Elves

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Originating from the Undying Lands of Naru Daeva, elves are the longest lived natural-born humanoids on Amalthea, reaching a maximum lifespan of over 400 years. While records of prehistoric elves are hard to find, the earliest elves in recorded history were immortal. But the magic of the Undying Lands is fading, and since they arrived in Paracia, their lifespans have steadily decreased. Nevertheless, elves today continue to treat their longevity as something that sets them apart from other races. The high elves of Velthiria especially see it as evidence of a greater destiny bestowed upon them by the Elder Gods. Many others, chief among them the cultures under colonial rule by Velthirian nobles, consider the notion preposterous.
Elves look like slender humans with long, pointed ears, with skin and hair similar to humans in the same region, although they tend to have lighter hair tones regardless of skin color. Different elven ethnic groups can be distinguishd by eye colors. Elven men can't grow beards until they reach very old age, about 350 years, when their hair has already turned grey.

High Elves

After humans, high elves make up the second most common race in Velthiria, and they are the most populous elven ethnicity on Amalthea. Most of Velthiria's hereditary nobility are high elves, including all six Great Houses and a good number of Lesser Houses. High elves value longevity and magical talent, so their nobles rarely marry other races. However, families without magical gifts have few prospects to wed pureblood mages, so they are willing to wed human or half-elf mages instead. High elves are typically Sybilites and are quite devout to the Elder Gods, but they revere St. Laurelion the Sage more than St. Sybil herself.
Many high elves leave Velthiria to escape the endless political intrigue of their homeland, while others are too impatient to wait for centuries to receive their inheritance, and strike out to make a name in the colonies or mainland Paracia instead. Yet more are commoners dissatisfied with the lack of upward mobility in their gerontocractic, feudal society, and wish to seek better opportunities elsewhere. In Tisoria, high elves descended from Velthirian colonists make up a significant portion of the upper classes. Noble high elves can be distinguished by their posh customs, arrogant demeanors, and magical aptitude, which they’ll proudly announce at the first opportunity. Even those of common birth are typically well-educated in the arts and sciences, if not in magic.
High elves have light grey, sky blue, or violet eyes. They speak Velthirian Elvish, a language descended from the ancient tongue of Naru Daeva, but have been altered through loanwords and pronounciation changes due to mixing with the native language of Velthirian humans.

Wood Elves

Wood elves are populous in the deep forests of Luir Brennath. They are descended from the first self-imposed exiles that rejected Laurelion's teachings, believing that the Elder Gods were as responsible for Naru Daeva's destruction as the Great Old Ones. Wood elves abandoned organized religion of all kinds, and believe civilization itself is, in a way, an organized religion in that it promotes ideologies and causes the ascension of gods. As a result, traditional wood elven culture is druidic and primal, rejecting complex political structures and technology in favor of communion with nature and its spirits. Outside of Luir Brennath, this primitivist belief is not strictly followed. The wood elf bandit clans of Valdoro, for instance, are quite willing to employ firearms and arcane devices in their raids, which were stolen from industrialized races.
Wood elf society is divided into tribes, structured in loose alliances based on intermarriage and the fostering of children. Two tribal confederacies exist in Luir Brennath: the Wildhunt Tribes, which live in the lowland forests and tame mammalian carnivores; and the Windrunner Tribes, which live in the mountains and tame giant birds as well as gryphons. Each wood elf tribal confederacy also claims vassalage from smaller satellite tribes of beastfolk with animal forms corresponding to their totem animals, as well as from humans and half-elves living on the edges of the forest.
Wood elves have leaf green, amber, or brown eyes. Wood elves speak Sylvan Elvish, which evolved from a combination of the ancient Elvish tongue of Naru Daeva, and the Sylvan tongue of fey. Most wood elves are also fluent in Sylvan.

Sea Elves

Sea elves are descended from youths born on ships during the Elven Exodus, who disliked the rigid, hierarchical society of Velthiria in the Second Light. Today, most of them make their home in the Blacktide Isles south of Velthiria, as well as the southern and eastern shores of Valdoro. Most elves and half-elves in the coastal villages of Valdoro have some sea elf heritage.
Sea elves are renowned sailors and the first people to establish trade routes between Velthiria and the rest of Paracia. Their culture of sailing makes them fiercely independent, as a sea elf sees their crew as family, their captain as king, and rarely acknowledges any authority above. During the Velthirian Expansion, the Blacktide Isles fell under Velthirian rule, and plenty of sea elves were drafted into the navy. This proved to be a fatal mistake for Velthiria, as the sea elves held no loyalty for a faraway king claiming a shared divine destiny they did not believe in. The moment Velthirian colonies began to declare independence, the sea elves sensed the kingdom's weakness, and defected to these newly independent nations or turned to a life of piracy. Today, a large number of pirates sailing the seas around Paracia are sea elves.
Sea elves have turquoise or ocean blue eyes. They speak both Velthirian Elvish and Common, often combining them with other languages and dialects into a creole tongue.

Drow

Also called Dark Elves, Night Elves, or Star Elves, these secretive, nocturnal people live deep in the Duskwood at the center of Luir Brennath, among the ruins of fallen giants. Like wood elves, the drow rejected Laurelion's teachings; but rather than renouncing all gods, they held on to the worship of the Great Old Ones, paying special devotion to Ashoi-Nokta the Fateweaver, the goddess who spawned the first phase spiders. Drow perform mysterious rituals of witchcraft under the stars, making them suspicious in the eyes of other cultures. Warning tales are frequently told by elves and humans of these white haired, dark-skinned witches of the woods, claiming that they seduce men for sacrifice, kidnap children to raise as their own, and summon dark beings from beyond the veil. Most of these tales are mere rumors rooted in fear and prejudice. In truth, the drow are peaceful, if reclusive, and prefer not to interact with outsiders if possible.
Drow found outside the Duskwood are usually men. Women have higher status in drow society, including the exclusive rights to learn witchcraft, while men are trained for battle or service, and have little room for advancements. As a result, plenty of drow men make the dangerous trek through Luir Brennath to seek opportunity among humans or high elves, where they are usually employed as mercenaries or servants.
Unique among elven ethnicities, drow have skin in shades of dark grey, sometimes with blue or purple undertones, and white hair. Their eyes are red or pink. Drow speak Duskwood Elvish.

Shadow Elves

The most mysterious of elven ethnicities, shadow elves believe that the only way to preserve the culture of the Undying Lands is by regaining immortality at all costs. To this end, they abandoned the surface world for the dark and gentle caverns of Lomea, where the pure shadow of Sidereum from before Vanthus's corruption preserves all life for an unchanging eternity. Here, the shadow elves built a civilization in emulation of the ancient traditions of the Undying Empire, although in truth, they have preserved only a small fraction of what was lost. Shadow elf culture is immensely hedonistic, although older shadow elves have dulled physical senses from centuries of exposure to the pure shadow. As a result, as shadow elves become older, they shift the focus of their hedonistic excesses from pleasures of the flesh, to pleasures of the mind. Shadow elves are known to produce artwork of all mediums with unparalleled skill, although their masterpieces are rarely seen on the surface.
Shadow elf elders fear change of all kinds and forbid their people from revealing the location of Lomea, lest outsiders interlope and induce change to their society. Youths are allowed to journey for a century on the surface, and should they decide to return, they would be named an honored elder, taught all the secrets of their people, and be forbidden from leaving again. In the modern day, very few of these youths choose to return.
Shadow elves are exceptionally pale, with hair in shades of black, grey, and white. Their eyes are black, grey, or white as well, with sclera the same color as their irises. Shadow elves speak Lomean Elvish, a reconstructed language believed to more closely resemble the ancient tongue of Naru Daeva than any other Elvish language.

Half-Elves

Half-elves most often refer to people with mixed human and elven descent, although more exotic half-elves with halfling, beastfolk, or dwarven descent aren't unheard of. Half-elves are common wherever elves and humans mingle, and usually receive neither privileges nor prejudices from both sides of their lineage. However, due to their rather awkward lifespans between that of humans and elves, many half-elves seek each other out for marriage. This led to the formation of truebreeding half-elven families, and today, their total population is roughly double that of pureblood elves.
The largest populations of half-elves on Amalthea are the found in Velthiria and Valdoro, who are descended from the interbreeding of high elves with humans of Velthirian and Valdoran heritage. In Velthiria, they make up a large portion of lesser nobility and the rising middle class. In Valdoro, meanwhile, they tend to be learned mages, prominent in both religious and arcane circles. High half-elves are especially common in the city of Tisoria, where they are often members of the Scions of Tisoria, and hold strong political ambitions.
Half-elves have slightly pointed ears shorter than that of pureblood elves. They otherwise display the full range of physical traits possible for both elves and humans. Half-elves typically speak the languages spoken by their elven and human ancestors.

Elf House Rules

• Drow can select any elf racial trait that replaces Keen Senses or Elven Immunities. They can select elf racial traits that replace the elven magic racial trait by giving up spell-like abilities instead.
• Drow can choose to lose the light sensitivity racial trait. If they do, they also lose spell resistance.

High Elf Swordsman by Shen YH

Wood Elf Druid by Ekaterina Burmak

Sea Elf Sailor by Marina Kleyman

Drow Witch by Sarah Beth Moore

Shadow Elf Artist by Ekaterina Burmak