Elf

Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, referring to themselves as the First Children, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.

Slender and Graceful

With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, though not always, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.
Elves’ coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.

A Timeless Perspective

Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, elves can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.
Like the branches of a young tree, elves are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their woodland homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, elves reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and strategy.

Hidden Woodland Realms

Many elves dwell in small forest villages hidden among the trees, though some chose to build great cities hidden within their woodland realm; a perfect blend of the natural and constructed in one. Elves hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few elves make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining).
Elves encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children.

Exploration and Adventure

Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression, and others might become champions of moral causes.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Elves are considered children until they declare themselves adults, some time after the hundredth birthday, and before this period they are called by child names. On declaration of adulthood, an elf selects an adult name, although those who knew him or her as a youngster might continue to use the child name. Each elf’s adult name is a unique creation, though it might reflect the names of respected individuals or other family members. Little distinction exists between male names and female names; the groupings here reflect only general tendencies. In addition, every elf bears a family name, typically a combination of other Elvish words. Some elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Common, but others retain the Elvish version.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Aluari (Sea Elf)

Aluari Elves live in the deep waters of Verridia. The Deep Elves and the Shoal Elves once dwelled upon the lands with their kin, but were separated as a result of Asuryond's Call during the Age of Creation. They have bluish skin, hair the color of blond to dark green for the deep elves, and silver for the shoal elves, and eyes from the palest blue to deep indigo. They are taller than their cousins, with more muscle and have webbing on their hands and feet. Aluari elves also possess seasense, which allows them to sense differences in the water, alerting them to pollutants, and changes in pressure or depth.
The average male deep elf stands at seven feet tall, whilst females normally stand at six feet in height. Considerably taller than their elven cousins on land, they are slightly bulkier than their land cousins, however they are still more agile and slender than the typical human. The deep elves bear dark blue skin that is compared to the deep blue of the ocean, and have long webbed hands and feet that allow them to glide through the water. All Aluari can breathe air easily enough, however they also possess small-feathered gill slits below each ear that allows them to breathe underwater with ease. Hair color for deep elves ranges from dark green to pale gold, and a few rare deep elves have been known to have black or silver hair. The deep elves have large eyes with small pupils that range in color from blue-green to deep indigo, and a small few sometimes have either yellow or black pupils. Deep elves are considered adults when they reach 40 years of age, and the average deep elf can live up to 1000 years of age. The deep elves are known to be a particularly proud and haughty folk, with an attitude that is rather akin to the Sunari.
The average male shoal elf stands at six and a half feet tall, whilst females normally stand at six feet in height. Considerably taller than their elven cousins on land, they are slightly bulkier than their land cousins, however they are still more agile and slender than the typical human. Shoal elves possess light-blue skin and have long hands and feet that are webbed. Whilst they can easily breathe air, they also have small slitted gills below each ear, which allows them to easily breathe underwater as well. Shoal elves have silver hair and on average can live to about 700 years of age. Underwater, the shoal elves sometimes clothe themselves with seaweed or with clothing made from plants, but otherwise wear very little. On land, they are usually covered in cloaks or robes to hide their blue skin.

Dark Elf

The term Dark Elf does not refer to a sub-race, but is a term given to elves that have been banished from elven society for a crime that they have committed. Some have been found to have turned from the teaching of Isha, or committed heinous acts against their kin, or elven society. This could be a wizard who chose to learn forbidden rights, or a commoner who committed murder. Others may have done nothing more than fall in love with one who was above their station in society. These elves have been "cast from the light", and are either shunned, or hunted down by their fellow elves. This is also why the term "dark elf" has become synonymous with the drovesti.

Drovesti (Drow Elf)

Once dwelling on the surface world, the drovesti chose to explore the vast Underdark of Verridia. During the Sundering, many of the drovesti were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Sharadol down the path of evil. Those drovesti have built their own civilization in the depths of the Underdark, patterned after the Way of the Shadowed Whisperer. They are conditioned at an early age to despise their surface dwelling kin and, as a right of passage into adulthood, participate in brutal raids against them. These drovesti make a sport and competition of who can kill the most of surface elves in a single raid. Fear and death follow the worshipers of Sharadol, and this has resulted in the stories of drovesti savagery that exist today.
Not all drovesti choose to follow the Shadowed One, and there are whole communities of drovesti who reject her teachings. These elves are typically xenophobic, preferring to keep to themselves and have as little interaction with the surface world as possible. Those who do venture to the surface almost always face the prejudices bestowed on the whole drovesti due to the actions of their dark kin.
After millennia of life in the Underdark, the drovesti have skin that resembles obsidian, flecked with hue of gemstones typically found deep within the earth. When exposed to light, their skin can shimmer with subtle hues the color of amethyst, sapphire, ruby, quartz or a myriad of other gemstone coloration. Their hair is usually white, or silver; although it is not uncommon for some drovesti to have hair a similar coloration of precious stones found deep within the earth. They commonly have very pale eyes (so pale as to be mistaken for white) in shades of lilac, silver, pink, red, and blue. They tend to be smaller and thinner than most elves.

Eladrin

Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin’s mood. Some eladrin remain associated with a particular season for their entire lives, whereas other eladrin transform, adopting characteristics of a new season. When finishing a long rest, any eladrin can change their season. An eladrin might choose the season that is present in the world or perhaps the season that most closely matches the eladrin’s current emotional state. For example, an eladrin might shift to autumn if filled with contentment, another eladrin could change to winter if plunged into sorrow, still another might be bursting with joy and become an eladrin of spring, and fury might cause an eladrin to change to summer.

Nandari (Wild Elf)

Nandari Elves are the original and most pure type of elf upon Verridia, and are the clan from which all other elves hail from. Long before the Sundering they were simply known as wild elves, and whilst some of their number chose to build great cities and live behind structures (who split from the Nandari and became known as the Selderaine), many stayed true to nature and lived in the wild. During the Age of Dreams, a wild elf known as Nanudan, who was a nominal leader of the wild elves, led his people away from the Selderaine, and chose to truly separate the wild elves and the civilized elves. At this time, the wild elves begin to wear tribal tattoos and renamed themselves as the Nandari.
The wild elves, for a period, were enslaved by their own race, many of them were forced to work in servitude to the Selderaine people in the elven cities. The view of the "civilized elves" was that they were educating their barbaric cousins. The Nandari were split between those forced to work in elven cities, and those who remained free and in the wild.
The Nandari elves dwell in the various forested realms across Andeir, living in harmony with nature and animals and protecting the woodlands across the continent. The elven people are a mix of the original wild elves, as well as the descendants of the Sunari and Lunara elves, who have chosen to leave their great cities and return to the wild.
The average Nandari elf stands at five and a half to six feet tall and weighs between one hundred pounds amd one hundred twenty pounds. Due to their outdoor lifestyle, Nandari elves have tanned skin and are lean and muscular. The hair color of the normal wild elf ranges between light brown, dark green to black and they normally have hazel eyes. On very rare occasions, a Nandari elf has been born with silvery-white hair, which is sometimes a throwback to an earlier Selderaine ancestor. Nandari elves are considered beautiful by most non-elven races, but are viewed as wild barbarians and, at best, exotic creatures by their own cousins. Nandari commonly are dressed in leather clothing that has a heavy fringe with feathers and silver jewelry, which they believe deters evil spirits away from them.
The wild elves are suspicious of most outsiders, having been enslaved by their own cousins, hunted by humans, and having their trees cut down by dwarves over the course of history. They are peerless hunters and silent in the woods, as well as among the most skilled fighters of elvenkind. All Nandari have an innate knowledge of nature and the forest, and are normally akin with animals and in the wild and almost lost in a city, until given enough time to adapt.
A Nandari child is named based on a certain characteristic that they possess that is likened to something in nature. On passing a rite of passage, they are given an adult name that designates they are to considered an adult in their community. Some elves reach this point at 40 years old, however all Nandari elves are considered adults by 70 years of age. The standard Nandari elf tends to live up to 600 years of age, however some have been known to live up to 800 years old, and a few rare exceptions have been known to live even longer than this.

Lunara (Moon Elf)

Lunara Elves are a subrace of elves that live in the northern part of Andeir to the south of Elladrel, and are ruled by the Speaker of the Moon. The Lunara were originally formed when the Selderaine prince Kithas led his followers out of the nation of Elladrel and formed his own far to the south. Their kingdom was founded in the Age of Dreams, and the Lunara were far more open and easy-going than their cousins, living alongside humans, dwarves, and other races. Because of this, the Lunara have had the most interaction with the other races and there are many adventurers and explorers from amongst their number. Their nation was comprised of one major city, Belil'thalon, and a series of large towns and settlements in their forested realm. They were displaced shortly before the Weeping War following the destruction of their capital city, and had since fled their realm and now exist in close proximity to the Sunari, in the city of Evryeska.
Whilst the Lunara people view the Speaker of the Moon as their leader, they are in fact governed by the Thalas-Enthia, which is the senate whose members are leaders of powerful guilds and communities within Lunara society. The Thalas-Enthia govern Lunara society, however the Speaker has the power to overturn any decision, short of a unanimous one, to ensure his or her people are ruled wisely and properly.
The average Lunara elf stands just less than six feet tall and is of a slender build. These elves are much paler, with alabaster skin often tinged with blue or purple and have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and deep red are not uncommon. Lunara have either blue or green eyes, flecked with silver, and are more open and friendly in their manner towards others. Like their cousins, Lunara normally dress themselves in clothes of earthen hues, and their clothes are normally fashionable as well as functional. The average elf reaches adulthood at eighty years old, and the normal lifespan for a Lunara elf is between 750-800 years old.
Lunara are much more diplomatic than other elves, given their exposure to the other races of Verridia. The Lunara worship the Wild Mother, their creator, as well as the nature god Kurnos, and the moon goddess Ioun. They do not venerate the gods of darkness at all, and any elf caught worshiping an evil god is exiled and considered a dark elf by other Lunara elf.

Shadar-kai

Sworn to the Raven Queen’s service, the mysterious shadar-kai venture into the Material Plane from the Shadowfell to advance her will. Once they were fey like the rest of their elven kin, and now they exist in a strange state between life and death. Eladrin and shadar-kai are like reflections of each other: one bursting with emotion, the other nearly devoid of it.

Sunari (Sun Elf)

A typical Sunari elf stands between five and a half to six and a half feet tall and weighs approximately one hundred to one hundred forty pounds. They are a gold or bronze-skinned race, who have hair color that ranges from copper, black, golden, or platinum blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black and often flecked with sapphire or emerald. Sunari possess an almost supernatural beauty and are considered the most graceful and lovely of the elves. Most Sunari elves never possess facial or body hair, although ancient male elves of 600 years and older have been known to grow wispy beards from time to time. The sun elves normally wear flowing garments that are green or brown in coloring.
The Sunari normally only worship the gods of light, the Wild Mother in particular, although some of them do pay homage to a couple of the neutral deities that are focused around nature, such as Kurnos, the Wild Hunter. The Sunari elves are intolerant of outsiders, and are haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves in general.
In their city of Elladrel, the Sunari live within a strict caste system. Their spiritual leader is known as the Speaker of the Sun, a direct descendant of Elrothas. This caste system is overseen by a number of noble houses, in which each house tends to a specific task. The caste system was put in place to ensure that the Sunari elves live in a well-structured and productive environment, in which each elf knows their place in society.
The average Sunari child is allowed to do certain chores/tasks depending on their birthright. On reaching sixty years of age, an elf is no longer considered a child and is an adolescent. By this time, the elf will have grown to almost their full height and will have developed the slender build that is typical of the Sunari people. At ninty, a Sunari elf is considered an adult, and is formally given the tasks of an adult within their relevant house. Most Sunari live to around 850 years old, although there have been some notable exceptions throughout history that have far surpassed this lifespan.

Lifespan

700 - 1000 years

Average Height

4 - 6 feet

Average Weight

100 - 145 lbs.