Elves were a humanoid race with fey origins. They were known for their haughtiness, isolationism and nature skills. They rarely dealt with non-fey or other creatures they considered as "lesser", keeping them away through violent means if necessary, but were kind-hearted and generous to those that actually got close to them.

Origins

The elves were born by a mighty fey queen as a plain and short-lived race designed to be nimble, strong and deadly - weapons to outcompete a rival queen. They were also disposable. However, a group of powerful fey beings - the Silmarilus - embraced this race as their children, took them away from their original mother, and gave them a true life. With the guidance of their gods, the elves developed their own culture, identity, and six subraces (based on five of the Silmarilus god and on nature).^[1]

Elvenkind, thanks to their agility, affinity for holy, druidic and arcane magic, and longevity, spread across the Feywild. They did not form a large unitary empire, but a network of small settlements and enclaves that lived enmeshed with the wild nature. The subraces usually formed separate settlements, but did not have preferred biomes: all lived in all kinds of environments.

Elves did spread beyond the Feywild, but only in small groups and without much coordination. Few powerful enclaves were built outside of the fey realm. During the Dady Empire age, settlements on Oshmondu were overrun and elves became slave breeding stock. They eventually rose up against their masters and built their own empire on the ashes of the Dadys. This was the most powerful state ever produced by elvenkind. After this empire's fall, a federation of clans remained on Oshmondu, and single elves started assimilating with other races. Overall, however, they remained a relatively "pure" and distinguished race.

Terminology

Young elves were called youths, ones between 10-50 years old were children. Adult males were called tomé or men, while adult females were called amé while virgin and améih after having their first child. In their old years, they were called tom-ur and amihur respectively. Ones that had succumbed to dementia were called drim-ur.

Elves liked to call themselves Silla-kin, Ancient Ones, Childs of Silmarilus or the Six Ones.

Biology

Elves were nimble and discreet humanoids.

Physiology

All elves were humanoids with relatively thin features. Their limbs had only lean muscles, which allowed them to easily maneuver their light bodies but didn't give them much strength. Males and females were equal in this regard. They had a huge variety of skin, hair and eye colors, which were usually determined by subrace. They had rather stark features, accentuated by fey's elegant pointy ears. They were often described as "stark": their faces were plain and simple, their bodies relatively flat and linear. Elves did not have large round protrusions, both in the buttocks and in the female breasts.

Their eyes were excellent, allowing them to distinguish sharp features at considerable distances. Some elves even had truesight, a special ability allowing them to see through most magical illusions and sometimes even into parallel dimensions or the Weave. Elves also had darkvision, allowing them to see to a certain range in darkness.

Elves were famous for their affinity to magic. While their clerical casting was obviously derived from their gods, they were also innately able to connect with natural fugues and to harness the Weave. This physical capability developed out of many generations of use and direct changes in the actual genetic builds of elves; their shape and souls grew so imprinted in the Weave that it recognized them and more easily bent to their wills.

Reproduction. Elves had relatively small sexual organs. It took much emotional buildup until two elves decided to mate; usually, this happened at most once every century and often featured multiple ceremonies before, in private or friend circles. The actual mating of elves could take up to a whole day, during which time sexual intercourse could happen up to four times.

Once an amé was pregnant, her womb and breasts grew. After about two years, childbirth occurred, and the mother could produce milk for about 4 years afterwards.

See this article for information on inter-subrace and interracial breeding.

Growth. The average youth weaned after four years, but still couldn't walk or control their body very well until they passed their first decade, when they were taught elementary knowledge. It took another four decades for a child to reach maturity and be able to face the world. Elves could live anywhere between one and nine centuries, depending on their subrace. After this time, they started turning drim-ur.

Dementia (drim-ur). Elves did not commonly die of old age. Instead, they started going crazy, a process which was respectfully called "drim-ur" in the elven tongue. When turning drim-ur, an elf's hair color turned light grayish and their behavior grew erratic, confused. They were also often sleepless. Elves at this stage, and those still decades away, felt an intense yearning to go to their "homeland". These were ascension points to the Silma Fael, the home of the Silmarilus. Most elves didn't die from natural causes, but left their bodies behind as their bodies shifted into the holy realm. If, after multiple decades of madness, an elf still remained on the material world, then their bodies grew very weak and they eventually went comatose and died.

Interracial Reproduction

The elven race had a quite restricted spectrum of possible reproductive partners; humans were one of the few options, because of their genetic similarity. Elven blood, however, was not dominant: half-blood children typically carried the visual characteristics of their human parent, perhaps with slightly pointed ears. Longer lifespans and less need for resting did transmit, however. Also, half-bloods - or even distant children of elves - had very "strong blood", meaning their physical characteristics often imposed themselves much more strongly than pure parents'.

Ethnicities

All "elven races" were in fact ethnicities of one single race, "elf"; variations between ethnicities were minimal and mostly aesthetic. Dark elves had black skin, thinner ears, and different-color eyes; wood elves were slightly squatter than most.

The exception were plain elves, who were vastly different and in fact no the same race at all, but another kind of fey. Plain elves had light green or yellow skin, strange golden or green hair which had the texture more of long grass than of hair, and they had three genders, which they could even change between. Meanwhile, humans were also so similar to elves to the point of being almost an ethnicity; apart from build and other mostly aesthetic differences, they were biologically identical. In fact, elves and humans could interbreed, whereas it was more complicated between common elves and plain elves.

Psychology

Elves appreciated the company of equals, but didn't absolutely need it once they were fully mature and could fend for themselves. Elves were some of the best rangers, druids, explorers and adventurers simply because they appreciated being alone in the wilderness. (Being alone amongst "lesser" races was a similar feeling.) Of course, they felt their strongest emotional connection to their kin and could be loyal or good friends.

Consequences of Longevity

Since elves lived vastly longer than other mortal races, they derived distinct psychological and cultural traits from the different outlook granted by their long lifetime.

Long lifespans meant elven societies often saw several great threats or wars come and go. Most responded to this with a sense of apathy, as they had already seen everything and didn't feel threatened at all. Others, rather, grew paranoid that the newest development in quick-lived peoples could bring their demise; some even preferred rash action, not tolerating even innocuous persons that could in a decade become a threat. Similarly, elves - being mostly sedentary - could see generations of families go by. Often, an elf became the patron of one family, making sure the progeny got along well enough. This could also echo in more negative relationships: orcish tribes could have century-long vendettas against certain individuals.

Additionally, most elves lacked the self-discipline and ambition of shorter-lived races. Since there was always a tomorrow, few individuals were hard-pressed to learn or work; procrastination and laziness were prevalent.

Culture

Elven cultures were very varied depending on subrace and actual cultural heritage. However, some general trends based on biological or other realities occurred in most sets of traditions.

Longevity's Impact

Elven generations taking centuries each meant that there was very little generational struggle. Younger elves rarely rebelled against the social constructs of their predecessors. Besides, the long lives meant that elven societies were very slow to change. If one system had worked for centuries, why risk it? Additionally, many tentative reforms would already be known first-hand to have failed, further discouraging change.

Elven art and craftsmanship was often both excellent and a colorful patchwork. Workers had centuries to learn their skills and perfect them to impressive levels; and similar amounts of time to work on their products. Simultaneously, in larger societies, new art forms developed and joined dozens of existing forms; many cities had great numbers of different styles coexisting, and elves were very tolerant of completely different art styles. Many artisans' schools left their curricula in the hands of individual teachers. Problematically, due to a lesser sense of self-discipline and ambition, elven technology or knowledge grew very slowly, if at all. Typically, this made them either dependent of external progress, or they fell behind.

Agriculture went a similar way. Sowing and reaping crops every year at great effort was seen as wasteful. Instead, most societies used long-term methods like forest agriculture, wherein an entire forest was grown and maintained to supply a society with all the food and other resources they could need. To outsiders, this often looked like elves simply lived off the land.

Plotting and intrigue in courts became state-of-the-art. Rash, short-term actions were virtually never successful, as individuals had to live for centuries in the shadow of their failures when they were discovered. Instead, nobility engaged in long-term low-risk plots with intricately controlled details unfolding over centuries. Plotting was recognized as a high art, and some houses employed professionals to aid in this task.

Beauty and Style

Elvenkind had a relatively unified idea of style. The most important feature of beauty, which was taught by the Silmarilus itself, was the simple magnificence of anything that is natural - including elven bodies. This meant that the focus of elven style and fashion was always on the wearer's body, which was considered the prime jewel of the confection. Thus, most elves wore simple clothing that didn't overshadow their skin and facial features. They most often had bare heads. Some fashions, though not all, interpreted the beauty of the body to mean that clothing should be revealing. This could range from wearing sleeveless shirts to having attractively folding sheets of cloth, using semi-transparent silk, or just going naked.

Usually, there was a distinction in clothing between males and females, as well as between people of different age groups. In contrast to other culture, however, this rarely was about how much skin was exposed, but specific cuts or styles.

In order to display the most of their "natural" beauty, nearly all elves had long hair, wore little head covering, and made sure to have their fey ears - which were a source of pride - be clearly visible.

Armament

Elves were exceptionally nimble and able to learn complicated acrobatic arts during their long lifespans. This made them renowned two-blade fighters; they often used two on meter long double-bladed shilfenuà swords in deadly conjunction with highly flexible metal mail or plate.

While on the battlefield, elves were not known for their ranged units - or for fighting prowess in general - they were deadly in smaller skirmishes or ranger work in the wilderness. Two-sword fighting was very effective against lightly armored but numerous enemy, while elven eyesight could truly come to bear in the twilight, when both diurnal and nocturnal creatures were at a disadvantage. In this situation, rangers liked to use light bows which they were strong enough to draw to snipe lightly armored targets out of hidden cover.

Mortuary Traditions

All "death" ceremonies were focused on ascension points, locations where the soul of an old elf could transfer to Silma Fael, the realm of the gods. The voyages to these points often included ceremonious ship travels or silent parades of elves walking through the woods. The actual transfer always happened in privacy, however, and the deceased's companions only retrieved the body a day or so after the ascension.

Elves who died for other reasons, such as violence or disease, were still given the long parade, but they were carried on a ceremonious open coffin and allowed to rest near an ascension point for a day or so. Sometimes, clerics used magical means to make sure a lost soul found its way back to the body's location so it could still ascend.

Once the body's soul was seen off, the body was buried near the location in a specially attributed cemetery. This was often just a patch of lush forest, a churning ocean, or an open volcano. No markings were placed on the grave, because the soul only lived on in the Silma Fael and in the "spiritual realm", the memories of the elves.

Religion

Elvenkind was one of the most religious humanoid races. All aspects of an elf's life were accompanied by the gods. Youths participated in praying sessions, while major steps of life - such as maturing, or joining a school - happened with religious ceremonies. Most important was the calling, the profession that an elf decided to pursue. When doing this, they also chose their "tutor god" which was connected to the job, learning from that deity's fugue's knowledge.

Even in Khali drow society, which rejected the Silmarilus, the goddess Lolth played a very central role.

Society

Most elves who lived in a society formed families. There were no rigid couples with children, as mating pairs were often rather fluid. Children were raised by the larger group an elf paid allegiance to, the family. A family had at least a dozen members, but could have far more, and cared for the safety and well-being of all its members. Some families formed houses of their own, but most medium-size and all large houses were amalgamations of multiple families.

A house was headed by a matron or patron, a single ruler chosen by its "nobility". This class could include anyone from the leader's close entourage to the whole house. Houses were larger political units which represented the interests of their members among broader elvish society and dealt with foreign problems on a larger scale. This included the maintenance of full militias which were traditionally under the command of Hunt Masters^[3].