Sea Elf - Alu'Tel'Quessir

Sea elves fell in love with the wild beauty of the ocean in the earliest days of the multiverse. While other elves traveled from realm to realm, sea elves navigated the currents and explored the waters of many worlds. Today these elves can be found wherever oceans exist, as well as in the Elemental Plane of Water.

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

Aquatic elves generally built settlements in calm waters that supported coral reefs or seaweed forests. These settlements usually had populations between 100 and 400, though communities both significantly larger and smaller existed. Aquatic elven communities were almost entirely self-sufficient, trading with others rarely and then only for luxuries. They subsisted on kelp grown on their farms and fish they hunted.

Civilization and Culture

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Aquatic elven society was based on family and clan. Noble families and monarchs ruled, but in a benign and loose fashion rather than with an iron fist.[5][7] While women could and did have positions of power, aquatic elven society was largely patriarchal and inheritance ran first through the eldest son.
The concept of private property, for the most part, did not exist among aquatic elves. Whatever given aquatic elf currently carried on their person could be considered theirs, but everything else belonged to the community as a whole. This particularly applied to tools, weapons, and other practical items. Any aquatic elf could take one of these items whenever it was needed and regardless of who had possessed it previously, although individuals were allowed to keep relatively private dwellings. Such communal ownership meant theft was almost unknown. The exceptions to this were monarchs, who often had large and elaborate homes with limited access and many personal items. However, aquatic elven rulers were a reflection of their people and usually remained rather generous. The freedom to borrow items at will was not extended to outsiders, and surfacers were often watched carefully to make sure they did not try to take advantage of the cultural practice.
Aquatic elves held promises sacred and would rather die than fail to complete something they had sworn to do. If they died in the process, their kin took over the responsibility to complete it. The slightest implication that an aquatic elf wouldn't keep his word was deeply offensive. However, promises received from non-elves were highly suspect, both because aquatic elves knew that other races won't honor the promises of their dead and because only other elves had the lifespan to complete any serious task.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Aquatic elves were isolationist by both their nature and the physical location of their settlements, although they were not quite as reclusive as the wild elves. Their trust did not extend far beyond their clan and others of their kind, and their communities were very tightly-knit. They couldn't understand why the surface elves did not realize that community and alliances meant survival, whereas rivalry, individualism, and factionalism meant death.[5][8] However, despite being extremely cautious, they were also extremely curious, and aquatic elves near the shore would often spend a significant amount time secretly observing the land-bound races.[5]