The Elves inhabit forests, mountains and hills to the north-west, and are uncommon in human lands. They maintain their realm in its natural state, living in simple, easily moved dwellings built of natural materials with little time for the farms, mines, or workshops of man. They live for the hunt, riding great forest deer or elk in pursuit of their prey, a role uninvited guests might find themselves taking.
The Elves are short and slim with well-knit frames and dexterous fingers. They have greenish complexions and dark hair and eyes the color of wood, leaf, sky or soil. They have long pointed ears and narrow, almond-shaped eyes, often with a slight epicanthic fold.
Elves live in small communal groups, moving from place to place as season and prey dictates. They are indifferent to outsiders, unless they interfere with the hunt or damage an area the Elves consider part of their realm. Elves use no metal, relying on the natural materials of wood, leather, bone and rock for all their needs. Despite the primitive nature of their materials, Elven weapons are potent, enhanced by mystic enchantment and secret rite.
Elven religious practice is scarcely a religion at all. Unlike the various human religions that revere specific gods or primordial spirits, the Elves view the entire world as a unified whole, each element influenced and controlled by its true nature. They believe each living thing has a place in the natural order, and their own practices reflect this belief. The Elves believe their own place within the world is as a living receptacle for the history of all they see and experience. They construct complex rhymes and songs in their native tongue which tell the stories of all they have seen an done, each new song part of the clan's ongoing saga.
When dealing with the spirit world, Elves usually ask rather than demand. They bind spirits with oaths that place debts upon themselves and their family line. Elves deal only with spirits of the natural world. The works of man have no place in their beliefs.
Elves believe that when they die, they live on in their clan song, woven forever in the living history of the world. They can be called back from this existence, but the soul of a dead Elf may resist the call or another may choose to return in their stead. Should this happen the newly returned soul is always a clan member of the called Elf, though they may have lived in a different era or place.