Desert Elves

Descendants of ancient Elves who split off and migrated out of the Elven Continent and to the Southern Continent, Desert Elves have become known as the fierce nomadic people of the Great Expanse, travelling in family caravans. They're famed for migrating across the great trade routes of the Southern Continent's deserts, trading goods and guiding others.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Desert Elves have no concept of long term partnerships in reproduction. On occasion, they will experience a mating season that aligns with the rainy season. For a period of a few months, they will intensely court potential partners, usually involving their cultural art of dancing. If judged well, the two will mate and impregnate each other. Desert Elves will typically court two or more partners in the course of one mating season. Most Desert Elves never know the identity of their sire, as their identity is not viewed as important. They will be communally raised by their gestator's clan, which is considered their family, moreso than their sire.
The pregnancy length for Desert Elves is two to three months. Their young are quite small; as a result, high order multiple births are much more common among them- from 3 to 6. Superfecundity is extremely common, and a brood may have multiple sires. After having kids, there’s usually a decades long gap of experiencing no mating season.

Ecology and Habitats

They dwell in the Great Expanse of the Southern Continent, and seasonally migrate through it. They can be found living in sedentary settlements in oasis or coastal towns or the Hajjaran Sultanate, however; these are referred to as Spice Elves.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Their diet composes of the livestock they take with them, local desert flora and fauna. They can eat scorpions, snakes, and other venomous creatures, and their venom glands are considered a delicacy.

Biological Cycle

With the arrival of the rainy season, Desert Elves will travel to sedentary settlements for supply restocking and some may participate in the mating season. Not every Desert Elf will experience heat every year, which is a method of population control. It also means that others in one's clan won't be busy raising their own young, and help care for the clan's children. During the mating season, they will seek out partners for procreation. After the mating season, Desert Elf clans will begin leaving the sedentary location and returning to their nomadic routes.

Additional Information

Social Structure

They travel around in clans, which are usually composed of siblings and their birth children. Usually, if the next generation decide to leave, it is a group of siblings born in the same brood who depart together, starting a new clan.

Facial characteristics

They have pointed elf ears, but they point horizontally, rather than vertically. They are unique for being much longer and more outspread than other elves' ears.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Like other Elves, they have a knack for magic. Desert Elves have a unique immunity to poison, and are able to eat plants or animals that would be deadly to others.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

For Desert Elves, their naming conventions are as the following: (Personal Name) (Carrier Name) “of” (Clan Name) Their names almost always have two syllables, and usually have one main stress point, typically a “k,” “d,” “h,” or “c” sound.

Major Organizations

They have no large scale political organization besides their familial clans. However, multiple clans will convene on rare instances for a unified purpose.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Elves

Lifespan

~200 years

Average Height

4 - 5'6 feet

Average Physique

Short, lithe, and lean; they do not gain weight easily.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

They are famed for their golden eyes. Hair colors range from straw blond to gold streaked dark hair. They have very dark skin.

Geographic Distribution

• The Great Expanse
• The Southern Continent