Shiere

Shieres were the horsemen and warriors among the eladrin and defenders of their twilight courts. They were the most powerful of the lesser eladrin.

Description
Shiere eladrin resembled extremely tall, lanky high elves—averaging or more—with exceptionally fair skin. Their faces and hands were long and narrow. They had pale golden or silver hair and blue, green, or violet eyes.

Shieres were often seen mounted when on duty.

Personality
They were honorable and courageous, gathering together at night to ride through Olympus in the defense of Arborea. No shiere would ever consider betraying her or his lord or failing to uphold a promise to a friend. Shieres were much colder in temperament when dealing with others not as honorable or courageous. They were the least likely to leave their home planes.

Shieres were always freedom-loving and good in their outlooks.

Abilities
Shieres were very strong and dexterous and were highly skilled fighters. The most highly advanced were skilled enough to strike many enemies at once in a whirling attack.

Shieres had all of the abilities common to other eladrin. In addition, they could cast many divine magic spells and had a number of other innate powers, such as the ability to change their appearance, to blast a damaging spray of color, to create a continuous source of light, to detect evil and invisibility, to create a major illusion, and to strike foes with an ice storm, a wall of ice, or a cone of cold. Once, twice, or three times per day, a shiere could gather the magical positive energy to fully heal an ally.

Shieres were resistant to spells and attacks from mundane weapons but were weak to weapons forged from cold iron, as were many fey creatures. They were immune to any enchantment spells that might change their moral and ethical alignment.

The gaze of an angry shiere would cause fear in any evil opponent.

In their alternate form, shieres appeared as a ball of harmless light—like that of a coure—which allowed them to fly. Unlike all other eladrin, shieres could not easily change into their alternate forms; they could only do so once every hour or once every day and it took them a significant amount of time—as long as an hour—to change back into a humanoid form afterward. Thus, they only changed form in the direst of need, such as if badly injured or needed to deliver a crucial message.

Shiere eladrin could comprehend any language, but they usually spoke and wrote in the Eladrin language.

Combat
When ready for combat, shieres wore magical glass or crystal plate armor and carried narrow magical shields. Shieres favored the weapons of knights, such as battleaxes, flails, lances, longswords, or maces. Their weapons were always magically enchanted, often with special qualities. The weapons were often gifts or rewards from their tulani lords for good service. The most successful shieres received weapons from Queen Morwel herself.

A shiere's heavy warhorse was a fearless and swift beast who had been magically enchanted with the power of flight, but the magic only functioned at night. The most accomplished of shieres were known to ride favonians, a horse breed unique to the chaotic Upper Planes.

Society
Shieres were the most numerous of the eladrin subraces present in the twilight courts of the tulani. A host of shieres defended the Queen of the Stars. They sought out evil before it could come to them and rooted it out from Arborea. Shieres also lived in the elven realm of Arvandor and the Gates of the Moon, but they rarely served in any role but that of warrior.

All shieres shared the same official rank; however, in practice, some of the most wise of their number were selected by their tulani lords to serve as captains or leaders, but only for the purposes of specific services.

The most successful and powerful shieres were invited to serve in Queen Morwel's famed honor guard as knights. Some of those knights were assigned jurisdictions over parts of Arborea, and they established strongholds in such regions. The rest of her honor guard were reserved for special missions.

Shieres were known to hunt such monsters as behirs, bulettes, dragons, and owlbears and fiends of all kinds. They were most active at night, spending most of their active time on mounted patrol. They were not permitted to leave their planes without the express permission of their lords. However, if a tulani had reason to leave the Upper Planes, a squad of shieres often accompanied him or her.

Ecology
Shieres were not immortal, yet their lifespans were long. A typical shiere could live for over 650 years.