Uplifting of the Elves
The Uplifting of the Elves is the widely-accepted origin story for the four main Elf peoples, in which the four Archfey Regnant each grant a particular Human tribe their longevity and magic.
Summary
As the story goes, the Queen of the Night was the first of all fey to look upon the mortal realms. She saw a tribe in the mountains with extraordinary bargaining skills, turning former enemies into allies via diplomacy, and was so impressed with them that she appeared before their elders. She offered to grant them magic that would remake them in the image of her Eladrin, with long lives, pointed ears, and silver-tongued wisdom. They graciously accepted, and so the eloquent tribe of the mountains became the high elves.
When winter turned to spring, the Runaway Queen, who had heard through the courts of the Queen of the Night's bargain, visited the Material Plane to see humans for herself. She came upon a tribe along the low shores, working to build the first boats and explore the islands on the horizon. Delighted by their inventiveness, she appeared to them and offered them long lives and sharp, inquisitive minds like the eladrin of her lands, as long as they used them to keep discovering new horizons. They eagerly accepted, and so the adventurous tribe of the low shores became the sun elves.
Spring turned to summer, and at the solstice Queen Mab came to the Material Plane, to see if she too could find mortals who pleased her and who might carry themselves in her name. She found them almost immediately: a tribe of the high seaside cliffs, who spent the longest day of the year painting and weaving and singing, and stopped when it was over to watch the colors of the sunset over the sea in reverent awe. She approached them and offered them the long lives and exquisite beauty of her summer eladrin, as long as they spent those lives creating and appreciating art and beauty for as long as they and their descendants lived. They joyfully accepted, and so the inspired tribe of the high seaside cliffs became the moon elves.
Finally, in the autumn, the Pumpkin King traveled to the Material Plane at the equinox and saw a tribe in the forest, sitting around a campfire, telling a story that each one contributed to in turn. He was so impressed that he offered them the gift of long lives and extraordinary memory, to record what happened around them with perfect clarity while short-lived humans could not.
Of all the tribes, this was the one that paused; they recognized that long lives, remembered perfectly, could be as much a curse as a blessing. They debated for seven years, until one of the tribal council came to the Pumpkin King in secret. He was ill and feared death, and he alone carefully accepted the promise. Some of the others from his tribe joined, and became the ancestors of the wood elves. Others refused, and remained human. They aged and died as The Fates intended, and were remembered and mourned thereafter by their kin who had chosen to take the gift of the fey.
Variations & Mutation
Among the high elves
The Uplifting of the Elves is most often told in high elven culture as a dialogue between the Queen of the Night and Corellon Latharien. In it, Corellon meets and aids the Queen of the Night in the forest during the winter, and ey explain to her all the ways eyr tribe has kept peace among all the people of the mountains. In this telling, peace is an abstract concept to the Queen of the Night, as the Feywild have been embroiled in war for their entire existence. She offers Corellon eternal life as an archfey in exchange for eyr secrets of peace and prosperity. Ey decline, saying, "The gift of an unlovéd, lonely eternity is a curse fit for thine enemy, my Queen, not the friend I wish to be." The two negotiate a deal in which the Queen grants long and youthful lives to Corellon, eyr tribe, and all of their descendants, so they can build a mighty empire of peace on the Material Plane in the name of the Queen of the Night. High elven interpretations of the Uplifting of the Elves typically mention the other elven tribes only as an afterthought, if at all.Among the sun elves
In sun elven retellings, the Runaway Queen blesses all sun elves that they may pursue their térauvenne, their heart's true passion, to its furthest extent as long as they may live. She then blesses their ships and points them towards the most distant islands on the horizon, carrying their ships to ever newer and richer lands. The figurehead on many sun elven ships is a depiction of the Runaway Queen, wings unfurled, one finger pointing the ship forward. It is still considered good luck for a ship to begin its journey on the spring equinox, in honor of the Runaway Queen's gift.Among the moon elves
The most popular moon elven versions of this story state that the human tribes gave each Archfey Regnant a gift that the Feywild lacked. The music of the moon elves, specifically, was the first music that Queen Mab or any fey had ever heard. All music in the feywild still belongs to the moon elves, and according to these legends, it cannot harm them or cause them to fall enchanted.Among the wood elves
In some versions of the story, the first man to have accepted the wood elves' bargain with the Pumpkin King was old and stooped, with gray hair. When the Pumpkin King granted him the gift of time and he became youthful again, his hair turned bright orange. This is supposedly the reason that some wood elves have red hair. Wood elven versions of the myth often linger on the arguments between those who eventually embraced "the gift of time," as elfhood is often called in these stories, and those who rejected it and chose to remain human. The mourning of the first elves to watch their shorter-lived loved ones die is also memorialized in these stories. Nainië-Ningena, the oldest surviving song in wood elf history, is a memorial sung from the first elves to their deceased loved ones who did not choose to accept the elven gift of time.In Literature
The Uplifting of the Elves has been commonplace in literature for millennia. An example is The Elven Bargains, an Eladrin play that has been frequently translated into Common.
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