Elves
Elves are a long-living race in Alendia, most commonly found in forests and wilderness. However, the term 'elves' is just a collective term, summarizing the creatures originating from The Mother, related to creatures of the Feywild. They are one of the oldest races in Alendia along with the giants and can be found almost everywhere in Alendia. Their home continent Durarin is highly populated with elves. The subraces of elves can differ so much that these subraces are often used to actually get a sense of belonging. Despite these differences, elves are often seen as elegant, wise, beautiful, and powerful creatures.
Due to the long lifespan of elves, they can get a lot done in their life. They live without hustle and bustle, many of them focussing on nature or magic. Elves mind the sleep because they fear the Decay corrupting their dreams as it did with the Drow many years ago. Many of them might have even forgotten how to sleep. Instead, they use meditation, lulling themselves into a trance to rest.
Elves do not have the same drive and motivation as humans. They are confident enough, that they got enough time to do the things they want, which results in a very peaceful lifestyle amongst each other without big rivalry. However, if there was one goal, one thing every elf should be proud to reach, it would be visiting The Mother, the oldest creature of Alendia and creator of elves. She lives in the center of Durarin, in the Pale Tree, and is treated as a living goddess, even by the Drow, although she just rarely speaks to their children.
Appearance
As mentioned before, the appearance of an elf highly depends on the subrace it belongs to. This paragraph will include the most common subraces of elves and their description. However, there are much more sub- and subsubraces not mentioned in that article.- The Highelves (often also called Eladrin) are the 'classical' elves. Standing from 1.7-1.9m, their size is similar to the human size, yet they were much lighter, weighing about 60-80kg. The body's slim shape is almost a typical characteristic of an elf no matter its gender or muscle mass. Most high elves have a light skin color, some of them might wear a light tan. Most highelves have long hair with colors ranging from pale white over silver and pale gold to dark black. Due to the mixture with other races, some highelves might also have brown or even red hair, which is usually pretty rare. Highelves do not grow a beard or facial hair, which is another distinctive characterization of elves. Most highelves have green or blue eyes. Only sometimes are born with brown eyes or even violet or golden ones.
- The Woodelves (sometimes also called Wildeves) are elves living in the open nature. They have the same body proportions as highelves, standing between 1.7-1.9m, weighing 60-80kg, and therefore having a quite elegant slender build. They do not grow facial hair, however, brown, blonde, and red is a much more common hair color for Woodelves, just like brown or hazel eyes. It is said, that the woodelves are physically stronger than Highelves due to their lifestyle in the uncivilized wilderness and nature.
- The Drow (sometimes also called Darkelves) are the very distinct brothers of the highelves, corrupted by the powers of chaos and the Mahlstrom. Drow are usually shorter than other elves, standing around 1.4-1.7m and weighing 40-70kg, therefore having quite the slender build as well. Due to selective breeding, drow look very attractive even compared to other elves which are already considered beautiful. The skin tone of a drow ranges from black over dark blue to grey, which gives them their name, since the skin of drowning people often takes a dark blue note. The hair color of the drow is almost always pure white. Drow often decorate their hair with jewelry, gems, or pins. The eye color of drow ranges from red over amber, lavender, and purple to blue.
History
For details look up the timeline History of the Elves.Culture
Religion
Elves accepted the The Pantheon of the Twelve-Gods like most other creatures did. Especially Melandru, the goddess of nature is one of the most important dieties for a modern elf, and elves often claim her to be one of their kind. Especially highelves, who tend to see themselves as the more civilized kind of elves take good care to spread the beliefs of Melandru and often also other old gods of nature and magic. There might be tribes of Woodelves living far away in the wilderness, which do not believe in the Twelve or don't even know about them. However, most of the woodelves know and tolerate these dieties just as well.Lifestyle
The lifestyle of different elves can differ by a lot. Highelves often live quite similar to Humans, civilized, in cities, studying and evolving with the time without losing the strong bond to nature. Most of the high elven cities are surrounded by forest, just like smaller villages. The same goes for the Woodelves, although they can often be found living in the trees or in the wilderness without constructing any cities or houses.Due to the long lifespan of elves, they can get a lot done in their life. They live without hustle and bustle, many of them focussing on nature or magic. Elves mind the sleep because they fear the Decay corrupting their dreams as it did with the Drow many years ago. Many of them might have even forgotten how to sleep. Instead, they use meditation, lulling themselves into a trance to rest.
Elves do not have the same drive and motivation as humans. They are confident enough, that they got enough time to do the things they want, which results in a very peaceful lifestyle amongst each other without big rivalry. However, if there was one goal, one thing every elf should be proud to reach, it would be visiting The Mother, the oldest creature of Alendia and creator of elves. She lives in the center of Durarin, in the Pale Tree, and is treated as a living goddess, even by the Drow, although she just rarely speaks to their children.
