Elven Kindreds

The Elves were all created by the same deity, Ay'a Ticha (Founder of the Flesh) but given life by a quartet of secondary creators, each of which invested a different elemental nature in the soul of the quarter of the lineage placed in their charge. This investment had a profound effect on the temperament of the selves, creating the four distinct kindreds: The Steadfast (High Elves), the Vagabond (Wood Elves), the Flowing (Sea Elves), and the Kindled (Ash Elves).
Hy'a Hivish (Raiser-of-Cities) animated their quarter with the power of earth, instilling them with a stubborn nature and desire for stability above all things. This translated into an affinity for building cities and societies; the legacy they crave is civilisation, manifesting specifically the Union of Elder, and latterly the Regime. It is a sore point that neither of the civilisations that the high elves championed on a large scale lasted, and they now. focus on smaller scale projects.
The high elves consider themselves the inheritors of the Eladrin as a whole, and more specifically of the season of winter.
Casind Yhor (Far-Walking-Hunter) placed elemental air into their quarter. The wood elves were thus created with a deep wanderlust and desire for steady change and the cyclical, occasionally catastrophic transformations of nature. The wind, they will explain, may destroy, but never affects irreversible change of the kind a city represents. Their legacy is custodianship of the natural World, and while they claim an affinity wth the eladrin of spring and the forces of renewal and rebirth, they too tend to find a deep ennui in contemplation of the progress of that legacy.
Hu'ah Ocaris (Song-on-the-Waves) finalised The Creation of their quarter with elemental water, creating the sea elf kindred. The sea elves had a wanderlust beyond that of the wood elves, and an easy acceptance of constant change. Seeing no constancy in the world, they seek their legacy through a record of that change, which they do in the form of song and stories. Compared to the other kindreds, the sea elves are positively upbeat about the progress of their legacy. They claim an affiliation with the eladrin's bountiful autumnal phase.
Cind'i Kohm (Flame-in-Shadow) animated their quarter with primal fire. Affiliated with the eladrin summer phase, they were also called the warrior kindred, and had a fierce, defiant nature. The high elves took this epithet especially literally, and tried to forge the Kindled into the army of the Regime. In actuality, the kindled's ferocity tends to manifest rather as a burning desire to protect their family, rather than an eagerness for war. It is also through their family that they seek a legacy.