High Elf

Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.

With their unearthly grace and fine features, High Elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females. Elves’ coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.

Sadly, High elves are also known to be the most xenophobic of the elven races, and are quite often very arrogant to other races - especially, the beastial races (ie Orcs, Goblins, Bugbears, etc.), whom they believed were only useful for slave labour. High elves openly believe that they are not only the superior elven race, but also the superior race in general. Many facets of High Elf society reflect this, such as the carefully arranged crossing of bloodlines and the common use of eugenics.

Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. High elves in particular had a detached view of the world outside of their sphere. High elves as a whole had difficulty believing that the events occurring over mere "years" affected them in any major way, with the exception of major tragedies such as The Great Calamity / The Heliocide. High elves instead looked at things from a much longer perspective, unconcerned with anything that had consequences that stretched over anything less than decades. However, while some high elves were content to seclude themselves, others stalked the lands as champions battling the evil just outside of a high elven city's magical wards. This detached view of the world could make high elves seem distant and intimidating, not to mention haughty and arrogant. Furthermore, the powerful innate magical nature of high elves might frighten less magically talented races. High elves, however, took friendships quickly to heart and could react with rage when their compatriots are threatened. Combined with their general intelligence, bravery, and arcane power, this loyalty to friends made them formidable allies and dangerous enemies.

Civilization and Culture

History

The High Elves of Astara

The Great Calamity / The Heliocide had a profound affect on all races inhabiting Astara, fundamentally changing the way many cultures survived. The majority populous of many races were wiped out entirely, and those that survived were left in utter desolation. The years following the Calamity consisted of mass migrations of displaced cultures, forced to move somewhere safe or intact to start anew. During this time, alliances were forged and broken, ancient treaties abandoned, and a lawless chaos ensued. Most were desperate, and resorted to whatever measures necessary to survive. This greatly impacted the behavior of not only individuals, but cultures as a whole, as seen with the re-emergence of unsavory practices like cults, slavery and cannibalism. As such many races had evolved throughout the calamity, some only vaguely resembling their former selves. See below for some important distinctions of this race:

To flee the calamity, the High Elves used their legendary expertise in the arcane to magically lift hundreds of Earthmotes up into the air, containing various elven civilizations and structures - the biggest of which being Thras, an earthmote large enough to contain an entire mountain range, and the High Elf capital. With just over 300 Earthmotes risen to the skys, there they remained safe from a vast majority of the Calamities horrors. Each earthmote could be magically maneuvered while in the skies at the whim of the elves, should danger befall them.

The unfortunate truth is, not everyone could be saved the horrors of the calamity. For the high elves to have magically created and raised so many earthmotes in such short amount of time was a feat of genius, however it still was not enough for all High Elf people and their culture to sustain. Only certain cities, families or occupational bloodlines were chosen to go - those whom they felt best displayed the superior traits they were trying to preserve in their society. Those High Elves who were chosen to be part of the republic are referred to as Thrassian, as opposed to those who were not, and were left to survive back on the surface.

See The Republic of Thras for more.

Lifespan

~750 years

Average Height

5.5 - 6.5 ft

Average Weight

130 -180 lbs

Related Organizations

• The Republic of Thras