu). These individuals are often  
leaders among the Kofu communities where they grow up, for they have  
the full range of Half-Elf ability and versatility owing to the best  
of both sides of their parentage.