Elves

Species - Homo Sapien Eldritchus

Location - Mostly the forests of Whelk and in the cities of Dalmaek. There are elf minorities living in other countries, however, such as Dalysium and Mefreet.

Origin - Elves claim that they have divine origin. They say a luminous God of Fire placed them on Eulysal to act as a spark of creation and culture. Some go further to say that the elves are directly descended from this God and his progeny. At the present, there can be identified two "tribes" or "races" of elves. The most common is the Whelkian Elf, which are mainly found throughout the forests of Whelk. The second is the smaller group of "Old Elves" or "High Elves". These are descendants of those Elves who maintained the great Elven Empires of the past. They can be found in the northern and western parts of Whelk and in the cities of Dalmaek, as well as the islands north of Whelm and Dalmaek.

Appearance - In general, Elves are taller, slimmer and more graceful and beautiful than humans. They have fair skin, long pointed ears and bright eyes and hair. Elves do not regularly grow beards or hair on other parts of their bodies. Their senses and intellect appear to be more developed than humans and they propagate this theory. Elves from the two tribes do tend to have slightly different features. A Whelkian Elf has longer ears, more tanned skin and is a bit shorter and more muscular. The Old Elves tend to be taller and even more slender and graceful and are quite fair in both skin and hair.

Disposition - Elves are known by the other races for their haughtiness and arrogance. Elves simply consider themselves to generally be more intelligent, which is, for the most part, true. Elves tend to grow up in small families. Due to their long life spans they spend long amounts of time mastering various skills and talents. Elf births are very rare and every one is seen as a blessing - the population is still stable as Elves cannot die from age.

Even though the Elf Empire is gone, the younger elves are still taught to be proud of their heritage and fierce to those that would defile it. Elves see themselves as the flame of reason in a murky and often ugly world. They prefer to not destroy the nature around them, but slowly manipulate it to their tastes. For many years, this is also how they dealt with their enemies and even their own populace. The Elf breeding programs would eventually be their undoing as one of their creations, the Avianids, created their own nation that the Elves seriously underestimated. Elves are not evil, nor do all attempt to be arrogant. They simply feel the other races are rushing around with no plan or reason. Elves prefer to calculate and ponder before making their moves. They are generally distrustful of the other races, especially Humans and Avianids after the Great Northern War. Not all Elves hate the other races, but most still feel there is some gap between them that cannot be breached.

Elves, however, do have a rich history and culture. They are practiced in the arts, warfare and crafting of every sort. They do not have "technology" as the other races perceive, having developed a society where Magic reigns and performs many functions.

Magic - Elves are a highly magically attuned race. A high percentage of elf children have some sort of initial talent. Even those that don't can, after decades of study and meditation, eventually break through to the natural reserves that course through their body. Every division of Magic has emerged among the Elves, even some that Humans only have the barest ideas about. As long as they continue practicing, Elves can continue to improve their mastery of the arcane. As well, Elves have naturally magic bodies that do not age and are much more resistant to disease than an average Human.