Wood Elf

The Wood Elves, known as the Asrai in some tales, or as the Fay Folk of Athel Loren, are a reclusive, secretive and highly isolationist race of Elves that have long ago voluntarily split off from the rest of their kin, preferring instead to live out their lives in Nature's embrace beneath the enchanted forested canopy of Athel Loren. From here, they have learnt to dwell in concord with the seasons and the weave of life and death that binds all living things together. They are the defenders of the forest, guardians of all things natural and pure. For millennia, the Wood Elves have lived in this state of harmony, lying in wait and hidden from the prying eyes of the wider World.
Yet times have changed since that ancient age, and the Wood Elves realise that the fate of Athel Loren is now tied to that of other lands. Though they do not seek to act as the world’s protectors as do the High Elves, nor enthrone themselves as its rulers as do the Dark Elves, there are those times when the will of Orion and Ariel, the King and Queen in the Woods, must shape the fortunes of those that live beyond the boundary of their homelands.
As such, the Wood Elves have spent their entire existence bent solely on the preservation of their forested realms, to ensure that it persist throughout the ages and to protect their demi-god rulers from all harms. Never has this been truer than in these dark days, where every broken bough or withered leaf carries an omen of darker times to come. It is this cause in which they fight, for no land endures long if it cannot take up arms against those that wish it harm.
The Wood Elves as a whole are physically very much like their High Elven brethren, whom they are descended and related by blood and kinship. As such, they are typically tall and lithe in body, and are elegant and graceful in movement as well as being quick and agile. After splitting off from Ulthuan, the Wood Elves had to adapt to a new life within the forest, living and roaming among the trees in search of game and edible vegetation. Nevertheless, different societies of Wood Elves within the Forest of Athel Loren also have their own distinct appearance, with some resembling close in appearance to the High Elves while others appear more savage and feral in comparison.
Unlike their brethren to the west, the attitude of the Wood Elves is in stark contrast to the arrogant nature of the High Elves and Dark Elves. They are a rather humble people, more interested in being left alone in their forest than anything else. They don't preach their superiority over all the races within the Old World, but rather reserve an air of suspicion. They broke little trust with those that live beyond the borders of their realms, and only take action should the fate of their forest come under threat.
No matter what they might like to think, Elves are not immune to the influence of Chaos; they are untouched by physical mutation, but the power of the Dark Gods has seeped into their souls. Here it fans an arrogance that was legendary even in ancient times. The unconditional compassion that was once the Elves’ defining trait has long since been extinguished, replaced by a belief in their own preeminence that knows no denial. This arrogance has manifested differently amongst the Elven races. It has remade the Dark Elves as selfish despoilers of a world they see fit only for their pleasure. To the High Elves, it has made them stubborn and conceited, the self-appointed protectors of a world whose fate lies far beyond their control. Only the Wood Elves reject the lure of bending other lands to their will, for in them, the influence of Chaos has awakened only distrust and isolationism. The folk of Athel Loren crave nothing so much as to be left alone, to tend the groves of their woodland home in peace. Only on those occasions where the fate of the wider world threatens Athel Loren do they even notice the lands beyond the forest’s eaves.
The Wood Elves, or the Asrai as they are named in some tales, are but one of three Elven races. Like the others, they sprang from the cradle of Ulthuan. Unlike the others, they did so before acts of jealousy and spite shattered that great nation and its traditions. For this reason, the Wood Elves hold themselves to be the only true Elves left in the world, for only they embrace the whole of their nature. The folk of Athel Loren are unburdened by ritual sanctimony and therefore capable of great extremes of thought and deed. They are at once capricious and generous, malicious and caring, servants of both the dark and the light. The folk of Athel Loren know it is folly to claim guardianship of the entire world, and that it is only arrogance that drives their cousins to make the attempt. Just as the Wood Elves see the princes of Ulthuan as arrogant and overbearing, they perceive the Naggarothi as wild and impetuous children, lashing out at a world that has rightly wronged them. 
For much of the Wood Elves’ existence, they spared little thought for the outside world unless it began to encroach on their daily lives. Indeed, only the very youngest and oldest paid it any heed. The youngest do so because they yearned for an adventure that could not be found within the forest’s bounds, the oldest because they had been taught too many times that Athel Loren was not so removed from the circles of the world as they might have wished. Yet, little by little, the Wood Elves have come to realise that the fate of other realms is theirs also.
Communities of Wood Elves often tend towards small, nomadic groups of like-minded individuals, known as a Kindred, rather than the large and populous cities of other Elven kingdoms. These kinbands have strong bonds that unite them, ties that are often stronger than those of kith and kin. There are literally hundreds of these nomadic groups that dwell within Athel Loren. Each reflects how it relates to physical influences such as their surroundings, as well as the way they relate to other Elves, Athel Loren and its many and varied fey inhabitants and the attitudes of the individual.

Related Organizations

• Bretonnia