The Elven Confederacy

The Great Seat of Elven Power

The Elven Confederacy is the collective name given to the elven civilisation on Timor, and is often used to refer to the Elves as a whole. They are based on Alvas, their ancestral home. The elves also once controlled The Rend, a large island which was wracked with some sort of magical cataclysm thousands of years ago, and which is now a collection of islands separated by stormy seas. Nobody except presumably the elves and dragonborn in their deepest records, knows what happened there, and the elves keep the island under tight military blockade.
The confederacy is actually the seat of elven Government. Governance of the whole sprawling continent, with very different races and cultures of elves across it, would be difficult in an absolute monarchy - the Snow Elves in their remote cities in the far north would be unlikely to care about laws passed by a high elven king or queen in the far south. The capital city of Issoire is widely regarded as the capital city of the elves by most, although some non-high elf populations dispute this. The city is more like a small country in fact, sprawling out in each direction for hundreds of miles.
In an effort to improve equity of government across the continent, they elected to form a confederacy. Each region of the continent elects an official which they send to Issoire, the capital city of the High Elves, to discuss matters of importance and politics with the rest of the elven delegates.
Although the organisation is large, it is surprisingly efficient in matters of politics - the elves find themselves generally aligned on most issues most of the time.
The mediator, and often final decision maker in deadlocked issues, is the Chancellor, currently Chancellor Olara la Mezille, who was a delegate from the High Elven region of Ornans. She has been chancellor for 18 years now, her term lasting 40 years overall.
The major elven racial groups on the continent are the high elves, the wood elves, snow elves and dark elves. The continent is divided into regions, each one generally populated by one group (although there is immigration around the continent like everywhere else). Each region elects a delegate which forms the confederacy.
Notably, the snow elves who live in the desolate and inhospitable mountains far north of the continent send only one delegate, Vanta Hadras. The Dark elves, who live in the mountains beneath the snow elves, also send only one delegate - Avaris Melvar. 
The Elves are often accused of trying to meddle in the political affairs of the other factions, and truthfully not a single civilisation in the world has not, at some point, been approached by the elves offering political aid and envoys. The elves themselves tend to explain this as a desire to share their considerable knowledge with their neighbours. Regardless of their intentions, elven political influence is most evident in their relationship with The Thraxan Empire, who many believe the elves convinced to start their conquest of Bandoor in the first place, thus forming the empire. The two factions remain very close.
They have been embroiled in a cold war almost during the entirety of their history, with The Haradasi Draconis.

Structure

The confederacy is the name given to the gathered delegates from each elven nation. These delegates are generally elected, and represent the interests of their electorate. Each region may have different minimum terms and will tend to have a local government who preside over the issues at home, where the delegate will communicate the wills of the elves as a whole.Importantly, being a delegate for a certain region does not make that delegate the leader of that region or it's people - an example being High Druid Cirrah Alderglow, who is lauded as the figurehead of the Wood Elves, but who is not an elected delegate of the confederacy.

Culture

Alvas has a huge range of cultures. Broadly, the elves are divided culturally into:
The High Elves of the south lands - a highly civilised and almost industrial group of elves who live in great cities, and have developed a mastery of magic uncommon to the other races of the world.
The Wood Elves of the midlands and the great forest that dominate it. They are slightly more nomadic, living in disparate and minimalist towns and villiages in the trees, swamps and glades of the forests.
The Snow Elves of the highlands, a mysterious culture of elves who live high in the mountains at the north of the continent, known to be the most frigid and inhospitable region in the world.
The Dark Elves, a group who were for a while thought to be extinct, but managed to survive and even thrive in the deep under-cities underneath the mountains in the north where their closest cousins, the snow elves, live.
By no means are these cultural divides absolute, there is mixing between the elves in all regions, and some are culturally mixed between these broad divides. Immigration is also common, particularly between the wood elves and high elves. Although the snow and dark elves are more nomadic, their cultural influences can also be found albeit more rarely.

Assets

The Confederacy is arguably the most powerful faction in the world. The elves rarely seem to disagree on matters which face their race as a whole, and were an elven army to mobilise on a co-ordinated basis it would be world-shaking - in fact even each elven faction independently would probably have a force to match most other world factions.  They also have a mastery of magic and wizardry, and have several colleges throughout the continent of Alvas which teach this. The wood elves draw power from the natural world, and have the most powerful druids in Timor. They are also formidable trade partners, and provide herbs, potions and concoctions which are world leading to the other societies of the world.

History

Issoire is thought to have been created as long as 10 - 20 thousand years ago, and it is likely that the confederacy sprung up around the same time - most of even the dragonborn who are as long lived as the elves remember it being in existence as long as they can remember.
Elves have always been a strong community, and even before the formation of the confederacy would help each other above all else. They built arguably the strongest civilisation in the world based on this co-operation, with the only potential match being the Dragonborn. That isn't to say the elves never knew conflict, and factions of elven civilisation have warred with each other throughout their long history, although not in recent times. Particularly, as the high elves rose to prominence political disputes (which often got bloody) would erupt between their great houses. They also found conflict with the wood elves as they would try to expand into the forests of the continent - something that wood elves would not abide. The Snow and Dark elves used to be regarded with fear and suspicion by their low-land cousins, and this had on occasion also resulted in violent disputes particularly when they would come down from their mountains and out from their undercities. These were very much short lived however.
Although these conflicts would often last years, and in human terms may have been seen as great, the elves viewed things differently. Their longevity forced them to quickly forgive grudges when peace had been made - many elves could live between 800 - 1000 years which is a long time to hold grudges. Since the formation of the confederacy, these conflicts would often be solved in sessions of senate, rather than on a battlefield.
The elves main rivals, throughout their history, have been the Haradasi Draconis. The two civilisations are as old and potentially powerful as each other, and although their relationship started out well, they deteriorated over time. The Elves were accused of trying to influence others politically through strategic placement of envoys and diplomats, which grated on the dragonborn over time. The elves would always claim that they had no interest in political influence, and their actions were simply an attempt at community and integration across Timor. A cold war has raged through the years between the two, a race for influence, money, technology and power, although no all out war has ever been declared between them. 
The closest the two have come to all out war was following the assassination of Heskan Hass, the son of High Saurus Balsar Hass. He had been journeying into the desert to deal with a sand wyrm harrassing the outskirts of Harphrax - while he was out he and his knights were ambushed with no survivors. Balsar's grief and devastation was deep and intense. He ordered extensive examination of the bodies by the most powerful (non elven) sorcerers and druids in Timor, and the only evidence found were small traces of elven poison in their blood. Although anyone could have made this, and it did not suggest involvement at government level, the assassination had happened just following the ejection of an elven envoy from Harphrax. These two shreds of evidence together, while not overly convincing, were enough for Balsar to launch a full military blockade of Issoire. On their way to the capital, the dragonborn laid waste to the elven fleet with no witnessess or survivors. 
In their journey to the Elven capital they laid waste to the elven fleet. It was unclear how they managed to destroy the fleet so handily - there were no elven survivors - but by the time the Dragonborn reached the city the elves had readied their defences. The scale of the conflict between the two great civilisations is hard to fathom, and may have meant both of their end. The elves knew this, and continually denied any involvement in the death of Heskan, while Balsar threatened full scale invasion if no answers around the death were given. The day prior to their promised invasion, the then elven Chancellor ordered the execution of an entire sect of elven rangers, The Bows of Discord, who she claimed were acting alone in the assassination. As Heskan's death had technically been avenged, and as Balsar realised (with guidance from the castes) that his mobilisation had been premature, without solid evidence and primarily based on grief, he was forced to back down. The gesture from the chancellor had removed any basis that the high saurus had for his invasion, and he went home and ended it.
The whole incident was humiliating for the elves, who had lost their fleet with seemingly little resistance and had been seen to bend to the High Saurus' will easily. They secretly vowed not to underestimate their Haradi counterparts again.
Following this, they came close to war again during The Surdonian War. As The Empire chased the Surdonians to the coastline, and the Surdonian refugees were rescued by the Dragonborn, the elves entered the war on the side of the Empire. Not many understand why they did this - some think it was a show of frustration at the Surdonian resilience. Whatever the reason, for a brief while the elves were at war on the side of the Empire, and the Dragonborn were at war on the side of the Surdonians, meaning the two were, technically, at war. Luckily for everyone on Timor, the two never came into direct conflict as the war was ended within a week after a summit prompted by the entry of The Sampalan Kingdom brought peace.

Religion

Alvas is vast, and religion differs between the cultures. The high elves, through their mastery of magic, tend to worship Gilean and Solnari, although many would say that the elves see them more as highly powerful and esteemed magical colleagues rather than actual deities to be worshipped. 
Worship of Pan is common among the wood elves, who are deeply passionate about protecting the natural world that she represents.
Controversially, elves have outlawed the worship of Lunitari, who they see as a force for chaos which they believe has no place in magical practice. Lunitari is thought to lend his power to Sorcerers, individuals with innate magical ability who the elves see as being highly dangerous. This policy has also been adopted by The Thraxan Empire.
Many rumours exist of the elves actively persecuting sorcerers and imprisoning them, something that the confederacy vehemently deny.
Nobody knows the origin of the Elves disdain for chaotic magic, but many think it has something to do with the cataclysm of The Rend, which may have been magical in nature.

United in Power

Type

Governmental, Senate/Parliament

Capital

Issoire

Demonym

Confederati

Leader

Chancellor Olara la Mezille

Head of Government

Chancellor Olara la Mezille

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Confederation

Location

Issoire

Controlled Territories

• Alvas