Elvhen

The **Elvhen** are the first race to be created as well as the eldest of the Children of Orante. They are considered to be the fairest and wisest of any race of Andor given sapience.

Elvhen are not subject to age, and are immune to most illness. They can killed only in violence or by extreme despair.

## History

### Creation of the Elvhen

The Firstborn, the Elder Children of Orante, were conceived by Orante alone. They are the eldest of the speaking races of Andor. They awoke at the shores of the Alfirma Isles, under a vast starry sky. It was this beauty upon awakening that cemented the Elvhen to love the Orantir.

According to legend, Tuyar, Rúngil, Eord. and Niphrendil, were the first to awaken and wander. They were the first of the Elvhen to step foot into the Palace of Meles and look upon Orante's unfiltered splendor, as well as the new rays of the Triumvirate. As the first to arrive in the Palace, each were declared as rulers of the groups they wished to join.

Turning away from the Palace of Meles and journeying back to the dry shores of the Isles, they came across a band of Elvhen watching the stars, which Tuyar then claims as his. These were tall and silver-haired, the fathers of most of the Teleqind.

Continuing their journey, they found twenty-four pairs of elves, singing without language, Eord added them to her own people. These were the ancestors of most of the Hithudarians.

Continuing their journey, they happened upon an open field, Elvhen with locks as gold as the grass laughing freely as they ran. Niphrendil happily claimed them as her people. These Elvhen became the Palaran.

The large group of Elvhen continued to search for another group, smiles and cheers slowly turning into confused frowns. There was no fourth group. Turning back to the Palace of Meles, they sang wordless songs of mourning that slowly lifted into a song of spirits and cheer as they found the most numerous group Elvhen on the steps of the Palace. Rúngil claimed them as the Maedhorians.

### Life in the Alfirma Isles

The Elvhen were enriched by the knowledge of the Orantir and the bliss of their lands, and the four Elvhen clans developed their own cultures and distinct dialects. The rest of their cultural identity would later be expanded upon when they would leave for Andor.

### Migration and Settling of Andor

The first group to leave the Alfirma Isles were the last group to be discovered. The Maedhorian group of elves, while they had found beauty and splendor in the Alfirma Isles, they wanted to create with their own hands. From the original group of four-hundred, two-hundred stayed on the Isles, choosing to nest within the holy light of Orante and the Triumvirate.

The two-hundred that left the Alfirma Isles walked a journey in the deep trenches and ravines of the not-yet filled ocean, toward a land they were not even sure that existed. It was upon the third year of their journey, they finally saw the rows and rows of trees along the dry coastline of what would later become the Kierthan Empire.

The Maedhorian saw the trees as something that was not theirs; something that didn't call to them like they the plains called to the Palaran, so they continued eastward. Trees slowly turned into dry grasslands and dry grasslands eventually gave way to golden sands. It was these sands that called to them. The Maedhorian then settled in the Merrans Desert.

The Teleqind, shortly after the birth of Ôlafinor and the subsequent knowledge of crafting, began to build great ships known for their swan-like beauty and swiftness upon the waves of the sea. They were the second to leave, using ships to cross the sea, sailing along the coast of Andor until they came upon a mountainous land, gray and beautiful in shades of silver. It was in and on top of these mountains that they made their home, naming the landscape the Lunae Mountains.

After the Teleqind, the Palaran were the next to go, searching for their fellows before them in Andor. They found the Maedhorians among the sands, but turned away their offer to stay. They wanted fields, much like the ones in the Alfirma Isles, where they could laugh and run freely. The Maedhorians pointed them further eastward. They settled in the shadow of the Lunae Mountains, close to their other kin, but free with the grasses they so loved.

The last to leave the Alfirma Isles were the Hithudarian, for they learned from Farstea the ways of the hunt, nurturing themselves under Calenhadr's great forests. They ended up settling in the Silva Forest.

### Maedhorian Genocide

When tensions between the Kierthan Humans and the Maedhorian Elves had finally broke out, the effects were devestating. Despite the Maedhorian's advantage of having familiar turf and backup from their other kin, the Kierthans outnumbered each Elf from 20:1.

A series of battles and skirmishes that lasted for nine years, the Maedhorian Genocide stands as a dark point between Human and Elvhen relations. The landscape of the Merrans Desert had changed from beautiful golden sands to the red that is now in present day, stained red from the number of elves killed in their beloved desert.

### The Revoking of Immortality from Men

Like the Elvhen, Humans were once Immortal beings. After the events leading up to the Maedhorian Genocide, as well as the genocide itself, Orante intervened, taking away the Gift of Opolessa from men and thereby cursing them and their descendants to short lives.

### Thousand Year War

The Elvhen were among the most prolific in pushing back the Archon's army, and suffered many losses. A thousand years of fighting and battles had dwindled down the Elvhen's populations, and once the most numerous of races on Andor, they are among the smallest groups populating Andor.

## Culture and Customs

### Life Cycle

Their lives are counted to begin at conception rather than birth, and though their minds sharpened much earlier in life than in the race of Men, their bodies grew more slowly. Elvhen are typically considered fully-grown at about a century among their people.

Elves are born about one year after their conception. The day of their conception is remembered, not the actual birthday itself, because bringing forth children is an act of will, and it required a "greater share and strength of their being, in mind and in body compared to other races, as elves must bring together the thought of a child by sheer will and want comparable to only the Orantir. By their first year, Elf children can speak, walk, and dance, and their quicker onset of mental maturity makes young Elves seem older than they actually are. Physical puberty is generally complete by their fiftieth year (by age fifty they reach their adult height), but they are not considered full-grown until a hundred years have passed.

Elves' bodies developed slower than those of Men, but their minds developed more swiftly. In their twenties, they might still appear physically seven years old, though the Elf-child would have mature language and skill, whereas Men at the same age are already physically mature.

Elvhen are not subject to age, and are immune to most illness. They can killed only in violence or by extreme despair.

### Language

The language of the Elvhen is typically called Elvhen or Elvhish. There are around four dialects, corresponding to each group of elves, but generally understandable to each other. The language is typically complicated, most Elvhen children taking around twelve years of their life to become fully fluent in the language.

Elvhen is described to be a divine language, its phonetic sounds being smooth like water over stones in a creek, flowing over each other gracefully. It is typically accepted by scholars that Elvhen is the first *proper* language ever created, its written script used since the creation of the Elvhen.

### Marriage

Elvhen marry usually only once in their lives, and their children are often few and far-between. One or two children is the norm, and a couple having three or more is seen as an auspicious sign from Orante.

Spouses can choose each other long before they are married and be betrothed. The betrothal is subject to parental approval unless the parties are of age and intend to marry soon, at which point the betrothal is announced at a meeting of the two houses, during which the couple exchange rings personally made with an essence of themselves. A popular essence used are locks of hair which are usually added with the melted down metal of the ring, but blood and skin are other known alternatives. The betrothal lasts at least a year, and is revocable by the return of the rings. After their formal betrothal, the couple appoints a time for the wedding when at least a year has passed.

Marriage is celebrated at a feast of the two houses after Proving Night, where the supposed groom is stripped bare, except for his trousers. He then must go hand-to-hand with the males of his intended's house, or if she does not posses any male relatives, must then take on at least half a dozen male volunteers. Should he succeed, then the marriage is later consummated as the wedding party will then celebrate with great enthusiasm and blessings upon the new couple. In the case of a couple who are of the same sex, Proving Night is different for those same-sex pairs.

Consummation of the marriage bring the souls of two Elvhen together, entwining them for life. It creates a connection not understandable to other races, except perhaps the Icari Fae, and allows a bond to form where the couples' souls then become as one. Bonds are mysterious and their inner knowings and secrets are guarded zealously by the Elvhen. If the marriage is not suitable, or consummation is not consented to by one of the parties, a backlash to both souls can badly damage both Elvhen, mentally and physically.

### Death

Unlike Men whose souls depart Andor when their mortal bodies fade, Elves' souls are bound to Andor until its ending, and typically reincarnated into another Elvhen. Elvhen who committed grievous acts or wrongful acts during life are in the end stuck when they die, wandering the Hall of Souls until the end of days.

A typical Elvhen funeral takes place over several days. The body would first be cleaned and healed of whatever wounds, then stripped bare--a way to acknowledge the end of a life cycle, for they came into the world bare and leave the same--before being magically preserved for several days so friends and family may be seen to visit and pay their respects. Skipping a funeral can be seen as one not having care for the person who died.

At the funeral, the Head of their family (or present Head, if the Head was the one to pass), will recite a thorough account of the deceased's life before those among the procession break into funerary song, a soft and mournful hymn which is then seen as the final goodbye for the participants. The Hithudarian Elves will leave the deceased's body in an open clearing, a way to give back to the forest they hunt from. The Palaran cremate the body, close family taking the ashes to spread across the plains while upon horseback. The Teleqind entomb their bodies, digging deep into the earth to bury the body; finally, the Maedhorian cremate the body, the ashes then stamped into the ground, or taken and kept by the family to put in an urn along with their ancestors.

## Physical Characteristics

Besides being considered more beautiful than men, Elvhen are also generally taller. Their hair color varies; but the basic rules are that the Hithudarians generally have dark hair (brown or black), the Palaran golden, the Teleqind silver, and the Maedhorians with their shades of red. Their eye colors vary.

Elvhen as a rule are generally slender, no matter the gender, and rarely grow body or facial hair.

In some cases elves had atypical hair color, either due to simple happenstance or intermarriage between houses. A prime example is the Royal Palaran House of Nost-Niphrendil, who's descendants boast a dazzling mixture of silver-gold locks due to Rehilas Nost-Niphrendil's Teleqind wife.

Their most distinguishing characteristic from the Mortal races was the fact that they are invulnerable to age or disease; unless they were killed by sword or sorrow, they are to live to the end of the world.

Elvhen posess the ability to see in the dark, along with better eyesight, able to see up to two leagues and hear from half a league away. Naturally graceful, they have no trouble with balance, said to be able to dance across the narrowest and slickest of cliff-paths without worry.

Females are typically tall and willowy, their height ranging from 5'11 (180cm) to 6'3 (190.5cm), while males are usually lean and wiry, height ranging from 6' (182cm) to 6'5 (195cm). Males are unable to grow bodily hair, along with facial hair, their features frozen to a youthful picture of one in their prime.