E is for Elves

(Dammit! I think EVERYONE is doing elves today)

The elves of Haume are an interesting race. They appear as most elves do, tall and willowy, and have a longer lifespan than many races on Haume. Most elves living in the range of 150-175 years, with those reaching 200 years of age considered exceptional.

(Author’s note: yes, I am already contradicting myself. After posting my Creation Myths, I realized that the stuff I posted there [which I cribbed from something I’ve had brewing for a while for my campaign] contradicted the stuff I was coming up with for this task. So, I quickly did some rewriting of this stuff, I think I covered all the changes and stuff , but you might find some inconsistencies between this and what I have already posted.)

Unlike other races on Haume, elves do not consider themselves as being “created” by a divine being. Instead, they see the elvish race as being created when Aeleisha, the Mother of All, The Faerie Queen, willed herself into being from the Void. She bore the first elves, and the race continued from there. (It is interesting to note that while the elves claim that the name of the father of the elivish race has been lost to time, other myths indicate that perhaps the father is actually the Great Maker, the creator of the dwarves, Durrak. Bringing this up in the company of elves would probably get you killed, or at least seriously harmed, by any elves in attendance) Accordingly, elves actually see themselves as gods, so to speak. They do not worship any other divine being, for they consider themselves to BE divine beings, descended directly from divinity. As such, elves tend to worship abstract ideas, such as Truth, Beauty, and Justice, instead of personified ideals of these qualities. Because of this, elves are perceived as quite haughty by all other races, and elves consider themselves to be above all other races on Haume. Elves, in fact, believe that they created all the other races of Haume, and as such, are the rightful masters of the world.

Elves seek perfection in everything they do, whether it be art, music, writing, magic, or warfare. Elves are in constant practice and contemplation of their art, and rarely journey out to have contact with the outside world. Elvish settlements are few and far between, and guarded very well. No one “accidentally” stumbles on a elvish settlement – if they find one, there is a purpose for finding it; otherwise, the elves would have killed any interlopers long before they got close to the settlement. The elves consider their facility with magic to be a sign of their superiority over the other races, and are equally fascinated and repulsed by humans and their ability with magic. The absence of worship of divine beings means elves are unable to use clerical magic (although, if you ask an elf, they will claim that elves could replicate such magic if they so desired – it’s simply considered gauche to use magic for such a common thing as to heal one’s mortal shell). While elves consider humans as primitive barbarians, toying with the tools elves have sought to perfect, they are secretly horrified that humans would tamper so recklessly with magic which would appear beyond their ability to control at high levels.

Elves are rarely encountered outside of elvish society. Those that are encountered are often renegades, who have either chosen to leave elvish society or been cast out, in search of new and different challenges to home their skills against. Lately, however, more elves have been encountered in the lands abroad, leading some to speculate, coupled with the scarcity and extreme secretiveness of elvish settlements, that the elves are a dying race, and are seeking the secrets of magic held by humans to held revitalize the elvish race. It is not uncommon to find elves gravitating towards human places of worship, or travelling with clerics, in order to observe their magic in action.