Elvari

Written by Brendan Gasparin

Elvari (commonly known to other races as elves) are a species of slender, intelligent humanoids. Younger elvari are shorter than average humans, and appear youthful for centuries before aging into taller, wiser, and more mature appearances after about half a millennium. They have an otherworldly beauty, with exotic eyes and faces and long, pointed ears.
Elvari are mysterious, aloof and reclusive. Most people associate them with magic, be it arcane magic or the primal magic of nature, and legends say that the elvari were the first race to discover arcane magic. They also concern themselves with beauty, truth, philosophy, art, craftsmanship, and magic, but have a cultural taboo against using technology.
Elvari do not sleep. Instead they enter a trance-like state that is called the Reverie by the high elves, and Communion by the wood elves.
The two sub-species of elvari are known to most species as wood elves and high elves.

High Elvari (Arcanari)

The high elves (or Arcanari, as they call themselves), are an extremely intelligent magic-wielding sub-species of the elvari. Once, millennia ago, the Arcanari ruled over a great Arcanian Empire that spanned the entire continent. Over the past centuries their numbers have dwindled, their empires have collapsed, and their cultural knowledge of magic has become a fading shadow of what it once was. Now their diminished numbers cling to existence in small hidden communities, or in segregated quarters of human cities.
Arcanari are natural magic-users, and are believed to be the progenitors of arcane magic. All Arcanari have some affinity with magic, and many use simple cantrips and other spells to modify their appearance and enhance their beauty.
Arcanari tend to be longer-lived than their wood elf cousins, living as long as 800 to 1000 years, and sometimes extending their lifespans even further through the use of magic. Elvari continue to grow throughout their lives, so older Arcanari can sometimes be quite a bit taller than humans.
The Arcanari are ruled by Star Queen Ellestrillillith, an ancient member of their people who is worshipped as a goddess by Arcanari and even other species such as humans.

Wood Elvari

Wood elves live in the forests, moulding nature to their whim to grow their hidden villages and cities from the very trees themselves. They hunt game and grow plants for sustenance. Wood elves are fast and wild, but also wise in the ways of the natural world. They are universally trained in the use of bows and swords at a young age. Mostly abandoning civilisation and the use of arcane magic, they live off the land and can learn to harness primal nature magic.
Wood elves tend to be smaller and slighter than high elves, and their wilderness lives lead to shorter lifespans.

Lifespan

6 to 12 centuries (Arcanari longer than shae).

Average Height

4' 6" - 6' 6" or 135-200 cm (Arcanari taller than shae).

Average Weight

90 - 250 lb (40-115 kg)

Average Physique

Slender and muscular.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Wood elves range from pale to bronze in skin tone and have blond, brown, black, red, or green hair. High elves have pale skin that can match human tones or be light shades of unusual colours like blue or pink. High elves use magic to change the colour of their hair to any single or multi-colour.