Elf

"We are time’s subjects, and time bids us gone," -Queen Rosalind Avon of the Elflands, 898, 4th Cycle

A thousand years ago the world's elves controlled more than two-thirds of the territory in Pescaliat and ruled over millions of diverse races. In the modern era the old elven empires have collapsed and waned in power, forced to step back from the world stage while new nations of humans and minor races rise to to take their place. The age of elves has come to an end, with many accepting this fate and retreating to the ancestral homelands. Others have refused to step quietly off the world stage, taking up life as an adventurer for glory or redemption.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Southern Pescat

• The Elflands remains the largest nation of elves in the world, especially after millions fled to its Golden Forests after the Sunken God's Reign of Terror and destruction of Kassædeia in 897. Its ancestral capital of Henriad has exploded in size in just a decade, and the region's forests and waterways offer the kingdom natural defenses from would-be invaders.
• The elves of Glace make up one-third of the nation's ruling class in a power-sharing agreement with the dwarves and humans. This arrangement has lasted for more than 400 years, but many theorize that after Queen Ludmila Tomic's death Glace's elves will begin migrating to the Elflands in large numbers.
• For years the dark elves of The Verschow have rebelled against the tiefling government of Rakka, fighting for independence to practice their magics and research in peace. The high elves of the Elflands have long been suspicious of their dark elf kin, but as the fate of the world's elves grows more and more dire some have made attempts to reconcile both sides of the conflict.

Northern Territories

• The ancient Kiri Clan controlled much of the Northern Territories for thousands of years before years of feuding with the human Kawa Clan undermined the region's elven influence. After a terrible defeat in 876 at the hands of the united human armies of Kawa and Oda Clan in the Kiri-Kawa-Oda War, the elves of Kiri Clan found themselves a minor player in regional politics for the first time in thousands of years.
• Many wood elves dwell within the dense Koulan Forests, isolating themselves from the wars and political intrigues of the Northern Territories. Attuning themselves to the powers of nature, some leave the forests seeking adventure or vengeance in the outside world (e.g. Nyana)

Liat

• Many of Liat's elves were either killed or exiled hundreds of years ago when the kingdom of Gameth was first founded, but many wood elves managed to flee into the dense forests of Hakon to live as itinerant farmers or criminals. In recent years many wood elves have started migrating to the Elflands to seek a better life among their own kin.

Civilization and Culture

History

Decline and Fall

Stepping from their forest dwellings at the dawn of the world's 3rd Cycle, elves dominated continent-spanning empires and kingdoms for thousands of years. The Elflands Empire subjugated millions of people and over a dozen different races, the Kawa Clan ruled the vast costs of the Northern Territories, and the great elven kingdoms of Liat were some of the most prosperous in the world and wrote epic tales studied by scholars to this day. For years it felt as though the elven kingdoms would rule Pescaliat forever as few could withstand the might of elven hegemony. 
All of that changed in the 4th Cycle as one by one the elven empires fell to newer human kingdoms. The human nation of Gameth wiped out Liat's elven kingdoms at the start of the 4th Cycle, Glace's elven ruling class were forced to become junior partners in a power-sharing agreement with the nation's dwarves and humans in the late 400's, and the Kiri Clan's regional dominance collapsed after a disastrous war with the human Kiri and Oda Clans in 876. The final blow came in 897 when the Elflands Empire's 4,000-year reign came to a bitter end when a monstrous deity known as the Sunken God destroyed its capital of Kassadeia and murdered hundreds of thousands of elves in a matter of months. When the empire collapsed elves were forced to retreat to their ancestral homelands in the Golden Forests, Kassadeia standing as a haunting monument to the kingdom's hubris and former power. 
At the dawn of the 4th Cyle's 10th century a movement has gained traction among the world's elves known as the Regathering. Millions of elves began moving to the Elflands kingdom and its new capital of Henriad, seeking strength in numbers and shelter from the destructive forces of the outside world. Cities the world over experienced significant declines in their elven populations, heralding a new world era where elves would be playing a supporting role in global politics.

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Elf

Origin/Ancestry

Golden Forests

Lifespan

750 yrs

Geographic Distribution

• Liat
• Pescat

Proliferation: Uncommon
Stats/Rules: PHB