Elf (elf)

the Areian

Today, in some parts of Aldern, areians (elves) are considered more cradle-tales than real. Outside of many of the royal courts, where they serve as advisors to kings and highborn nobles, elves live primarily on islands across the Cota Ocean or in remote mountain towns on the mainland. Stories of the elves reigning across Ethae in the ancient world persist. As do tales of wars with dragons that left both races near extinction.

There are five ethnic groups of elves in Aldern; the Soun'are, and Toeman'are, the Woyd'are, the Juhl'are, and the Scaro'are. The Soun’are are the rarest of the elven people, ancient and pure-blooded immortal creatures of Magic (Game Note: players can NOT play as Soun’are.) The Toeman’are, often referred to by the more common term ’high elf’, are by far the most commonly seen of the elven people throughout northern Ethae. The Woyd’are, dwell deep in the shadowy forests, living in harmony with nature in the south. Finally, the Juhl’are, or more commonly dark elves, live in large underground caverns in the Night Below of Anbar and the Cutting Mountains. The controversial fifth group of elves is the Scaro’are (see the Orc entry for more detail.)

It is the Ballads of the Fey'are that provides understanding of the earliest days of the elven people and the rise of their Areian Nations. In the Ballads a, what Humans might call, royal family built their nations. The patriarch Soun, his wife Tobia, and their son Toeman began the nation of what would be the first high elves. The patriarch Soun saw the primitive humans as his lessers, but his son embraced their neighbors. While Soun built great cities with his companions, his brother Woyd loved the nature of Karasaanu, the Great Forest of the West. He and his followers spread south through the forest, living among the trees. He felt the humans equal to elves and let any who loved his way of life among his people. These people becoming what would be the wood elves. All while the their sister Juhl delved into the darker side of the Anon creating the Shadow. True or not, the stories from the Ballad of Fey'are defines, at least in elven eyes, the difference between the ethnic groups among them.

This mixing of races that was prominent in the prehistoric periods has waned for the most part as humans became the dominate race on Aldern. Elves have faded into isolated communities. The traces of the past still linger in the blood however, with human ancestry in nearly every elf in the modern day. With the exception of the Soun’are. (Note: The reverse is true as well, many humans have elven blood in their family past, especially among the nobility of Novyum.)

Elven Ethnic Groups:

Soun'are: Pure-blood elves.

Toeman'are: High Elves.

Woyd'are: Wood elves.

Juhl'are: Dark elves.

Scaro'are: Proto-Orc.

Game Note: The concept of half-elf is foreign to Aldern. There is only elf and non-elf. A child born to an elf and human is an elf. To put it in terms of genetics. Elves DNA is heavily influences by the Anon (magic). It is what gives them access to powerful magic, it slows their bodies aging, and so on. When the parents pass half their genes on the a child, elven genes are dominant, the Anon in them also spread, altering 10 to 20% of the human genes. It is why humans with an elven ancestor, even generations apart, can use magic. In essence an elf parent gives about 60-70% of their DNA to the child, making the child essentially more elf than human.