Elves

Elves are a species considered native to Geshkara, descended from the primaeval elves of before the Caliemhan. While the primaeval elves were spread across the whole of Geshkara apart from polar regions and some remote islands, the modern elves are native only to Ulera and Nagain.  

Description

They are descended from the primaeval elves that settled in the west, Ulera and Nagain, those that were already there and those that fled from Oecumeno-Aresra after the Caliemhan. They are considered closer to the primaeval elves than the Arpid races (arps and gaunt-men).   Eye colour is most often some sort of hazel, brown, yellow, or orange. Skin ranges from light yellow to dark gold to more orange-reddish hues similar to that of horils. Hair is either black or platinum. Certain populations of the New Spice Islands have strawberry to red hair as well as green eyes. They do not grow significant facial or body hair. Height is generally around the same as humans, though with relatively low intraspecial variability. Height, body mass, and strength is also less sexually dimorphic than humans, similar to lizardfolk or kobolds. They tend to weigh slightly less than humans, with the average build being more slender than among humans, especially for men.   Their most notable feature is their extended lifespans, at about 6–7 times that of humans. They have appropriately (but not proportionally) longer gestation and maturation periods, with gestation lasting around 15 months and reaching sexual maturity around 70-75.   Likely owing to their lower sexual dimorphism compares to anthropoid populations, elven societies tend to be more egalitarian, especially less complex, tribal societies. Elves are universally matrilineal, but not universally matrilocal. Most are either egalitarian or matriarchal to some degree. Some societies recognise separate spheres for the sexes, while others don't. The expectations for the sexes are not universal across societies that do. For those that recognise warfare as a gendered activity, about 60% recognise it as male, 15% as female, and 25% as mixed-gender but stratified (different roles for the sexes). The latter arrangement is obviously more common in more complex societies with more general division and stratification. The amount of male-dominated warfare may seem odd among a matriarchal people, but within those societies it is viewed as men's duty to fight and die for their women. Evolutionarily this arrangement can be explained, despite the low sexual dimorphism (men are not physically stronger and better suited to combat like in anthropoids), by male expendability.