Elf

Elves are fey creatures that hail from the Astral Plane. Other people often regard them as elegant, mysterious, and mercurial.

See here for a list of elven characters.

## Reincarnation

Unlike pretty much any other sentient creature, elves aren't born: they manifest seemingly spontaneously from astral entities, which are in fact the souls of elves who have died in the past. A newly manifested elf is effectively a new person with a new appearance, new identity, and a new personality, though hazy memories of their past lives will occasionally filter through to the surface.

Of course, this means that when an elf dies, their soul passes back to the Astral Plane, ready to reincarnate once more.

## Trance

Elves don't need to sleep, like other people do. Instead, they need to spend a few hours each day communing with the Astral Plane in a ritual known as a trance.

A trance is broadly similar to sleep with a few huge differences. An elf in trance is aware of their physical surroundings, and can rouse themselves more easily from trance than a human can from sleep. Additionally, an elf typically needs to trance each day for about half as long as the average human needs to sleep.

## Family

Because of their unusual origin, families were never a part of elven culture. Elves do not have parents, siblings, or children. An elf can produce offspring with a non-elf, though, resulting in a half-elf.

Some elves who become very close friends, however, may call each other "soul siblings" -- a tradition that may be adopted from human or halfling culture. A prominent example of a pair of soul siblings is Banrion Heartsoul and the High Druid.

## Society

The Queen's Wood is considered the homeland of the elves. Being the mercurial and free spirited creatures that they are, many wood elves and high elves live elsewhere, particularly the Dragon Empire. Drow less commonly, due to the close-knit nature of their society and their reputations abroad.

Politically, the three elven tribes are governed (loosely) in the Court of Stars by the Elf Queen and the Archfey Triune, as well as a detached and self-serving cadre of quasi-aristocrats called Eladrin. Many elves outside the Court consider the goings-on within to be a useless diversion at best.

## Tribes

There are three elven tribes, defined by their original reason for incarnating in the world. Despite the name, elf tribes in the modern era are more like sub-types of elves than anything resembling distinct communities.

### Wood Elves

The first wood elves came to the world to be a part of it, to experience life and its manifold wonders. They tend to be the most concerned with the natural world and earthly pleasures. Their skin and hair are usually colours that reflect the natural world.

They often live together in small communities that are close to nature. It's said that druidic tradition can be traced back to some of these communities.

### High Elves

The first high elves believed they could be anything, and originally sought accomplishment and self-actualisation. It is a cardinal belief in high elven culture that to tie someone down is anathema to life itself. Their hair and skin can be pretty much any colour, but are typically fairer or paler than those of the other elf tribes.

They tend to be the most concerned with the pursuit of knowledge and the advancement of magic and technology. The most influential of them often create industrial consortia to pool (or exploit) the abilities of many elves toward this end. However, they are typically the least concerned with community of all the elven tribes.

High elves make up the largest segment of the population of Idir, the de facto capital of elven society.

### Dark Elves

Often known as drow, dark elves have the shadiest reputation of the elven tribes. This often stems from their continued occupation of Underhome, the ancestral homeland of the United Dwarven Diaspora, long-time allies of the Dragon Empire. Their skin is often grey, purple, or blue, and their hair is some shade of grey, including shock white or pitch black.

Dark elves originally came to the world to prove themselves. They tend to be the most concerned with tradition and martial might, and often congregate into pseudo-family groups called Houses (e.g. House Stormshade and House Silvercrest), which often act as independent military and intelligence groups. When a dark elf joins a House, they will usually adopt the House's name as their own last name, making these Houses the closest thing in elven society to traditional families.