Sea Elves
"The blue keebs aren't as bad as the others if you ask me. If you ask the Wupan Privateers or a captain of a wraith ship, you'd get a different story. From the shore, they look like fishermen and sailors like any other. From the forecastle of a merchant ship, you have to watch both above and below the waves for pirates."
~Archmage Dulacar of the Brass Tower
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
In addition to common and elven, sea elves all learn to speak aquan to communicate under water.
Culture and cultural heritage
Sea elves were the sailors and fishermen of the La'shei. When the gray elf empire fell, they barely noticed, and have continued serving the High Elves in much the same capacity.
Shared customary codes and values
Sea elves view everything unattended beneath the waves as fair game for salvage, a fact that brings them into conflict with both merfolk and sahaguin.
Common Dress code
Sea elves usually dress in oilskins from seals or dolphins when they dress, but just as often go nude. Sea elves do not regard nudity as a taboo and often find amusement that other races (even other elves) do.
Art & Architecture
Sea elves construct nearly everything out of seashells, coral, and a concrete made from sediment and sea ink. They emphasize natural contours in everything, and their cities tend to look like large coral reefs. They build their cities primarily in the shallows along coastlines, but portions of them may become dry land at low tide.
Coming of Age Rites
For ten years after they come of age, sea elves are expected to sail the oceans looking for adventure, stories, and treasure.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Sea elves wrap their dead in seaweed and weigh them down with stones to send off the continental shelf and into the deep darkness below.
Common Taboos
Sea elves will not kill other elves, even when committing piracy.
Common Myths and Legends
Sea elves love stories, and sea monster stories most of all. In particular, they tell a story of their most ancient enemy, the Sea Witches
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Males are larger than females and tall for elves, ranging from 5'0 to 6'6 and from 104 to 260 lbs. Females are 4'7 to 6'1 and from 84 to 240 lbs.
Male skins are mottled, usually blue with greenish patches that resembles seaweed.
Females' blue skins are striped white or tan, resembling sunlight playing on shallow bottoms.
Both genders prioritize physical properties, namely sleek muscles and graceful movement. Their hair ranges from white, to sandy blonde, to greens and blacks. They have webbed hands and feet, and are very capable swimmers.
Courtship Ideals
Sea elves exchange deep-sea 'treasure' as gifts during the entirety of their courtships. These treasures are often utterly worthless flotsam prized for uniqueness or beauty by the one who discovered it.
Relationship Ideals
Sea elves are monogamous and will only have one or two serious relationships over the course of their long lives.
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