Elves

Elves usually live from 140 to 160 years, with the oldest recorded elf dying at the age of 201. They can stand anywhere from 4 and a half to 6 feet tall, with females typically a few inches shorter than males. With their focus on the study and practice of magic, the vast majority of elves who are physically fit are those whose professions require manual labor that cannot be eased with enchantment or elemental techniques. Unique among the races, even their soldiers are not necessarily in good shape, as most of their military tactics revolve around magic.

The gestation period for elves is about 16 months. During the pregnancy, elvish mothers may experience some anomalies with magic around them, small bursts of energy that seem as though she is having trouble controlling her magical ability. This typically happens in the final 4 months of the pregnancy and is likely connected to the fact that the part of the brain that controls magic in elves develops far more quickly than that of other races. Thus, it is not the mother losing control, but the first stage in development of the child's magical ability.

Elves mature in about 38-40 years, reaching adolescence between the ages of 25 and 30. They begin walking and talking from 20 months to 2 years of age. They are the earliest to develop their magical abilities, with a child beginning to instinctively use their original element as young as 4 years old and no older than 10. There are often signs of their original element prior to their more conscious uses of it, small flare-ups of energy when they are happy or upset.

Elvish communities typically follow a hierarchical structure, with the most powerful and skilled mages at the top and unpracticed minor mages at the bottom. Families of mages hold hereditary council seats at local or national levels that are passed to the oldest child (or specifically oldest son, in some regions) on the death of the council member. There are often one or two council seats in local governments and three to five in national that are not hereditary, and instead are granted to respected leaders outside of the highest ranked families.   Within individual families, it is typical for only parents and children to live together, though the oldest adult children inherit family homes and care for their parents in their old age. The house or land is usually in the man's name, while the woman manages day-to-day finances. Upper-class families arrange marriages for their children to ensure that magical ability within the bloodline remains strong. Lower-class families may also arrange marriages in order to strengthen connections within their community, though this is much less common.

Elves tend to have triangular or heart-shaped faces with long, pointed ears. Their noses are straight, with a distinct bridge. They can have brown, hazel, or green eyes. Paler elves typically freckle when over-exposed to sunlight. Their hair ranges from slightly wavy to loosely curled, and they cannot grow facial hair apart from their eyebrows. Many part-elves are incapable of growing facial hair as well.

Elves prefer to give their children pleasant-sounding names. They typically use names that are similar to their words for different types of trees and flowers, or that are close to their words for the elements. For example, Jierra, one of the most common names for girls, is very similar to the Old Elvish word for light, and Elian, a common name for boys, sounds much like the Maerish word for light.   When taking surnames, they tend to be related in some way to elements. A water mage who ensures that a water supply is clean may take the last name Purebrook, which is then passed on to their descendants whether or not they are water mages. Some of the most common last names are Brightstone and its variations Brightgem and Glowstone due to the prevalence of light mages capable of enchanting lightstone. If a surname does not appear to be such a name, such as Eladra, it is probable that it either is in fact like this but in one of the elvish languages, or it is a corruption of an elvish language surname. The origin of Eladra, for example, is a shortening of the Maerish word for lightstone.

Old Elvish, if not the oldest elvish language than the oldest we have records of, has a direct descendant in Modern Elvish. They use the same letters and symbology, and Modern Elvish takes most of its phonemes from Old Elvish, even when used in words that were not included within the vocabulary of Old Elvish, being specific to the more recent time periods.   Several other elvish languages have some similarity in appearance and sound to Old Elvish, yet are distinct, with their own writing systems. These include Buranish and Pedish, to name the two most prevalent examples. Others, such as Maelish, use Neriizar lettering entirely, though they still have some similarities in sound to Old Elvish, mainly in the pronunciation of vowels.

Elvish culture holds that it is the responsibility of mages to use their magic, and to do so correctly. As soon as a child in an elvish community shows signs of developing magical ability, they begin their training. Elves living among other races may take up the role of a teacher, offering to train young mages. Whatever profession they choose, they find a way to use their magic in everyday life even if it is not related to their job.

The earliest elvish civilization was previously thought to be scattered settlements within Fadrec Forest of which little records remain, but recent excavations in Ebrafen Swamp have revealed elvish ruins. Before the area became a marshland, ancient elves constructed cities of stone and wood that has long since rotted away. Based on the damage to excavated buildings and geographic investigations, a massive sinkhole formed beneath the region, with the Taivus River eventually filling the area with water and sediment. The tallest of these buildings were partially visible, and the ruins have historically been used for shelter by fiewyrms. Buried within them are a few carvings that depict elvish kings reigning over a prosperous land, though there are no written records.   The survivors of this disaster, then, are those who settled within the forest. While they cleared small areas of land for wheat and corn, they also tended the trees. Some of these were fruit trees, while others, such as albierra, were prized for their wood's natural tendency to hold magic. The Fadrec Forest is also home to deep caves, some of which held lithil and other valuable gemstones. The richness of the region's magical resources caught the attention of the other races, and nearby kingdoms vied for control of these settlements. To push back against the encroaching conquest, several settlements combined near the center of the forest to form the city-state of Fadrecen, now known as Faren.   United, the elves of Faren offered protection to the smaller settlements around them, in exchange for resources. The elvish kingdom, while small, spread throughout all of Fadrec Forest, southward into what is now Kiervel, and to the north and east to the Kirus River until the rise of Kyrr. Their borders were quickly pushed back into the forest and after years of conflict, Faren itself surrendered, becoming a vassal stated to the Kyrren Empire. After Kyrr's fall, Faren hastily put up magical defenses against Fiend's army, and were able to gain their independence at the cost of losing the land around them. The elves in those lands scattered into other nations, some sailing to Overdeep where they found a home in the southern provinces.