Elves

The **Elves,** or *Aos Si*, are a race of ancient and extremely magical beings. They primarily worship their Olympian Gods but also have a deep love and understanding of Mother Nature. Elves are separated by countless island city/states that each host a unique culture, dwellings, and chosen natural element; High Elves dwell in The White City or other great cities in Hyperborea, Wood Elves dwell deep in forest glades of Themiscyra, Sea Elves dwell beside the oceans on their small island of Baltia, and Deep Elves dwell in caves in the Penglai Mountains.

Other Elven cultures include, Sun, Moon, Star, Gold, Fire, Wild, Ice, Mist, and Sky.

Elves are creatures of Magic, that they call Heku. It is part of them, infused in their very cells. That is the reason for their extended lifespans. Every Elf can use some kind of magic. They are the greatest known practitioners of The Art.

They are widespread in the places that they live, and have varying cultures. Many elves build elegant shining cities and towers, while others dwell in natural villages deep in beautiful forests. Many more dwell in deep caverns of astounding natural beauty or by the tranquil seas.

Elves love and revere the natural world, and this, combined with their expansive life spans, enables them to perceive much in the natural world that blundering humans could ever hope to. Many an elf is happiest listening to the music of the waves or singing in forest glades beneath the skies.

Despite their extraordinarily long life spans, elves are highly emotional; elves feel emotions far deeper than other races, and are easily moved to the strongest of emotions. They swiftly react against threats to their homes or their allies. Elves are considered by many to be the greatest bastion against evil, as they are known to rise to the defense of the suffering far more than any other race.

The last kindred of elves is not counted among those named above, as they betrayed the elves under the banner of The Shadow and turned to evil. They are called the Shadowed Ones and they dwell in the Shadow Lands that they were banished to long ago. All elves share a burning hatred of the Shadowed Ones, but they also pity them for their delusions of grandeur and the harshness of their world.

### Physical Qualities

Elves are of slender build, about as tall as humans, and much more graceful. They are not as strong as humans and so they rely on their greater dexterity and magic to overcome their foes. Their hair, which they usually wear long, is sleek and straight, and usually black, dark brown, or autumnal red or orange and rarely golden, or, even rarer still, silver. Their ears are about the same size as a human's, but are pointed, like a leaf. Elves have bright blue or green eyes, with occasional variants such as dark brown or pale grey.

Elves are extremely long lived, taking about a hundred years to grow to adulthood and then remaining quick and youthful for thousands of years.

#### Synth-Elves

After the Shearing, a rare number of elves embraced human technology and used it to enhance their own bodies through cybernetic implants. The vast majority of elves look on in disgust at these so called 'Synth-Elves' and any elf with any modifications are generally shunned by other elves.

## History

It is unknown who the first Elves were or how they had been created.  That has been lost to antiquity.  *Or perhaps the elves just aren’t telling*.  Known Elven history begins during the Shadow Wars.

### Shadow Wars

Elves were originally all worshipers of The Light.  And to many they are called the Light Elves.  But there were some who turned from the Light and chose the Shadowed Path and thus became known as the Shadow Elves.

Their world was called Gaea and the Elves lived in city-states spread across countless islands.  Those city-states made war on each other constantly, trying to forge an empire.  But none could conquer more than a few cities before either being defeated or losing control of captured cities.

It is unknown whom or what corrupted the first elves but it is believed that the first elf leader to turn was Radamanthas. He began by convincing other city-states to make him their ruler by proclaiming that he was going to unify the Elven people.  The Taranis was quick to ally with Radamanthas and made war on his neighbors.  Those that did not peacefully submit to Radamanthas’ rule were then subject to King Taranis’ armies.

As more cities fell to the two rulers, Queen Scatha and King Laomedon joined the alliance and the four rules began their conquest in earnest.

King Radamanthas continued to convince cities to join him without fighting while King Taranis made war on everyone he could.  King Laomedon used his powers over nature to bring famine and plague to the crops of his enemies and forced them to surrender.

During one of the first battles Queen Scatha was struck down.  But her sorcerous powers brought her back from the dead and she arose as the even more powerful Lich Queen. With her ‘newfound’ necromancer powers she brought all of the dead back to serve in her now undead armies.  It is said using powerful blood magic she created the first Vampires to act as her generals for all eternity.

Centuries passed and the war raged on.  During that time the corruption became apparent but by then it was too late, many cities were under their control.

When it was discovered that the four rules had fallen to Shadow all the remaining city-states rallied together to defeat them. But even their combined might was not enough to defeat the Shadowed Ones.  The four rules were too powerful; nothing could stand before them as they led their armies into battle. Thus they became known as the Harbingers, for everywhere they went, death followed.

It wasn’t until the legendary Archdruid Dagda consulted with The Oracle that he discovered a way to trap them.  The Oracle foretold that the Harbingers would bathe the world in blood and fire and that they could not be defeated.  But they could be trapped.

So together with the Grand Archmage Janus Urelius, Supreme Sorceress Phyllis, the Chief Priests, Magi, and Druids, Archdurid Dagda cast his Binding spell, thus trapping The Four behind The Seven Seals forever.

In honor of the first Archdruid every one after takes the title ‘The Dagda’ and is the Chief Watcher of the Seals.

With Shadowed Ones defeated, the elves elected Archon Ard-Tiarna as the first Grand Archon of the Aos Si. Ard-Tiama had held off the forces of The Four longer than any other and it was agreed that she was the best choice to protect them from any future corruption.

Years passed and the elves enjoyed a long stretch of relative peace as they slowly recovered from the devastating Shadow Wars.

But it was not to last.

### Kefali Invasion

The Kefali arrived suddenly and without warning when a Rift appeared on the island nation of Annwn and hordes of animal-like beings poured out and viciously attacked the elves. The elves were caught completely off guard and Annwn quickly fell. Among the animal beings that attacked were what the elves named Centaurs, Minotaurs, and Faun. Only one name did they hear from the Kefali themselves, that was the name of the Dog Soldier Cynocephali. But those creatures were not alone, for the Avatars of their Gods walked among them. They called themselves the Ma'at. And they believed in the Divine Order and that the only way to establish Order in the Universe was to rule it all.

The elves rallied together and with the aid of the Olympians, made war and with the invaders. After a long and bitter war, the Elves were victorious and forced the Ma'at and their Kefali followers back through the rift. The Kefali retreated to their homeworld before the Elven Gods shielded their world from outsiders. But not all Kefali escaped. Some were left trapped on Gaea.

### Stewards

Ages past and the elves discovered how to traverse the Veil themselves. The Stewards were founded and using their powerful magic, they began to explore other worlds.  The Stewards established The Code that decreed that the elves should have no contact with the inhabitants of these worlds.  They were to observe only. But not all of the explorers adhered to The Code).

Eventually entire islands nations would be dragged across the Veil to monitor these worlds.  One desolate world that was discovered became the prison for the Shadowed Elves. Any elf convicted of consorting with the Shadow was cast out.  It became known as the Shadow Realm.

Another world, this one discovered by the island city of Atlantis, was called Earth.

The humans of Earth were remarkably similar to the elves, the major differences were they did not live nearly as long as elves and had very little magic.

But the humans were not alone.The Elves discovered the hated Kefali were already there, seeding their religion across the globe and showing the primitive humans how to build pyramids to worship them.

Seeing how similar the two races were, the Atlanteans decided to break the Code and interact with the humans to try and thwart the Kefali.  They introduced some humans to their Pantheon of Gods and taught them many things. Other elven nations also traveled to Earth and interacted with the humans, including Avalon, the Isle of Seers.

There was a minor scandal when the Stewards discovered that some elves had been fornicating with humans and had actually had children, including the Tuath Dé.

Another world that was discovered was called Svartalfheim and it also had beings similar to elves that they hardly interacted with…(or did they??)

But before too long (by elf standards) the elves noticed that it was becoming increasingly difficult to move across the Veil.  After many tests the elves discovered that the Veil was hardening.  Soon it would become impossible to travel to other worlds.  So to avoid being trapped, the island nations withdrew and returned to Gaea.