One of the main Caelerethian races, which has by far the smallest number of population compared with the human, dwarven or orcish races, are the elves. But one shouldn't forget that the elves once were the predominating race in Santharian lands if not the world itself. In their own elven tongue (elvish or Styrásh) elves are also called the Styreians, which can be literally translated to just "being" or "being [with] nature", which also reflects their way of life.

Picture description. An elven bower, readying his hunting bow. Image drawn by Faugar.

Appearance. Among the many races which sprang from the Dream of the Eternal Dreamer, Avá the Beautiful, the elves are considered the most fairest of all earthly creatures as they resemble the High Goddess most. There still exist certain elven tribes which don't consist of blood and flesh but in spiritual form only. These elves are the purest elves or the so-called Light Elves and can only be viewed by people of other races if they happen to possess an innocent heart and soul. One of the rare human encounters with a Light Elven tribe is reported from the child and later on mighty Erpheronian Queen Katya the Dragonseeker some years after the Dragonstorm (1650 b.S.).

Elves in general are slender and tall in appearance, but unlike at the human race this is valid for both sexes. They usually reach the same size as male humans do - approx. 2 peds -, however, according to their delicate bodies they seem much taller than they really are. In comparison to humans elves are stronger in spirit and in limb and have an exceptional constitution and endurance. When they grow older they seldom get weaker, instead they become wiser and even more fair. Elven senses, especially of hearing and sight, are much keener and intense than those of Men and are highly resitant to extremes of temperatures and also have several natural defenses against magical influences.

Often male and female elves are hard to discern at first glance. Both sexes usually have big, expressive eyes (in the most splendid colors). They wear their hair uncut and open, have graceful, fragile features and are of extraordinary beauty. Male elves also don't have any beard growth. Very typical for elves are their pointed ears, and high cheekbones. Some tribes are especially well known, for their very exotic looking long necks, while other tribes have marvelous hair colors, ranging from silver to gold, to a variety of strangely glimmering, undefineable colors. One thing which is very seldom seen among men, may be encountered by most elves. There is always light on the face of an elf. Light that he/she seems to draw, from the beauty of the surrounding nature itself, which is thus reflected in the elven features.

Territory. Still to be added.

Mode of Living/Habits. Elves usually settle in dense forests or at wooded lakes and lead quiet lives without interfering directly in other races activities and struggle for domination. They are a peaceful, nature-loving people and would never fight each other nor other races for reasons of gaining power or wealth. All such things which often are the reasons for calling to arms of other races have no place in the life of an elf. Elves love beautiful things and often try themselves in the arts of drawing, writing poetry and most of all singing elven mantras in the intention of shifting the balance of Ahm and Soór in order to achieve a harmonizing Xeuá. It is the elves conviction that they are destined to live in harmony with nature. This is also the reason why they only use their magical powers as a natural means and don't try to prevent these natural abilities to harm or even destroy something or someone. One of these magicial abilities the elves are famous for is the Óh'mod'hál (lit. "the light at the root of the earth"), the inborn magical preceptivity of the elven race: Through the sensation of the Oh'mod'hál (a cool, circular pressure against the elf's forehead) an elf can perceive magical influences from quite a distance away and may discern if the magic has a natural or an artificial generated aura.

The long life-spans of elves may be accounted to one of the main reasons that elves are very calm and patient in all their actions. They also only need a few hours to rest or medidate as they sense the substance and the energy of the Dream of Avá which fills their whole life when awake. While Light Elves are said to be immortal elves of all other tribes die a natural death after long lives. The amount of years elves live indeed varies enormously, ranging from 200 years to over 1000. It is also known that very often elves end their lives of their own will when they see a necessity to do so or if they think that their life's goal has been reached. However, elves would never do violent acts to themselves, but would just end their life and thus accept the fact of their deaths, which usually is the reason why the elves die very quickly after their dicision. Of course elves may also die when they are wounded severely, but in general elves heal very fast when they are tended to quickly. Death on the other hand is nothing an elf fears. The fact of death is interpreted by the elves as a return to nature. Unlike at the human tradition deaths of elves are celebrated at the Feast of Return, where the ashes of the burnt dead body are sewn into the wind to bring new life somewhere else. Most elven tribes believe in various forms of re-incarnation.

Elves are also a very strange race when viewing their religious beliefs and their habits of the worshipping of Gods: Although they worship all 12 Gods it is their highest knowledge that all the Gods emerged from Avá the Beautiful, which is present in all things on the earth, the sea and the sky as well as in the depths of the Netherworlds. Everything an elf does is related directly to nature itself and the need to maintain or to improve the beauty of it. Everything an elf does therefore is an holy act and an open worshipping of Avá's beauty.

Family, Society and Culture. The elves are a highly civilized race, but in general elves of every single tribe live their own life far off from all other forms of civilization in their forest (with some very few exceptions). There are no forms of elected ot inherited governing among the elves, leaders are usually not assigned as such but simply respected from the tribe's people according to their nature-given authority. As intuition, feelings and sensitivity are very important elven virtues elven rulers are very often females. There is practically no jealousy or envy among the elves. Everything is shared and in every different field of artisanry each authority is accepted.

There are several different kinds of elves, which can be split up further into various tribes:

WOODELVES, THE They are the most common of elvenkind. They usually wear greens and greys to blend with their surroundings. Sandy hair and light blue, green or grey eyes complement their rustic demeanour. They are adept to moving silently and their presence in in the woods goes unnoticed among the shadows of swaying branches.

ICE ELVES, THE Elvenkind living in the regions of Cyhalloi. Accustomed to fierce conditions Ice Elves have very cold blood, which is also the reason why they have very white skin. This kind of elves is well known for their gigantic ice buildings they often errect in the midst of nowhere.

LIGHT ELVES, THE The Light Elves are the most lordly of all elves and are seldom encountered in visible form. They are the purest kind of elves, breathing the spirit the High Goddess.

SHADOW ELVES, THE A rare elven kind, the Shadow Elves are the opposite of the Light Elves, capturing the very essence of Coór. They are found mostly in the Water Marshes of Northern Sarvonia; the area that once was the mythical elven kingdom of Fá'áv'cál'âr. These elves, while close to the Father of Shadows, as they call him, are not inherently evil. Most of the time, they lean towards neutrality. Shadow Elves are found outside of the Marshes only in the most atypical of circumstances. Also, like Light Elves, it is unusual to find them in corporeal form. When appearing within a physical body, Shadow Elves have ebony colored skin and snow white hair.

DARK ELVES, THE Possibly the most dangerous of elven kind, these elves follow the path led by the shadow of Coór. It must be emphasized that dark elves cannot be counted as elves who offend against elven principles as a whole. While they are an offshoot of the Shadow Elves, it must be understood that their principles are intrinsically different. While in fact they are as nature-loving as all other kinds of elves, Dark Elves favour the dark side of nature, which is also an legimate way to honor the deeds of Avá the Beautiful - by destroying it. Dark Elves acquire a pale skin tone from a lifetime of living in the darkness of their shadowy forest homes, whitening with age. Conversely, their hair and eyes become darker and darker until they reach a jet black color in the oldest of Dark Elves.

Diet. Still to be added.

Beliefs. Still to be added.

Origin. According to the Cárpa'dosían myth, elves were the Firstborn Children of the High Goddess. After Avá had created the Gods at the Beginning of Time, She interfered in Her Dream once again, thus dreaming to give Her Spirit and the freedom within Her Spirit, to the accomplishment of the Gods, so that the creatures would be able to view the world with their own thoughts, and to become as delighted of the beauty of Aér'ai'chán like Avá Herself. Thus the Rain of Life fell out of the Thought of Avá, down on Aér'ai'chán and it fell on the elements, and from the Elements there emerged the inspired creatures. And whereas the element of Earth produced the dwarves, Water the humans and fire the orcs. The very first  before all others were the elves, who emerged from the element of Wind, and the very first being and progenitor of all elves to follow was Aorn ("he, who is with light").

Elves were a very mysterious race from the beginning of time on, as they are said to be closest to the Thought of Avá Herself. Even the apparitions of this first race couldn't be always discerned from the blowing of the Wind itself, and therefore the purest form of elvenkind, the Light Elves, weren't believed to exist in neither time nor space. The Light Elven race is rarely seen and if so, elves only appear on certain times and on special places in the untouched nature. During the course of time elves moved to other places in the world and in many tribes their spiritual shape was lost completely and elves changed to beings consisting of blood and flesh. Even if the elven spirit is not visually apparent anymore in many tribes, the color of their skin, their hair and their eyes, often still represent the surrounding nature to a very obvious degree.
 

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