Elves and Half-Elves

Elves in Wildemount

When Exandria trembled at the gods' footfalls, the ancient elves of the north pleaded with the Arch Heart to save them from the world's ending. Corellon did not respond, for it is said that their divine ears still rang with pain after their duel to the death with Gruumsh, the Ruiner. Desperate and panicked, the greatest mages of the elves performed a ritual powerful enough to encase their entire civilization in ice, in hopes of protecting it from the wrath of the warring gods while the elves escaped into the Feywild.
It is said that the ashes of the Calamity still blew upon the breeze when, centuries later, the barriers of ice melted and the elves of Wildemount emerged from the Feywild once more. On their return to the world, they found that their ritual had not held fast. The Calamity had wiped almost all traces of elven civilization from Exandria. With only the ruined husks of their mighty cities still standing, the elves began to rebuild.
Even though the human-majority civilizations of the Dwendalian Empire and the Clovis Concord view elves as reclusive relics of the ancient past, most elves view themselves as newcomers to the world, for their return to Wildemount is only a generation or two removed from the present day. The notable exception are the dark elves of Xhorhas, who have lived in Eastern Wynandir since time immemorial. Still, it is only in the past few centuries that they have abandoned the labyrinthine caverns of the Underdark and emerged to live on the surface.
The pallid elves are a mystical and insightful people with skin as pale as the surface of Exandria's largest moon. They emerged from the Pallid Grove this century and wander the world with childlike curiosity.
Sea elves are a reclusive and deeply territorial people who have as much in common with merfolk as they do with other elves. Most sea elves view the people of the Clovis Concord - even other elves - with mistrust.

Elves in the Dwendalian Empire

Though the dark elves of Xhorhas are the subject of imperial propaganda and widespread prejudice, elves of other kinds living within the empire are generally treated as friends and allies. Imperial humans love to revere elves as ethereal, flawless beings, and to express shock when elves reveal the ways that they are all-to similar to humans. Elves who maintain their "exotic mystique" are most likely to become respected members of society, and many hold great social power within cities such as Zadash and Rexxentrum.

Elves on the Menagerie Coast

Elves are commonplace in t h e Clovis Concord and among the pirates of the Revelry, and people living on this part of the continent most often laugh at tales of elven grace and beauty. "An elf bleeds just like everyone else" is a common saying on the Menagerie Coast, used to dismiss the fanciful sense of wonder common in the Empire-and the saying has evolved into a dismissal of all overwrought tales, even if the idiom doesn't quite fit. Savvy buyers of curios and souvenirs might say, "Your wares bleed, just like everyone else's" to a merchant who has exaggerated the quality of their goods.
Most elves on the Menagerie Coast are descended from travelers from the desert continent of Marquet, but this area is also home to two rare subraces of elf. The seas off the coast are inhabited by secluded civilizations of water-breathing sea elves, who trade with underwater enclaves of merfolk. All but the most idealistic or mercenary of these ocean dwellers see the petty squabbles of the "boat-riders" of the surface world as beneath their notice. At another geographic extreme, the moon-worshiping pallid elves of the Cyrios Mountains are new to the world, and are generally viewed with cordial curiosity by the denizens of the Concord's cities.

Elves in Xhorhas

The largest elf-majority civilization in Wildemount is the Kryn Dynasty of Xhorhas, which is made up primarily of dark elves. The drow of Xhorhas are respectful toward people of all races-including other elves-as they believe that their holy cycle of rebirth allows them to be reborn into non-drow bodies. The empathy to be gained by experiencing life in another body is crucial to their religion and their culture.
Elves who live outside the Luxon's cycle of rebirth are viewed with pity, for they have not yet seen the true path. Elves who dwell within the Dwendalian Empire are a notable exception, their imperial allegiance earning them only the cold bite of a blade.

Half-Elves in Wildemount

Half-elves occupy all lands where humans and elves gather. In ancient times, the appearance of half-elves was a cause for alarm in elven society, for prejudiced elves saw the union between elves and humans as a symptom of impurity in their blood and culture. Such attitudes have cooled across the continent in recent centuries, and most elven societies now feature a diverse array of people-notably the pluralistic union of dwarves and elves in the city-state of Uthodurn and the diverse peoples of the Kryn Dynasty.

Half-Elves in the Dwendalian Empire

The Dwendalian Empire sees half-elves as a sign that imperial rule is healthy, and that people are traveling across and strengthening the bonds of its disparate provinces. However, this belief is less pervasive in the elven enclave of Bysaes Tyl, which was coerced into joining the empire decades ago. The elves of Bysaes Tyl are dedicated to maintaining a tenuous grasp on their lost realm of Molaesmyr, and any elf who bears a non-elf child is considered a traitor to their ancient culture.

Half-Elves on the Menagerie Coast

In some ways, the Clovis Concord can be considered a half-elf nation, founded as it was by the native human Ki'Nau people and by elf and human settlers from Marquet. Half-elves are also a common sight arriving on passenger ships from Tal'Dorei. The elves of Syngorn, the center of elven culture in Tal'Dorei, still hold a shameful and outdated view of their half-elf children, many of whom seek passage or stow away on ships to the Menagerie Coast to start new lives.

Half-Elves in Xhorhas

Half-elves of all different ancestries dwell within the lands of the Kryn, with most having one dark elf parent. The idea of elves forming relationships and even having children with people of other humanoid races has long since been accepted throughout Kryn lands-so much so that it seems somewhat unnatural when people outside the culture express surprise at half-elves with small, m inotaur-like horns, or with the tufted ears and yellow eyes of a bugbear.

Elves in Tal'Dorei

When the Calamity threatened to annihilate all life on Tal’Dorei, the elves of this land gathered in their last remaining city, Syngorn, and used long-forgotten magic to transport themselves into the Fey Realm. Time runs strangely in that realm, and for an unknown stretch of history, the elves of Syngorn lived with their fey kindred in peace. When they eventually returned to Exandria, they found a land devoid of all but animals and the grandeur of nature. The rotten majesty of the Age of Arcanum, burned away by the wrath of the gods, had given way to new growth.
To the elves, the lands of Tal’Dorei are still called Gwessar, and elves who dwell here are called the gwes’alfen—the elves of the Fields of Joy. For centuries, this folk watched with delight as other peoples populated Gwessar, beginning with dwarves, then humans from across the sea, and so on. Then they looked on in horror as mortal ambition was perverted into greed, and war followed in its wake.
Syngorn and the Verdant Expanse that surrounds it are the ancestral homeland of Tal’Dorei’s elves, many of whom never venture beyond that homeland. Young elves are most likely to journey afield to see what else the world has to offer, and while most of them return to Syngorn, some make new homes in the many towns and cities of Tal’Dorei—or they become hermits, their status as mystical beings with a thousand-year life span commanding an almost mythic reverence from other folk.
The elves’ tendency to focus on the past has given rise to many stereotypes of those folk being haughty, aloof, and unconcerned with the day-to-day joys and sorrows of the shorter-lived races. But though this is certainly true for some elves, it’s hard for other folk to consider the perspective of an elf who has personally witnessed whole cultures and civilizations rise and fall. Most elves are born with the same passion for life as any other being. But as centuries pass, life becomes a stream of historic events to be witnessed and contemplated, and not to be interfered with unless absolutely necessary.

Syngorn Elves

The syn’alfen, as the elves of the Verdant Expanse call themselves, almost universally revere the ancient history of Syngorn, and the story of how its escape to the Fey Realm saved their culture from extinction. No elf who lives in Syngorn can forget this past, and Syngornian culture can sometimes feel overbearing to those who see it only from the outside. More than a few woodland elves also feel stifled by their homeland’s unrelenting focus on history, magic, the fey, and the preservation of elvenkind. Such elves are most likely to leave Syngorn and make their homes in other parts of Tal’Dorei.

Departure

Many elves who leave Syngorn (or who had parents who left) still consider themselves syn’alfen, whether they live in Emon or other cities, or even the ancestral homes of other folk, such as Kraghammer. The cultural imprint of Syngorn is hard to escape, and most of these expatriate wood elves hold a certain amount of love for their home even as part of a complicated relationship.

Reunited Family

South of the Stormcrest Mountains lies the massive jungle of Rifenmist, home to the nomadic elf Orroyen tribes. The Orroyen believe that they split off from the Syngorn elves centuries ago, with both peoples meeting each other again only within the past century. Though initially suspicious, both elf lines soon came to see one another as longlost family.
The onslaught of the Chroma Conclave disrupted communication with the Orroyen elves, and news from the south has grown more dire since. Orroyen refugees continue to flow into Syngorn, fleeing the tyrannical Iron Authority that rules Rifenmist.

Lyrengorn Elves

The lyren’alfen, known alternately as Lyrengorn elves or high elves, are a people who broke off from Syngorn long ago, and who journeyed from southern Tal’Dorei to settle in the frigid Neverfields, north of the Cliffkeep Mountains. The city of Lyrengorn that they founded is every bit as majestic as Syngorn in the south, but for better or worse, Lyrengorn lacks its sister city’s millennia of culture—and its cultural baggage.

Art and Expression

Lyrengorn is nestled in the spires of the Elvenpeaks, spreading under the mysterious northern lights known as the Moonweaver’s Ribbons. The city is always aglow with magical light, and its people are taught spellcraft from a young age, for magic is the foundation upon which Lyrengorn was built. The spells of heat and comfort woven into its residents' clothing and architecture are essential to living comfortably in such relentlessly cold lands. The elves who make their home within the pines of the Elvenpeaks are best known for riding through the wintry skies on wyverns. Every year, people from across Tal’Dorei travel to the Elvenpeaks to watch skyswimmers, elite wyvern riders who shape the glow of the Moonweaver’s Ribbons from the air.

Magic and Transformation

High elf culture values magical prowess above almost all else, but the high elves lack the dogma of many of their Syngornian cousins. Their society encourages experimentation, both in terms of magic and self-expression. Likewise, lyren’alfen who become adventurers often do so in pursuit of inspiration or self-discovery. High elf societies are filled with elf magi who use magic to transform their bodies, exploring different gender expressions and social roles—and they encourage all who visit Lyrengorn to join them in discovering all the different facets of one’s self.
Many high elves become religious sorcerers, exploring their latent powers through their faith. Others develop their arcane skill by seeking admission to the Alabaster Lyceum in Emon, where they study the theory of magic with the best minds from across Tal’Dorei.

Dark Elves

The myrk’alfen, also known as drow or dark elves, have a complicated relationship with the other elven societies of Tal’Dorei. Though the elves are one people by heritage, the dark elves refused to join with the elves of Syngorn during the Calamity, instead escaping into the trackless caverns that stretched beneath Tal’Dorei. There, they became the unwitting prey of the Spider Queen, a Betrayer God of immense cruelty.

Betrayed by the Gods

In times long past, the drow were a wise, beautiful folk with long, silvery hair and radiant ashen or violet skin. But their underground enclaves grew decadent and cruel, and their leaders fell to the alluring whispers of the Spider Queen. The myrk’alfen allied with their venomous goddess against the Arch Heart and their elves in the Calamity. When the Spider Queen was defeated, the myrk’alfen of Tal’Dorei were exiled permanently from the surface world, confined to their imperious realm within the earth.

Struggle to Survive

More evil powers than just the Spider Queen lurk beneath the surface of the world. With the drow in exile, the whispers of the Crawling King and the Chained Oblivion first reached the ears of their nobility as the dark elves struggled to stave away the aberrations that encircled their cities. Now, generations later, the dark elves are a people seemingly on the brink of annihilation. Neighbors slaughter one another in the streets as they succumb to paranoia. For when aberrations can take or shape any form, who can be trusted? Unable to stop their citizens from rioting, the drow elite have grown ever more authoritarian, commanding their royal guards to keep order by violently suppressing their people. Against this ongoing chaos, some dark elves who fall deep into the abominable thrall of the Spider Queen become truly monstrous, their skin and eyes turning deathly pale as they become little more than puppets for their tormenting goddess. Others willingly offer themselves to the aberrations to end their suffering, and are transformed into shapeshifting doppelgangers. And the most power-hungry drow nobles often succumb entirely to their devotion to the Spider Queen, willingly drinking her abyssal blood to become driders in her service.

New Light for the Shadow

The people of Tal’Dorei have recently received emissaries from dark elves who live in the eastern reaches of Wildemount, in a nation called the Kryn Dynasty. Their Bright Queen, Leylas Kryn, broke free of the Spider Queen’s corrupting influence and led her people to glory and self-determination in the distant lands of Xhorhas. This rebellion was inspired by the discovery of the Luxon, a mysterious being of light and rebirth that the Kryn drow worship as a god. Though the dark elves of the Kryn Dynasty have problems enough of their own, some of the Kryn seek the aid of Syngorn and Lyrengorn on expeditions into the depths beneath Tal’Dorei. Their goals are noble, but none can deny that these are missionary expeditions in search of new followers— and in search of new Luxon beacons, the scattered fragments of that new drow god. Many adventuring drow harbor a violent hatred of aberrations, and have abandoned the Spider Queen’s faith to become paladins in service of the Dawnfather or the Luxon, setting aside their affinity for the shadow to search for hope in the light of the sun.