Elfir (ELF-fear)

"Travellers from a distant land - do they still remember where?

Queen Yvette, in Heart I

The Elfir are a race of historically magical creatures who came across the oceans to Thorane. They have two distinct territories - Cohane, the city inside Ethrel, and E'ste, the Island of the Sun. They are humanoid - with angular faces and ears. Humans and Elfir can have young.

Elfir have lots of magical opportunities. Just before the building of Nirai, most, if not all, Elfir lost their innate ability to cast magic. Many E'ste scholars believe this was because the pools of magical energy inside the Elfir 'dried up' leading to them loosing all ability to cast from these stores. Another theory is that an outside source that all Elfir are connected to was lost or ran out of magical energy. However, lots of Elfir still practise magic, using the two known ways to regain magical energy to cast. Wild Magic and Arcane/Summoned Magic.

The Elfir in Ethrel differ from their E'ste kin. E'ste Elfir look most like their ancestors, taller, with softer, rounded faces compared to the Ethrel Elfir. Ethrel Elfir are a little smaller, slightly more human looking, with large eyes and much more pointed ears. The skin, hair and eyes of Ethrel Elfir tends to be darker, with the average being green/brown eyes, brown hair and terracotta skin. Their kin across the water are fairer and often have grey eyes.

Druids:
A unique aspect of the Ethrel Elfir are the Druids - Elfir trained to help the forest and its inhabitants. After the Heartfire Wars, Druid circles collapsed and the Wild Magic that supports the spellcasting of the Druids became unstable and hard to find and focus. Only a few Druids survived, especially after the Battle for Ethrel against the Flame Wraiths. Some of the largest circles were Ethentoir [ETH-n- TOR], Lilliae [LILY-A] and Itari [IT-ar-ee].