Elves

The Elves are one of the least commonly encountered humanoid races on Terearth. Persecuted by the Merebian Empire for decades due to their ability to weild powerful arcane energies (that they rarely used to the benefit of the Empire) Elves have been a relatively rare sight in Imperial lands, although they can be found in greater numbers throughout the known world.

Elves, as a species, are only one of a number of distantly related type of humanoid that make up what is known as "Faerie-kin". Other races included in this are Eladrin, Fairies, Pixies, Sprites, Brownies and Gnomes. All of these races appear to have originated on another plane of existance, kept seperate from that of Terearth by a barrier known as "the Green Veil"

The Elves are the closest in appearance to the parent race that give the group its name; the Fae.

For reasons that are still unclear to most scholars there appears to be a number of different groupings of Elves, based upon little more than differences in appearance and habitat. These groupings are;

• High Elves - the Elves that inhabited the now-ruined city of Qualinost
• Sylvan Elves - the Elves that still inhabit the woodlands of the Empire
• Valley Elves - the Elves that live on the island of Zotaquaanus

There appears to be a "caste" structure at work in Elven society with the "High Elves" at the "top" and Valley Elves at the bottom. All the Elven cultures appear to give defference to Grey Elves. This system only seems to be important when discussing matters related to the the Green Veil; at all other times it appears to be purely a courtesy seperation.

Elves are slightly built humanoids with rather angular features. They have a complex history and societal structure which revolves around the use of magic. This has meant that, for the most part, they have not been welcome in the Empire.

It should be noted that many (human) scholars erroneously count Eladrin as being Elves (calling them "Grey Elves"). However Eladrin are a distinct fae race. The term "Grey Elves" may actually have originated as a sarcatic reference to them within the Elven people.

An even more distinct branch of fae are the Drow (or "Dark Elves") who do not actually reside on Terearth but on their own distinct plane of existance beyond a barrier called the Shadow Veil. The biggest settlement of Drow is the city of Mezdronost.