Elves

The longest lived of the humanoid races, elves are also the most prevalent peoples on the whole planet. Their rich breadth of cultures spans two continents and multiple countries, which promises to keep spreading under the prominent helm of the Immortal Sun of Lloraelia.

## Physiology

Elves are capable of living for centuries due to their slow rate of growth. Conception odds are generally low across the board, and pregnancies last around three years; while this is a drop in the bucket for an elf, the threat of higher mortality races using the moment of vulnerability to their advantage has become a problem as the world diversifies.

It is common for an elvish baby's feet not to touch the ground for the first ten years of their lives as they aren't developed enough to walk until after that point. In some sy'quessir clans such as the Arahael, it is even considered bad luck for the child, and they are held by friends and family or carried in specially crafted slings. Elvish children take an average of ninety years to reach the developmental equivalent of a human teenager. Even after that, ten to twenty years of concerted schooling are expected before the young elf will be considered a true adult.

This lengthy development time has resulted in strong familial bonds across all elvish kind. Pride in one's family or house name is common in native communities, and those living among other races, like the mistads of Almerus, tend to keep to tight knit communities of other elves who understand the growing pains of their race.

## The Song of Stone and Stars

   Lost in the times written history has forgotten, elvish oral tradition tells that its people came from the Land of Stars (historians believe this may reference Elysium) to the material plane. They found the soil suitable, raised vast forests in arcane and unreadable patterns, and put down their roots. For the longest time they lived as one people. But they were not alone, for where the sun set on the land, there lived (and had always lived) the staunch dwarvish people among the crags and mountains. Lost even to the most far-reaching and knowledgeable of storytellers is the true cause of the feud that ignited between the two races; some say it was a kidnapped elf princess, others tell of a most grievous trading swindle that broke a well-liked dwarvish house, and some say it was as petty as an ill-worded sleight between the two different tongues. What is known is that this small squabble escalated into all-out guerrilla warfare over centuries and generations of each long-lived race.

   The turning point came when Traitors x and y gained an audience with the mythic Iron King through their own cunning and subterfuge. The Traitors were backed by their own people, those who wished to rule the elves. They would help the Iron King cast an earth shifting spell to cast the elvish leaders and their nation into the sea in return for peaceful rule over what remained. The King agreed.

   The Iron King was a powerful stone sorceress, and with the aid of the Traitors, her spell shook the very planet to its core, tearing the elvish land in half and casting it into the sea. The remorse of the elves at thinking they had lost their families and countrymen rose up into a curse said to linger in dwarvish blood to this day. Never would they grow with their own hands again. Never would they create life. Dwarvish crops withered and died. Stillbirths swept the mountain nation. Within just a few short months, the dwarves were on their knees alongside the elves. A ceasefire was called, and the Song ended.

   Contemporary historians now know that that, while thousands of elvish lives were likely lost in the tumult, the seaward half of the elvish nation did not sink to the bottom of the sea, but rather experienced acute continental drift. The geological upset the created the ocean between the the elvish nation has also created the whirlpool seas to the north of Jhoraelia and the underwater sea storms historically used as a nest by the bronze Great Wyrm.

## Sub-races

* Quessir: The native people of Lloraelia. Their close proximity to the Feywilds for so many centuries has presented in strong phenotypes that define each quessir clan physically and magically.
* Mithran: Intensely passionate and psionically gifted peoples from the nation of Mithras in Jhoraelia. Infamous for political upset and intrigue.
* Amilan: Theocratic peoples whose whole nation is matriarchal and dedicated to the worship of Pharasma. They are known by their undead-smiting priestesses.
* Thonien: A nation of peoples that proclaim their gods dead at their own hands. Entirely opposed to subjugation of any other peoples, those who do not hunt make living as pirates striking the chains on slaving ships in the sea between their nation and those of Mithras and Amilnorë.
* Drow: The Underdark-dwelling descendants of the Traitors x and y. Surface drow are a rare sight; held to high suspicion in the best of circumstances, they often only find solace in criminal communities, where their presence isn't questioned.
* Mistad: A derogatory Anorien term for those elves with no clan name to claim. Elves thrown out of their clans, bastard half-elves, and those elves born into enclaves within human nations are considered mistad.