Wood Elves (Lindon)

## Description

Relative to humans, the elves of the Forbidden Forest (Lindon in elvish) are a humanoid fey people with a more gracile build but comparable height. They refer to themselves as Lindonedhel. Their skin is pale and their hair is usually straight and blond or, much less commonly, brown or red. Adult wood elves typically have extensive and often ornate continuous line tattos. Adult males rarely have facial hair, and where present, very rarely a full beard.

### Body Size

They are of similar height to humans, however, they are significantly more narrow. Their shoulder and hip width being about 60% of that of humans and their weight approximately 80% for the same height. Scholars have theorized that their narrow and dexterous bodies are well suited to slipping between trees and jumping between branches and rocks. They are frequently more dexterous than humans - but this is due to culture and profession rather than any innate ability. Wood elves are typically physically weaker than humans of comparable height and physical fitness.

### Senses

Compared to humans, and many elves, they have very long and pointy ears with its tip frequently extending beyond the profile of their head. The length of their ears can sometimes be hard to determine when viewed from the front, as the wood elves point their ears in the direction of the sounds they are listening to. If an insect is near their ear they may hit it away with the ear itself. They are able to see very well in daylight conditions, further and with more resolution than humans, but unfortunately their night vision is less good. Similarly, they have better hearing than humans.

### Aging

Ageing of wood elves is slowed magically due to a symbiotic cultural and biological relationship with the forest spirits. During childhood and adolescence they mature at a rate that is moderately slower than that of humans, reaching an equivalent physical and mental maturity to a 18-year-old by age 21, and a 23-year-old human by age 28. After age 28, wood elves are fully physically mature and stop aging altogether for most of their lives. Aging does resume when they are within about fifty years of dying due to old age - usually around the age of 950 years. As such, aging is a sign that it is time to start getting ones affairs in order.

## Faergovod

### Brief Summary of philosophy

Wood elven spirituality focuses on inter-personal freedom, inter-personal equity, and personal mastery of one's inner-self. Their view being that it is equally important to understand the world that one is part of ***and*** one's own inner-world. Wood elves are taught that unrestrained hedonism is futile, as people repeatedly return to a baseline level of happiness, almost regardless of their circumstances. As such, taking more than beyond what is reasonable will not improve happiness in the medium term, in fact, it will only serve to deprive others while ultimately having no utility to the taker. Happiness is categorically fleeting, but possible, in part due to it's contrast with a myriad of other feelings including desire and sorrow. Happiness is also a skill grounded in community, empathy, gratitude, appreciation, and mindfulness. Wood elf spirituality seeks to balance the inner and outer worlds. Wood elves believe in reincarnation.

### It's relationship to the outside world

Wood Elves do not see themselves as separate from nature; instead they see themselves as just another species that is part of the forest and, both its flora and fauna, as equal members of their community. They see the approach of the Edlon's, or outsiders in elvish, concept of "nature" and their attempts to dominate it in order to reliably sustain their needs and unquenchable wants as grounded in individuals being ignorant or dismissive in a juvenile fashion; possibly due to being either naive or inherently selfish. Regardless, the attitude is seen as certainly being self-obsessed, short-sighted, and ultimately self-defeating. In their eyes, perhaps something similar to a Mountain Lion hunting more Cablaich than is needed during the spring, leading to a population collapse of the Cablaich in the summer, increasing starvation of the Mountain Lion in the autumn, and it's eventual needless and avoidable death in the winter.

### Tattoos

Only once a wood elf has turned 21, and has had their coming-of-age ceremony (called "toled olanwa"), are wood elves given their tattoos. The tattoos glow dimly green and are one long continuous line tattoo which touches each body part below the neck, but frequently on face also. The tattoos symbolize the interconnectedness of everything and also serve to help the magic of the forest spirits flow around the body.

The tattoos are of significant importance in wood elf society as they signal adult membership of a clan. While wood elf society is not typically filled with rules, the ones they do have are usually considered to exist for a reason and contravening them carries with it severe punishment. In this case, not having your tattoos renders one a permanent child or clanless. Typically, this will lead to banishment from the forest. The coming-of-age ceremony cannot be performed before the day of your 22nd year (or equivalent if not wood elvish). The only recorded exceptions have been people who joined wood elf society as adults having not grown up in the forest. Regardless, it has been millennia since a wood elf failed to get their tattoos while living in the forest.

### Significance of trees and Homes

Many of the places and trees within the forest are of special spiritual significance to the Wood Elves. And many of the trees are reincarnated Elves or other sentient beings. The Wood Elves typically shape the roots and trunks of trees to form their houses where possible - many of these homes are the reincarnated trees of their families ancestors. So losing their home might be considered by some to be akin to losing a family member of sorts.

An average wood elf houseA few typical wood elf housesAn ordinary wood elf houseThe interior of a typical wood elf houseA number of refugee temporary homesA temporary home for a refugee family
### Festivals

Important festivals and ceremonies include the coming-of-age ceremony for the young, summer solstice, autumn equinox, winter solstice, and the spring equinox; which is also the first day of the new year according to the old wood elf calendar. The summer solstice is a festival which is a day of celebration of youth with games, singing, dancing, and good food. The autumn equinox is a large feast centred on celebrating companionship. The winter equinox is quiet time centred on fasting and self-reflection during the day; in the night they gather together in the Fae Aeglir lighting lanterns to honour their ancestors and lost loved ones. The spring equinox is a huge community celebration of the new year - traditions include gift giving, singing, dancing, and feasting.

## Social structure

### Matriarchy

Historically, wood elvish society was strictly matriarchal. For over a millennia now formal matriarchy has been abolished and men are encouraged, at least formally, to participate in all areas of life. Virtually all wood elves agree men are just as capable as women. But unfortunately, wood elven society changes slowly. The old gender roles seem to linger mostly intact in practice.

### Clans

Wood elves have historically been divided into clans based on matrilineal descent. While these have been abolished now for some time, they persist in people's thinking and in practice. Indeed, it would be hard to understand much of the finer details of wood elven society without understanding clan membership. Eight clans largely lived in the area of the once vast forest which still exists. Of those, six still exist and are joined by five others to form the eleven most important clans. Membership in these clans is sometimes referred to as being high-born and is possibly something similar to being a noble.

## Government

* **Integration** **(5)**: Want to forcibly restore the forest, delay the apocalypse indefinitely, kill as few people as possible, and welcome the Edlon into living harmoniously with nature.
* **Elimination (5):** Want to forcibly restore the forest, delay the apocalypse indefinitely, and remove the Edlon from these shores to do it. Some of them would prefer they return from whence they came, others don’t care what happens to them provided harmony is restored quickly.
* **Acquiescence (1):** Murder is never acceptable. The Edlon should not be opposed using violence – only through changing the hearts and minds of the Edlon can the apocalypse be averted.

Edlon is a Wood Elf term for outsider. Edlondil means outsider-lover, a term the Elimination faction use and mean as an insult when referring to the Integration and Acquiescence faction on the council.

The council has 11 members which are chosen by all adult members of society in an election held every seventy-five years. The chairwoman of the council is referred to as Queen; a holdover from the mostly forgotten monarchy of old. Wood Elf society has changed gradually and incrementally over the millennia. Despite being steeped in traditions and anachronistic terms, their government is democratic in its structure.

Wood Elf families are matrilineal, so clan chiefs are always women. Only chiefs have ever been elected to the council. In fact, the elvish name for the council means assembly of chiefs. A lowborn person is a member of a clan which is not one of the 11 most important clans. Initially it was only these highborn clans who were represented. These days it varies – but there has yet to be a lowborn Queen. Regardless, it is legal for a lowborn (similar to commoner) man to become “Queen.”

Since the coming of the Edlon, Wood Elf politics have been focused on the “Edlon question.” This is, “what is to be done about the outsiders.” The Acquiescence faction was the governing faction and was led by Saila from shortly after the arrival of the Edlon until the first war with them when she founded the Integration faction and remained Queen. Since Sur La Table, where Saila lost her husband, her faction has been losing ground to the Elimination faction. Previously a very fringe faction. This is not necessarily because they are becoming more popular overall, but more due to growing political apathy amongst low-born and refugees wood elves. Extraordinarily, ten years ago Saila managed to delay an election it seemed she would almost certainly lose for thirty years in order to plan and execute an invasion of Westmire to reclaim parts of the forest lost in the wake of Sur Table at the hands of the Forest Fighters.

### Recent Coup

Recently, Saila called foreigners to the forest for a banquet in order to receive their aid in the planning and execution of the invasion. During which the Queen's crown was stolen and Mirya Root, the leader of the Eliminaiton faction, uncovered that Saila had been using Gimah's Hourglass to control key votes on the council and avoid her losing to the Elimination faction and an eventual subsequent attempt by the Forest under her leadership to commit genocide against the Edlon. The council, now free of Saila's hourglass control, voted to impeach Saila and make Mirya the new Queen. However, in all the confusion Saila was able to work with outsiders in order to orchestrate both their and the hourglass' evacuation from the forest.

## History

TO BE FINISHED LATER.

Pre-contact history: tbd

Contact: initially helped the ship-wrecked humanoids to avoid loss of life. This quickly led to them starting to set-up shop and eventually to a steady loss of countless compatriots.