The Nellmantar (to put it extremely simple) are elves. They do not live in the world of Ashta, but somewhere else called Engala. The Yatay are cast-out elves, cursed by them. In Engala the word/name Yatay means nothing. They live in the same way as the Nellmantar, but are not allowed in Nellmantar areas.
Natagh was once a powerful elf, but because he acted badly he was cast from the elves and banished to be a Yatay. Though the elves tried to hide it, they were afraid of Natagh and what he could do. As time went by the elves forgot about Natagh and started pushing the Yatay out of their lands because the humans were pushing the elves out of theirs. The humans feared the elves a great deal, but decided to wipe them out so they would have nothing to fear from them. Natagh (now the ruler of the Yatay) decided, instead of forcing the elves back, to take his people away from Engala. They somehow find the Land of Ashta. There Natagh changed the Yatay from meaning nothing to meaning everything.
The Yatay’s skin is like a mood ring, it changes color depending on the mood of the person. This was so the Nellmantar could recognize them. Some Yatay have learned to conceal their feelings and go about with pale white skin.

Happy – Yellow/Normal skin-tone
Sad – Blue
Angry – Black
Love – Red
Fear – Purple
Sick – Green
Nothing – White

I think that's all I've got these two races... Questions?

that's really cool! Is their skin controlled strictly by emotion? A friend of mine had skin mood rings/camouflage but it was more temperate based so there were times the environment could manipulate it.

so did the Yatay come from the Nellmantar and just learn to have their skin change or are they more like different races that are elf-like?

Their skin changes based only on their emotions. (I just used the mood ring as a reference )

The Yatay came from the Nellmantar (as in they used to be Nellmantar). The Nellmantar cursed them and cast them out. The curse is what causes their skin to change. The Nellmantar did this so they could recognize the Yatay and know if they entered their lands.
I guess it's more like a spell the Nellmantar cast. (if you can't tell, the elves aren't pure and good like in LotR)
When the Yatay come to Ashta, they learn how to hide their emotions and have white skin most of the time.

Different spellings and tenses:
We are the Yatay
I am Yatain
This is Yatain land
We are the Nellmantar
I am Nellmantor
This is Nellmantain land

Looks pretty neat. Though I don't really understand the entire pushing out part. What exactly did the humans do? And how did the Yatay react? I'm a little bit confused as to that part but overall I really like the two races--especially the 'mood ring' skin...very creative!

eruheran

They look pretty neat, but I pretty much just second all of Eruheran's questions. Especially the skin color thing.

The land of Engala was/is inhabited by (you could say) two races: the humans and the elves. Neither of the races have ever liked the other, but the humans feared the elves because the elves were slightly more advanced than the humans and the humans didn't know much about them. There were skirmishes between the two and the elves raided the humans when ever they threatened to change/ruin the elves' goals.
At one pointed in time the humans decided to destroy the elves so they wouldn't have to live in constant fear of being attacked by them. Though they were technologically outmatched, the humans had greater numbers and were able to kill most of the elves. Those who were left went into hiding.

Within the elves. The rulers of their people (the Rhyeldd - a council) would pass laws and all that kind of stuff. Elves who disobeyed major laws (or who angered the Rhyeldd) were exiled/cast-out from the elven race. These outcasts became the Yatay. The elves cursed them them by making their skin match their mood. This was for two reasons 1) so the elves could recognize the Yatay and 2) so the elves could tell what a Yatay might do (if they're mad they might hurt someone, if they're happy, they might be planning something....)

the Nellmantar are the pure elves
the Yatay are the outcast elves

As the humans attacked the elves and slowly drove them back into their own lands. The elves began taking anything they could, this included what little land the Yatay had found. Natagh decided to flee with his race across the sea instead of fighting both the Nellmantar and the humans.

Did Yatay mean nothing as in the word or nothing like it didn't mean anything? So the Nellmantar are sinless?

The word Yatay meant (literally) Nothing. Because when they were cast out from the Nellmantar, the Nellmantar treated them is if they were nothing. That's where the name came from.


Where do you get that? I didn't think I mentioned anything about them being sinless. They're not. In fact, they're little different from humans in the respect of sin/sinlessness.

You said the Nellmantar were pure elves and when someone disobeyed their laws, they were thrown out, but unless the laws were all-encomposing, I suppose that doesn't make them sinless.

Oh! I see. I meant 'pure' in the sense that they were "the" elves and the Yatay were "the other" elves. Or something like that... not that they were pure/sinless.

Okay, sorry if I wasn't clear.