Elf's

The Elves of Cestria are almost as old as the land itself. They are said to be the thrid race to come and live in the land and their long life tends to reinforce this idea as a single Elf can live close to a thousand years. The reside within the forest of Val'Endresh, the world tree, and live along side their kin.
There are 4 different clans of elves in Cestria, each with their own history, ideals, and practices. Despite them having different views on life, most of the Elves live in harmony with their fellow kin. The four clans rarely get into arguments with each other unless there is a pressing reason for such a conflict. The four clans of the elves are; The High Elves, The Wood Elves, The Dark Elves, and The Drow. The High elves fallow the teaching of the extinct Aasimar race who taught them the ways of the light and holy powers. The Dark Elves fallow a different teaching one that is more secretive and deceptive but lends to great power in the arcane arts. The Wood Elves fallow the lessons of the land and heed the voice of nature as it guides them through life itself. While the High, Wood, and Dark Elves live in harmony with each other, the Drow on the other hand tend to disagree with all other races in Cestria. Hailing form the Underdark, most Drow rarely venture to the suffuse unless there is reason to do so. They focus primarily on their own self interest and lean to more darker sinister powers and knowledge.
With their long lives, the Elfs of Cestria have much knowledge and wisdom to share should anyone seek them out. They have lived through some of the darkest times in Cestria's history and now stand as an example of what can be achieved if one learns from the past and can set aside their differences to make way for a better future.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Elves of Cestria are humanoid individuals who most distinctive Physical characteristic is their height and pointed ears. Elves are more often than not taller than most other Humanoid races, about 1 to 5 feet. Their skin is smooth and youthful as elves have long lifespans, and their ears are elongated reaching between 6 in to 16 in (or 2.54 cm to 40.64 cm) in length, they also help differentiate Elves from one another. For example, the ears of High elves then to be more vertical then that of Dark elves, which are more horizontal in orientation to the head. Wood elves ears then to fall in between the position of High elf ears and Dark elf ears. Drow ears then to have a more downward pointing set of ears compared to that of the others.
Aside from their ears, Elves have other major differences between them. Their skin also differs from one another as well, with high elves having far lighter more light pale like skin, wood elves having more fair to medium color to theirs. Dark elves have a far darker tan or brown like skin tone and Drow have deep purple to blue color skin.

Biological Traits

Elves are humanoid beings that possess a long life span upwards to almost one thousand years. The most noticeable characteristic Elves have are their ears which are long and pointed; and each sub race of Elf can be denoted by a few aspects of how their ears appear. Each Sub race of Elf has a different angle of orientation and length for their ears, which can be seen in the chart below.

Elf Sub-Race	High Elf	Wood Elf	Dark Elf	Drow
Ear Orientation Angle From Head	15o - 40o	45o-70o	75o-100o	90o-120o
Ear length	6 - 12 in	4 - 9 in	3 - 6 in	2 - 13 in

Other major difference in the sub races of Elves are their skin color; High Elves have Very Fair skin tones, Wood Elves have Fair to Medium skin tones, Dark Elves have Olive to Brown skin tones, Drow have Light Blue to Deep Purple Skin tone.
The Elves of Cestria have two forms of rest they can take, Sleep and a Trance. While Elves can go though a 4 hour trance to maintain awareness of their surroundings, this sort of rest is not sustainable for long term. Elves need to sleep a full 8 hours at least 2 to 4 time a mouth so that they can mentally refresh themselves.

Genetics and Reproduction

Elf mating and procreation is not that different from any other humanoid races, however the type of Elf that is born is often effected by not only who their parents are, but the magical forces within the very land and location they are born in as well. While parents genetics large influence the development and type of Elf is born. For example, if two Wood Elves have a child, their child is more likely to be a Wood Elf. If a Dark Elf and a High Elf have a child, their child has a high chance to be a Dark Elf or a High Elf. However, do to Elves being highly sensitive to magical forces of the world, there is always a chance for a child to be a completely different type of elf then their biological parents. Children, more often than not, that are born where there is a large amount of wind and earth magic present in the land tend to be Wood Elves. Those in lands filled with Earth and Fire magic tend to be Dark Elves, and those in the lands filled with Water and Radiant magic tend to be High Elves. Elves born in the Underdark or in heavenly filled with Shadow magic are born as Drow.

Growth Rate & Stages

Elves have a long slow growth rate in regards to their mental development, however their physical growth was very close to that of normal humans. While it may take nearly 100 years for an Elf to mentally mature into that of a young adult, their bodies would reach physical maturity between the ages of 85 to 155 years of age. Like other humanoid races, female elves tended to mature faster than most male elves in both physical appearance and mental maturity. Elves as they age maintain a youthful appearance even up to their elder age, were the most noticeable signs of their age are a few winkles on their face making them look like humans between the age of 30 and 60. This, however, is not true of Drow's who as they age begin to look like aged humans between the ages of 70 to 100.

Ecology and Habitats

While most Elves of Cestria live in the forest of Val'Endresh, many of them live through out the land. Since the ancient times Elves have always found solace in forested environments and can easily settle down for a night or even permanently.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The Elves of Cestira primaraly live within the forest of Val'Endresh, but they can also be found through out the land of Cestria.

Civilization and Culture

History

The Elf's of Cestria have long been a race connected with the land itself, said to be the children of Val'endresh the World Tree. Their Connection to the natural wilderness and land has led them to have a more natural affinity to sensing natural magical energy in nature itself. In the past, The elves were once united as one under the teaching of the Aasimar, an angelic like race said to be direct creations of the divine beings who created the world of Terras Venrouhyun. But when the Dragon Lords rose to power, they launched a war ageist the Aasimar, braking the balance that once united the land. In doing so, so to did it brake the once united Elven race. The elves became divided between three casts; the High Elves, the Dark Elves, and the Wood Elves. The High Elves continued to fallowed the teachings of the Aasimar, The High Elves specialized in divine magic and are gifted healers. In contrast to them, The Dark Elves rejected the teachings of the Aasimar, focusing more on their own quest for knowledge and power. They specialized in the more crafty and shadowy arts of magic and subjugated. Lastly there are the Wood Elves, who nether fallowed the teachings of the Aasimar nor the beliefs of the Dark Elves. They instead focus more on the more natural, earthly based magic found in Cestria becoming quiet powerful druids and the like.
As the many years past, the strife between the 3 Elven clans grew. The Dragon lords of old entered into a larger conflict with the other denizens of Cestria, and soon the elves were involved with them as well. The High elves stood with the Aasimar and fought along side them as they faced the army's of the Dragon lords and the Dwarven empire. The Dark elves faced the fallen of the Aasimar, now calling themselves Tiefling, while the Wood elves fought over territory with the Orks. As war waged across the land of Cestria, so to did the dark powers that had laid dormant from the past. After the Era of Shadow, where much of history was lost to time, the Elf's of Cestria mostly kept to themselves, however fate would change this. It started in the Homeland of the Dark Elves with the spreading of a Shadow darkness that corrupted the forest and poised the life of everything it touched. The Dark Elves were left with one of three options, to flee deep beneath the land into the Underdark, to flee to other eleven lands, or to stay and die with the advancing darkness of the now named Shadowfell Forest.
This choice ultimately was based on how the Dark elves viewed the world and that life had dealt them thus far. For those who fled to the Underdark, they had the opinion that the world had forsaken them and thus they held a disdain to all others who dwell on the land, while those Dark Elves who chose to flee to other Elven lands felt that it was time for them to put aside their differences with their fellow kin and that it was time to reopen relationships with them. Thus the Dark elves went their superset ways, with those who choice the Underdark renaming themselves the Drow. To the those who remained above ground they held on to their their name of Dark Elf and, with the aid of the now growing Human race, made their way to the forest of Val'Endresh and their Wood Elf kin who opened their lands to their displaced kin.
Meanwhile in the northern land, while the Dragonkin Civil War was taking place, a dark power seemed to be growing in the now home of the Aasimar and High Elves. Soon a figure of eminence power and evil emerged as if from nowhere and began a conquest of such devastation that it would forever changed the history of the world. As this "Dark Lord" begin a merciless campaign to slay the Aasimar and the other individuals of the Northern land, the High Elves were forced to flee to the south and the port city's that would take them to safety. Dispite this, there were not nearly enough Boats to save everyone trying to flee, a fact that the Aasimar knew quite well. They thus enlisted the aid of the Tieflings to help ferry away the High Elf Citizens while they held back the Dark Lord and his growing army. With the aid of the Tieflings the sacrifice of the Aasimar, the High Elfs manage to escape the Dark Lord and his army. When news of this new threat reached the Wood Elves they, like before, open their lands to the refugee High Elves.
As the the conflict known as the First Dark War continued, the Elves of Cestira found themselves fighting along side those of the Dragonkin, the Dwarfs, and the Orks, all of whom were once great foes. They joined the ranks of the other races threatens by the Dark Lord and his army; the Giants, Fairys, Beastkin, Gnomes, Halflings, Tieflings, and Humans. Through no small effort they pushed back the Dark Lord and his army to the Northern land, now called the Dark Isle, and aided in sealing him away for nearly a thousand years.
After the war, like the other races of Cestria, the Elfs of Cestria stayed to themselves mending the old wounds of their people and clans, building a new life together in the Forest of Val'Endresh. When the Dark Lord returned one thousand years later, the Elves were one of the first to join in the reunification of the grand army of Cestria, remembering much of what had happened over a thousand years ago. After the End of the Second Dark War, the Elves maintained connections with the other races of Cestria, and joined the Conceal of 12 to help lead Cestria into a bright future.
It has been Nearly one thousand years since the formation of the conceal of 12, and the Elves of Cestria still stand as a beacon of what can be gained when those who look past the differences and disagreements of the past.

Scientific Name

Humanoid

Origin/Ancestry

Elaren

Lifespan

590-900

Average Height

5-7 Ft. (152 - 213 cm)

Average Weight

49 - 56 kg (108 - 123 ibs)

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

High Elves have Very Fair skin tones, Wood Elves have Fair to Medium skin tones, Dark Elves have Olive to Brown skin tones, Drow have Light Blue to Deep Purple Skin tone.