Elves

Reviled by the gods, Elves are equal parts graceful and vicious. Perpetually seeking power beyond them, they are children of the arcane, their unstoppable ambition fueled by volatile arcane magic that flows beneath their frail, porcelain skin.

Origin

Like the other Origin Lines, the first Elves were created by divine magic during the first few thousand years of the world’s existence. They were the second model to step foot on the world.
Elves possess an alien nature unlike any other mortal species. They can live up to seven hundred and fifty years - longer than any other mortal lineage. In order to achieve this lifespan, Elves don’t decay naturally. Instead, their skin is made of an inorganic material, similar to porcelain. This material is much weaker and less resilient than flesh, and breaks easily. As a tradeoff, it is capable of being regenerated through a cosmic, arcane power source located beneath the flesh of the Elf, at their core. An Elf needs only spend four hours at night in a meditative trance to regenerate any shattered skin.
Due to the gods' distaste of them and their arcane cores, most myths tell of their creation as an accident: an unfinished Aasimar dropped into the mortal plane, or an unfinished model animated and sneaking into the Mortal Realm.

Description 

The Elves of Tetraverium are fragile, spindly creatures. They traditionally stand at 6 feet tall, though some reach heights over 7 feet or under 5. An Elf rarely weighs more than 25 or 30 pounds. They have a lifespan of up to about seven hundred and fifty years. Depending on the variant, Elf skin tone ranges from pale white to purple to black to gold to a multitude of colors; often light-toned and muted. They tend to be tall and graceful, with long limbs and spindly fingers. Their hair is a construct of arcanum, and can be grown at will during their trance. Their eyes are glassy, and their features are sharp and rigid. Their skin often cracks before it breaks, splintering at points of damage. When it breaks, it does so in chunks. Beneath it is roaring, storming energy. The color depends on the Elf, but can range from a variety of primary colors. Only when that energy is damaged and destroyed can an Elf die.

Socialization

Elf society is hierarchical, prideful, and heavily derived upon bloodline. They often find themselves warring with each other, with Elves concerned with the good of Tetraverium as a whole fighting back the Elves whose lust for power threatens to destroy it altogether. Elves often deal with arcane matters of the highest caliber, destroying and wielding nightmarish magic, tyrannical archmages, and extraplanar threats. Rarely will they involve outsiders in their affairs. They view the other species as disdainfully - comparing them to children due to their limited lifespans. They rarely cooperate due to their egos, and are prone to intense disunity.
Elven society is difficult for an outsider to breach, even once they get past their haughty exterior. Elves households rarely have beds, as they do not sleep. Elven meals are often malnutritious and minimal, as Elves rely on minimal nutrients to sustain their light, porcelain forms. And magic is everywhere in Elven society, making it difficult for those averse to the arcane to adjust.

Living in Tetraverium

Today, the Elves primarily reside in Gierelend, among the Elven Houses of the Moral Sanctum. Others have spread out, attempting to find a home outside of narrow-minded Elven communities. Their infighting has been disrupted by the rule of the Holy Kingdom, which represents the first time the Elves have been subjugated. Their kind does not take well to this, and the rule of the Holy Kingdom has been fraught with rebellion and dissent. Others have attempted to integrate into larger society, to mixed results. Stereotypes have long been drawn about the Elves, making it difficult for them to survive outside their own, self-destructive kind.
Fueled by arcane energy within, the doll-like Elves are alien to the rest of Tetraverium; yet with the conquest of the Holy Kingdom quelling their ambition, their integration is sure to be a strange chapter in their storied, never-ending history.

Subraces

There are five Elven subraces: High Elves, Wood Elves, Eladrin Elves, Sea Elves, and Shadar-Kai Elves. High Elves are deeply socialized and authoritarian. They build castles and cities, and wield innate arcane power. Wood Elves keep to themselves, often in nature or in forest cities. Nimble and swift, they share deep similarity with High Elves. Eladrin Elves, Shadar-Kai Elves, and Sea Elves all spawn from lineages warped by the magic of Fellmoth, when its influence crashed upon Gierelened. Eladrin Elves were trapped in the forests, often inside trees or bushes, and warped by Feywild magic. They now embody the seasons. Sea Elves were dragged below water, learning to breathe water as air in oceanic civilizations. And Shadar-Kai Elves were trapped beneath the earth, locked in a neverending nightmare before being rescued by the Archfey Parasomnia.

Mechanics

If you choose Elf as your species, you gain the following benefits:

Ability Score Increase: Choose one ability score to increase by 2, and one Ability Score to increase by 1.
Size: Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Constructed Resilience: Your inorganic form grants you the following benefits:

• You do not need to breathe.
• You require roughly 1/10th of the nutrients and water of a similar-size mortal to survive.
• You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
• You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed by magic.

Trance: Elves do not sleep. Instead they meditate deeply, remaining semi-conscious, for 4 hours a day. The Common word for this meditation is "trance." During this state, your arcane core regenerates your body. During a Trance, any missing body parts or limbs are regenerated. While meditating, you dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive after years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit a human would from 8 hours of sleep.
Keen Senses: You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Divine Curse: Through your very existence, you have won the ire of the gods. You have disadvantage on saving throws against effects caused by Celestials.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Elven.
Subraces: When you create an Elf, choose one of the following subraces:

High Elf

Learned: You know one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard list. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting modifier for it (choose when you select this species).
Natural Spellcaster: You can call upon your arcane core to enhance your spells. When you cast a spell, you can choose to cast it one level higher than the slot you expended. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Wood Elf

Fleet of Foot: Your walking speed increases to 35 ft.
Natural Climber: You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Eladrin

Fey Step: As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Eladrin Magic: Depending on which season your form takes on, you can cast the following spell once per day without expending a spell slot. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your casting modifier for this spell (choose when you select this species). After using this ability, you may cast the spell using your spell slots, if you have any.
Spring: Entangle
Summer: Faerie Fire
Autumn: Feather Fall
Winter: Detect Magic
You may choose to change your season when you finish a Long Rest.

Shadar-Kai

Necrotic Resistance: You have resistance to Necrotic damage.
Blessing of the Raven Queen: As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Starting at 3rd level, you also gain resistance to all damage when you teleport using this trait. The resistance lasts until the start of your next turn. During that time, you appear ghostly and translucent.

Sea Elf

Child of the Sea: You can communicate simple ideas to any Beast, Elemental, or Monstrosity that has a swimming speed. It can understand your words, though you have no special ability to understand it in return.
Call the Waves: As a bonus action, you can enter a special state where you take on the characteristics of water, enhanced by your Arcane Core. Your movement speed increases by 10 ft, and you do not trigger opportunity attacks by moving out of an enemy’s range. Additionally, once per turn, when you hit an enemy with an Attack and deal damage, you can choose to move that enemy up to 10 ft. in a direction of your choice. This ability lasts 1 minute.
You can use this ability again when you finish a short or long rest.