When traveling through the Foolshope Woods, be careful of the goblins, stay cautious of hags, but above all, avoid the elves. -Morgarn Boldboots
Wood elves (Elvish: Rae Mista) are a group of elves who live within and protect the forests. The forests of the feywild are where they came from, and they will protect the forest until their last. They live in small packs, as hermits, or in small villages within forests. Wood elves see themselves as the only ones fit to defend the forest, and are distrustful towards those of other races who have not proved themselves as stewards of the forest. A wood elf will live 800 to 1000 years and typically are considered adults at the age of 50. Their skin tone varies from a leaf green to a clay brown to a silvery white. Their hair will usually look like a tangle of vines or a white mane the color of snow.
Fey Ancestry
Wood elves have a descent from the Eladrin of the Feywild, but they have stayed mostly the same as their ancestors unlike their
noble elf or Dark elf cousins. A Wood elf still has the look of an eladrin, taking the tones of nature in to their skin and hair. Wood elves are described as having the scent of pine or fresh timber, and they can blend in to even light foliage. Wood elves do not sleep, but instead head to sanctuaries where they will enter a state of trance where they reflect on their last few months or years and learn from them. A wood elf remembers everything from the last few centuries of their life as if it just happened, and they will not forget the slights against nature they have witnessed.
Stewards of the Forest
Wood elves see their role in life as the guardians of the forest. A wood elf will spend their life without ever leaving the land of their birth, learning every single tangle, knot, and root. The elvish superiority complex appears in wood elves through their distrust of other races. They do not believe themselves more powerful, but wiser. They believe that only they can properly protect the forests, and it is unwise to trust anyone who claims to be. They may have trusted their other elves in millennia past, but the years have changed noble elves from the same forest sentinels to rulers just as bad as the humans or dwarves. Wood elves are more likely than any others to enter a circle of Druid craft. Wood elf archdruids live for unimaginable lengths of times and when they appear are almost guaranteed to lead whatever community they are a part of.
A Solitary People
Wood elves are unlikely to group up with more than 100 or so other elves. They prefer to stay in small packs of hunters usually numbering 20 or less. The largest wood elf settlement, Nashem in the Foolshope Woods, holds only 300 people. A far cry from the cities of Srum. Some wood elves, especially druids, will live a hermitic lifestyle. Living alone in nature, trading with those they meet, and moving on. These hermits will form only companionships with beasts such as a crow or for the brave, a brown bear. For their trance, wood elves will search for the most isolated sanctuary in a reasonable range before resting. They do not have comfortable cushioned rooms or chairs like the noble elves, but they see it as a good thing. To reflect on how you have protected nature it is best to do so in nature.
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