High Elf
High Elves are a common variety of elven stock which intermix readily with other races and are seen commonly throughout the Realm, the Wilds, and the Empires of Silk and Spice. Their racial homeland is in the rolling hills and wooded mountains to the northwest of the Realms, known as the Elven North.
Basic Information
Anatomy
High elves are characterized by lean, tall frames, pointed ears, golden-white skin and 500+ year lifespans.
Genetics and Reproduction
Long lives result in extended gestations and very low reproductive rates. individuals don't reach sexual maturity until their mid-30s, and females may only be fertile for a period of a month every decade or more.
Growth Rate & Stages
Elves grow to maturity at roughly the same rate as humans and humanlike species, but at age 22 or so every ten years looks like a single year, and when their appearance is closer to 40, they simply cease aging at any perceptible scale. When they cease aging, the ability to produce offspring also ceases.
Ecology and Habitats
High Elves favor delicate marble cities nestled in mountainous woodland environments of bright sun and crisp temperatures. They are readily adaptable to any environment capable of sustaining life.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Elves are more attuned to nature and to the feywild, but to all of its rhythms and cycles and not artificially with only life to the exclusion of death. They see themselves as enlightened caretakers rather than masters or subjugators of nature, and that enters into their cultural foods. Their dishes tend to be wholesome, natural rather than domesticated, with interesting wild grains for their breads and pastas rather than common wheat or corn. Likewise though they have no compunction against eating pigs, chickens or cows, they greatly prefer wild game, wild birds, fish, and venison or bison caught fresh. This extends to domestic byproducts like butter and cheese, which are foreign to their diet, but replaced by marrow spreads and fish-oil-based fats. They flavor and spice their food liberally and enjoy salted meats as well as jellies, neither of which may be intuitive, but both of which are readily available without farming or domestication. A side effect of this is that the high elves of Tergaith can also eat a wider variety of wild berries and mushrooms than humans or other races; elves are not immune to poison per se, but those that died from a given berry juice or mushroom cap didn't produce offspring, and the remainder who ate but didn't die passed on their resistance and immunity to that specific berry. Modern poisons are concentrated thousands of times and include other deadly chemicals and true toxins, like snake or spider venom, so this is more for flavor text than anything in-game.
Biological Cycle
Elves reach full adulthood around age 20, but their metabolism slows dramatically after that point. They remain fertile for two hundred to four hundred years thereafter, a period in which they may appear to age to the early thirties of most humans, and then they age even more slowly after this. Generally they cease visibly aging by the time they look to be in their early 40's.
During their 200-400 years of sexual potency, females experience fertile periods on a lengthy cycle of three to four consecutive weeks every ten to fifteen years. Pregnancy and gestation periods are roughly equivalent to humans, and perhaps even a little faster than humans. Babies are born and grow on a more or less human timescale until their second decade, but they are infertile during this period, unlike humans who may be at their peak fertility at this time.
Long lifespans and low fertility put an extra evolutionary pressure on Elves to avoid frivolity and danger and to stay out of wars and other mass death scenarios as their populations may require hundreds of years to recover the losses. This also explains the alternative vector of the half-elf, usually an elven male and human female, who can produce viable offspring far more prodigiously than a pair of full blood elves.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Elves are ancestor-focused and ruled by councils of 6 - 12 members made up of the eldest living members of a given community. Despite living in fully modern homes and cities, politically they operate like Chiefdoms, with class separations between the leader and those led of only one or two degrees. Family lines and names are critical to the proper functioning of these kinds of Chiefdoms. Most clans are simply decentralized and recognize no higher authority than their own family-based group, but some come together in larger warbands in time of crisis. There is no significant differentiation between male and female in terms of social status, power, or authority in high elven culture.
Facial characteristics
Elongated heads and faces, with long, pointed ears and narrow nasal septums. they tend to have high cheekbones and eyebrows.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Concentrated in the northwest of the Realm and northern portions of the Wilds and Empires.
Average Intelligence
Generally high; elves tend to be clever more than they tend to be strong.
Origin/Ancestry
The Elven Principalities lie to the Northwest of the Realm.
Lifespan
700 years
Average Height
5'7" - 6'4" (females)
5'10 - 6'9" (males)
Average Weight
Brittle-boned with long, lean muscle mass, Elves weigh less than they look like they would weigh, and they look like they don't weigh much.
Average Physique
Lean but sturdy and wiry. Very old elves have a tendency towards portliness as their metabolism has almost ceased and they really need almost nothing to eat.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Their skin tends towards a light gold, like corn flour or powdered cheese, but it runs the spectrum from a dark cork to a pale lily.
Geographic Distribution
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