Race: Elf

Elves are some of the most long-lived and diverse races on the continent, boasting complex cultures and fine craftsmanship, a close connection to the natural world and pointy ears.

Appearance
The majority of elves is land-based, and sports pale to bronzed skin tones. Their eyes are typically green, though blue is not unheard of, and their hair ranges from black to browns to blonde and white much like with humans. Certain families have more exotic hair colours, green being a famous example for the former royal line of Langoria.

Others, like the underground-dwelling drow, have black skin, red eyes and pale white hair. The aquatic elves sport a blue or green skin, with hair like seaweed and eyes like fish. Amongst the wild elves, albinos are not uncommon.

At first glance, elves look much like delicate humans. They are often shorter, rarely obese or visibly muscular, and their bones are far lighter. Hair growth is limited to the lashes, brows and scalp, and while a difference between males and females is certainly present it can be hard for a human to tell.

City elves, being elves who live in close contact with humans, are typically affected by human hormones and tend to develop their gender to a larger degree.

Mentality
Elven mentality is ruled by their longevity and their bond with the natural world. In their long lifespans, they will discover that nothing is unchanging. Even the mighty mountains humans take for granted are not so static as they appear. Because the world has such a fleeting nature, elves are wont to enjoy the moment and experience the good things while they last, but will shy away from uncertain attachments. They encourage individual freedom and value personal experience; a story of a beautiful place is nothing to actually walking there in person. Many a time elves will take years to complete a project that takes their fancy, simply because they wish to feel and understand every facet involved. They might even pause a few years to investigate something else before returning to their old interests. What difference does a month or decade make to an elf, after all? This often makes other races perceive elves as slow, though they can be swift and decisive when they have to.

The truth is that elves like to idle. Although they have few cares like sickness and disease, there is a shadowside to their longevity. When you live for many centuries, how do you keep from having seen and done everything? Spending the rest of one's life bored with the same old is a terror to an elf, and every day that depressing state is pushed back is a victory. Elves celebrate their mortality as a welcome blessing, a luxury not afforded to others like the fey Ghazakiin.

Elves are much like fey, however. They have a close bond with the land they inhabit and the creatures they share it with, and a clear understanding that when the land suffers, they will also fall on hard times. Nearly all elves will nurture life when they can, and that respect for living creatures makes them a peace-loving race.

With that said, not all elves are happy to interact with other species like humans, whom they consider unreliable and short-sighted. Wild elves and Wood elves are particularly reclusive, whereas Aquatic elves avoid the gill-less humans by their unfriendly habitat. Drow have little to do even with their fellow elves, and are an embarrassment to the race because their existance demonstrates just how far an elf can fall into cruelty and despair.

Ecology
Elves will survive in most any terrain, as they have a high tolerance for warmth and chill. They are omnivorous creatures, but are careful not to take more than their surroundings can spare. Wild elves often hunt for meat, using the vegetation from tundra and taiga only when game is scarce or to add a little variation to their diet. Wood elves on the other hand rely on nuts, berries and honey and consider game the rare variation. Aquatic elves live on fish, squid, clams and kelp, whilst the drow turn to cattle herding and fungi for sustenance. City elves will eat whatever is available, and more of it than the other subraces.

Like humans, elves will shape their environment to provide them shelter. The building style, like their diet, depends on what their habitat has to offer, but blends in with the terrain and life rather than standing out like something entirely unnatural.

Language
The elven language sounds musical and light, as words are mainly made up of The vocabulary is geared towards describing the environment as well as objects and experiences, although like the dwarven tongue it contains few words describing emotion. The reason for this is that emotion is treated as a different dimension in the language, and it is through the inflection of the elven voice that words are given such depth. This can be a problem for others trying to speak elven. Although they can emulate most of the same sounds, they can easily charge words with the wrong emotion. Worse still, some inflections can't be told apart or even picked up without a hearing organ as refined as the elven ear.

The common tongue is viewed by most elves as barbaric and guttural, but can be learned in a few decades if one wants to converse with those quant creatures called humans. Sometimes common words find their way into the elven language, in particular when describing (aspects of) trades and inventions elves never occupied themselves with.

When speaking common, elvens tend to be complete in their phrases, avoiding abbreviations and compressed words like "can't", "he'd", or "bye." City elves, of course, lace their conversations with slant and shortcuts.

Drow use their own language which is derived from the more traditional elvish dialects, but is harsher and more sibillant. Inflection of the voice has more to do with the level of menace and threat than feelings, which are considered private and weak. Although the languages are distinct, they do still overlap to a large degree and drow and elves will be able to understand eachother if they speak slowly and use plain words.