Sun Elves

Culture

Art & Architecture

It is in their architecture that the influence of Sun Elf culture is most keenly felt in the world they left behind. Though Hellenis inherited many aspects of their culture, it was the less socially influenced Solar Imperium that wholeheartedly adopted the style of Sun Elf construction, decoration, and city planning. Their conquest of The Known World was swift and nearly total, and though they ruled it for far less time than the Sun Elves themselves, they achieved a level of cultural dominance and impression of customs never before seen. Their only slightly bastardized version of Sun Elf architecture is now seen to varying degrees among almost every culture on Khthon.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Of all the elves, the Sun Elves are by far the most recognizable and relatable to humans in their tastes. Though nearly every elf ever born looks beautiful to a human eye and the same could be said for their crafts, the basis by which an elf of any other variety judges the relative beauty between two elves or elven works has always been almost entirely opaque to a human perspective. An elf's opinion on the beauty of anything non-elven was even less understandable or predictable, to the point that there is a serious school of thought that the entire species just chooses at random to confound the other sapient races for their own amusement. None of that holds for the Sun Elves. They are less alien in appearance than other elves, each serving essentially as an exemplar of human standards with pointed ears. Their choices in relative elven beauty make sense to human observers, and their opinions on works both elven and otherwise generally line up with human sensibilities as well, simply with higher standards. Those looking for a quick and dirty understanding of Sun Elf aesthetics would do well to remember that every member of the species considers themselves effectively a great noble. If you imagine the sensibilities of a great, powerful, and ostentatious human monarch, you have likely just envisioned the taste of the average Sun Elf quite well.

Courtship Ideals

The ubiquitous nature of each Sun Elf to see themselves as a great noble dramatically affects their courtship processes. Though they share the physiological need for the dramatic with all other elven cultures, they are restricted to only those forms of drama which are acceptable to the needs of securing alliances and finding matches of appropriate prestige. They are enormous fans of chaste courtly love between those who cannot ever be together, but any hint of actual infidelity or even pairing inappropriately, whether that be a mismatch of station or simply not securing enough value for their house, is complete anathema to them. It is so devastating, that it can literally kill a Sun Elf to debase themselves by being party to such things.