Personal Headcanons of Elins in Tera Online
This is an assorted list of all the headcanons I have for Elins, compiled together from discussions of other fellow Tera lore theorists. This post will be updated when I make more headcanons about Elins. You are welcome to borrow some of these lore theories. If you do not agree with some of the theories, that is fine. You are entitled to your opinion as am I.
This post is mainly useful for when I roleplay with other fellow Tera players as my own Elins follow these headcanons.
Elins in general:
-Like most animals, Elins like to snuggle with one another in a big pile to establish trust. Typically seen amongst best friends and siblings
-The animal tails are very sensitive-they do NOT like their tails being touched without permission-it is very uncomfortable and sometimes painful if one touches their tail without them knowing
-Those with long, versatile tails, use them for balance to be more nimble
-Elins who are more magic-tuned will train as temporary students at the Elderitch Academy
-Many Elins are more comfortable with forests. Those who live in Allementheia are often irritated by the lack of the lush nature of home-though some have adapted to the barren environment (Many Elins see those ones as ‘Odd’ from their kind)
-Elins will often have characteristic traits of the animal they are. Certain senses are stronger for certain animals (ex: hearing, sight, and smell)
-Typically, the more unintelligent an animal is, the less an Elin is with those animal features (ex: many Sheep Elins are known to have a lower IQ than any other Elin with other animal features, even so they are still treated the same as the rest of their brethren)
-The animals Elins take part of are mainly mammals though there have been extremely rare cases of an Elin having the features of an insect but very few have occurred
Elin Cuisine:
-Meals generally consist of mostly vegetables with a healthy amount of protein and carbs
-Generally, whatever animal features an Elin has, tends to dictate what kinds of food they prefer (Example: many rabbit Elins are vegetarians and do not eat meat) (Sheep and Squirrel Elins sometimes eat meat but very rarely
-Being initially nature spirits, Elins have a love for vegetables (Hence why a cat Elin is not exclusively a carnivore)
There are two generations of Elins:
-Elinu-generation and Seren-generation. All Elins today in the world of Tera (minus the royalty Elins-but we will get to that later) are Seren-generation.
-These generations also apply to Popori, as seen in the next theory
Elins are NOT related to Popori:
-Elins were created by Elinu and they in turn, used their magic to shape the animals of the forest into humanoids to help them cultivate nature. Elinu-generation Elins could create Popori but after Elinu’s death/disappearance, the Seren-generation Elins could not, thus Seren took upon the task of creating Popori herself
Seren-generation Elins are born from flowers:
-There is no need for procreation of Elins as Elinu initially created the race’s vessels to be pure, perfect in every way, like the spirits they harbored. When the Goddess was still around, she simply created the Elins into being immediately. Seren though, being a lesser deity in age and rank (She was created from one of Balder’s eyes; Balder is one of Elinu’s children and thus one could argue that Elinu is Seren’s grandmother), cannot easily form a vessel of flesh immediately. Using the plants, which the Elin spirits are associated with initially, Seren morphed the foliage to create bodies for the Elins of her generation.
-When a new Elin is to be born, a flower stalk will grow from the waters around Pora Elinu (The great tree is built around a garden for the flowers). The flower grows a large bud, creating the Elin’s body within, like an incubator; during this stage, Seren guides a nature spirit to inhabit the body. Once the body has been completely formed, the flower opens, revealing the Elin inside
-Popori of the Seren-generation, are born from trees like fruit
-Siblings are born from the same flower. Pora Elinu residents keep records of what kind of flower each Elin is born to. Some Elins who are adults or have passed on already, will have siblings born from the same flower they were born from, much later
-Twins are rare and can either be born from two buds on a flower stem or from a single, large bud (much rarer)
Elins are born genderless and sexless:
-As said before, their race has no need to procreate. Their bodies are initially smooth with no genitals of any kind, as they have no use for them.
-Most Elins tend to identify as female in honor of their initial creator, Elinu. There are some Elins who identify as male though
-Once an Elin has lived past 100+, they may begin developing genitals depending on what gender they have been identifying as. Even so, they still cannot procreate and may use said genitals for sexual pleasure if they so desire
Elins mature mentally at a slow rate:
-Following the idea of character races in DnD, Elins do not fully mature until they are around 50-60 in human lives (1 Elin year = 2.25 human years)
-When initially “born”, they act more like children. This is because their spirits are still young and playful in their new bodies
-Those who have lived past the mature age have a definite difference from younger Elins due to their wisdom and experience. Typically, most Elins one meets outside of Pora Elinu are fully mature
Elins currently have no age limit in their lifespan:
-Aside from diseases, war, etc., Elins do not die of old age. This is because they are spirits of nature, given a vessel of flesh. The cells in their bodies have merged with their spirits and thus, like their spirits, are long-lasting. Because they were initially spirits of nature, they have a strong bond with their Goddesses who created them, further fueling the idea that their bodies will not die from age.
-All the Elins from the Elinu-generation have, unfortunately, died out from the many wars-the remaining survivor of that generation is the Elin Queen.
Elin bodies do age, just at a very, very slow rate:
-Similar to their age of full maturity, Elins bodies do grow, just very slowly. Initially with bodies of children or young teens, should an Elin live long enough, (around 500 years or so) their body looks more like a young adult.
-Elins who have decided on what gender they wish to identify as, may develop a visible chest
-An adult Elin is said to look very much like the Goddess Elinu-not surprising as they are her initial creation
-So far, only the Elin Queen is the only known Elin to have lived long enough to reach full adult stage
Most Elins do not Dream
-Being initially spirits from the Dream, Elins minds do not enter it while they sleep; Elins who are more in tune with magic though, especially Priests and Mystics are able to feel the Dream during their slumbers as it is where they draw their magic from
-Some Reapers are said to be able to enter the Dream-but only in the dark parts where the shadows fester
-Elins who can enter the Dream are able to go further, and sometimes be able to communicate with the Gods-including those who do not have a physical presence in the world anymore
-Current known Elins who can Dream: Rida and Syona
The Elin Queen and royalty:
-The Elin Queen is the last of the Elinu-generation Elins. Because of this, she is the only Elin who can still create Popori from animals
-Being very old, she has lived long enough to have her body resemble an adult woman-some say she resembles the Goddess Elinu in every aspect
-Interestingly enough, she is also the only Elin to be able to bear children. This is because her body is an adults’. The Elin Princesses of Pora Elinu are her only offspring (Seren assisted the Queen in making her children; they are considered virgin-birth children); The Princesses, the only Elin babies to exist, grew rapidly to the child-form stage that Elins typically are within a matter of days
-It is not known yet if the Elin Princesses will also be able to have children like their mother
-Current known Princesses are Rida, Arin, Syona and Zolyn
-Princess Syona and Zolyn are twins
Reapers:
-Reapers are Elins from the Seren-generation who died in the past and were brought back by Seren due to their anger against their beloved home, Pora Elinu, and the great tree being destroyed
-There are no Reapers from the Elinu-generation
-Reapers appeared near the end of the Argon war. Following the timeline of Tera’s storyline, Reapers came about when the player character, Mystel’s Chosen One went to confront Saleron and take on his challenge in his garden
-Reapers draw on the dark powers of the Dream-the shadows
-Utilizing the shadows has a very dangerous effect as it is controlled heavily by the rage and anguish of the Reaper
-Those who cannot control the shadows succumb to the darkness and become corrupted souls; While many Reapers almost converted to this state initially when they appeared to avenge Pora Elinu, the sight of their beloved Princess Rida and loved ones calmed their souls. Even so, some still fell into the darkness and had to be taken down soon after
-The surviving Reapers had their gravestones and names from the deceased record books removed until further notice
-Elins who died traumatic deaths tend to have an even stronger connection to the shadows; Elins who died young are not as in tune with the darkness
-Demonic horned Elins did not exist until after the Reapers appeared-this is due to the amount of darkness an Elin’s soul held before they were resurrected as a Reaper; the shadows from the Reapers when they first appeared corrupted the soil in which the flowers that Elins are born from grows, thus some Elins born post-Pora Elinu destruction are seen with these horns
-While the demonic horns replace other animal features that a Reaper had before their death (ex: Elin before used to be a squirrel-now has demonic horns), they still may carry the animal traits from before (ex: ex-squirrel Elin having a great ability of balance; ex-fox Elin with heightened sense of smell)