High Elves

Overview

The High Elves are the second species created by the Eternals Life and Death, only a few centuries after the human species. They were a new interpretation of the Human model with a few design changes. Both of the Eternals wanted to combine male and female so the Elves are a sexfluid species. Most of them look a little bit androgynus (see the image), so there is no real change in their appearance if they change from one sex to the other.
But there are Elves (not only High Elves) who are two different people on the outside when switching from one sex to the other so it might be a little confusing for non-elves.
Because of their not-existing gender-/sex-roles they go by the pronouns "they/them". Most of the Elves are confused with the concept of male and female, but they do know about it and if they are with another species they refer to their sides as male or female.

Structure & Society

The High Elves always have two leaders consulted by a council of nine ministers. The position of the leaders is called "Dovare" which is roughly translated to "those who guide with light" in Common Speach.

The title of a council member is "Divora", which is roughly translated to Common Speach as "one who holds the light" as an example for those people who consults the "Dovare". The Divora consult the Dovare, the Dovare guides the species.

There is no real nobility or royalty in the society of the Elves (which includes Silver- and Wood Elves), so their organisation is very flat. There are the citizens, the priests, the military leaders and their officers and then the Dovare with their Divoras.

In general every Elf is a member of the society and has their duty. So it can happen that a Dovare eats, sleeps and works with a normal citizen like a woodworker because they are friends. That might be difficult when friendship and duty clashes, but normally it works out very well.

Every member of the society contributes to it with their work. They do had a currency (or three, counting Silver- and Wood Elves into it) but then the Golden Hoard Capital and Investment Management happened and now they only have one currency for every elven ethnicity.

Habitation

The High Elves live in small settlements built of stone, metal and wood. They prefer the more modest climate of the western and eastern part of Koria. They live in the close proximity of mountains and hills, sometimes in forests or at the mountain ranges.

They are building their settlements with a little bit of magic in their walls so they have protection against raging storms, pouring rain or heavy snowfall. They use their magic based off the Eternal Runes to infuse certain spells into their homes to make them more sturdy.

Biological Traits

Except for their reproductive system the Elves are capable of night vision and don't need to sleep for approximately three to four days. They are the best archers on the entire continent of Koria, their longbows feared and adored throughout every other species.

Reproduction & Life Cycle

Every elf can switch to the other sex once a day (which is roughly every twenty hours), so they don't need a specific gender to perform the ritual of copulation, they only need another person who they love or just wants to do things with them.

There are four stages for every elf during their development over the years:

• Belerion / Child 0 - 500
• Isif / Maiden 500 - 1000
• Junjuria / Matriach 1000 - 1500
• Eilhovar / Patronage 1500 - death

The names for every stage are "Belerion", "Isif", "Junjuria" and "Eilhovar". During every stage the elf is going under certain developments including their internal organs.

The Belerion / Child phase starts with their birth and has a duration of approx. 500 years. During this time the elves grow up and are tutored, normally they decide roughly what they are going to do in their future (which is always subject to change because they live for a very long time). In this phase they discover that they can change their sex once a day, but are not capable of actual procreation and so it is not possible for them to get pregnant.

The phase of the Isif / Maiden starts around after 500 years and lasts to approx. 1000 years of their lifetime. This is the phase where the elf is going out into the world and starts to explore life and possibilities. Which means this is their "wild" phase a human would call "puberty". They experiment with different ways of employment, get to know other species - and hopefully can avoid the Garladans - in every way possible and starts to form relationships, business and personal, sometimes both. They can get pregnant when they are around 750 years old, sometimes a little bit earlier, sometimes older than that. There are reports where some elves got pregnant during their child phase and some got pregnant really late in their Matriach phase.

The Junjuria / Matriach phase starts at around 1000 years and ends somewhere in the close proximity of 1500 years. This is where their "calm" hits, where an elf wants to start a family and joins a small community. They probably buy a house or built it themselves with the help of friends and/or the community. It is a quiet phase where the Junjuria settles in, has kids, partners, builds relationships and maybe studies something. It is not necessary to live with the partner of said kids if they do not want it.

The last phase is called Eilhovar / Patronage and starts at around 1500 years and ends with the death of the elf. In this phase they have no further ambition to go out into the world and do exciting new things. This is the time where the elf wants to be a stable member of the society, wants to help and guide young elves. Most of them are going into craftsman careers, scholary careers or are aiming for tutors/teachers.

Elves do have a period as well as humans, but only every three months and it lasts for usually two weeks. During this time the same hormone which prevents the change of sex during pregnancy blocks the change as well so they don't bleed internally. If some elf changed before that or for some reason could change during their period, the process is postponed and not stopped until the next period. When the elf is changing back into a female the period starts again. Painfully, most of the time.

The reproduction process is similar to every other reproduction througout Koria. An elf gives birth to a living baby and raises it. The only difference between an elvish pregnancy and a human/dwarvish pregnancy: in the moment the sperm enters the egg inside the elf their body starts to create a hormone which blocks the changing process from female to male during the twelve month pregnancy. Usually that is the cause for elves to discover their pregnancy.

Food & Culinary Traits

The Elves are vegetarians with a debate going on if fish is vegetarian or not. Until this discourse is closed, they decide they can eat fish and they mastered it; the elven dishes with fish are the best in Koria, but their other food is highly praised as well. Except for the Dwarves, but they are still learning.

Religious views & believes

The High Elves believe in four entities:

• Jannalor / Eternal Life
• Dannalor / Eternal Death
• Shihinon / Sun
• Jhaeros / Moon

Since their creation the elves didn't forgot the words of the Eternals and their first centuries together. Most of their older temples have both Eternals at the entrance, the newer ones have them in two of the four corners of the temples; the other two corners are reserved for the sun and the moon.

There are the temple priest and the priests. At the top is the Twilight Priest who is sitting between all four entities, so their robe is grey or yellow/golden with black/blue colours. The Twilight Priest is the guide and the consultant for every temple priest if needed in terms of life or religion/prayers.

Politeness towards others

Normally Elves (doesn't matter which ethnicity) tend to stay in one of their sides during festivities, visits or whatnot. But for Elves which change sides more or less frequently it is a small politeness towards others when they announce that they do change a lot and introduce both sides over the course of days or weeks.

The main reason for this is to prevent confusion. It has happened in the past that an Elf was not recognised in some official affairs and it nearly came to an incident.

Tales about Elves

"Elves. Beautiful creatures. Most of the time really slow in regards of making decisions which means if you ask about breakfast, they may not answer until the dawn of the next day. They tend to overthink which is not a bad thing, because they do things for the long run. Not helpful when you want to do a quick thing like breakfast."

— Human to a curious traveller

"How is life with an elf? Slow, I have to say. And strange. I did know about their sex-fluidness and it was rather strange as I slept in with my beautiful date from last night and woke up to a equivalent beautiful elvish male. Rather strange, I have to say. Yes, I did say "strange" twice. I wasn't prepared for it, but we had a terrific time. They are overthinkers sometimes, you have to adjust to it. Being with them is confusing for most of my employes since they are not used to it that there are two persons in one body. But I adore both and I would die and kill for them."

— Human prince after marrying an elf

"Elves... wargh, don't like them. Pointy bastards. Good meat indeed, not good for hunting. Can shoot arrows really good, lost a bunch of fellow warriors to them. I have my vengeance."

— Orc in an interview

"Fish is a good addition to our shrooms. Elves are good trading partners, but they can't really do the smithing. Armor is light, can withstand a crossbow, but not a hit from a Raven's beak. The weapon, you know? But I quite like them, even when they are a bit slow in the head, you know?"

— Chuckling dwarven smith

"Elves are an interesting subject. We can use both of their sex and we can experiment with their everchanging bodies. Never saw a human or a dwarf heal so fast. And we like it when they spill their wisdom and knowledge to us."

— Garladan scientist

"They appreciate our dishes and our way of being. And our art which is nice. Never before did I went with someone to one of our art exhibitions and got seduced on the way back how beautiful everything is. They shape-shifting is a sight to behold."

— Daydreaming Underling

"Yes yes, Elves, we like, we harvest, we catch, we die, they live. Good lifestock, good breeders...hehehehe..."

— Excited Goblin when asked about elves

High Elf by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Data

• height: 150 - 185cm
• weight: 60 - 200kg
• lifetime: 1800 - 2200 years
• two to four small horns on the head
• Two legs
• two arms
• one brain
• two eyes (capable of night vision)
• four fingers
• four toes
• primary and secondary sexual organs (form and function depending on their actual sex)

Sexuality

The sexuality of the (High) Elves is fluid. In addition to that there is a state called Cyrmonia where an Elf is only attracted to one specific sex (regardless of their own physical sex) or no sex at all, it works both ways. It is an uncommon state and it has some kind of mediation effects like if the Elf is about to ascend. Ascension is not a thing, but Cyrmonia feels this way.

Every Elf has the ability to change their physical sex once a day if they want it and choose to do so. The duration of the process varies from fifteen minutes to two hours, depends on the Elf. It is next to painless. But the definitions of said sexualities might differ from what Humans and Dwarves think.

Arhalaivoitus is a state where an Elf can be Ace/Asexual and / or Aromantic. It isn't explicitly excluding one from the other. It can be that the Elf has no sexual or phyiscal attraction to any kind of being or that the Elf has only little or no romantic feelings towards the other being. That can be only one thing or both and it also exists on a spectrum.

Personality

Most Elves tend to have their personality settled around their Isif- / Junjuria-phase (like humans mostly have in their 30s or 40s at the latest). That means that an Elf always has the same personality traits and behaviours regardless of their displayed sex, like the male has the same dislike of rice pudding than the female side.
But there are Elves who have two different personalities, depends which sex is displayed. Like the male side can be the most cheerful being in all of Koria, where the female side is being the Frost Queen herself and vice versa. That also includes taste, likes & dislikes. The female version can absolutely love chocolate while the male side is disgusted by it, but he likes to sit at the fire while for her it is too hot so she starts to swim in the cold lake.

The last and third behaviour is a rare occurence. There are two personalities in head & body, totally separated from one another with their own experiences, dreams and memories. It can be that those bleed into each other, but that is an individual problem.

Disclaimer: the changes of body doesn't negate certain disabilities and/or tolerances. If an Elf is lactose intolerant, then they are lactose intolerant, doesn't matter if male or female.