Dune traders spread tales of cities hidden in mirages, oases that vanish with the rising sun, and travelers carried off to noble palaces invisible to the mortal eye. The stories of hidden kingdoms in the desert are true—in part. They describe the realms of the eladrin, denizens of the Lands Within the Wind (also sometimes called the Feywild).
Eladrin are almost completely unknown to most Athasians. They are thought to be a perilous race of enchanters who ward their secret towers and unseen palaces with madness and illusion. In truth, the fey realm has all but vanished, and the few eladrin outposts that remain there are crumbling into ruin as their land is burned away by defiling magic.
Eladrin regard their hidden realms as the last vestige of civilization remaining in (or near) the world. This attitude makes eladrin haughty, condescending, decadent, and demanding. The race abandoned arcane magic long ago, viewing it as the agency by which their home plane was destroyed. Instead, they turned to psionic power and delved deeply into the Way; eladrin psions are among the most knowledgeable and dangerous individuals on Athas. The very concept of using arcane magic is anathema to eladrin, and they fiercely guard the remaining fragments of their home against reckless spellcasting.
Eladrin adventurers are rare in the mortal world. Some are exiles, driven out of their native realms under a death sentence for practicing forbidden magic. Some are spies or messengers, tasked with watching the sorcerer-kings or rallying opposition to the tyrants. Most are refugees who have left their fading homelands behind in search of a new way of life.