Elves

Historical:

* Zodiac Empire (Sol Vhenan Kheinven)
* Onanelh Remnant
* City of Silh Hur

**Elves**, in their own tongues known as **Vhenan** are one of the major species of Aard. Whilst today elves have split into different groupings, with distinct physical and cultural traits, they all descend from the ancient elves. The continent of origin of the elves is Sol Venàil. Elves are one of the four species part of the Zodiac pantheon, along with humans, dwarves and goblins. They have played a major role in the history of the world, most notably through the Old Empire.

Elves are closest to humans from an anatomical point of view. They can however be told apart by their distinctive pointed ears. Elves are also on average a bit shorter and skinnier than humans. Another important characteristic of elves is that unlike humans and dwarves, their skin colour is consistently fair, regardless of the climate they live in. Elves are also the race with the highest percentage of able magic users. However, although it is rare, human mages can be just as capable as the most powerful elven ones. Elves are capable of eating both meat and plants, but already by the time of the arrival of the Old Empire to Var Venàil elves had generally stopped eating meat, preferring a vegetarian diet. This has persisted throughout the ages, and some elves find themselves incapable of eating meat. Elven lifespans used to be some of the longest during the Old Empire, living up to 500 years. Whilst elves still generally live longer than humans, they usually die younger than dwarves, in their 80s. Some elves still live up until the age of 120, but these are exceptional cases. Elves are also noted to be generally a nocturnal species, which spends most of their daytime sleeping and is awake at night time. This has been somewhat dampened with red elves' mixing with humans.

Societally, elves are also closest to humans. Elves are noted for being very creative, outgoing and adaptable. They are however not quite as adaptable as humans, especially when it comes to the places they can inhabit. Elves are one of the most religious and spiritually minded races. They do not share humans' and dwarves' passion for gold and material wealth, nor orcish love for war. Instead they focus on living their lives as well as possible, so that they may join the stars in their death.

## Sub-groupings

Elves are one of the most diverse races on Aard. These major differences are the result of interbreeding with other races as well as long-term isolation. Today, there are four great groupings of elves in the known world.

### Ancient elves

Ancient elves, known to elves as Sol Vhenan (lit. Great elves), were the first of the elves. All other sub-species of elvenkind descend from them. The continent of origin of the ancient elves was Sol Venàil. They were first encountered in Var Venàil with the arrival of the Zodiac Empire. They were its ruling species. It is however known that already at the time other species were part of the empire, but none were allowed to leave their continent(s) of origin. Ancient elves lived considerably longer than modern elves. Their lifespans could reach up to 700 years in the most exceptional cases, and they would often live for over 300 years. They were also known for all having white or blonde-pale hair.

The ancient elves on Var Venàil diverged into the Red elves and the Imperial elves. Their interbreeding with the goblins resulted in the apparition of the orcs as a distinct species. However orcs are too far removed from elves to be considered a sub-species. The elves which stayed in Sol Venàil diverged into the Continental and Isle elves, due to centuries of isolation. These two sub-species are however anatomically nearly identical. Today's Imperial elves are the closest to the ancient elves of old, but still live considerably shorter lives.

### Imperial elves

Imperial elves, also known as court elves or black elves are one of the two main sub-species of elves on Var Venàil. They are the descendants of the upper class, mainly merchants, mages and clerks, of the Old Empire. Unlike other elves which were left behind, they did not breed with the local populations, leading to them being fairly similar to the ancient elves. Whilst the most long-lived of modern elves, they rarely ever live over a century.

Imperial elves are named as such as they continued being part of the upper class after the departure of the Old Empire. Most imperial elves found themselves at the courts of various human lordships and kingdoms, as major advisors. They were also highly appreciated for their magical abilities. The presence of magic is the highest among imperial elves compared to any other species, even the elves of old. This is most likely due to the high number of mages which were part of the original imperial elves.

Imperial elves were also the ones to run and administer the Onanelh Remnant as well as the City of Silh Hur, the two remaining elven states after the departure of the Empire. They still play a large role in politics of most human states, most notably the Kingdom of Silur. They are however very few in number, only numbering around ~20000 across the continent.

### Red elves

Red elves, also known as Var Vhenan are the other elven sub-species on Var Venàil. Unlike their imperial cousins, red elves are defined by their mingling with local species, more specifically humans. They have become even more similar to humans than most other elves. Their ears are less sharp, their lifespans are only slightly longer than that of humans and their skin has progressively become darker in areas where humans have dark skin. One of the few areas where they retained an elven characteristic is magic, as red elves are on average still more magically gifted than humans.

Red elves are named after Var Venàil (lit. Red Continent/Great Isle). They have progressively been divided into three sub-groupings of their own: central red elves, living in areas once part of the Hosaq Empire and Grey Kingdoms, eastern red elves, living in the the Duchies, and southern red elves, living in the southern half of Var Venàil.