Elves
The Elves are an immortal race, and claim they are the original race of the world. It is unknown how far back their history goes, but the oldest Elves are only about 1021 years old. They have no written language, and instead rely on song and stories to pass down information. They have extremely good memories, though, and combined with their immortality their lack of written language hasn't impeded them much.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Raising a child is an all-encompassing task to most Elves. Therefore, it is rare for Elves to have more than one child until the first one at least reaches the age of maturity, and even then, they often wait many decades, if not centuries, before choosing to have more. Wood Elves tend to be raised by their clans as much as by their mothers and fathers, and so it's not uncommon for Wood Elves to have slightly more children than High Elves, but even then they don't have many.
Growth Rate & Stages
Elves are Immortal, and reach their age of maturity around age 100.
Ecology and Habitats
Elves tend to live among nature, and many are masters of Druidic magics that help them grow plants to specific shapes, and incredible sizes. Their buildings are actually alive, sculpted from the guided growth of trees. They do not cut trees down to build, instead shaping them slowly but precisely to suit their needs.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Elves tend to view the world in terms of music, and many of their naming conventions reflect this, whether they're naming people, places, or things. Some elves, especially (but not exclusively) Wood Elves have relaxed on this convention somewhat over the years, especially when naming their children, although even when they do stray from these norms, their names still tend to have a lyrical quality to them.
Major Organizations
The New Crescendo High Elves are the world's greatest spellcasters and live in harmony with humans there. The Wood Elves of Sonopra are more tribal and territorial, but possess very strong Druidic magics in their own right.
Average Technological Level
Most Elves grow their homes, tools, and food using powerful Druidic magic. So the vast majority of their equipment tends to be made of plant-material, either wood, vines, or leaves for the most part.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Elves speak Elvish. They have no real written language, although Sonopra Elves have developed a very basic set of pictographs for their tribal tattoos, which some people refer to as Druidic.
Common Dress Code
Elves tend to dress themselves in clothes grown from plants, out of leaves and vines. Because they can shape these things magically, they can actually be quite sturdy, soft, supple, and intricately designed. They can also weave them together or incorporate harder woods for armors.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Because Elves are immortal, they tend to think very long term, and are rarely in much of a rush. They don't have many children, and they tend to only have one child every few hundred years at most.
Common Taboos
Generally speaking, Elves do not like seeing plants being cut down, burned, or otherwise harmed. They also don't like to see animals killed and not have every part used. The High Elves tend to be quite lenient on humans for their shortcomings in this regard, but Wood Elves tend to get angered quickly over it.
Historical Figures
Most of the prominent historical figures of the Elves are still alive. With no written account of history, the stories of times before a thousand years ago tend to be pretty vague, and elves struggle to keep things in memory they haven't experienced personally.
The most important figure from ancient Elvish History is an old High Elf sorcerer named Veris, who founded New Crescendo and was the man behind the lifting of Orchestria. Supposedly he is also the man who cured the Elves of the Lay of Lunara, an ancient plague that affected all Elves, cursing them with short life. He died curing them of their affliction, and is revered throughout High Elf society.
Common Myths and Legends
The Elves oldest myth comes from thousands of years ago, surrounding an Elvish hero or perhaps messiah named Maestro. Some say that Maestro sang the Elves into existence on Lyrisia, and helped set them on their way. Others say that he (or sometimes she) saved the Elves from the brink of extinction, either from warring tribes, or invading monsters, or some other threat. Some even believe that it was Maestro who, when the lands were too crowded with Elves, Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, and Monsters, pushed the Void back and sang the luscious green lands together to give Elves a place to call their own.
Other myths surrounding Maestro suggest that he wasn't so powerful as any of these things, but instead just an Elf who wandered the lands, occasionally helping a tribe here or there. It is these myths that suggest that Maestro may have been the first Elf who sang, and may have been the one who discovered magic. Or perhaps Maestro never existed at all, and these myths just help give narrative to things many people accomplished over a good deal of time.
The myth of Maestro isn't particularly important to the Elves, as many things from the Quiet Age don't seem to weigh on them. They do occasionally invoke his name as a curse, or a half-hearted prayer. "Thank Maestro," or "By Maestro's Song!" Otherwise, Maestro mostly only comes up as a character in old songs.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
High Elves and Wood Elves don't often intermingle, but it does happen on occasion. Wood Elves rarely see outsiders at all, but there are a few Half-Elves roaming around Sonopra. High Elves do have Half-Elf children more often, typically born from human mothers.
Lifespan
Immortal
Average Height
5 - 6 feet
Geographic Distribution
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