Elf
They look beautiful, yes. But that beauty is hardened. Have you ever seen them take that snuff they use? Do you know why they use it? It's not recreational. No, they have to take it. Their planet is so dry, they start to rot in human-friendly atmospheres. The snuff is a medicine that keeps infection at bay. And those that survive the infection... well, I hope you never see that.
-Gran Restin Rau, Orc mercenary captain to his new recruit, Jean-Soren Krupp
Basic Information
Anatomy
Elves are, to outside appearances, similar to humans, especially when compared to the squidlike, methane-based giant Lla or the microbial Iehuca. They are slightly taller on average, and quite lithe and agile, but otherwise look like humans with fair, androgynous features. This appearance is coincidental, though, as their underlying physiology is radically different.
Ecology and Habitats
The Elf homeworld, Saracelli, is a very dry environment lacking free water. Vast forests of plants and animals with cactus-like water retention store almost all the planet's water. The elves are well-adapted to this, and have great difficulty in environs with "excess" water.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Elves do not drink water, as there is no free water on Saracelli. They obtain sufficient fluids (for their needs) from the food they eat. Elves eat more often, but eat smaller meals than humans. They have no thirst drive, and do not drink fluids.
Biological Cycle
Elves sleep for only four hours at a time, despite having a circadian rhythm of humanlike period. This gives them more time to eat, which they must often in order to obtain sufficient fluids.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Elven names follow the pattern, <given> <village>. The village name is simply the name of the settlement within which the elf was born.
Beauty Ideals
Elves detest the wet and oily skin of most other intelligent species, as these are signs of serious illness on Saracelli.
Gender Ideals
All elf women study horticulture during secondary schooling. Few elven sex-specific traditions exist outside of garden-keeping.
Courtship Ideals
Elves do not marry. Rather, they travel in mated pairs for multiple years at a time, generally causing their children to be born in a different village than either parent.
Relationship Ideals
After their years of travel (called the Journey), mated elf pairs sometimes, but don't always, live together in one place for a while. A pair that wishes to conceive again may travel on another Journey together, but it is not uncommon for pairs to go their separate ways or Journey with new mates instead.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
The common language on Saracelli is called Elvish to the galactic community, but many regional and even village languages exist on the planet.
Common Etiquette Rules
Elf culture is centered on the village level, meaning that etiquette varies from region to region.
Common Dress Code
Elves dress warmly on Saracelli, generally in leathery reptilian skins stuffed with woven fibers, as the dry forests and jungles become very cold at night. Outside Saracelli, they tend to wear flowing, sheer garments to prevent the buildup of moisture or condensation.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Elves are attuned to the forests of their homeworld, and utilize natural imagery in many of their rituals and customs. Traditional elven medicine is one of the home planet's biggest exports, as is the practice's seedy mirror image—the recreational drug trade.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
The Journey, a mating ritual of great importance, is key to the homogeneity (or, perhaps, the melting pot) of elven culture.
Common Taboos
Physical contact from other species is considered uncouth at its most generous. At worst, it is considered assault. Even handshakes are avoided. Sexual contact with alien species, besides being unproductive and unpleasant for species evolved to bear lubricated reproductive tracts, would be seen similarly to bestiality on many other planets.
History
Elves joined the galactic community shortly after the development of the Sungjeong Drive.
Common Myths and Legends
Elves believe that True Magic has always been a part of the world. Cleaving to the old notion of "gods," they define True Magic as a sleeping female entity that has recently awakened, or is still in the process of waking. As such, they see the near future as an epoch of Magic, with cataclysmic but positive repercussions for the multiverse.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Elves enjoy trading culture, technology, and resources with other species, but the strain required due to endless quarantines and dehydration procedures instills some amount of xenophobia among them, especially those confined to the homeworld. Other species see only the intrepid explorers and entrepreneurs among them, and merely consider elves as "keen on their personal space" or "aloof" rather than outright hateful of the Great Other.
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Comments
Author's Notes
It would be inappropriate to not mention the following note for DMs and players: in some ways, Elven physiology can be compared to that of real-world desert mammals, such as the domestic cat.- Like cats, Elves would have highly efficient, but therefore sensitive, kidney-like organs.
- Like cats, Elves cannot sweat and will not readily pant to cool themselves.
- Unlike cats, Elves did not evolve in a hot desert, and have therefore not compensated for the heat in other ways. Elves are therefore poorly able to tolerate extreme heat.
- Even moreso than cats, Elves do not have a thirst drive. They absorb their replacement fluids directly from their food.
- Unlike cats, Elves sleep very little. This implies a primarily herbivorous lifestyle, with ample food available, rather than the high risk/reward niche of an obligate carnivore.