Vai'Kesh Standard

Returning to the recording and examination of artwork in the DS2 and DS2BW maps, I've got a shot of a Vai'Kesh standard here in the attached image.

The attached file is the full picture out of which this was clipped.

The imagery of the Vai'Kesh, or "Manu Ostar" as they call themselves, tends toward the macabre. Their own visages, however, do likewise. Resembling nothing so much as the descendants of bats subjected to genetic modification to make them bipedal and remove their wings, I don't think it's much of a stretch to consider these Dark Elves to be Vampires. They certainly seem fond of Death Magic. However, Princess Evangeline refers to a Vai'Kesh at one point as a "zombie." We have seen, in volume 3 of "Lore of Aranna," that "They dwell in a living death ..." Clearly, there is something Undead about them. This standard demonstrates their fascination with death and Undeath. The main image is a skull, but it is the skull of no Agallan, no Elf, no Human, no Dwarf, no Dryad, no Half-Giant. It shows not only fangs but also horns. Now, the Vai'Kesh used to be Elves (and some might still be tempted to refer to them as "Dark Elves," but I don't think that could be considered very accurate, unless it were in combination with something else, like "Undead Dark Elves," or "Dark Elven Vampires"), and they retain the long pointed ears of the Elven folk, but ears are cartilage, not bone; they would not be part of the skull, unless ossification of the cartilage was very advanced prior to death ... or perhaps in the case of the Vai'Kesh, I should not say "death," but rather "destruction." At any rate, whatever creature the skull comes from, it is plain that it represents the Vai'Kesh; no other culture in Aranna, so far as I know, would be more properly represented by this symbol.