Parisian Dark Elves
“The bravest people are the ones who don’t mind looking like cowards.”The Dark Elves of Edda, often maligned by their cousin species wherever they land, once had a time of greatness. Deep within the bowels of the Underdark, a sub-terranian layer of Edda, ancient cities made of silver and old technology. But, that was millenia ago, and Dark Elves in the modern day have long since lost this history and spread throughout the surface, with some faring better than others. None have it worse than the Dark Elves of Paris, who over time have been ignored, demonized, scapegoated, murdered, and systemically othered. While modern activism and ideologies have ceased some of these damages, and reversed a meager few of them, struggles and prejudices still exist. However, they still remain themselves, they still remain proud, and they still shall sing.― T.H. White, The Once and Future King
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
If a family welcomes a new daughter into their fold, the duty of naming her falls to her maternal grandmother, although in most cases the family at large will pitch ideas and give their thoughts. Traditionally, names denoting beauty or gentle attributes were chosen, but there is a wealth of paths to take and choose from.
Masculine names
Vice versa, if a family had a new son, then the paternal grandfather got the duty of naming him, with input from the family still. Traditionally, sons would recieve names that denoted strength or capability, but many qualities were also wishes to be bestowed on the child, so one could find many exceptions.
Unisex names
If a child is born some variety of intersex, then either side of the family can take the duty of naming the child. Alternatively, in the case of a renaming later in life, the individual can choose their own name, but often still getting approval from either or both sides of the family.
Family names
Many Dark Elves in the modern day have taken names in Klíman, the cultural language of Atalanta [IRL analogue: French]. However, those who still hang on to their old history, come hell or high water, still use the language of Shirá [IRL analogue: Hebrew], with the surnames being composed of a primary element plus the name of the lost city their family hails from. For example, the surname Kohenet-Binah contains the word Kohenet, for Priestess, and Binah the city supposedly beneath Atalanta.
For some Dark Elf families, Parisian or otherwise, these names have persisted but gotten shortened or mutated in the intervening millenia since the ancient cities collapse, so hypothetically the name Kohenet-Binah could be turned into Kohenah.
Other names
Middle names were fairly common, thought to stave off curses as well as provide greater definition for the future, but in the modern day in the current diaspora these have largely fallen to the wayside. Similarly due to Parisian Dark Elves current situation, many of their people have second names for use in common society.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
For those Dark Elves who still preserve and learn their traditional language, they speak Shirá, which is what most Dark Elves and similar species that lived within the Underdark speak. However, much of the previous generation had the language torn from them, as they were refused to speak it just about anywhere in Paris, leaving them to learn either Common or the Atalantan language of Klíman in it's absence. As such, many modern youth struggle to learn it.
Culture and cultural heritage
The Parisian Dark Elves heritage is that of their songs, of their language, and of their continued survival. Some old souls, taken by the stories of their own elders back in the day, dream of a time when the lost cities are found once more, and the Dark Elves can return to the land that was once theirs rather than having to suffer indignity, but the modern soul hopes for assimilation and recognition with those of the surface instead.
Common Etiquette rules
Dark Elves help other Dark Elves. Doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter who you are, if you are in need they will help however they can. While this has been strained in Paris, as the powers that be sought any and every oppritunity to raise dissent and betrayal, it remains a powerfully true custom, especially to help one evade from the authorities.
Art & Architecture
The Parisian Dark Elves have made art of various mediums over the years, often writing pieces of poetry or making oft eccentric paintings. But, the greatest art form they have is that of song. Working songs, nursery rhymes, lullabies, hymns, melodies, the list goes on and on, but their history and their joy resides in every note of those songs. It is the exhalation of their very soul, and even though the law banned them from singing for many years, it did not wane the music within their hearts, nor did it stop them from letting it out where the ears of the law did not reach.
Foods & Cuisine
Parisian Dark Elves have mastered the art of what is colloqioally known as The Struggle Meal, able to make something filling and relatively tasty from the bare minimum, as well as making large batches of what can be preserved. Their diets as a species lean towards plants more often than not, which suits them just fine as it's easier to get a bulk portion of things like legumes, tomatoes, potates and the like than it can be for "proper" meat.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
If there's one thing the Dark Elves know how to do it's celebrate a holiday! Among the standard holidays of Paris, the Dark Elves celebrate at least twice a season, at it's start and close, during equinoxes, when either or both moons are full, and that's without even getting into the specific diefic holidays. In the modern day, these mainly all result in another excuse to eat as a community and tell stories, but many will take the fleeting moments of joy while they have them.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
When a new child is born, they are to be first cleaned by a towel and water that was consecrated by a double full moon. On the day of the next one, the child will be kept outside as long as the family can manage during the night so the moons can grace the newborn, all while their parents sing lullabies to the child, often containing their chosen name.
Coming of Age Rites
When a Dark Elf turns 16, they are given one silver piece by each member of their family and sent to purchase a piece of silver jewlery, usually a bracelet, as a sign of their coming adulthood. At the age of 22 this is ennacted again, with the young adult either getting a matching bracelet or a necklace, and this second piece makes a clear signal to other Dark Elves or people in the know that they made it to this adult stage in their life.
Some families will opt to purchase a bracelet or necklace themselves, with each family member giving a charm or ornament instead.
Funerary and Memorial customs
When the Dark Elves of Paris have the fortune to bury their departed properly, they wrap them in a pure white shroud and bury them in an open field on the surface in the dead of night. Some who have the option to do so wait for certain phases of the dual moons, but many don't have the luxury. Afterward, it falls to their next of kin to orchestrate a rememberance vigil for them, and a new song shall be composed for them and their life.
In the years of mass deaths, especially in the Crescent Moon District, songs of honor for the masses have been made, even without bodies to bury.
Common Taboos
It is seen as a taboo for any Dark Elf to eat venison, deer bone broth, or to hunt a deer at all outside of life-or-death situations, due to the veneration of the Mother Deer of their faith. For Dark Elves in Paris, who came from the city of Binah, that extends to Owls as well, as The Wise Owl was the patron of the city.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Modern Parisian culture in general has found opulance, grace, and luxury to be signs of not just beauty, but elegance and abundance as well. This has bled slightly into the Dark Elf communities, although they often have little in terms of actual materials. One with the sharp face of a model will be fawned over, or one with the skills to make clothes that look nice, even if they aren't made of the finest silks.
As an overarching aspect of Dark Elf cultures, hair and its hygenine are key cultural touchstones, and so a Dark Elf with long or well-groomed hair is also seen as more attractive.
Gender Ideals
Modernity has done away with many traditional gender values, and the state of poverty many Dark Elves in Paris find themselves in makes for little privilege to make house-spouses of any variety. In common family units, fathers and similar patriarchs are usually trusted for protection and practical guidance, whereas mothers and other matriarchs are more spiritual and emotional pillars for their children. For those who tow the line and dance around it, well it comes down to personality, although particularly pious Dark Elves view intersex or non-binary individuals as sacred.
Courtship Ideals
Survival is the greatest asset for the Dark Elves of Paris. They have many uphill battles all aross Edda, sure, but in Paris they must do anything to survive. Yes, the modern day has caught up to moral decency enough so that it's not a mad dash against death, but before beauty, legacy, or just love for loves sake, many Dark Elves must sit down and ask the key question: "Will they be a partner, or a burden? Will I?"
If a partnership goes forward, then each side will ask their parents and their in-laws to be for permission. Sometimes these are casual conversations, a formality at most, sometimes they're rigorous interviews. Family, am I right? In any case, after approval is gained, then a community celebration is held. In older times, this would be fellow Dark Elves only, but with more people leaving their redlined districts for wider parts of Paris, they can turn into a proper block party with the right family.
The main event? A dance between the to-be-wed, with each bestowing a trinket of silver to the others. The flashy might splurge for a small touch of platinum, and traditional minds might find something forged form Loncruach, but standard silver is the most common option.
Relationship Ideals
The standard for many relationships is truly equal partnerships. Each partner, in monogomous or polyamorous relationships, is trusted to share the load and to be there truly for one another. It isn't easy surviving in Paris, from a material or emotional standpoint, so the ones closest to you must be able and willing to ease the pain, and you theirs.
Major organizations
Aside from having their community overall within the Crescent Moon District, primarily, there is also a rising organization called the Deep Peoples Self-Advocacy Group, a civil rights non-profit that seeks to tackle local prejudices towards the people from the Underdark, as well as repeal and remove archaic laws that, while rarely enforced en masse, are still used to deny and restrict the rights and lives of the Dark Elves.
Parent ethnicities
Related Locations
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