Elves

Elves
NOT restricted -- feel free to play.

Elves are humanoids with an innate sense of magic. They are usually stronger, slimmer, faster, and more graceful than humans. Many elves maintain close ties to nature.

Species
There are several types of elf:

Moon elves
Also called "silver elves" or simply "elves." This is the most common type. Moon elves are about as tall as humans, but their builds are more slender and lithe. Their skin is pale. They almost always have green eyes (occasionally blue) and black, white, or blue hair. Like most other elves they appreciate good aesthetics, but they're not as showy as most other species. They tend to wear plain, clean-cut clothing, carry sharp, clean-cutting weapons, and live in comfortable, clean-cut homes. They often have tattoos.

Moon elves are social travelers that don't mind other races (and may even like their company). They are generally lighthearted people with strong senses of humour. Moon elves often keep pets. They can communicate with some self-aware, seemingly-mute animals.

They are almost always good-aligned. Most hate unnecessary violence or cruelty. They have a natural ability to do runic magics and can become excellent castors with training.

Most moon elves are found on the road or in small colonies in the Forest, near cities and trade routes.

Frost elves
These pale, often-silent elves live in the North. Their hair, skin, and eyes are all white (the irises of their eyes are pale cream speckled with gold). Frost elves are said to be the most handsome and beautiful of the elves, capable of stopping a human's heart at a glance. They are excellent hunters.

Little is known about frost elf culture except for their preference for extreme cold, isolation, and silence.

Sun elves
Also called "gold elves" or "high elves." Sun elves are excellent warriors who pride themselves on skill in battle. They are also excellent scholars, with written histories that go back almost as long as Sihiri has been a world. The sun elf library is the most replete in all of Sihiri (though few non-suns ever get to visit). Almost universally, sun elves do not like members of other races. They are often unapologetically rude to humans and shifters and may go out of their way to provoke an attack, though always through snide comments, never overt gestures.

Sun elves consider themselves above most other races. There is tremendous pressure within their society to achieve, to gain honour and respect, and to climb ranks. Sun elves consider two career paths to be respectable: nomin, which translates to "wisdom" and entails scholarly pursuits; and i' megil, which translates to "the sword."

All sun elves regardless of gender or rank carry swords from the day they are able to, and all are expected to be impeccable swordsmen. Sparring is considered a formal exercise. Losing a sparring match is tremendously shameful and must be made up in future matches. Good fighters may enlist in the High Army, an elite band of warriors which, it's said, has never lost a battle.

Sun elves are stronger than other elves but not as durable. They rarely do anything spontaneous, preferring to wait until they've mastered a skill before they demonstrate it to others. They're mostly found in the Sun Palace in the West, which they rarely ever leave.

Wood elves
These strong, hedonistic elves live in the Great Forest, where they travel from place to place in small groups. Whenever two groups meet they have a party. It's commonly said that if travelers join the party, the wood elves will entertain them all night long, then fall on them en masse at sunrise and devour them whole. However wood elves don't eat meat -- ever. They survive on nuts, berries, and other small green things found in the forest.

Wood elves prefer to be with their own kind. They hate being alone. They can only stand being with other races, including other elves, for so long before they make excuses and leave. They're known for creating massive, tremendously-beautiful structures out of forest materials, using them for one celebration, and then leaving them behind.

Savage elves
Also called "wild elves," often mistaken for Fair Folk. Savage elves live deep in the woods. They have wood-coloured skin, leaf-coloured eyes, and hair that's as matted as moss. They are elusive and have little interest in other species, including other elves. Two things are said about savage elves: that they are evolving into animals, and that they are impossible to beat if you rile them to fight. Luckily few beings will ever meet one, since they hide with perfect camouflage whenever they sense someone nearby.

Not actually elves
The following are not elves:
 * Fair Folk -- The Fair Folk are their own race.
 * Sea elves -- This is a perjorative term for merfolk.
 * Avarials -- Avarials are their own race, although they closely resemble winged elves.
 * Drow -- Commonly (erroneously) called "dark elves," drow have evolved into their own species.
 * Lythari -- Not related, but share similar alignments.
 * Star/celestial elves -- These are actually hesperids, a form of nymph.

Abilities
All elves have an inherent ability to use magic. Moon elves can use runic magic, especially when they're trained. Sun elves may learn any branch or branches of magic they choose, though they often choose just one or two and thoroughly master them. Wood elves' abilities are similar to the Fair Folk's: they can use earth-type spells to create illusions or cause changes in the natural world, but their abilities tend to be more limited than that of their cousin elves.

Elves have excellent vision, far better than a human's, and they require extremely little light to see by. They have seemingly-limitless endurance. They can hear further than a human can, though not as far as a shifter can, and they have a good sense of smell. They are usually much lighter than they appear to be. They are agile enough to survive falls from a good height (three stories max) without injury.

Elves are not as hardy as humans. They feel pain more acutely and run a greater risk of breaking bones if struck. They also are more susceptible to disease, and in plague-times they tend to disappear from the face of the continent, retreating into their own private halls.

Notable elves
(Rulers and elites)