Sun Elves
Created by the Ancient Sun, the sun elves were originally only known as the Children of the Sun. For many centuries they lived happily, until the time of the Undoing. During the Undoing, the sun elves struggled to survive in the chaos, being reduced to a few scattered outposts. Despite now worshipping the New Pantheon and especially Hevolux, many of their stories and traditions still revolve around the Ancient Sun.
Basic Information
Growth Rate & Stages
Sun elves are quite long-lived, with the oldest known having been one of the First created by the Ancient Sun. However on average a sun elf lives to about 150. They reach the "child" stage at about 10 years of age and adolescence at 20 years of age. Adulthood can vary between individual elves with the average around 35-40. Lastly, an elf is considered an elder no sooner than 100 years of age.
Ecology and Habitats
Sun elves prefer to live in glades, meadows, plains, anywhere with clear access to the skies and warm, flowering spaces. They make wooden structures and pile the earth around and over it to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Sun elves primarily live on the gifts of the Ancient Terra. Meat is only eaten during times of famine when the Ancient Terra cannot provide for them. Everything taken is thanked and a portion buried to return it to the earth.
Biological Cycle
The summer solsitce often marks a decline in the mental health of sun elves as they thrive in the golden warmth of the Ancient Sun.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
All Homo dryadalis have enhanced eyesight and hearing. They gain +2 to any auditory-based Perception checks and have 60ft of Darkvision. Sun elves are immune to being Blinded by bright light but have disadvantage against any sort of Blindness caused by magical darkness.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Like the other elves, sun elves give their children a three letter name and bestow a new name upon them at adulthood. In sun elf culture, last names often relate to the sun and light while first names are meant to be a reflection of the individual.
Major Organizations
The first major organization of the sun elves was the Salute to the Sun, but in the modern era the Temple of the Light is the major organization for the sun elves.
Average Technological Level
??? U - irrigation and farming tactics are discovered
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Elvish
Solaric
Solaric
Common Etiquette Rules
A polite greeting or farewell contains one of the following phrases:
"May the sun's light shine on your path."
"Hevolux's blessings be upon you."
"The light of hope shines brightly today."
"The sun guides us through the dark so we can walk in the light."
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
The winter solstice is a time of great celebration for the Sun elves as it signals the return of the Sun and the lengthening days. It marks the beginning of celebrations and feasts as they welcome the return and warmth. Conversely the summer solstice is a period of mourning as it signals the shortening days and the Sun's retreat. This solstice marks the beginning of preparation for the coming cold and the departure of frequent feasts and celebrations.
History
The Ancient Sun danced and sang her warmth. From her rays, she sculpted beautiful figures of gold and honey. With features of the golden sun and the clearest day, they were called the Children of the Sun and would come to be known as sun elves. Their slender pointed ears, tall stature, and long lifespans marked them as being born the same as eventide and moon elves. The sun elves frolicked in the glades and meadows, worshipping their mother and building modest shelters of wood and earth. They lived in peace and happiness for a time. However, everything changed when the Undoing began. Thrust from a soft, pleasurable life, the elves suddenly found themselves fighting for survival.
They came to be under attack from something they could only refer to as the Aether Eater. Spells would spark and fail as the aether faded before them seeming to disappear. They could not find the source of the devouring. The only evidence that something was amiss was their fading magic and tawny feathers with dusky bands of blue found nearby. As their magic faded, they had to become more reliant on practical skills, which didn't go well at first. Structures began collapsing, sickness ravaged them without the aether to aid their healing salves, crops withered in hot sun without supplement. The sun elves nearly died out in the face of the Aether Eaters, and the reliance on their magic was made apparent.
As they fought tooth and nail to survive in the face of the many smaller disasters caused by one bigger one, a ray of light came upon them. A child named Sai, born in the midst the Undoing, he had grown up in a time of hardship and chaos. He reached adulthood at 35 years old and gained the name Hevolux. He became quite skilled with practical tools, building new homes with his bare hands. Massive structures of wood and earth to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. He helped create new ways of farming and irrigation. Thanks to him, they did not die out. Though they did not know it yet, the Undoing was beginning to draw to a close, and in this cacophonous time of change it all came to a climax. Nearly a century of suffering from the Aether Eaters, even with the advancements they'd made, they had been no closer to finding the source. Hevolux had worked tirelessly to find the source and finally discovered a small, swirling portal of dusky blue framed amidst the branches of a large tree. Without a thought for his own safety, he began summoning all the aether he had, a relatively small amount compared to what it would have been, and began trying to close the portal.
No one is sure what happened next, Hevolux wouldn't reveal. All that was found were the corpses of the Aether Eaters, later dubbed citrevixes. With no sign of Hevolux or the portal but a scrap of paper, and a menhir with his likeness upon it, eyes shut in focus and a crown floating above his head. With the Ancient Sun's retreat from the world. Hevolux took her place in a way, becoming the god of crafts and hope, symbolized by a wooden hammer framed against a sun; with domain over Knowledge and Light. In the coming years his ascent was directly revealed to his people and the Temple of the Light was created to spread knowledge and hope wherever it was needed.
Scientific Name
Homo dryadalis solis
Lifespan
150 years
Average Height
5.5 - 7.5 ft
1.6 - 2.2 m
Average Weight
90 - 210 lbs
40.8 - 95.25 kg
Average Physique
Sun elves are very tall and slender creatures with toned but not overly defined musculature due to minimal reliance on magic.
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