Elves

Image by Gioele Fazzeri

Golden Haired Barbarians, Elves terrorize the seas

Native to the North Sea for as long as any record can account, Elves are a people characterized by the harsh envirement their culture developed in. With volatile seasons and a deficiency of resources, many turn to raiding their southern neighbors when they cant make it through the year with the resources they have.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Elves are believed to share an origin with the fey, and as such resemble them in many ways. Elves are bipedal mammalians with minimal body hair. Elves differ from fey with their pointed ears and typically blonde hair and blue eyes.
On occasion, elves may have children with fey. These children are born with a mix of elven and fey traits, sometimes having straight red hair with blue eyes and horns or textured blonde hair with red eyes, amongst other things

Hair & Eyes

While typically blonde, Elven hair still has a wide range of shades. Most commonly Elves have golden blonde hair, but sometimes their hair may be closer to honey, sand, or silver in colour. These traits have all been realized to be uncommon and not typically passed down to children when they have a parent of golden blond hair.
Similairly to hair, Elven eyes come in many shades of the same colour. Typically Elven eyes will be blue, resembling the North Sea. Other times Elves may have eyes resembling ice, opal, snow, or very rarely: Emerald.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The Elven languages are a family of languages common on both coasts of the North Sea. These Languages exist in 2 major branches, Southern and Northern. 
The Southern branch exist as 7 documented languages, the only one of note being Blōkmankr Tōn [Blo:kmaŋkr To:n], literally translated as Blackmarch language. Blōkmankr Tōn is widely spoken in Kōmhim [ko:mxim], or the kingdom of Kōm. 
The Northern branch is significantly less documented, with only the language of the kingdom of Nokr being well recorded. Scholars theorize as much as 45 undocumented languages amidst the many minor kingdoms, jarldoms, and tribes.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

With many elves living within the North Sea, few attain all they need to survive during the year. Many elven nobles and even kings must settle for modest living within their frigid homes. Because of this, many elves suppliment their crop growing, hearding, and trading with raiding. This practise has also led to the occaisonal conquest of elven nobles, creating large migrations and interminglings of local and invader cultures.

Common Myths and Legends

Many Elves subscribe to a traditional polytheistic religion, worshipping a number of major deities with general associations to major geographical features or major cultural aspects and traditions. These dieties vary greatly between settlements and groups of Elves, but several can be considered "Pan-Elven". While their names vary, scholars often use regular epithets to refer to these figures cross linguistically.
These major and "Pan-Elven" dieties are often considered:

• "Old Father Frost" a primordial diety of ice, snow, and the sky. Old Father Frost often also has minor conotations with death, likely representing the harsh winters of the North Sea
• "Mother Mountain" a primordial earth mother and consort to Old Father Frost. Mother Mountain is often an origin point of creation and a counterpoint to Old Father Frost
• "The North Star" or "The Winter King" a diety often associated with many aspects of society. "The Winter King" often refers the figure as an archetypal "common cultural ancestor" for the elven people and progenitor of the race.

Lifespan

110 years

Related Organizations

• Kōmhim