Elementals

The People of the Elements, formerly known as humans, are the most populous species of being that live in the known world. They took their current name after the Descending of the Light, reasoning that ‘human’ was too broad, what with the new knowledge of the other beings they share the world with. For what distinguished a ‘human’ from an ‘elf’? From a ‘dwarf’? Sure, they may have pointed ears, or be of shorter stature, but otherwise, they’re just like us. So the people of Lyardia held the Conclave of the Ages, held at the then-neutral-territory of the Evergreen Islands. There it was decided by popular vote among the thousand delegates, and by divination of the Spirits, that ‘humanity’ was every being, be they unknown or known, and that they were to be known as the People of the Elements, for they lived in the most wild, primordial land of all. They had survived the time of the darkness, had claimed the wilds for their own use, and had been told by the Light-born that they were to be free, shaping their own future.
The People of the Elements have the second-shortest lives of all beings, only the Werepeople live for less time. The oldest Elemental, one Queen Mother Swan of the Kingdom of Polaris, is currently 131 years old, and though barely sane, still lives.