Elves and Half Elves
Do you wanna restore the glories of magic to the world? Do you wanna live forever? Do you love ancient poems and songs? Play an Elf!
+1 Dex
+1 Int
Move: 30 ft
Pick Two of the Following Abilities:
Wood Elf
+2 Perception Checks
+ 2 to animal handling checks
Lowlight vision 30 feet
Begin play speaking Elven, Common, and possibly Gnoll
High Elf
+2 to Arcana checks
+2 to spellcraft checks
Begin play speaking Elven, Common, and possibly Draconic or Celestial
Normal vision
Drow
+2 to survival checks
+2 perception checks
Darkvision 30 feet
Begin play speaking Undercommon and possibly Common or Abyssal
All elves are immune to magical sleep effects and have a +2 to any save against enchantment
Do you like bringing peace to the world? Do you wanna build cultural bridges? Do you think Lord Varien was awesome? Play a Half-Elf!
+1 to two stats of their choosing
Move: 30 ft.
Vision: normal
Half Elves gain feats every 3 levels rather than every 4
+2 to resist enchantment
+2 to resist sleep effects
Basic Information
Anatomy
bipedal humanoids
Genetics and Reproduction
Elves reproduce very slowly. Gestation takes years. As a result the Elf population rarely has any population booms. Half-Elves reproduce at a normal human rate.
Growth Rate & Stages
Elves grow at a normal human pace until they reach full-physical and mental maturity, they then slow aging to a crawl, remaining in that ideal state, so they may live for hundreds of years undisturbed at the prime of health.
Half Elves go through a similar process though they age significantly faster than Elves.
Dietary Needs and Habits
All elves are vegetarians and can go days or even weeks without food and be perfectly functional.
Half-Elves eat a normal human diet
Additional Information
Social Structure
Elves live in city-states scattered throughout the inner realms. These city states are vast bureaucratic networks, overseen by various levels of officials. All these officials answer to the head administrator of a city, the Proctor. Proctors are appointed by and answer to a secretive body known as the Rectory. The Rectory is a board of elves who make executive decisions, each one selected by the Proctors of their native city for their intelligence, skill, and devotion to the advancement of elvenkind.
Elves have a truly alien social structure. They do not raise families in the traditional sense, as the entire species is considered a single family. Resources are shared and distributed by the bureaucracy. Elves are all chosen from youth to work at the jobs they can do best and advance based on skill.
Facial characteristics
Usually very aristocratic, delicate, and severe.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The lands beyond the Inner Realms, both beyond, above, and below
Average Intelligence
Higher than humans
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Elves have no surnames, as they are all part of one great family. They do however still give first names after they turn 30, until then they are known simply as the child of whoever their parents are. They are given a name related to their career or characteristics by their parents.
Major Organizations
-The Rectory
-The College of Aemer
Beauty Ideals
Elves view beauty as an unknowable formula, an art of cosmic symmetry which defies reason and moves and lives as a thing beyond itself, just as magic is. They view beauty as a property held by certain things, like the forest and the moonlight rather than reaching it through artistic means.
Gender Ideals
Elves see no difference in gender beyond the reproductive.
Courtship Ideals
Courtship is strange among elves and takes a very long time, considering their lifespans. The idea of romantic love is downplayed, rather focusing on things such as their relative strengths and weaknesses. Marriage is an agreement, but requires nothing beyond a person to person declaration. Courtship can often last for a decade.
Relationship Ideals
Forming paired relationship is to make a pair which brings lasting pleasure to both parties is the goal of relationships. The slow course of Elven lifetimes means that the need to be fruitful and multiply is minimal for most.
Average Technological Level
slightly higher than humans
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Elvish and Sylvan are spoken
Common Etiquette Rules
Common Dress Code
Elves dress in colors and styles that mimic and idealize their lithe features and surroundings.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Common Taboos
History
Elves entered this new age determined not suffer the fall from grace they suffered in the past. In the past age they left technology and the mathematical approach to life be taken up by the other civilizations, focusing on preserving magic through their devotion to it. They have applied this idea of categorizing magic and bringing its spark back through the scientific approach to the arcane.
At the beginning of life on Taikangard, the Elves and the Dwarves signed a treaty to avoid future wars between them. This treaty is known as the Treaty of the Ancients, which divided the lands of Taikangard between the Elves and the Dwarves. This treaty also made allowance for human kingdoms of the inner realms. As a result the view exploration as dangerous and any attempt to expand human kingdoms, or live outside of them, like the savage Lycans as a direct threat to their authority and rule.
The elves were displeased by the wars of men fought in the early days of this latter age, but they withdrew from them and held their ground until the rise of Varien. The elves were thrilled by Varien as he offered a chance for the world to finally be united under a half-elf no less, even if he was a religious kook! His death in Dwarven territory has left a deep rift between the Dwarves and the Elves, even if their treaty still stands.
The Elves carry on much as they always have, disconnected from everything, studying their ancient ways and trying to find the path to the future.
Historical Figures
Nerias: The greatest wizard in living memory. Was killed in a failed experiment.
Common Myths and Legends
The Secret of Divine Mathematics by Nerias: This is their "holy" book
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Humans/Halflings: Elves struggle to relate to mankind, but consider them valuable because of their creative abilities and passions. They often use Half-Elves, groomed specifically for the purpose of interspecies relations to move between cultures. They appreciate Halflings for they consider them to possess the most valuable things in humanity, creativity, daring, and wit. Elves, because of their tie to magic and long lifespans consider themselves closest to the ideal formula for life, but they consider half-elves, Halflings, and Humans their closest companions in that order.
Beastkin: Elves loathe Lycans. They view them as uneducated savages who steal the land which is rightfully theirs and fill it with absurd superstition and backwards traditions. Tabaxi are civilized, but less than humans as they are further from the created ideal. Gnolls are little more than wild animals. They can be controlled, but not allied with.
Dwarves: Dwarves deserve respect as an ancient people of great stature and power, but they are fools far from magic. They have devoted their lives to property and technology, when they should be spending it on magic.
Starkin: Tieflings were born from evil, and therefore are less than humans as they cannot be the ideal or created with the formula of beauty. Tieflings are to be respected as one would a Tabaxi, less than, but still a person. Aasimar are the only race that could possibly be higher than Elves and therefore are deeply, deeply respected and honored. Dullahan are not mortals by Elven reckoning and they are deeply feared in Elven culture as they are related to fate and fate is not something the Elves believe in.
Orcs: Orcs are spawn of chaos and cannot be reasoned with or respected. They are the opposite of beauty and should be kept far from beauty when possible, if not, they can always be destroyed.
Goblins: Goblins are strange and sit in the same place as Tabaxi and Tieflings, odd artifacts of creation, separated from the beautiful ideals.
Lifespan
Elves: 360 years Half Elves: 160 years
Average Height
Elves: 6' for both males and females
Half Elves: Human averages
Average Weight
Elves: 5 stone
Half-Elves: Human averages
Average Physique
Very slender and lithe, graceful.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
All elves tend to have pointed ears and striking, pupil-less eyes. Skin color varies by kind of elf. High Elves are usually very pale and can even appear ashen or slightly blue. Wood Elves are the most human-looking and have fair or tan skin. Drow have skin that exists on a spectrum between ebon black and and very pale gray, usually falling into a purplish gray color. Elves tend to have blonde or white hair, but raven black hair is also rather common.
Half Elves often resemble a combination of their elven ancestor and their human parent, but have more human features.
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