Wind Elves

The Wind Elves were a kind of Elfkin which once dwelt in the steppe of Asmocaria, somehow disappearing by the 1st century BC. Not much is known of the Wind Elves, as records of them are somewhat vague. They almost certainly spoke an Elvic language and, since they are noted as not being worshippers of the Great Spirit, they most likely followed some variant of the Elvetan religion. The mainstream theory of their religion is that they followed the first Elvetan prophet, Yalvon, but did not recognise (or, more likely, did not actually know of) the two who came later, Aceron and Athdus.

There is only one contemporary source which gives a physical description of the Wind Elves, and it is irritatingly vague for historians. The description does not make it obvious whether the Wind Elves were simply a variant of Elves, or whether they were an entirely distinct race of Elfkin. The author of the record clearly had knowledge of the Elves from Sevaliara, as he compared the Wind Elves to them; he described them as looking much the same but shorter in stature and with dark hair, and with narrow slanted eyes "like those of the men of Onshi", though their pupils were still brightly coloured like the Saverians. He also recorded that, whilst the men of Sevaliara lacked facial hair, Wind Elf men often had beards and moustaches.

A separate source which briefly mentions the Wind Elves describes them as having small antlers protruding from their heads, and that it became something of a sport amongst Humans who went to war with them to collect these antlers, but this is not mentioned at all in the main source. Frustratingly for historians, it appeared to be a cultural practice amongst the Wind Elves to bury heads separate to the rest of the body (the reasoning why is completely unclear), and so barrows known to belong to Wind Elves fail to provide any clarity on whether or not these folk had antlers, as all their skeletons are headless.

Since stags feature prominently in the artwork of Wind Elves, and may have been considered sacred, it is theorised by many historians that the Wind Elves wore helmets with antlers on them and that stealing these helmets from slain warriors was a mark of prestige both amongst Humans and other Wind Elves. Given that the author of this secondary source was clearly not well-acquainted with Wind Elves, it is possible that he had only observed them from a distance - or never seen them at all - and so mistook their antlered helmets as part of their body. This theory is supported by the discovery of an antlered helmet (though missing one of the antlers) in a barrow in Kamar, where the Wind Elves were known to have lived - however, no other such helmets have been found, and it is unclear whether this barrow actually belonged to a Wind Elf since the barrow was previously broken into and looted and the skeleton is damaged beyond recognition.

Both historical accounts and archaeological finds show that in their clothing, weapons, armour, style of war and artistic aesthetics, the Wind Elves were very similar to the Asmocarians, but they have also been found with the distinctive tartan clothing which the Asmocarians did not (and do not) wear and was only found amongst the anonymous nomadic "tartan folk" and the sedentary Raskevites.