Elf

"The Elf knows the past. The Elf knows the way. The Elf knows." - Excerpt from the Monologue of Alliance on Elfkind, 853 BGA

Elves are the most ancient, existing race of Mundus. Before any other civilization began to develop language the elves had already been speaking among each other for hundreds of years. The elves were one of the founding members of the Alliance of Mundus and their influence over the world is second only to human influence.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Elves look very similar to humans and their anatomy is almost identical except in a few details that are the key differences between them. The first of which is quickly noticeable: elves are taller than humans. It is rare to find a human taller than an elf. Elven males cannot grow beards. In fact, the only hair that grows on elves are on their heads and eyebrows. They are otherwise hairless. One of their other distinguishing factors is the differences in their ears: where human ears are round and smaller than palm-sized, elven ears are long and pointy.
Additionally, elven body design (musculature, bone structure, etc) is much slimmer and less powerful than the human design, so elves tend to be both physically weaker and lighter than their human counterparts. An elf that trains physically for the same amount of hours and treated to the same amount of nutrients as a human does not gain the same amount of musculature. They gain far less than their human counterparts.
However, this allows elves to be very agile due to their lighter, taller build. The combination of a light-weight design plus compact, highly mobile muscles allow elves to be much more nimble than humans, though not as strong and not necessarily as fast. It is also quite harder for elves to gain weight: their bodies do not digest certain fats well and their sense of taste dislikes sweetness. They tend to stay away from fattening, sweet sugar and animal meats of any kind. They are largely vegetarian in diet.

Genetics and Reproduction

Elves have mammalian reproduction construct much like humans: sexual intercourse takes place in order to produce offspring. Male partners breed with females, who go through a long pregnancy period of one year. Once the pregnancy year is done, they give birth to their baby and can raise it or choose to let others within their elven community provide for it.

Growth Rate & Stages

Elven years are as long as their bodies and ears. Newborn elves grow from infancy to full maturity in around 30 years. Once 30 years of age,

Ecology and Habitats

The optimal environments for elves are tropical and subtropical areas. With their magic capacity and their wanderlust spirits, however, elves have traveled through all parts of the world the same as humans.
Unlike humans, however, elven habitats are a bit more subtle in the way they are built and designed. Except for particular situations, elvenkind do not build their abodes from processed materials, but rather they carve their homes into their surroundings: carved caves along cliffsides, hollowed-out trees and tunnels in grassy hills have all been types of homes elves like to live in. When they build homes instead of carving them out the abodes are built out of stone and wood, and are built to coexist with local flora as opposed to clearing areas in order to build their settlements as humans would.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The elven people have a largely herbivore diet but are considered omnivores since they can eat certain animals. Elves are able to eat most fish and some poultry but are otherwise unable to properly digest the meat from most land creatures. Their sense of taste seems to dislike sweetness in food, and so they innately stay away from sweets and prefer salty and bitter foods.

Biological Cycle

The elven body grows to full maturity at around age 30. At this age

Additional Information

Average Intelligence

Elves are wise and cunning beyond even their own elongated years. To say that they are potentially the most intelligent race in Mundus would be no exaggeration. Magic theory, world history, math and law are the subjects where they most dominate. A large portion of the elven population have photographic memory, which allows them to retain information much more keenly than humans or even dwarves. While elves had never created complex, non-magical machines before [DATE], they have since been able to quickly catch up with the rest of modernized civilization and had created their own brand of domestic and military vehicles, ballistic weaponry and advanced chemical products.
All elven societies have a complex network of adoption centers called 'Gardens', which are used to keep the children of their combined race and raise them. Their education lasts 50 years, during which time an elven infant grows to adolescence. The average elf has advanced knowledge of world history and magical theory, and at least advanced knowledge in either math, laws, natural science, chemistry or engineering. They have basic knowledge of all matters otherwise.
All elves know at least one more language other than their Elderhouse's native tongue. Multilingual elves are not uncommon.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Elves have the same sensory capabilities as humans; their senses of sight and hearing are much more developed, however. Elves can see much farther than humans with much more precision, capable of discerning rodent-sized animals a league or so away. They are also able to discern finer details on anything they may be looking at up close, making them some of the best appraisers in Mundus. Their pointy ears allow them to pick up sounds too dim or far for humans to hear and also at frequencies outside of human hearing range.
Elves have two additional senses: magnetoreception and magicsense. Magnetoreception is a sense which allows elves to detect a magnetic field to perceive direction, altitude or location. Magicsense allows elves to detect magic auras nearby. With magicsense elves can sense Fey from a distance, any form of magic usage and even magical artifacts if they are close enough. This in conjunction with elven hearing and sight make elves hyper-aware of their surroundings. For these reasons elves usually make great assassins, navigators, appraisers and rangers.

Magic Ability

Magic Type Statistics: 12% Animus, 26% Citra, 10% Corporis, 52% Sagasitas
While elves are not born with any innate magical abilities, their magic capacity and power is incredibly strong when they have learned how to use it. Elves are considered the most magically adept smartfolk without Feyblood ancestry. Because elves use their mental acuity to focus and create magic, about half of the magic-wielding elven population become Sagasitas-type mana users. Other mana type elves are uncommon, with Animus and Citra type elves less rare than Corporis types.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Elderhouses Elfeim, Shadeaux and Sceaferd have different cultures. Despite their common ancestry they have different languages, and so, vastly different-sounding names.

Elderhouse Elfeim

The names of the Elfeim elves are ancient. Elfeim surnames are directly correlated with the House the elf belongs to within the Elfeim Elderhouse. There are twelve clan surnames, directly related with the twelve Deorum which each clan named themselves after. A thirteenth surname exists, though it does not refer to Opokus whom Elderhouse Elfeim does not believe in but rather a bastard surname for those whose origins within their society are unknown.
Female Names: Caprica, Aquaria, Aeris, Taurianna, Geminia, Cancia, Lea, Virgina, Libriria, Scorpia, Sagitaria, Adrianne, An, Beatris, Barbariccia, Ceres, Clara, Cassia, Dayana, Decima, Elfina, Emlyn, Felicitas, Faustina, Galla, Gladiys, Hortense, Imperia, Juno, Julya, Kaia, Laurel, Lus, Mabel, Maxine, Nydia, Ondine, Patricia, Peony, Quintessa, Rydia, Septima
Male Names: Capron, Aquos, Aries, Taurn, Gemin, Cancis, Leonis, Vircis, Libro, Scorpan, Sagitos, Alphonsus, Amadeus, Baldo, Briantis, Caius, Cassian, Ciprian, Danario, Diuno, Elfio, Elian, Felix, Faustus, Gaius, Gladion, Hace, Ignis, Julius, Justin, Kaius, Leandro, Larcico, Marcos, Maxis, Noctis, Octavius, Prompto, Pablos, Questos, Ronam, Sabin, Tarragon
Clan Surnames: Caprikorn, Aquaros, Arios, Ta'ur, Geminua, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittar
Bastard Surname: Deors

Elderhouse Shadeaux

The names of the Shadeaux elves are smooth-sounding and use many vocals next to one another. Most surnames are translatable to 'of [house name]'. So, for instance, de Magis means 'of House Magis' and de Borel means 'of House Borel', so on and so forth.
Female Names: Erielle, Halmide, Elive, Marillon, Hopelle, Menoe, Apesia, Veilla, Louisoix, Gwenolie, Arturia, Hildie, Tivionne, Elviane, Jainelette, Saulette, Etoinelle, Pimelle, Jannie, Ceaulie, Alisaie, Ysayle, Julie, Cyncia, Adreanne, Iflione, Eaupline, Eranne, Etrene, Moriene, Peronne, Cummone, Phivonne, Paxeonne, Bella
Male Names: Raitmeaux, Mourechaux, Nogeloix, Padilloux, Vairemont, Carrilaut, Aurifort, Bertennant, Lothaire, Lainguel, Loubier, Leaumont, Civerion, Bauliant, Ageneau, Etermion, Eugenaire, Arthurioux, Alphinaud, Drillemont, Eupharte, Jannequinard, Edmont, Guillaime, Francois, Raneaux, Adeux, Beichault, Eauplaux, Etrent, Gloffaux, Jodeaux, Joyent, Ulmant, Ulwex
Surnames: de Lasserrant, de Borel, Leveilleur, Haillenarte, Augurelt, de Fortemps, Eurateau, de Magis, de Durendaire, Drebes, de Chardon, Guillaime, Allons, Shadeaux, Chateau, Zanaux, Yewsoux, Genereaux, Dreauchant, de Carmont, Belleveau, de Florens, Begnaud, Dioroux, de Lugarte, Fallion, Orontos, Blomflaux, Leaniux, Anguent

Elderhouse Sceaferd

The names of the Sceaferd elves tend to be strong-sounding, and some use curiously [HUMAN COUNTRY DEMONYM] words. It's important to note that a lot of Arborian words are present in the Cornerian language because of their close history.
Female Names: Lunera, Aufanza, Aerith, Ithma, Sylvasia, Claria, Circica, Alruina, Phoebe, Ais, Julya, Xicia, Artia, Ifalna, Lucrecia, Cinthia, Lufia, Tifa, Auirna, Asarathia, Metria, Halna, Ysali, Jania, Quistis
Male Names: Furigon, Firion, Astos, Bran, Sylvos, Haldrath, Thordan, Usvigee, Elondin, Estinien, Castor, Els, Ragnar, Cicico, Carrilo, Thintien, Sivirion, Salazar, Uul, Legols, Phoebos, Siz, Drirsos, Freyr, Zonoe, Ignaseros, Oskeon, Borian
Surnames: Sceaferd, Wyrmblood, Elfeim, Duskwight, Wyldmae, Zanarkand, Uisix, Gelleherd, Gaston, Yewsight, Helleneor, Geneolgia, Lifewood, Leafdew, Dragonblood, Cisk, Audright, Phonts, Zheldon, Yuraphim, Diorus, Iusick, Apernox

Major Organizations

Major elven territories include Vertinia, Guillesant, Floren.

Gender Ideals

While elven women are usually shorter and lighter than elven men, their culture very rarely distinguish sex. Since all elves can use mana and magic prowess does not distinguish gender, females and males can be equally powerful in elven society. For this reason elvenkind's gender roles are entirely subdued. An elven ruler of any given elf kingdom could be a queen as well as a king. Warrior roles and servant roles were similarly never divided by gender so much as by bloodline and/or merit.

Relationship Ideals

Elven relationships are taught in different ways depending on the culture. Some elven cultures think relationships are fleeting fancies of love that change over time, and while they do have rituals of marriage they tend to come with the caveat of 'for a period of time', as if accepting that they will eventually gravitate away from one another to some other love. Others yet think that marriage is an eternal love that should be accepted into the soul as a part of the self, no matter how bored or unsatisfied the relationship may seem.
Perhaps being able to live through centuries might give a different insight as to why this may be such a big debate.
All elven cultures seem to have one very distinct, important aspect of relationships: once a baby is born it is left to the community to raise. Sometimes even a wet nurse to give the bebbe to is planned before birth. Due to the amount of time it takes to raise a child from infancy to maturity and teach them the entire history of elvenkind, a hundred years or more pass. Since most elven societies agree with this concept, most of the time the couple is allowed to disown the child willingly and continue their affair without having the burden of parenthood.

Average Technological Level

It was the elves that brought some of the most basic, first technologies to the other cultures of the world. In particular the human ancestors of the Kingdom of Coneria, who evolved their craft and culture thanks to elven knowledge and thus brought about one of the first human realms in Mundus.
The elves were the first to invent written language, the wheel, trapping, agriculture, pottery and most Sagasitas type disciplines of magic. Elves were also the first to invent the calendar and to this date the Elondinist Calendar is the official calendar of the Enlightened Nations. A lot of ancient, legendary magical weapons and artifacts are attributed to the elves who were the first to master the art of artificery. Even today the most distinguished artifact companies are Vertinian in origin or otherwise elf-run.
With their high capacity of magic and enhanced senses, plus their generally pragmatic nature, elves rarely needed technologies that would aid them in warfare, hunting, or anything else other than keeping knowledge. For that reason it wasn't until [DATE] that elves began developing engineering technologies designed to replace the use of magic; if not for their own sake for the sake of other, magic-incapable races.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Elumien
Levielle

History

The Elezenlopaedea, the elves' sacred, ancient record of their history, teaches that when the world was young the elves wandered its reaches for thousands of years, looking for their promised land whose discovery was predicted to them by their gods. This spurned the elves spread over the continent of Deorsa and beyond. They struggled with the rest of the Alliance of Light through the Age of Strife and helped bring it to a close with the Grand Armistice, created in great part by their kind. Elvenkind's storied past has granted them a spot of powerful influence among the cultures of Mundus, second only to humans.

Origins: The Deorum Faith and the Elven Diaspora

1800 - 650 BGA
The first recordings of elves teach that twelve gods clad in armor made of bright light loomed over the mountains and oceans as they went about their incomprehensible tasks across the world. When the elves first came upon their realms of Elfeim they feared and revered the gods. They were intimidating, silent giants moving across the landscape at daytime, and made the elves feel small and feeble-minded as they went about curious synchronized rituals across vast spans of their realms. At night the gods would fight off hordes of daemons and protect the innocent wildlife of their lands from the scourges of darkness.
In The Day of Light, around [DATE], the gods got together in a colossal circle surrounding all of Elfeim. The elves became fearful but were soon calmed when they spoke to the elves and revealed their knowledge to them. They revealed themselves to be named Capriko, Aquaros, Arie, Tau'rso, Gemni, Cancernos, Leos, Virgs, Libra, Skorpo and Sagitara. They informed the elves they were here to fix the world, and could lead them to the knowledge they needed to help. The elves heeded the words of the Deorum and became as intelligent as they. Now the elves knew the world was broken: that night came with the curse of daemon hordes was not normal, and that the creatures of Mundus were much more vicious than they had once been because of the curse.
This was when the elves learned of the Forests of Arboria, found around the Life Tree, which the gods told them were north of Elfeim. The gods spoke of Arboria as a paradise where the daemons didn't roam, and the creatures of the land were peaceable. And so, most of elvenkind left Elfeim for the promised land.
Historical, archaeological findings have not been able to confirm whether the giant figures of light were real, but a massive northward migration of elves from the jungles of ancient Elfeim have been confirmed to have transpired between the years [DATE] and [DATE]. The warm, green lands of Elfeim would not be completely abandoned: while many elves chose to follow the words of the Deorum, as they came to call the gods, many stayed behind in Elfeim out of fear of leaving the gods' side. The Elezenlopaedia continues on explaining that once the elves arrived in the region of Arbor and established the Kingdom of Arboria the elves had a schism within their culture.
Despite their gods' promises of daemonless lands and monster-free fields, Arbor was infected with the curse of the Fal'Cie all the same. Yet they had followed the instructions of the gods to the letter. There was no mistaking they had arrived to their promised land. The elves were devastated to find out they had been lied to, and began shunning the gods for their lies.
As if to answer the elves failing faith on their benevolent gods, an old, feeble elf by the name of Elondin of Scaeferd approached the Arborian king's court one day and claimed to have recently been in contact with a thirteenth deorim by the name of Opokus. Elondin was able to, through magic taught to him by Opokus, show the people of Arboria exactly what he had seen and heard: an enormous, shining light in the shape of a mage addressed himself as Opokus. He claimed to be the leader of the Deorim Thirteen, and stated they were not gods but merely the guardians of The Mother Goddess, who created the universe and for whom they worked for. Opokus apologized to elvenkind, and stated Arboria would sadly be just as inhospitable as everywhere else. The Deorim had expected to fix the world by the time the elves arrived to Arboria but failed.
The Exylia could not be fully closed, and the spirits of Cosmos would forever be corrupted and enfeebled by the curse of Chaos, the god of evil, on his kind. Mundus was doomed to suffer through the daemons and the corruption of the spirits of the Farplane. Their world was doomed to die in the agony of the wars that would ensue against the corrupted spirits and beasts of the land. Opokus let them know that Cosmos would try to find a solution to this dilemma throughout her eternity, but had so far been unable to. Before Opokus left, he showed Elondin how to use his full magic potential, which gave birth to the discipline of Divination, and provided him with the knowledge of the Laws of Goodness left behind by the Mother Goddess. He named Elondin an honorary fourteenth member of the Deorim and left to the heavens, blessing Elondin with a hand raised above his head.
Many of the elves of Arboria refused to believe Elondin, but the king and his court were convinced by the story of the wise old elf. Elondin would become the Cosmos and teach the early dogmas of the Word of the Mother Goddess in the Mater Biblo: the Mother Book. Scaeferdism was born from this event. Several elven clans that believed Elondin was resorting to magical illusions to keep the elves in Arboria would become estranged by the rest of their brethren, and would later become persecuted as heretics for forsaking the Elondinian Doctrine. The Arborian clans remained Elderhouse Sceaferd in memory of Elondin, who gave them a renewed faith in their new home and a new set of rules to practice into the future. Much later the twelve elven clans that left north became Elderhouse Shadeaux under the leadership of Astos Shadeaux.
Astos Shadeaux blatantly forsook the gods and the Sceaferd faith, and instead chose to believe in the power of the self, believing the gods were powerful snobs that had made a mistake of giving Elvenkind their magic, which Astos vowed to use against them. Esotémagia, Elderhouse Shadeaux' philosophy of magical mysticism, was born in their newly constructed Kingdom of Froidnuita. Though challenged by many as a belief of extremist views around the value of a person based around their magical skill, Esotémagia did forward the fields of magical studies and drove forward sciences of the arcane by exploring the many properties of magic.
In Elfeim, meanwhile, the elves had been depressed for centuries that their gods had left the world for the sky high above. One day the Deorum simply didn't appear anymore. The elves of Elderhouse Elfeim were left to fend for themselves against Feykind and Feyblood alone. Elfeim's jungles were vastly more corrupted than the rest of the lands, making it difficult to live there without the aid of the gods. Many of Elderhouse Elfeim sailed across the Sea of Isles, though many more died off in the attempt. Those that stayed behind would carve their place in the wilds of the southern realm and founded the Elvsana Queendom, until said queendom was besieged by the Cantsplague that finished exterminating the elven kingdom of Elfeim.

The Elven Age of Strife and Contributions at the Turn of the Eras

651 BGA - 205 AGA
For a while, Arboria, Elvsana and Froidnuita were the greatest elven domains in Mundus. That, until the Age of Strife struck the world. The endless hordes of monsters and daemons that appeared all across the world would completely eradicate Froidnuita within a month, and on the eve of the creation of the Alliance of Light, Elvsana would be wiped out from the map due to a plague. Arboria only stood a chance thanks to their alliance with the human kingdom of Corneria who, along with the dwarven Tomra Kingdom, were able to repel the monster hordes before becoming the founding members of the Alliance of Light.
The Fey Wars began a few years after. The Arborian Kingdom represented the elven race in the wars. The most noticeable assets provided by the elves were their mages which formed the bulk of the Alliance's magic armies, their artificers which were second only to their lalafell counterparts and their incredible intellect in the form of some of the best strategists known to the history of Mundus. The elven generals Paxeonne Yewsoux, Furigon Zanas and Ifalna Dreadmoor were the most efficient generals in the entire history of the Fey Wars, earning the title 'The 3 Esper Reapers'. Saint Lunera, the Oracle of Elvenkind, is the second of the Warriors of Light, and was named so after the events of the Freed Night in the 3rd Fey Wars.
In the year 0, when the Great Armistice was signed with the Occurian leaders of the Fey, two of the hands to sign it were the elven generals Ifalna Dreadmoor and Paxeonne Yewsoux. It was in great part thanks to elven council and oversight that the document had been made possible at all. And so, the elves contributed to the end of the Fey Wars, the formation of the Mundal Alliance and the forging of the Great Armistice. The combined efforts of the Mundal Alliance allowed for kingdoms to pool their resources to begin clearing the land of monsters and rebel Fal'Cie that would not adhere to the Armistice. The hunters guilds and clans that were born from the Culling incorporated elven time mages, black mages and oracles regularly, and many still do to this day.
The Culling underway, the elves of Elderhouse Sceaferd were able to gather together and form the nations known today as Vertinia, Guillesant and Floren. While the kingdom and surrounding realms of Elfeim were devastated beyond repair, the people of Elderhouse Elfeim survived through the elven ship country Aqua Orbis and the Ignasion Queendom. In the years that followed, which were full of conflict as the Great Armistice was enforced by both sides, the elves participated in conflicts that would happen across the entire world. The Sceaferdian kingdom of Arboria stood stronger than ever through this century.
The Shade Uprising in [DATE] saw many of the Floren queendom's forces in the Alliance take command and shatter the incoming hordes of Fey that came from the Mauveleaf Feymarch. The Eidir Rebellion that started the Underworld Wars was stomped with the help of the elves of the Guillesant and Vertinia kingdoms. To this day Guillesant and Vertinia, along with other smartfolk nations, help the dwarves of the underground nations in the Underworld Wars.

The Exploration Eras and the Vertinian Revolution

206 - 1580 AGA
When the borders across Deorsa became established and the Post-Culling centuries came, trade and exploration had become major interests across all nations of the new, peaceful world. Sciences and arts both prospered with the need of innovation to inspire trade. Arboria, Vertinia and Guillesant were some of the largest contributors to exploration across Mundus. Dufraydal, Blostan, Icolasnia, Sant Ricania and Sant Lunera are just a handful of the elven colonies created in this era. The kingdoms of elves and men, mostly, became larger by adding many more territories to their name thanks to their curiosity and ambition. Colonies were created that stood entire oceans away from their homelands. Due to a war that took place between the kingdoms of Arboria and Guillesant, Vertinia had been left alone to allot all its resources into exploration and creating new settlements.
Vertinia would grow to become the largest elven kingdom in the world, second in size only to the human kingdom of Gysahlia. Because of their widespread presence Vertinian influence became powerful, and they were able to trade with the resources they'd amassed from their various colonies to their benefit. This would continue for a hundred years before the colonies Sant Clara and Quillis became threatened by Feymarches located across their borders. Gloffaux and Iflione de Lasserrant, the king and queen of Vertinia at the time, were notoriously proud rulers who thought their nation untouchable and so did not lend their ears to the cries of help of their own colonies while the nobles and merchants became richer at their expense. Meantime taxation and rising labor demands imposed upon the colonies by their mainland kingdoms did cause reason for upset within the territories.
Despite civil unrest in Vertinia's colonies by [DATE] Vertinia had become one of the largest nation in Mundus, surpassed only by the Gysahlian Empire in territory and trade influence. Unfortunately for Vertinia, at this the peak of its reign, its colonies would begin to fight for independence. The secessionist movement, scattered across all nineteen colonies, was met with various degrees of defeat, but not without cost to the main Vertinian host. Each defeat brought about deep civil unrest; this time within the mainland borders of the Vertinian kingdom. The king and queen allowed a dishonest monopoly to grow shamelessly within the monarchy's economy as it swelled bigger. Embezzlement, excess and unwarranted apartheid were common mindsets of the merchant and high classes of the nation. The secessionist movement grew into an anti-monarchic, race-tolerant, religion-tolerant organization emboldened by a passionate yearning for change in philosophy in the world's mindset. Thus 'Les N'fants de Connocimente' (lit. The Children of Enlightenment) were founded by their human leader Aurton Ozman, who brought about the most important cultural movement of contemporary Mundus.
Ozman held that the philosophies of Esotémagia were antiquated. While Esotémagia conceptualized the proper ruler of a nation who-so-ever's blood were more attuned with magic, Aurton Ozman's philosophy held the notion that those who ruled should be selected democratically by the people of their country who should choose their rulers based on their merit and philosophies of rule, not by the magic of their blood. He argued against Esotémagia, embracing the democracy and rationalism at its earliest stages: his logical appraisal of the law system held that magocracies were oppressing, illogical systems of rule. It was these principals that won over the hearts of the Vertinian militia into rebelling against the kingdom. With the mainland in disarray, the colonies were able to get their independence one by one, and slowly the kingdom crumbled into a violent cultural revolution that would usurp the rulers they found unfit.
The Children of Enlightenment were eventually able to overthrow the king and queen of Vertinia. This was the first time in elven history a kingdom would be defeated by a coup in Mundus. With their army having just won Pyrrhically against Arboria and its populace angered at its rulers, Guillesant was next to see its king and queen be executed publicly early [DATE]. The news of the spreading Vertinian Revolution spread far and wide across the world, and soon neighboring kingdoms were caught in it. It was in the aftermath of the Vertinian Revolution that Aurton Ozman would be killed in battle following the defeat of the Assémble de Magi and the virtual eradication of organized Esotémagia as a belief.
Gysahlian colonies, Narcissican colonies, Castiñudan colonies-- all colonies followed suit in due time. Exploration of the world would continue past this era, but to the elves the era that followed was the Era of Diplomacy, where a boom in industry would occur all across Mundus' newborn republics and the sciences took the forefront of all sapientkind cultures in Mundus. The Vertinian Revolution gave rise to the idea of equality, but left the Alliance of Light divided.

The Era of Diplomacy and the Summoner War

1581 - 1789 AGA
With rationalism and progress becoming so prevalent a set of ideologies, efficiency became one of the main focus points of the progressive cultures of Mundus. Mass-production lead to automation, which sparked the industrial revolution. When this technological revolution swept the world of Mundus the nations with most developed production began to trade their mass-generated stock in the open market in earnest, leaving nations whose trade technologies lagged behind almost entirely out of the economic boom. Vertinia, Guillesant, Arborillia, Arboque, among other elven nations fared well in the global market. Because of elven high magical prowess, elven nations' sales largely dominated in the fields of alchemy, artificing and arcane components.
Misteim, ruled by a clan of eidir that had so far been peaceable, coexisted with the Cohor Republic. Because the most popular automation process included the creation of homunculi, taboo among eidir, Misteim resisted the adoption of this technology with religious zeal. As so to prevent the technology from being used by other nations, Misteim closed its trade from the rest of Mundus and starved them from a very important component in the creation of homunculi.
In spite of this the Cohor Republic, located on the same continent as Misteim, gathered the selfsame resources and traded with the rest of the world. In their outrage Misteim declared war on Cohor on grounds of trespassing national borders. When Misteim invaded and defeated the Cohorese, they set their sights on the rest of the blasphemous world and began attacking nearby nations. Misteim invaded most neighboring nations while also amassing allies of their own to rally to the war effort from other corners of the world. This sparked many nations that had earlier been part of the Alliance of Light to form a new alliance in memory of their old bonds, founding a new alliance of nations called the Mundal Alliance. Most elven nations sided with the alliance of nations, while the others chose to stay neutral and did not participate.
Just as the war gained traction and more nations became involved, feymarches around the world began to get displaced. Notable Feymarch displacements during this period include the displacements of the Aerang, Millun, Pluvianis, Topsiturv and Tallat Feymarches, though dozens more minor feymarches were moved during this time period. The wanton, unforeseen movement of feymarches caused mass confusion and hysteria in the nations affected... all which happened to be invested in the war effort against Misteim.
In short time it was found that an order of Misteim's summoners were able to move a feymarch's Exyle Gate to wherever they wished, and were employing this power to cause chaos in the nations they were fighting against. These unprecedented changes caused many fey to become rebellious again, and the Consort of Occuria threatened to dissolve the Grand Armistice. Throughout the war [the Allies] researched how to move Exyle Gates, themselves. In the midst of the war, 3 feymarches were moved to Misteim's territory, after which three quarters of Misteim's people mysteriously disappeared. To this date the exact nature of their disappearance remains unknown. Still, one thing was certain: the war had ended.
With Misteim gone, the rest of her allies fell swiftly thereafter. The remains of abandoned Misteim were reclaimed by the Cohor Republic once they had confirmed Misteim was defeated. The remaining Allies placed several sanctions on Misteim's allies. With the Summoner War done, the world looked to progress and unification.

The Oracle Seven and the Globetrade War

1790 - 1901 AGA
The peace times and unification that followed brought the world to develop new markets and new technologies. The world became smaller as magical arts became explored and new methods of trade and travel would become widespread. Since the Summoner War the world had divided in two: east and west. [The Allied Nations] nations that had fought in the Summoner War had not agreed on several terms of international taboos. The whole point of the war against Misteim had been the use of humonculi, yet the democratic, capitalist nations of the west and north disagreed with the practice as well as Misteim had. They had placed heavy sanctions on the trade and creation of these beings. This didn't sit well with many communist nations that had used humonculi as cheap labor, and a cold war brewed between the nations of the east and the nations of the west. The cogs of the world economy were separated as east and west attempted to create their own closed loops of economy, acting independently of one another.
The disputes between the nations came to be over petty land and resource claims. The cultures and governments of the different factions grew to view each other as traitorous in a few generations. The war had unified the world in their hate of summoners (the world hates Fey, and summoners who summon Fey by extension), but was never able to quite get over their moral obligations to humonculi, who were sentient-capable magical creations who could be used horribly to nefarious ends. The world agreed that humonculi were to be treated with respect and never again used in war, but debated on the terms of using them for menial labor and considering them as second class citizens. This, their general differences in culture, language, economical structures and other religious differences put them at odds with each other.
It wasn't until twenty two hundred years after the Summoner War that, on [DATE], the appearance of the Oracle Seven would influence the world.
Through the ages the magical arts were researched and advanced well beyond their original limitations at their infancies. Alchemy grew more precise, artificery became more powerful... divination became predominant. The power of oracles to manipulate information magically and see into the time streams of select individuals was used commonly in every nation in the world by this point. The event happened as foretold in the Oracle Prophecy (a prophecy found within the texts of the Mater Biblos as taught by the Sceaferdist religion): seven oracles and a scrying crystal would appear before the world in times of uncertainty. On the Day of Certainty, all the oracles of the world saw a blinding light and the Oracle Seven at the exact same moment no matter where or who they were.
Seven oracles and the shadow of a crystal, they saw, fulfilling the Oracle Prophecy. When the seven oracles came forth, they claimed their abilities had been enhanced thousandfold since the events of The Day of Certainty, without their knowledge, without their consent. Still, they would labor for the betterment of all nations and made an oath to uphold the ancient laws of Sceaferdism and Heraldism both in accordance to the laws of the mundane. At the same time, an ancient site in the floating island of Merzersaersan was found by an Ozmanian archeological firm containing the prophesized @Crystal of Light. The Scrying Crystal, which would give visions to the Oracles for them to guide sapientkind.
In due time and with enough evidence, the Oracle Seven's power became indisputably true. The word of the Prime Oracles became known as the ultimate truth, the guiding beacon of light sapientkind had to follow to ensure their continued existence and prosperity. Although the oracles, themselves, ever did deny their exact beliefs or if they believed in the dogmas of Sceaferdism or Heraldism, they were highly revered by both these religious groups which composed large portions of the populace of the west in considerable contrast to the cultures of the east who had differing beliefs. As the passionate ideals of the believers of the seven rose to a crescendo, a declaration was made: that the Mundal Nations would sponsor, support and actively work towards the completion of all decrees declared by visions of the Oracle Seven. Several of these western, capitalist nations of the world echoed their sentiment.
The Mundal Nations decreed that the true, empirically real religions of the world were, henceforth, Sceaferdism and Heraldism, and all other beliefs were merely beliefs. A sector of the shared religions became one: that of the Faith of the Crystal Path, or Crystalism as it would from now on be called.
The growing disputes over trade, national borders among other conflicts between these nations only compounded on the mounting expectations of the west to guide the east to their salvation, and when the Oracle Seven decreed that the creation and use of humonculi was immoral, the balance tipped and the world went into war. It all started with the [EVENT NAME (Attack on X or Y Geographical Landscape belonging to West country)]. The attack came without warning or incitement from [West Country Name], and the world woke to the news of the declaration of war. Soon the allies found themselves fighting amongst each other. The Globetrade War had started.

The Modern Day History

1902 AGA - Current 1929
Today the influence of elves and humans dominate Mundus' global culture. While the alliance of nations does include lalafell, galdjent, moogle, mi'qote and even bangaa nations, their cultures are not nearly as influential and have, by and large, been relegated to observers and cooperators for human and elven leaders in world-wide affairs. The Faythart Prohibition, for example, is completely based on the mandates of the Oracle Seven. The Globetrade War has waged on

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Elves value the insight and similar disposition of humans. They regard the viera fondly as creatures of beauty and finesse and greatly enjoy the company of moogles.

Lifespan

285 years

Average Height

Females: 5'10" - 6'10" Males: 6'6" - 7'4"

Average Weight

Females: 80 - 170 lbs Males: 100 - 190 lbs

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Skin Colors: Light grey, pinkish peach, tan, brown, stone gray and soot black.
Hair Colors: Blond, black, brown, silver, white.
Eye Colors: Yellow, green, blue, hazel, purple, brown, dark brown (black).

Related Organizations

• Sceaferdism