Coure

Coures were sprite-like celestials  numbered among the lesser eladrin.

Description
Coures were the smallest of the eladrin races of Arborea, looking far more like sprites than elves, as most other eladrin subraces appeared. They had long and delicate filmy wings and only stood about two feet (60 centimeters) tall. Coures existed with a plethora of strange skin colors and had glittery, unkempt hair. They usually wore bright clothing that most other races found flamboyant.

Personality
Most coures thought of life as a carefree, exuberant dance. Laughter was a core part of their existence, and they freely wandered their planar worlds playing pranks and dancing. Some travelers of the planes&mdash;or even other eladrin&mdash;found their mischief and pranks annoying, but it was truly difficult for even the most somber individual to not crack a smile in a coure's presence.

Coures preferred the nighttime and open spaces to other times and places, feeling happiest with stars and their own faerie lights as the only sources of illumination. By day, they often slept, wrapped in their delicate wings. Coures felt a particularly strong sense of attachment to the natural environment.

Coures were more intelligent than the average human but not particularly wise.

The vast majority of coures were chaotic but good. It was possible to find a rare neutral good or chaotic neutral coure but never a lawful or evil one.

Abilities
Exceptionally agile, coures were superb fliers, able to hover and achieving speeds three times that of their speed on foot.

All eladrin were immune to electrical and petrifying dangers and resistant against the effects of cold, acids, and poisons, and coures shared these qualities. By thought alone, coures could create audible glamers, faerie fire,   and dancing lights   and could detect the auras of both evil and magic. They also had the power to project bursts of force from their fingertips or put people to sleep   a few times each day. Some sages reported that coures could also enchant foes with irresistible laughter. At all times, coures were surrounded by a magic circle against evil.

Coures had no power to gate in other eladrin, and they were weak to weapons forged from cold iron.

Like all eladrin, coures could assume an incorporeal form, theirs being that of an immaterial ball of light  about six inches in diameter. Coures could pass through solid objects in such a form, much like a ghost. A coure in its light form could illuminate an area up to 30 feet (nine meters) in radius with as much intensity as it wished. The ball of light could fly twice as fast as the coure in its humanoid form. Some claimed that the coure could still fire its magical missiles in this form; others denied this.

Coure eladrin could use their inherent magics to speak in any tongue. They were literate.

Combat
If faced with evil, a coure's sense of humor was replaced with seriousness. Coures typically avoided combat, unlike other eladrin, knowing that they were the weakest of their kind. If a battle was imminent, they quickly sought out more powerful celestials for aid. They used their skill at practical jokes to provide support roles in combat, using guerilla hit-and-run tactics.

If fighting against beings of their own size, such as imps&mdash;their arch-nemeses &mdash;or mephits, coures would often use tiny short swords, rapiers, or daggers as weapons. Coures were also skilled at archery and used silver arrows.

Coures never wore armor, though they might equip themselves with small wooden shields.

Society
Coures were native to the plane of Arborea. Typically, they lived lives as "commoners", minding after their own affairs, but large groups of them also lived among the courts of more powerful eladrin, serving primarily as messengers and scouts. They usually made their homes in wild forests and deep river gorges in Arvandor, living in small bands (called "faerie circles" or "faerie courts" ) of between two and six individuals and rarely as many as 40. Such groups would sometimes remain in the same mushroom ring or gorge for centuries before moving on and would defend their enchanted homes fiercely if necessary. They might also be found on the other two layers of Arborea, Ossa and Pelion.

Like all eladrin, coures were sworn never to reveal their true natures to those on the Prime Material Plane; on the other hand, since they were typically overlooked by the more powerful entities of the Outer Planes, there was only a very slight chance of their getting into trouble if they did reveal themselves.

Ecology
Coures were not immortal, yet their lifespans were exceptionally long. A typical coure could live for over 500 years. .

History
Coures rarely left their home plane. However, they sometimes aided Harper paragons, who called on them by means of a powerful summoning spell otherwise forbidden to mortals. When summoned, such coures had been known to serve the Harpers for as long as a year at a time. The gods occasionally sent coures to aid adventurers against the forces of orcs or goblinkin. The goddess Lliira particularly favored them as divine servants.