Elf

The Elves are a rather varied race, the defining feature shared amongst all Elves is their pointed ears. Elves originate from the Amber Isles where they are given an education up until their teenage years, at which point they can choose between 4 primary types of Elf that they wish to become, two other types exist although one of these is reserved for the deity, while the other is typically only chosen by a very select number of elves that wish to focus on the pursuit or preservation of knowledge instead of magical understanding and prowess.

## Overview

Elven society is built around knowledge, the education system functions on the Amber Isles functions as both the means by which Elves learn magic and knowledge on chosen subjects, but also as a political system in which a council is able to govern over the Amber Isles with some level of input from students and teachers.

The Elves are one of the most magically connected races, this is due to their role in protecting the gates alongside the 12 Gate Dragons. Their connection to magic results in them possibly having some of the highest raw magical power of any of the races, though this comes with the side effect of being uncontrolled without external tools to channel and focus this power, ultimately making them more level with the other races without proper training.

## Magic

### Gate Magic

Virtually all Elves become connected to multiple gates when they choose what type of elf they wish to be, they are capable of changing these after the fact without causing any changes to their physical form. Elves are particularly good at attuning themselves to multiple gates at once.

### Elven Glass

Elven magic is notably much less controlled than the magic of other races, as such they have mastered the art of producing a magical glass like substance which acts as a powerful focus when pure. Elven Glass becomes extremely tough when pure, meaning it can be very effectively used to make weapons, staff or wand focuses or more, these can then temporarily hold mana or directly transfer it to allow for attacks. Very rarely it has been known for Elves to use a fine Elven Glass powder in ink to write magical runes which can be used to cast magic.

### Rune Reading

One of the rarest Elven abilities which has been almost completely lost to time is the ability to naturally read and translate runes, the number of known Elves with this ability is microscopic and as such the ability is usually not associated with the Elven race. Elves with this ability can naturally see how to convert a desired magical effect into a rune, are capable of near instantly combining runes and can easily understand what any rune they read does.

## Biology and subspecies

Elven biology can vary significantly between subspecies, with the major shared trait being their pointed ears and more clean complexion. The average height of the species varies between different subraces, though a majority of subraces are on the taller side, it is also more common for Elves to have slimmer more elegant features, however this is not always the case.

### Divine Elf

Divine Elves are extremely uncommon, typically only one exists at any given time. The only known Divine Elf is Aerith, the current deity. Divine Elves are often more regal in stature, giving off a constant radiant glow. They are often a bit taller than many Elves, with more elegant bodies. Divine elves can gain physical traits of other elven types depending on their form, e.g. vibrant coloured hair and horns in magic form, or wings and sharper claws in combat mode.

### Celestial Elf

Celestial Elves are typically quite tall, they do not have any unique extra body parts such as horns or wings, however they are known for having more unique or vibrant colours of eye or hair. Celestial Elves may have more patterned eyes or hair which give off a somewhat space-like appearance, or even a fire or water based look. Many Celestial Elves have slightly more pale skin, usually ranging from ivory to pale olive skin.

Celestial Elves tend to be better at channelling mana through a focus such as a wand, making them excellent spellcasters. In modern times, Celestial Elves almost always use wands or staves, a third method has been historically used, though has mostly fallen out of favour, this method involves creating runes to cast from, often through a spell tome. Runecasting can be used in several unique ways, but eventually fell out of use due as many found it impractical to draw new runes for every spell they may want to cast.

The base magic types for Celestial Elves are Fire, Water and Arcana.

### Sky Elf

Sky Elves are on average a more standard height amongst many Mekkanian races, though they do sometimes get a bit taller than others. Unlike the other types of Elf, Sky Elves have wings which are somewhat unique to each elf. Some Sky Elves have fluffier cloud-like wings while others have more feathered ones, the cause of this variance is unknown however it does not appear to have too much impact on the flight capabilities when trained enough. Their skin is typically somewhat pale, although many of the Sky Elves that guard the fortune gate have tan or dark skin due to the climate in which they live.

Magic used by the Sky Elves most often takes the form of short term mana storage in weapons made from Elven Glass, more often than not, these weapons focus on close range combat as without focus on retaining mana in the weapon, the mana will disperse quickly. Sky Elves are capable of utilising the quick dispersal of mana to their advantage by channelling the mana out of their weapon from more focused points, an example of this in action would be slashing a Sky Glass sword filled with air aspected storm mana to send out a blade of air as a projectile, though this is by no means the only possible way to utilise this. [another method of mana usage that has mostly fallen out of use]

The base magic types for Sky Elves are Storm, Fortune and Light.

### Jungle Elf

Jungle Elves are the shortest subspecies of elf, their height is more comparable to the Red Pandarens, although they are not quite as short on average. Their hands have a more unique shape with tougher sharp claws at the end which are capable of taking the entire strain of their body weight while climbing a tree. Jungle Elves tend to grow more wild hair on both their head and across their body, losing much of the elegance of the rest of the species, though this is not always the case. Jungle Elves tend to have oddly green tinted skin, it is theorised that the magic in their bodies has given them slight plant-like properties to assist them in becoming harmonious with the forest in order to learn from it as effectively as possible.

A variant of Jungle Elves have been known to live in more tribal cultures in the deeper parts of forest regions such as Buckwood, these elves are often referred to as the Ailill and are one of the several races collectively referred to as the Wild Folk. The Ailill reject many elements of modern culture, choosing to focus on building a repertoire of practical skills which aid in their day to day survival. Reports suggest that the Ailill are more likely to be territorial, making them quite dangerous due to being very intelligent and skilled when it comes to protecting their land and capturing perceived invaders. Some have tried to stereotype the Ailill as being unintelligent because of their tribal nature, though this claim is incredibly far from the truth.

Jungle Elves tend to have an easier time empowering their Elven Glass with lingering mana, this often results in the use of a variety of ranged weapons, with the projectiles either being formed of Elven Glass or enhanced with it depending on how permanent the projectile is meant to be. Tools such as blowpipes and bows have been historically common, though more modern tools such as crossbows and even sometimes primitive firearms similar to those developed by the Salamanders. While no longer in common usage, another type of Jungle Elven magic has been historically recorded, primarily used by particularly powerful Ailill, this magic involves the use of more permanent Elven Glass with which a Forest Spirit may be linked to alongside the Elf, this allows for the user to manifest the Forest Spirit in order to assist them in combat, or even to physically enhance themselves by taking on aspects of the Forest Spirit. This form of magic primarily fell out of use due to the difficulty of bonding with Forest Spirits, making it less accessible for inexperienced Jungle Elves. It is thought that another reason that this magic fell out of use was the potential for misuse to permanently warp the users body due to interactions with the Forest Spirit going wrong.

The base magic types for Jungle Elves are Forest, Toxic and Prankster.

### Infernal Elves

Infernal Elves, more commonly known as Drow have a somewhat wide range of possible heights, ranging from slightly below the average for a Kito'an, up to the higher end of Celestial Elf heights. They have slightly sharper teeth than other types of Elves and are known to often have slightly demonic looking horns. Their skin colour can range between pale and dark, although nearly always takes on a bluish or purplish hue rather than the more typical skin tones of others.

Infernal Elves on the surface may seem similar to Sky Elves in that they store mana in Elven Glass over a shorter period of time, the key difference is that they often excel at transferring mana between themselves and their target. They are capable of sending bursts of magic through their weapons when an attack lands in order to do additional damage, and they can drain mana from their target if they are able to establish prolonged contact between their weapon and their target. An alternate method of magic used by a number of Infernal Elves long ago was called Reflection Magic, this magic worked on a somewhat similar principle to the common type of Infernal Elven magic, but did not require direct physical contact. Reflection Magic worked by storing a reflection of a target into an Infernal Glass mirror, until the mirror was either cleared or destroyed, the reflection would continue to drain mana from the target in order to either weaken them until they can no longer fight, or create a physical reflection to help take the opponent down.

The base magic types for Infernal Elves are Blood, Dark and Earth.

### Enlightened Elves

Enlightened Elves have a somewhat similar appearance to Divine Elves, although they are not quite as tall, nor are they quite as radiant. They have rather normal features for Elves and do not tend to focus on the pursuit of magical power, instead they tend to remain secretive and pursue as much knowledge as possible. The first Enlightened Elf was an ancient philospher by the name of Kyrene, their views were distinct from many modern enlightened elves. Enlightened Elves have formed a few different orders based on their viewpoints, with some following Kyrenian philosophy and being more hedonistic, while others may be more focused on preserving knowledge in a more all-encompassing and sanitised way.