Elf
Origin
According to The Dying Birth, Elves claim their ancestry from the Goddess Vorstemor, an ancient being of magic and sorcery from the High Realms. She had been on Udista at its flooding, and was banished by the Genasi shortly thereafter. She came to a plane of fire and air, ever changing and shifting and thick with feeling. Although a shadow of her home in the Deep Wood of Andulra, the land reminded her very much of her old life. She found a vast valley-glade, carpeted in moss. There, she laid her head and relinquished her life. With no way back to her home, however, her spirit instead imbued the land with magic and vigor and it was alive. From her corpse sprouted great mushrooms, the Sienivorst, whose roots and offshoots became the the numerous Fey creatures. They made a home there, and called it Keivilu, the Land of Fey, ruled over by the Eladrin. The roots of Sienivorst were so great that they travelled the Middling Merikesken Plane and sprouted forth in Nedia, there giving birth to the sundry Elves. For more information, please see the Sistren War.Cultures
High Elves
The Ethelan High Elves, sometimes called the Etle, are the elves that make up the majority of the ruling class of the Ethelan Empire. They are a fine people, known for their stoic disposition and charitable lifestyle. They are deeply technologically-driven but can be highly conservative. High Elves are most comfortable in large cities and hidden woods. They tend to be tolerant of the Empire's non-Elf citizens, but can struggle to fully welcome the diversity. It is the work of High Elves that has advanced the technology of the Empire, especially in the areas of communication, transportation, and warfare.
The Ethelan can be found in two forms: the Sun Elves and the Moon Elves. Golden haired and elegant, sun elves are proud and arrogant. They comprise the upper echelons of Ethelan society, including the Royal Family and most nobles. They prefer to live among their own kind, separated from the rabble of the lower classes and, in their esteem, lower races. As such, it is rare to find a sun elf outside of Ethelan cities, and even rarer outside of the Ethelan homeland.
Moon elves, on the other hand, are proud and fair, but far more tolerant than their sun elf cousins. They reject complacency and isolation, and thrive in new, particularly unexplored lands. This disposition in turn makes wood elves far more interested in understanding and relating to other races and cultures. For this reason, moon elves are the most commonly found elf in cities across the Empire, and make up the majority of Imperial administrators and magistrates in the Territories.
Wood Elves
Wood Elves are a silent, resourceful people who would spend a century away from civilization in a forest if they could. Deeply traditional, Wood Elves have a disdain for advancements in technology and the urbanization process. Instead, they are to be conservationists, trying to retain the old ways of magic and natural connection. As such, they tend to take on the role of forerunners or frontiersmen in the Empire, defending and expanding the frontier as need be.
Ethelan Elves in Maletsok
As rulers, they are deeply tolerant of cultural freedoms and expressions, but fiercely protect their laws and institutions. For the most part, they have only renamed and resettled in and around already existing cities and villages in the territories they conquer -- from as little as a government building to as numerous as housing and businesses.
In Maletsok, some villages have been founded by the Elven immigrants, most notably the port city and Capital Lafoleth. In these places, Ethelan architecture is on full display, which is characterized by great stripped timber poles grown into arches and pillars with open air rooms and wooden walls. The trees of Maletsok are in no way fitting to this architecture, however, so the many Ethelan settle on stone structures by Dwarven architects as suitable replacement.
Melarond
The Melarond, sometimes called the Mlar or more offensively the Drow, are elves riddled with Mountain Sick who live in the Underdark. Before the Sistren War, they were once brethren of the Etle elves in the Mykigron. However, an invasion of Goblinfolk into their homeland and an infection of mountian sick perverted them into dark and twisted shadows of their former selves. Today, the inhabit the Tumeauk, called the Sunless Deep in commonspeak.
Little is known about the Melarond today, as their society is entirely out of Imperial preview. However, there can be guesses as some have emerged as exiles or escapees from the dark land. From their testimonies, the Melarond are a deeply hateful and violent people. Their society is deeply hierarchical, with the strongest and most cunning holding high positions of power, which they use to punish and abuse their underlings. They are greedy and cruel.
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