Elf

A humanoid race, elves are typically shorter than humans and have a slender, lithe build, larger eyes, and pointed ears. Long ago, the elves were the dominant race on Thedas, and their advanced civilization was based on nature, the Fade and magic. After the fall of their great city of Arlathan and the empire of Elvhenan, plunder by the Tevinter Imperium and the subsequent generations of slavery, the elves lost most of their cultural heritage and identity. They attempted to rebuild their society in the Dales, but after three centuries the Dales fell to one of the Chantry's Exalted Marches. Since then, the elves have separated into two distinct groups: The Dalish, who choose to lead nomadic lives and strive to keep elven culture alive rather than submit, and the city elves, who live alongside humans, usually as impoverished outcasts, and have adopted many human customs. Many elves are still held as slaves within Tevinter, and many others have joined the Qunari in hopes for better lives. Overall, the elves are now a people associated with poverty, crime and barbarism, and are often used as scapegoats for humanity's difficulties. In Ancient Tevinter elves were called "rattus". Modern humans use the racial slurs "knife ears," "slant-eared" or, less cruelly, "rabbit." Though most of the elven language has been lost, they once referred to themselves as "elvhen," which means "the People".

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The elven language, or Elvish, was largely lost when Elvhenan fell to civil war and its people eventually defeated and enslaved. When the elves settled their second homeland, the Dales, they aimed to restore their lost language and lore, but the Dales fell to an Exalted March. The Elvish of the Dragon Age is thus a fragmented remnant, a few words that are thrown into conversation rather than a working language used to conduct everyday life. The Dalish Elves, self-appointed custodians of the elven language and lore, use more Elvish than their City Elf brethren. Living among humans, the City Elves now retain only a few old Elvish words whose origin is almost forgotten, such as "shem"—derived from "shemlen", or "quickling", the old elven term for humans—and "Hahren"—the leader of an alienage, meaning "elder" in Elvish. The Dalish have more of the language. They are more capable of forming whole phrases and sentences, but the language is still fragmented and largely incomplete despite their efforts. Da'len, which means "little child" and is typically used to address elves younger than oneself. Andaran atish'an, a phrase used for greeting to friends and fellow Dalish. Serannas is “thanks”, while ma serannas is "my thanks" or "many thanks". Aneth ara is an informal greeting often used among friends. Dareth shiral is a way of saying good-bye.

History

Elves were once a race of beautiful, ethereal immortals that originated from the Fade. They manifested into the material world and built their civilization on the earth. The Veil didn't exist and the Fade was considered to be the sky. Their civilization was unchallenged and had coexisted harmoniously with nature and spirits, and the elves have prospered for what looked to be an eternity. However, this changed following the conclusion of an unknown war. The generals who fought in it gradually came to be revered as gods, becoming the Evanuris. The Evanuris were malevolent despots, they warred among themselves, enslaved their own kin and branded the slaves with the vallaslin, and committed unspeakable atrocities that overshadow even modern despots. Fen'Harel began a rebellion against the Evanuris after they had murdered Mythal and began to threaten the world with their excesses. Unable to kill them and finding every alternative solution worse, Fen'Harel sealed the Evanuris away by creating the Veil, banishing the false-gods to suffer eternally for their sins, and sundering the physical world from the Fade. However, though the elves and the world were effectively rid of the Evanuris, the creation of the Veil was catastrophic for Elvhenan and the People. The very foundation of their civilization had been tied to the presence of the Fade, including their immortality. When the Veil was created, their cities and structures crumbled, and the elves became mortal and began to age and die. By the time the Tevinter Imperium had conquered and enslaved them all centuries later, the elves were already severely diminished. Recorded History and Legends The elves of Thedas live no longer than humans, but elven legends state that this was not always the case. Once they were an immortal race and "magic came as easily to them as breathing" with some of their spells taking years to cast and echoing for decades in an unending symphony[6]. They lived in harmony with the natural world and worshipped a pantheon of their own gods. Their magic was able to accomplish seemingly impossible feats, such as the creation of the unique, Fade-like world of the "Crossroads" and the maintenance of the magical repository of Vir Dirthara. Elven lore holds that the first shemlen (a term meaning "quick children" that was used by the ancient elves to describe the humans and denote their shorter lives) they encountered were tribal people who came south from Par Vollen. The ancient elves grew friendly with humans, but soon discovered that breeding with humans produced only human babies, while exposure to the "quick children" caused the elves to quicken themselves. For the first time, elves began to age and die. In the Dales, the elves created a second elven homeland and began to restore the lost lore and culture of Elvhenan, including the worship of their elven gods. They built their first city, Halamshiral ("end of the journey"), and isolated themselves from the humans. The borders were guarded by an order named the Emerald Knights. For some years, humans loyal to Andraste's memory respected their elven allies. But over the generations, and as the Chant of Light and the religion of the Maker spread throughout the cities of their human neighbors as Drakon launched his Exalted Marches and established the Orlesian Empire, the diplomatic relationships between the Dales and humans soured, as the elves refused to convert and remained isolated. Human historians claim this hostility was compounded by the Dalish's inaction during the Second Blight. Humans claim the war with the elves began when a small elven raiding party attacked the nearby human town of Red Crossing in 2:9 Glory, leading to the Chantry eventually calling an Exalted March against the elves when they had captured Montsimmard and besieged Val Royeaux, claiming they had been attacked by the Dales. The Dalish claim templars invaded the Dales after the elves kicked out Chantry missionaries from their sovereign territory because the elves refused to convert to the Andrastian faith. As the Dales fell, the elves were forced to abandon their second homeland and have not had another since, and their culture was torn even further from them. Many elves accepted the terms of their human aggressors, going to live in alienages inside human cities and worshipping the Maker. Those elves who resisted became the nomadic Dalish, maintaining the worship of the elven gods and continuing their efforts to recover the lost culture of Elvhenan.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The children of elves and any other race are not elven. Elves and humans produce a human child, elves and dwarves produce dwarves etc. Such children may be referred to as "half-elf" or "half-breed" in a slanderous fashion, while the term "elf-blooded" is a legal distinction. Children between elves and dwarves are extremely rare due to the small number of surface dwarves, the innate low fertility of dwarves, and the elves' reclusive mating practices, all attribute to the increased difficulty in mating between the two races.

Genetic Descendants