Elf
Basic Information
Growth Rate & Stages
Elven children grow slower than humans, with the difference increasing over time: a five-year-old elven child might be mistaken for a human three-year-old, but a fifty-year-old elf will look eighteen. In most cultures, elves are not considered to be fully adult until they reach 100.
Ecology and Habitats
Elves thrive in an environment which can support trees but can survive in deserts if necessary. Any place which has had elves living there for a thousand years or more will have at least a few taphos trees, a unique tree species that only grow in and around elven settlements.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
The most obvious way to spot an elf or part-elven hybrid is by their upswept pointed ears. This is enhanced by a more general delicacy of features.
Average Intelligence
The average elf tends slightly more intelligent than the average human, although data may be confounded by their longer lifespans.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Elves can see the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums and have slightly better hearing than humans.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Elves are given one name by each parent and may collect more over their lives, which they use any or all of in any order. Male and female names follow similar patterns, with only the gendered endings changing. Elves do not typically make use of family surnames, as their culture downplays the importance of heredity and genealogy.
Beauty Ideals
Beauty standards for elves typically focus on height, slenderness, long hair, and long ears.
Relationship Ideals
Elves do not practice marriage amongst themselves, viewing it as absurd to tie themselves to one person for the several centuries they can expect to live. There is strong cultural pressure against marriage to non-elves, since the differences in age and lifespan make such relationships tricky to navigate. However, this does not negate the possibility of interspecies relationships, as demonstrated by the abundance of half-elves.
As their long lifespan reduces the pressure to reproduce, there is no strong incentive towards heterosexuality and elven cultures do not typically concern themselves with individuals' choice of partners. A woman may choose to sleep exclusively with other women, or with no-one at all, and this will be treated just the same as if she slept with men. Several of the elven gods, in fact, are known to be in homosexual and polyamorous relationships.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Most varieties of Araith are mutually intelligible, language evolution having been slowed by longer lifespans and slower generational turnover. However, a few have diverged enough to be considered distinct dialects. In particular, Oreinos Araith, spoken by mountain elves, has its own unique syntax and significant divergences in vocabulary.
Common Dress Code
Many elven cultures lack a nudity taboo.
Scientific Name
Homo sapiens dryadalis
Lifespan
700 years
Average Height
6-7 feet
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Like humans, elves come in every shade from white to black. Their hair colours have less relationship to skin colour than in humans, and it is not especially uncommon to find elves with dark skin and red or blonde hair. There is also more variation in eye colour, with elves being the only humanoid species to have purple eyes.
Related Ethnicities
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments