Elves

# Biology and Appearance.

Like most Races across the isles, Elves are bipedal with two arms, they have seven digits and seven toes which means they have a base 14 number system unlike Human's base ten systems.

Elves normally stand between five feet and six feet tall but some are taller or shorter than that, however all elves tend towards slender frames but despite their slender size elves are twice, or even more so,  stronger than a similarly muscled human.

In terms of facial features, Elves tend to have angular faces with almond-shaped eyes (usually in natural hues like greens and and browns) and with line shaped pupils, As well most elves tends towards light shades of brown for their skin and dark browns to black for their hair but blonde is also rather common.

Elves usually live 250-300 years old and are considered adults at the age of fifty, and usually are considdered elders around their second century.

Wild elves, Avarial, Eldrain & Elvish Lords:

Wild elves:

* Occasionally an adolescent elf will gain the attention of Oberon and draw his attention and be blessed with his magicks to become a wild elf, Wild elves grow antlers from their head with a prong for every score of years they live,  they are also affected with a strange wanderlust that will make them roam far and wide across the world.

Avarial:

* Once a century a few elves is blessed in the womb by The horned god and when they are born they come into this world with wings upon their back and their parents are expected to leave them on the foothills of Mt. Valina so another Avarial can find them and bring them to their perch at the top of the mountain where they can defend the mountain from all who might seek access to it's sacred halls.

* Unlike the lifelong burden that is being one of the other blessings, the role of Elvish Lord is temporary however the burden can be greater as an Elvish Lord is only crowned when the gods believe them necessary to fulfill some part in their plans and so bring them a circlet made of plants that will remain until their burden has been completed.

# Culture and customs

## Diet:

Due to the wide variety between the different kingdoms however some generalisations can be made:

High elves prefer to eat a vegetarian diet rich in a wide variety of grains, fruits, and vegetables and almost never eating either meat nor seafood.

Wood elves true to their way will eat anything they can find with them mostly foraging around their home but they are happy to eat seafood when they are near the coast or rivers.

Both sea and Sol elves eat diets rich in fish and other sea foods but Sea elves also eat large quantities of various sea plants. While Sol elves eat rice as well.

Celestial elves eat a hearty diet of wheat and chicken.

The deep Elves meanwhile eat a diet filled with fish from their underground sea and fungi they can find.

As for drink most elves drink wine of a wide variety of types but celestial elves prefer beer

## Fashion

### Highborn:

* Highborn of both sexes wear elaborate robes of many bright colours with gold and silver worked into the cloth and those of High elvish descent will wear elaborate ear guards on their extended ears.

### Lowborn:

* Lowborn and sea and wood elves prefer tunics and leggings for their men folk and short dresses and leggings for their women folk, often in natural hues and colours.

## Caste system:

Governing Elvish society is their caste system which all are supposed to know their role in intimately.

1. Emperor's/Tirlath's descendants.
	1. The emperors do not inherit their positions and instead when one dies the extant elves who can trace their descent directly from Tirlath vote a new emperor from amongst their number.
2. Kings/Elvish Lords.
3. Nobility.
4. Priests and Mages.
5. Warriors.
6. Artisans.
7. Slaves/labourers.
	1. Almost all are non elves from beyond Valina but sometimes an elf will be punished by being forced to serve as a slave.

## Architecture:

* Most elves will build family compounds, walled including outbuildings, even in the few cities you can usually find the dorma of the highborn, walled compounds within walls with most houses being built around a central compound.
* Wood elves however live in very different compounds, although their homes are still situated around the family, and they usually consist of a central hut for the family matriarch and the family, as well as huts spread around for the matriarchs partners and children usually spread out so each member can have their privacy.

## Transportation:

On land:

* When an elf must travel by land most ride Strixes owe im strix pulled carts,  however High elves ride the horses native to their homelands and wood elves ride on the backs of their tamed elk.

	+ Most Sea elf ships are catamarans made of a type of sea-tree propelled by sails on four or more masts with options for the passengers who live on huts built on the hull to row when necessary.
* High elf ships:
	+ Most high elvish ships are large galleys propelled by members of the slave cast so the high elves aboard can sail in luxury.
	+ Most wood elves sail in small sailboats that to anyone else could barely travel the seas but the wood elves don’t care and prefer their small ships so they can go where they please.
* Solar elf ships:

## Folklore and religion:

Folklore:

In Elvish culture the number seven is considered highly sacred

Religion:

## The seven Kingdoms.

Much like the Cidel Empire, the Elves are divided into seven kingdoms, ruled at least in name by the Emperors who live near Mount Valina.but each kingdom has their own king or equivalent of some kind.the Kingdoms will be expanded on in the future but for now they are as follows:

The High Elves.

Wood elves:

* Fiercely independent Wood elves are only nominally a member kingdom of the Elven Empire and their council of Lords rarely does as their so called Emperor's would like however their strength in numbers and control over the Heart Tree prevents the emperor's from disciplining them.

Sol elves.

* Isolationists with a strong warrior culture Sol elves take their name from their home island of Sol located miles from any other land mass of note.

Celestial elves.

Sea elves.

* Once upon a time, the Sea elves were members of the wood elven kingdom, but generations ago they were lead into the sea where they have lived ever since as a culture of sea dwelling nomads. Living on catamarans on the open sea only returning to land to trade with others, even the materials they use for their ships they get at sea as they use a type of wood-like sea weed to make their ships.

Stone elves.

* Long ago a colony of High elves were trapped underground on the banks of an underground sea, and over time they separated and grew from their cousins but eventually they formed the Kingdom of Van-linbon which was later conquered by High elvish soldiers.

Ice elves:

* Two populations of the so called Ice Elves exist in Axelo, one in Uderon and the other in Valina this article will just mention those from Valina.
* These ice elves dwell in the central mountains of the chain in a number of clans who aren't above warring with one another or with the other kingdoms of the isles.

# History

The myths say that in twenty six thousand B.E  the gods of the Seelie Court lead by Oberon and Titania created the elf kind, before retiring to Mount Valina so their new playthings could develop their culture  at their own pace, but that didn’t stop the gods from walking amongst their creations from time to time teaching them and letting their worship form.

For thousands of years the elves were but wandering tribes and eventually small city states but all that changed in three thousand B.E. when an elf known as Garlath the Grand was born, from a young age the elf was gifted in both arms and mind and soon rose to the kingship of his city state, and using the forces of his city state, Gar, he conquered his neighbors forming the first empire of Gar who in later centuries would become known as the High Elves.

But in this era another Great elf was born, a century younger than Garlath, Ty’ren Starseeker was born in the tribe of the Starseekers and was a talented mage who united the nomadic tribes of his island under the banner of the Starseekers so that if Gar ever invaded they would be able to stand together.

However not all of the nomadic tribes wished to side with Ty’ren and the star seekers, two other factions emerged, the Moonguard lead by Ty’ren’s childhood bestfriend luuniara and who wished to avoid bloodshed if possible and the wayfinders who believed this went against their ancient ways and so left their home island to travel to parts unknown, eventually arriving on the island of Sol.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the archipelago the wood elves were beginning to settle in the boughs of the Great tree and the nomadic tribes of the mountains formed into what we now know as

For thousands of years the Empire of Gar, the Kingdoms of the Starseekers and Moonguard, and Wood elves coexisted in rough peace. With frequent but meaningless petty wars between then however all that changed when Orc fleets arrived in Valina and launched their invasion with the empire of Gar being destroyed including the capital of Gar, and the descendents of Garlath being all but wiped out except for Garlath the fifth the son of the last Emperor of Gar.

For centuries the elvish dark ages raged across valina as tribes and houses fough one another willy nilly however some colonization still occurred with one expedition lead by the elf known as Lord Harlin settling deep underground with them eventually forming into the group we know of as the Dark elves.

After Six hundred years the lineage of Garlath revealed themselves and the secret city they had build as a home in the spine mountains to the world. Using forces they had grown in their time in isolation they conquered from the ancient lands of Gar to the old Celestial tribe lands forming the first High Elvish Empire and they established a new city on the foothills of the Mt Valina itself much to the dismay of the Seelie court However they let the city stand and it became their capital for some thousand years.

But unfortunately the First High Elvish Empire would not last forever and by 20 B.E. it had fallen to rebels and for the next two hundred years the isles of Valina were in a near constant state of war but eventually the elf named Tirlath the wise would emerge and formed an army that conquered a large swarth of land and sea forcing a group of elf's to migrate to the sea and become the ancestors of the sea elves. But as soon as his lands were secure Tirlath crowned himself first emperor of the second High Elvish Empire with one of the first things he did being to create and enforce the caste system that reigns supreme to this day, However this empire has lasted until the present day..

List of Emperors and notes:

1. Tarlith the wise: founder of the emperor and the caste system. Ruled 183-245 A.E.
2. Heyro (246 A.E.- 310 A.E.)
3. Guyo (311 A.E.- 400 A.E.)
4. Garlath (401 A.E. - 520 A.E.)
5. Tarlith the dim (521 A.E. - 600 A.E.)
6. Haw’l (601 A.E. - 630 A.E.)
7. Ilum (631 A.E. - 672 A.E.)
8. Songhawk (673 A.E. - 712 A.E.)
10. .
12. Tarlith the third (997 A.E.  - 1088 A.E.)
13. Falcon (1089 A.E. - 1200 A.E.)
14. Songbird (1201-present) the current Empress of Valina.