High Elf
The High Elves are the most magically powerful race in the world. They live in and rule New Crescendo, in a floating island called Orchestria. They are extremely musical in nature, believing all of reality was sung into existence, bringing order to chaos. It is through music that most High Elves have learned to control magic, and it is because of this connection to music that they have risen to become the most powerful spellcasters in the world. They are far more ambitious than their Wood Elf cousins, and having conquered basic necessities have turned their attention largely to gaining knowledge. From magic, to philosophy, to even technology, the High Elves seek to better themselves. They get along with the Wood Elves, but tend to look down on them a bit as being a bit more primitive.
High Elves sculpt enormous living structures out of trees, by shaping the way the trees themselves grow.
Naming Traditions
Unisex names
High Elf names tend to be based around musical terms, or at least feel very lyrical in nature. They vary wildly, and while many names can sound more feminine or masculine, most High Elf names could work in either direction, and so there aren't any great naming conventions between genders.
Family names
The oldest High Elves possess no surnames, and serve as the heads of their house. Children with living parents take on the surname of their eldest living parent, which is their house name. Should this parent die, the House Name changes to that of the other living parent. If both parents die, then the eldest child becomes the new head of the house, and all assets are granted to them. To not have a surname is to be the head of your house, which is a position of respect in High Elf culture.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
High Elves speak Elvish, and they pronounce words extremely precisely, and almost have a lyrical quality to the way they speak, as if they're always half-singing their words. Not all High Elves behave this way, especially those who don't live among the High Elves in Orchestria, but instead spend a lot of their time around humans in New Crescendo below.
Culture and cultural heritage
High Elves are organized into various houses, around 200 in total. One for literally every tree in Orchestria, plus a fair few for the elves who live down in New Crescendo proper, although they're never considered great houses unless they live in Orchestria. Originally, the oldest elves lived in the largest houses, but after a thousand years, people have inherited houses from husbands or wives, or passed down from parents to children, that belonging to a good house no longer means the eldest member is particularly old. The only house this is definitely true of is the leader of the High Elves, who lives in the main and largest house. This leader is known as the Conductor or Conductress, and is always the oldest elf alive. It doesn't matter what house you belong to, purely by virtue of being among the eldest puts you so much closer to the highest position in the land that you are often regarded as very respectable. In this way, age still plays quite a large role in High Elf society.
Shared customary codes and values
High Elves value knowledge, talent, and wisdom above all else. They believe all three of these things come with age, provided the High Elf in question has even a modicum of ambition. They value magical prowess very highly, and those who attain their control over magic through music are considered to be the greatest of the greats. It's quite rare for a High Elf to have no musical talents whatsoever. Most High Elves play at least one instrument extremely well, and can sing too, even if they have no magical prowess.
Average technological level
Almost everything the High Elves do, they do with magic. They have a sort of agriculture, in that they are able to grow crops extremely quickly, enough to feed not only themselves, but all humans in New Crescendo as well. No one has ever gone hungry in this city as a result. They've also managed to create massive multi-deck sailing ships, that they grew out of a single tree, complete with leaf-and-vine sails. They've also managed to grow a type of wooden sword, called a Volante. It's all wood, and has a slender, slightly curved blade. Its edge is composed of hundreds of strong, razor-sharp thorns. It has no real ability to cut limbs off, but it can give quite a damaging bite, and cause a lot of pain. Pretty much all of their tools, weapons, and armor comes from the growing of trees. Their Shapers can shape incredible items, while their Growers can grow plants very quickly. Unfortunately there's not much overlap between the two, as the Growers' magic doesn't lead to durable wood. So the larger the item, the longer it takes to Shape, sometimes months for something like an outfit, or years for a powerful, durable tool or weapon, or even centuries for a good house.
Common Etiquette rules
High Elves have very complex rules of etiquette when it comes to how they treat other High Elves, especially High Elves from better or worse houses than their own. Typically the worse the house someone a High Elf is talking to comes from, the more sickeningly polite the High Elf becomes. While when talking to people from better houses, the more customary it is to treat them with a level of veiled sarcasm, still being quite polite, but throwing in backhanded compliments, or passive-aggressive comments. A delicate balance must be struck, as you want the High Elf in a better station than you to know that you are confident, and someone to be respected, but you do not want to be so heavy-handed that you actually insult them. This can be very, very bad for you.
Common Dress code
High Elves dress in incredibly intricate clothes grown from plants. They like to have most of their body covered, so as to show the amount of time and effort that went into their outfit (since these outfits are grown, the more they cover, the more time must have been spent on them). Both men and women often wear jewelry of some kind, decorated with gemstones or perhaps flowers if they're poor.
Art & Architecture
High Elf homes in Orchestria are grown from trees, and usually take hundreds of years to grow, if not longer. Skilled Shapers are hired to shape these homes from the time they're saplings until they become fully grown. From the outside quite often they just look like normal trees, although with very wide trunks. The insides are decorated beautifully, are multi-leveled, with grown-in staircases, windows, even doors. Furniture is oftentimes grown as well.
Art comes from all varieties, but are usually living sculptures. Trees that look like things, or even people.
Historical figures
First Conductor Veris, quite probably the most important High Elf in history. He probably founded New Crescendo, but definitely levitated the floating island now known as Orchestria. He was the greatest spellcaster of all time, and as powerful as the High Elves are today, none of them can quite touch his level of skill. But Orchestria has been floating stably for over a thousand years, without so much as a tremor. Veris is also credited as the man who taught the rest of the High Elves the true secrets to magic, and really put them on the map as the greatest spellcasters on Lyrisia. He died long ago, toward the end of the Quiet Age. No one is quite sure how he died, but it is believed that the current Conductor and Conductress, Dalean and Dalea, are his direct descendants.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
High Elves value cleanliness and immaculate appearance. Their hair is brushed, their clothes often either flow, or are tightly fitted, and often have intricate details. They also consider long hair to be extremely beautiful in both men and women, and find short hair to be ugly except on very young children. They wear some kind of foot covering, and many wear some level of jewelry, adorned with rare crystals, or perhaps flowers. Aesthetics are extremely important to them.
Gender Ideals
High Elves don't really regard genders any differently from one another, in terms of values. Everyone is trying to better themselves, and no relationship is formed in their minds between accomplishments and gender.
Relationship Ideals
Quite often men and women chase after single heads of households in High Elf culture. The Heads of a House can marry for love if they want, but it's rare for non-heads of houses to not have at least one eye on getting a bump in their station through marriage. If two non-heads of households marry each other, nothing is really accomplished. Their children will be considered not to be of their house, but instead of their grandparent's house. And because Elves are immortal, it is extremely unlikely you'll ever get a bump in station in this way, especially if you've got grandparents or great-grandparents still alive. Since title always passes to the eldest, if you are extremely far down the line, your best bet is to marry the head of a house. Should they die before you, you'd inherit their house over their kids.
The husband or wife of the head of a house is also quite a prestigious position, however, so there is rarely any "untimely accidents" in High Elf culture. And some children choose not to marry at all if they'd wind up marrying into a house of much less prestige than the one they were born into. Meanwhile other children, if they come from a weak house, might be willing to marry the children of a much more prestigious house, since it's still a bump in station.
And some people do still marry for love, though quite often they're looked down upon by society for throwing their immortal lives away.
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