Gwelin
The Gwelin are a race descended from Half-Elves born following the Sylvan War. So much time in isolation and latent Elvish adaptability has allowed those Half-Elves to change into a unique race entirely. The Gwelin consider themselves "Snow Elves", while the Elvish Confederacy and the Empire of Evermore do not recognize them as full Elves.
Gwelin have pale skin similar in color to a polar bear's fur, white or gray hair, and eyes in every shade of blue and green. They have sharp pointed ears, but they are not much larger than a human's and close to the skull. Gwelin body temperature is abnormally warm, and they are the only sentient race to have what they themselves call "contingency organs", an extra heart, pair of kidneys, and liver. Gwelin are master survivalists by nature, and capable of surviving in harsh conditions longer than either humans or elves. They also differ from other sentient races in that they always have identical-looking twins with no exceptions, with equal rates of same gendered and opposite gendered twins.
There is one more biological oddity about the Gwelin, a unique organ that causes their blood to run extremely hot. It is similar to the wyrmheart that produces fire breath in dragons, and is something like a cross between a stomach and a heart. Some amount of food goes into the Serdtan (literally Fire-Heart), and it literally burns the fuel. Major arteries cross over the Fire-Heart to warm the blood. The Gwelin have a saying, to "know with three hearts", which indicates utter certainty. To "love with three hearts" is to love someone above even themselves. To "trust with three hearts" is to say you have complete faith in someone.
Because of their magical chimerical origins, Gwelin do not experience life and death in the same way as either humans or elves. They are not immortal, but they do not age past adulthood. There is no sure way to predict a Gwelin's life expectancy, as it ranges anywhere from death at 60 to a long life of half a millennium. Gwelin have adapted this into their philosophy, the idea that one never truly knows what tomorrow will bring, and the work and play that needs doing must be done now.
The Twins
The bond between Gwelin twins is greater than that of other siblings. It is not known if this is a result of cultural influence or biology or magic. Prior to coming of age at 12, Gwelin twins are treated nearly as a singular entity. Because of this, great value is placed on bonds made by family instead of just yourself. A sister in law is just as precious to a Gwelin as their own wife, a friend of one twin is a friend of the other, an adopted community belongs to both. This is called, simply, The Bond and it drives all of Gwelin culture. Sometimes, Gwelin are born as quadruplets (roughly at the same rate as human twins). These seem to pair off into two sets of two with no greater regard for the other pair than is given to older siblings. For unknown reasons, if one twin exhibits sorcerous powers, the other is always mundane. If one is chosen by the gods as a divine spellcaster, the other is not. When twins die together (an unusual event), they are buried together and their headstone combines their names and they are honored as one person. Two sets of twins that wed each other are called a True Match.Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Traditional Gwelin names for girls include Alys, Alina, Beca, Gwen, and Karina. In recent years, giving children names in the Common Tongue of Civilized Folk has become popular. For girls, such names are things like Winter, Aurora, Holly, Hazel, and Storm.
Masculine names
Traditional Gwelin names for boys are Adrian, Dmitri, Carwyn, Llewellyn, and Igor. As with the girl names above, giving children names in the Common Tongue of Civilized Folk has become widespread. Popular choices for boys include Hunter, Stone, Briar, Sage, and Hearth.
Family names
Gwelin family names tend to be altered versions of ancient Elf clan names, taken from all over the continent. Commonly, this is with the addition of "ov" or "llen" to the name. Petrikov, Venllen, Rynev, Garchek, and Blemov are common names.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Gwelin as a whole speak Gwel Eira, sometimes called Bastard Elvish. As the name implies, the language is derived from Atcandean but has evolved much like it's speakers into something new. Most Gwelin also know how to speak "proper" Elvish, or Atcandean, and several speak regional dialects as well such as Stromgun or Greenspeech Atcandean. As with all peoples of Illiria, the Gwelin speak The Common Tongue of Civilized Folk for trade and diplomatic purposes.
Common Dress code
Thanks to the horribly frigid weather of Ter Eira, Gwelin often wear thick coats and hats lined with furs. The general fashion is for white coats with black fur and the reverse for hats. When traveling in hot climates, they instead favor long leather coats and wide-brimmed hats. Young Gwelin often take on more colorful outfits for the sake of petty rebellion and can be frequently found with extravagantly dyed outer layers. It is common for one twin to wear a piercing or accessory on one side and their sibling to match on the other.
Coming of Age Rites
At the age of twelve, Gwelin children are given a ceremony in which they pledge themselves to a profession as an apprentice. This occasion is usually marked by a village-wide party (a particular neighborhood in the case of large cities). Friends and family tell stories about the celebrant, and gifts are given to help them in the new life. Traditionally, a military child is given a special dagger, a craftsman a hammer, a hunter gets a bow, a staff for mages, and a laborer an axe. The ceremony concludes with the twins saying goodbye to each other. Part of the rites is confirming that the twins are in fact two separate halves of a better whole.
Funerary and Memorial customs
When in the appropriate climate, Gwelin bury their dead deep in the snow after being wrapped in a water-soaked shroud. Thus they are entombed in ice for eternity, and the site is marked with a carved stone. Outside of their homeland, Gwelin still practice burials but instead adapt to what is available for preservation, be it clay or crypts of stone or even cement. It is believed that the tradition stems from ancient outbreaks of zombies. Most cultures of Illiria burn their dead for this reason, but Gwelin belief holds that one can decay in the afterlife- so burning a body is as good as killing their soul.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Gwelin have adapted to their environment to the point of brutal practicality in all things. While they appreciate aesthetic beauty as all humanoids do, physical attraction is very rarely the result of good looks. Still, they appreciate long hair of particularly strong coloration and much of Gwelin 'makeup' is hair accessories. Gwelin seeking a partner might advertise this with coloful ribbons or clips in their hair.
Gender Ideals
Partially thanks to their need to survive above all other concerns and mostly due to the nature of the Gwelin twin-bond, gender roles are extremely loose and malleable in Gwelin society, especially among those with twins of opposite biological sex.
Courtship Ideals
As with everything else, Gwelin courtship is a practical and straightforward affair. Prospective partners are simply approached and asked. Gwelin rarely form romantic attachments earlier in life, simply taking partners as their interests change. It is only when they reach adulthood at twenty-five or so that Gwelin begin to experience romantic attraction and not purely sexual desire. Especially in the homeland, these relationships are fast and most Gwelin will take dozens and dozens of partners before deciding they've found the one they like the most (often leading to heartbreak and confusion when they do this to other cultures). Of course, the partner must also be approved by the twin, and it is not uncommon for the twins of both partners conspiring to point each in a different direction if the siblings don't like each other. Since both partners in a relationship will have dated and thrown away so many partners and know precisely what they want, it is rare for 'final partners' to become anything but lifelong spouses.
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