Elves

As the longest lived species known in the Wyrld, elves hold a special place in the imagination and the land. Though reclusive and notoriously stingy with giving out information about themselves, it is quite commonly known that elves have some relation to faeries and other magical arboreal creatures, though exactly what the link is remains unknown, even to most elves.

The long life of an elf makes them cautious, for they have much to lose by making a thoughtless choice, and much time to contemplate things to avoid doing just so. Elven culture is incredibly conservative and well established. The few elves that are seen extant in the Wyrld are those that the community has sent out so that their nation might not be caught unawares by events outside the boundaries of their wood.

Elves chosen for such duties are usually young, and are often changed by their experiences such that they are no longer comfortable in the comforting confines of the Deep Wood again.

Elves are known for a natural affinity with magic, but this may be related more to the long years they have to study their chosen art than a true talent. Similar legends about elven prowess with bow, sword, and nearly any other weapon or skill one can think of may have similar sources.

Elves are available as a PC race.

Physical Nature and Appearance

Elves are uniformly thin and tall. They range from five feet to seven in height, with male elves being nearly a foot taller than their female counterparts. Elves are possessed of a grace that is famous among other species, particularly humans. Whether this grace is a learned skill one acquires from living among and in the trees or an inborn talent is unknown, as elves possess only one culture and only one race.

The slender grace of the elven people is evidence of a weakness that elves take great pains to avoid being exposed. They are not a strong people, and do not suffer physical injury well. Though they are nearly immune to disease, an elf knocked unconscious suffers a much greater chance of death than a human, dwarf, or other more sturdy creature.

All elves have very light metallicly colored hair, either platinum, silver, or golden. Their eyes have a variety of aquarian hues, shades of blue and green. With these eyes elves can see in anything but complete darkness, moving about without regard to day or night, even in the deepest arbors. Elven skin is the palest alabaster, without exception.

Elves have incredibly low fertility, and the average elven woman will conceive two or three times over the several hundred years in which she is fertile. The extremely long gestation period, just over five years, is a special period in an elf's life. Pregnant females are regarded with an aura of holiness in this culture that so rarely sees new life. Childbirth is particularly dangerous because of the slight frames that elven women possess. Without magical aid, half of all elven women die when giving birth to the slightly larger male infants.

After birth elves grow very slowly for nearly five decades. Elves lack the hormones and other strong chemical factors of other species. The lack of powerful hormonal influence means elves have no "puberty" or other period of fast growth. They also do not suffer from the raging emotions of other races nor the short lifespans that come with rapid growth. The downside is that elves do not and cannot have bursts of speed or strength linked to their emotional state.

Upon reaching maturity after a full century elves live a nearly ageless life for two or three more centuries before beginning a slow decline. Over a dozen decades the elf's physical body dwindles. The hair turns white and the eyes lose their color. The natural grace leaves as movements become more conscious and deliberate.

Elves have developed a special manner of rest and meditation that is important in allowing them to maintain memories and individuality across the centuries. During a typical night an elf will sleep for two to three hours and then awaken to perform the Reverie. This deep trancelike meditation helps an elf assimilate and contemplate the events of the day in such a way that they will not be lost amidst the memories of thousands of other days and weeks. During the Reverie an elf is awake, but their attention is turned within. An elf is very difficult to arouse out of this state, and when they are brought back to awareness they may be disoriented, much as one just awaking. In most cases sleep and the Reverie are performed back to back, but this is not necessary.

Society and Culture

The society of the elven people is rooted on the immeasureable worth each individual brings to it. Experience spanning several centuries makes every adult elf a storehouse of knowledge. The careful nature of elves leads to wisdom and knowledge, with accomplishment and action coming much later.

The elven society is one of elder rule, with any elf of white hair elligible to participate in the decision making. The thoughtful deliberations of this group leads to an intelligent and conservative direction for the elven nation.

During times of agression or special need the elders may appoint a Dhui'ragon'ellemendelei, or "Spirit of elven fire." Essentially a warleader, the Dhui'ragon'ellemendelei may make decisions for any elf from any village in the Deep Wood, or those abroad. His power is absolute and extends over every member of the species. Legend has it that even dead elves can rally to the orders of the Dhui'ragon'ellemendelei.

Many festivals are celebrated by elves, but most of them rely upon complex alignments of heavenly bodies making them infrequent compared to the yearly festivals of other species. The times of greatest rejoicing are when two or more festivals fall upon the same day, or upon the birth of a child. The birth of twins, which are always identical, is an occasion for a Year of Jubilee, and has happened only twice in elven history.

Elves, commonly refered to as the Elven Nation by outsiders, though elves themselves make no claim to being a nation, have appointed themselves the proprietors and protectors of the entire Alluvian Penninsula, and take this role seriously. They do not allow non-natives to move about the penninsula unescorted, and are more than willing to enforce their sovereignty over the region.

When elves do leave the confines of their home they rarely if ever do so in groups. A single elf, or sometimes a pair of elves, will make the journey, hiring help as necessary on the outside.

Religion is a strange thing among these people. A deep abiding faith that they are looked after by divinity is in the heart of every elf, but rarely do these beings engage in worship of any sort. Elves see divinity all about them in the Wyrld and its existence is such an obvious conclusion to them that they see no need to profess or proclaim it.

Ethics/Morality

Elves hold life and freedom sacred, but in ways different from other species. Each life has a purpose, and elven life does not fulfill that purpose by dieing of anything but natural causes at a greatly advanced age. Other intelligent species are accorded the same honor, but to a lesser degree. Sacrificing the life of an audweia, or alien, is preferable to any risk to elven life or freedom.

When elves are dealing with each other they are the most courteous and polite beings upon the face of the Wyrld, but when dealing with other, shorter-lived species they are almost always haughty and uncompromising. Even so, elves are almost always pathologically honest, unwilling to say an untruth even in jest. This is common knowledge among most other species, who trust the word of an elf above almost all other things. Rarely if ever has that trust been broken.

Language

The flowing language of the elven people is a beautiful thing. It possesses many vowels, including some which other species cannot pronounce. Every letter of a word is pronounced, never silent or bonded with another letter to form a new phoneme.

Elven voices are quite a bit higher than those of other humanoids their height. A male elf with a deep voice would be a tenor among humans. These voices and this language are well suited to carrying messages across distances in the forest when one elf cannot see another, as well as requiring great patience on the part of the listener. Elven conversations, like elven literature, are almost always long and detailed and prone to covering many tangents and side topics in as much depth as the primary topic.

Homelands/Dwellings

The natural dwelling place of the elves is among the trees. With the patience of untold years and generations elves have shaped the forest into a place for them to live. Mammoth trees with limbs grown and fused together to form walkways combine with stone buildings nestled into hillocks and huts fashioned from the still living boughs of cedars.

Every part of the forest is a home to them, and every resource available for them to use. Elven huerium, their city-villages, are often difficult to recognize for those not completely accustomed to the forest, but are acknowledged to be some of the most beautiful structures in existence.

Aedir Softfoot, a reknowed tracker from Vaelsh favored with a trip to an elven huerium, reported seeing a stained glass sculpture over ten feet on a side gleaming from within the trunk of a tree some ten ax handles across. A small bole on the other side of the tree allowed light from the sculpture to shine out of the tree into a clearing in the morning, while the sun shown in through the window in the eve. His recountings of the beauty of other features of the huerium were less lucid.

Wyrldscape is a free form play-by-post role playing game created for the enjoyment of interaction and creative writing. This compendium exists to aid those who would play in its infinite vaults. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use. All contents and information are © 2000-2003 Wyrldscape Consortium; all rights reserved.