Fortum
pronounced; for-toom
Formerly known as 'wild' elves, the Fortum or more warmly called wood elves are descendants of isolationist elves that lived away from other species and cultures. Generally nomadic, their warmth and acceptance is reserved for other elves. At their best most Fortum are polite if not friendly towards other species but some will hardly even tolerate other kinds of elves.
Prefering a lifestyle of symbiosis with nature rather than dominating the landscape, they came in direct contact with a traveling colony of humans thousands of years ago. Initial interaction between the elves and the human settlers was tense. The elves were insinctively distrustful of the humans due to their xenophobic lifestyle and the humans recognized that these elves were somehow different than the other ethnicities of elves they knew of. Originally the elves acted aggressively towards humans that tried to interact with them, but the two groups built a relationship of cooperation and eventually cohabitation.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Historically, ancient Fortum elves spoke a dialect of Elven called Oemati. Now, the Fortum elves and the majority of humans living in Clavier speak a creole language that blends Oemati and Cadence - informally called Cadati. This pidgin language was developed between the Fortum elves and humans while they were learning to communicate with each other. To most other elves this dialect is considered crude and rather pejorative but the Fortum elves and humans of Clavier are proud of how their two cultures have blended and flaunt it whenever they can get away with it.
Shared customary codes and values
Fortum elves believe all life, whether animal, plant, or other, is of equal value. This belief structure originally had it's own name, however over time as their elven dialect blended with human language it is now simply referred to as Fortum.
Common Taboos
Fitting their reverence for life, it is considered distasteful to eat anything that experiences pain during it's life, or that would be killed or hurt by being consumed. For example, stripping the bark from a tree for food would be offensive to Fortum elves, but eating a ripe apple is natural. Not only is damaging a tree causing it a type of pain, but it risks killing the tree, which also prevents the tree from bearing fruit in the future.
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