Elves

**Elves** are a bipedal race of humanoids similar in appearance to humans or halflings, with longer faces, angled eyes, flatter brows, with a delicate or slender appearance and distinct long, pointed ears. Elves are comprised of a variety of subraces, with varying cultural and physical differences depending on their location. They are inherently magical creatures, and are somehow linked directly to magic. Once an elf is physically considered an adult, they begin to develop simple magical abilities.

## Characteristics

Elves are just as diverse as other races, with variances in culture or appearance depending on their geographical location. Shared traits and similarities among the different subraces of elves include height, lifespan, and build. Most elves are active during the daylight hours and early in to the night, only requiring a brief four to six hour rest in the early hours of morning. This rest is similar to sleep, in that an elf will be still and relatively unresponsive to external stimuli, though they still end up feeling rested and ready afterwards. It is not uncommon for an elf to sit still with it's eyes open during this trance-like state, though they do not seem to register movement.

### Height and Weight

Elves typically stand at heights similar to humans, though on average are slightly taller (5'10" Male, 5'6" Female). Elves weigh less than humans, with an average weight off 100 pounds for males, and 80 pounds for females.

### Physical Appearance

An elf's skin takes on similar shades to their environment. Elves found in forests have a green or brown tint to their skin, while elves found in high mountains will have a grey or pale complexion. Their eyes are slightly larger than that of humans, and are specially attuned to seeing in both day and night. Elves have a wide range of eye color that somewhat corresponds with their skin pigment. Elves eye's range from yellows and reds to blues, blacks, or browns. At night when exposed to light, and elves eyes may glow, similar to that of a cat's.

### Lifespan

Elves have one of the longest lifespans of all the civilized humanoid races, averaging 560 years with an upper limit of 700 years. Elves reach physical adulthood at around the age of 30 years old, but are not considered full adults by other elves until the ages 100 to 150 years old on average. This is due to their slower mental and spiritual development. However, elves are not unintelligent by this standard, they simply lack the world experience normal elven culture has come to expect.

### Diet

Elves are omnivorous, though tend to only eat meat when it becomes a necessity or for special purposes. Eating too much meat can make an elf sick and suffer adverse reactions. Elves can go slightly longer than humans without food or fresh water, but still require regular consumption of food and water.

## Subraces

Elves are divided among a number of subraces depending on their environment. Traits are passed on by both parents, and mixed-blood elves typically have a melding of traits that includes random aspects from both bloodlines.

### Purebloods

Purebloods consider themselves the purest form of elf, and hold true to ancient beliefs and traditions. They see themselves as the best possible version of elf, and shun mixing of their race.

### Sunborn

Sunborn elves are some of the most common elves to be found around the world. While they vary slightly in appearance, many share the same beliefs of the benefits of intermingling with different races and cultures. Civilizations of Sunborn are typically far less xenophobic and inclusive than that of other elf subraces, and commonly produce offspring with other races. Sunborn elves have dark to light tan skin tones and dark brown to bright blonde hair colors.

### Nightborn

Nightborn are largely nocturnal, forgoing the daylight hours and sticking to shadowed, dark places. Their skin takes on a darker grey, purple, or black tone while their hair can be stark white, pitch black, or any shade of grey in between.

### Woodborn

Woodborn are considered by Purebloods to be the least developed of the elves, as they tend to live in smaller, tribal communities with a greater sense of unity than that of the more developed races. Culturally, Woodborn place a larger emphasis on the natural world and natural magics, having little interest in understanding the mechanisms behind how the world works and instead accept that it is the way it is. Woodborn have brown or green tinted skin with shades of brown, blonde, or green colored hair. Woodborn embrace natural magics, and largely attempt to live in harmony with nature and other living creatures.

### Feral Elves

Feral Elves are a fringe related race of elves, far removed from most elf subraces. They are fully enveloped in their animal instincts, and move and live in small packs. These elves have no uniform culture, and can take any appearance. Feral Elves are looked down upon by most elf subraces, and are sometimes enslaved to be used as "attack dogs", as one human soldier described them. They exist to survive, and therefore tend to live shorter lives than that of their more developed counterparts. According to Purebloods the Feral Elves are fundamentally wrong, and are tainted by some outside influence. There is no confirmation of this, and some scholars believe that Feral Elves are simply underdeveloped groups of what would be considered normal elves. However, an important distinction is their carnivorous approach to a diet, and distinctly sharper teeth.