I've already typed this elsewhere, so I'll just paste it here. Which means Grisnok can tell you (he's a Chaiden).


Grisnok: I believe my author would say we are kind of like Dwarves, but I don't think so.

Me: Well, that's where I originally got the idea... I stink at naming things, so "Chaiden" probably sounds weird, but anyway. *whispers* Don't tell him this, but I just needed something to get rid of my writer's block. Making a new race seemed to be the way to go. And it seemed to help. I needed more people in my world besides Elves and Men anyway...

Grisnok: I heard that! Anyway, I am about three feet tall, have thick black hair (no beard!) and clear blue eyes. Others of my race look similar, although they have varying eye and hair color. We have special stones that we keep in the king's tower that we use to watch the kings of each race. The stones glow when the king or his family is in trouble, dying, or are going to war. This helps us because if there is going to be a war, we know to stay hidden in the mountains --not underground, mind you-- to protect our family. If we choose to, we might decide to help the person in need, if we decide they need help. Sometimes when there is a war, we decide to help. If the battle takes place in the mountains, we usually just hide behind rocks and throws rocks and bursts of what you might call magic --just a skill we are born with, really. If the battle takes place elsewhere, we usually turn invisible --again, nothing to do with magic, we are just born with that power-- and help there if we choose to. Sometimes we choose a side and help them win --which is how many of the world's great battles were won, although we don't take the credit for it-- and sometimes we just keep things even. If neither side has a good reason for fighting, we don't allow either side to win, and eventually they both have to retreat.
We Chaidens live for a very long time, even compared to the Elves. Some people say we are immortal, but I can assure you that isn't true. We just have very long lifespans and are good at preserving ourselves. Our invisibility and the fact we keep ourselves safe at all times help us to live longer. I myself am 5000 years old, but I'm still quite young.
We are very strong, and our weapon of choice is a hammer with a cylindrical head about ten inches long and five inches thick. We can kill a grown man in mere seconds if angered.
The Elves are always trying to capture us. They think we're rich and powerful and would make good slaves, although I don't know where they got that idea. We actually give the riches we find in the mountains away, but don't tell anyone else that because then they would come to us begging for money.
I think that's about it, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Me: Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Chaidens also have a tendency to ramble on and on, and often get off topic. Don't be too hasty or jump to conclusions about anything they say, though. Makes them a bit mad.
They are good natured, they just don't show it.
Like he said, feel free to ask questions.

Oh, and the "ai" part of the word is pronounced like a long "i" sound, if it's hard to tell. I'd write out a pronunciation thing, but I'm not sure how exactly :P

kind of like Ch-eye-den except the first two parts are one sound... idk lol

I like it! And I think Chaiden is a wonderful name...a lot better than some of mine. And their tendency to ramble on wouldn't make me uncomfortable...Sounds just like a certain Christian Homeschooled Fantasy Authoress whose name just happens to translate to Eruwaedhiel....lol

lol, It's pretty fun to write about his character, and it makes the story longer and not so boring to write. Plus it helps me work out the race a bit more, since most of his rambling so far has been answering questions about his race.

If they're not immortal, then how long is the usual life-span? And they seem almost impossible to kill if they can turn invisible. Is there any way to see them when they are invisible?

I'd say about eight to ten thousand years old (yeah, I kind of make things up as I go :P)
And they can be killed like any other people. They generally only use their invisibility when they are helping other races and don't want to be discovered. When they fight their own battles, they don't use that advantage. They believe in extreme fairness (like they have a strange custom of making anyone they help serve them for five hundred years [or fifty years if that person if of a race that can't live that long... that's something else I just thought of :P], although only if that person saw them and allowed them to help, and that person cannot die of old age during that time. I mainly came up with that since I was doing NaNo and needed something to give me more word count. I was throwing random things in at the time...).

very neat, I could never think of something like that off the top of my head :P

Well, after thinking all day about what to do to move the story along, the only idea I had was to add another character. The problem was that I didn't know how to fit it in there. Then I thought Well, I need to add more races to this world anyway so I thought about different races that already existed (well, in a fantasy world anyway). I had humans and Elves, but I didn't have any Dwarves. So I took the basic idea of a dwarf, and started writing more of my story. As I wrote, my main character didn't know what a Chaiden was, so she asked a lot of questions, and I forced myself to answer as quickly as possible, as if someone were asking me the questions. So it's a little random and they may seem a bit strange, but it works, and seems to be very effective.

Grisnok: To answer Phillip's questions, which are very good, by the way--

Me: Just get on with it.

Grisnok: We don't take credit for our victories because we don't want people constantly coming to us for help or trying to kill us for helping their enemies. If they need help, we will help them, but we put ourselves in as little danger as possible. Yes, we worship God. We know he made us and everyone and everything else. Our "powers", as you call them, are something we are born with. "Bursts of magic", which is what others call it, are more or less balls of light we can throw at people. It's rather hard to explain, and more powerful than I make it sound.

Me: Believe me, he could tell you, but I have other things to do at the moment, so I'm forcing him to give short answers.

Grisnok: No, there are no slaves at the moment because we have learned to be very careful. I do not argue with the Elves I am traveling with because they acknowledge the fact that they are servants --which basically means they will be living among us and working for us-- and they treat me as equal. They are much younger than me, and respect me, although I've overheard a few comments about how "amusing" I am. Where they get that idea, I do not know. The lady knew nothing of the Chaiden or their relationships with the Elves, having grown up in the village of Men, so she doesn't have their ideas hammered into her head as others do. The Dark Elf has not been around the other Elves, and his race doesn't treat Chaidens the same as Elves do, though they are the same kind.