Jungle Elf

Culture

Shared customary codes and values

The most important code by which jungle elves live is that the rainforest, and the resources it provides, belong to everyone and no-one. Destroying a resource in a way from which it will not be able to recover is a serious offence, one that would earn its perpetrator the enmity of any elf who found out.

Average technological level

Since resources are so abundant in their jungle environment, these people have no need of agriculture and do not cultivate crops or domesticate animals for food. Instead, they hunt and forage in ways that do not disturb the natural balance of the rainforest, moving on to a new area before they completely exhaust the resources of a particular region.

Common Dress code

The rainforests in which jungle elves make their home are warm and have almost total cover from the canopy of trees, making their environment relatively unchanging. This eliminates much of the need for clothing, and many tribes have little to no nudity taboo. What clothing they do wear is practical, either to protect their most vulnerable parts from their environment or to carry tools and equipment.

Coming of Age Rites

More than one jungle elf tribe has a coming-of-age ritual in which the new adult must spend a period of time alone in the jungle. This ranges from one night to several days, during which time the elf must fend for themself: finding food and clean water, evading or fighting off predators, and finding a safe place to sleep. There is no particular age at which this ritual must be undergone, but those who have not yet taken it are likely to be considered children on a social level even if they are physically mature.
The jungle is a dangerous environment for a lone traveller, even one who has lived there all their life and knows what they are doing. To ensure the safety of their youths, most of the tribes who practice this custom will choose a volunteer from among their experienced hunters to secretly follow the one carrying out the rite and step in if they are in true danger.

Funerary and Memorial customs

In areas of the deep jungle where elves have been living for centuries or millennia, it is common to find groves of taphos trees. The younger trees are often decorated with strips of brightly-coloured material tied around their trunks or branches in particular patterns. When cloth and hide are scarce, they are instead painted in the same bold stripes and swirls, which bear some resemblance to the patterns used by jungle elves to decorate their own bodies.

Encompassed species

• Elf