Elves

Male and Female Wood Elves. Image © WotC

As a strongly magical race, those Elves that live on Oberon prefer to make their home in locations where the barriers between Oberon and the Fae-realms are the weakest. The location where this is most true is the kingdom of Lyrazante and this is considered the Elven homeland on Oberon. The Elves that inhabit Lyrazante are made up of two distinct sub-races: The Qual’Sidhe (pronounced ‘Kwahl-Shee”) or “High Elves” and the Sylv’Sidhe (pronounced ‘Seelv-Shee”) or “Wood Elves”. There is also the Elad’Sidhe or “Eladrin” (also referred to as "Grey Elves").

It is known that the Eladrin rule the Fae-realms and rarely travel over to Oberon, where their mystical power is greatly diminished. The High and Wood Elves don’t speak much of their Eladrin cousins and seem quite happy to not have to interact with them on a daily basis.

There are tales of a fourth Elven culture, called the Drow (or ‘Dark Elves’) but many scholars consider these to be the product of Elven folktales designed to frighten children.

Appearance

High Elves are a shade taller than the average Merebian Human (by a centimetre or two on average) but have a slightly lighter build. They typically have pale skin and light hair colours (silver or golden).

Wood Elves tend to be a little shorter than the average Merebian Human but still of comparatively slight build. Their complexion is as pale as that of High Elves but their hair colours are more varied (yellow, brown and reds are common, along with the occasional wood elf that has black hair).

Regardless of type, all Elven eyes are reflective, like that of cats, which has led to stories of Elven eyes glowing at night.

Eladrin/Grey Elves are noticeably taller than the average Human (although not as tall as Ymirkin), their skin is almost white and their hair is typically platinum blonde. Their most startling feature are their large violet eyes.

Lifespan

Amongst the races of the Empire, none live for as long as Elves. They reach maturity in their early-mid 30's and most can expect to live around 500 years. Elves are not considered to be "adult" until they have completed a rite of passage, usually around the age of 75 and even then they are considered to be 'young' until around 150 years of age. Most adventuring Elves are in the 100-200 age bracket as after this they are expected to 'settle down' and live a typical Elven lifestyle.

Origins

The Elven people are actually natives of the “Fae-realms” - the land that lies on the other side of "the Green Veil”. It is common knowledge that the Elves of Oberon settled there to escape the tyrannical rule of the Eladrin but the exact details are a mystery even to most Elves.

Religion

The Elves of Oberon follow the monotheistic religion which they call 'the Duty'. Although an individualistic culture 'the Duty' instils a form of caste system across the Elven people.

Culture

In addition to “High Merebian”, High Elves have proficiency in their own language, “Sidhe” (pronounced “Shee”), whilst Wood Elves start with "Sylvan".

The Elves have their own name for the planet of Oberon. It is Eveir'naronil" (pronounced "Eh-veer-nah-ron-ill") which means "Freedom from oppression" in Sidhe. However they will use the rather ugly Human term of "Oberon" when in their company. Luckily "Oberon" doesn't sound like any particular word in Sidhe or Sylvan so Elves just assume that it's some form of grunt.

Names

Elven names are actually a construct for the benefit of non-Elves. Elves in a specific family typically share a single name. To make life easier for non-Elves they pick a forename and use their actual name as their surname.

Outlook

Oberon Elves consider Dwarves to be “simple but honest” and have generally good relations with them. They consider Gnomes to be “idiot cousins”; they admit that they are related and will defend them but sometimes find them embarrassing. Elves are both impressed and horrified by the accomplishments of Humans but find individuals to be worthy of their time. Elves try to look past the origins of Tieflings but remain cautious around them. Individual Elves may get along with Ymirkin but as a people they have little in common and hence are usually ‘neutral’ towards them.

A Note on "Other" Elves

For many years there have been tales of "other" types of Elves. They go by such names as "Valley Elves", "Wild Elves", "Snow Elves", etc. It is not known if these are actually distinct types of Elves or just colloquial terms to distinguish cultural, rather than physical differences. Most study on this is required.

Comparison of Human and Elven male faces. Image © WotC