Elves of Liminal

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The elven people - a people whose lineage traces back to the lands of the Feywild - come in two strains. The first are most-often called simply "elves" or "wood elves" when they are being compared with their "high elf" cousins, who are also called "eladrin." Where wood elves are considered native to the mortal plane, high elves are at best a generation or so removed from the Feywild, and more than half of them come directly from the Feywild themselves.

They are a tall and graceful people, a folk of grace and beauty in a world that is all too often grim and horrible. They are a quiet, introspective folk, not given to making emotional connections readily, for their lifespans are quite lengthy, and they feel the melancholy of others' mortality too keenly to risk their spirits in such ways.

Arthîr and Rhaweryn (Appearance)

As a whole, elves are tall and beautiful, with a thin graceful beauty considered androgynous by many non-elves. Their hair grows quickly and well, so most elves have beautiful heads of sleek, flowing hair. Their builds are always lithe and thin, with enough muscle to provide a thin definition, but never resulting in bulk of any kind - whether fat or muscle - no matter the personal strength or fitness of the elf in question.

High Elven Appearance

High elves are pale complexioned, with tones that range from literal milk white to light pale tan in hue. Their eyes are considered uncanny by most folk, with strange shimmering colors that are opal-like in quality, and usually light in hue: pale greens, light to deep blues, violets and even oranges. As they age, high elves become more ethereal-seeming, their skin gaining a slight pearlescent luminescence in the dark, and their eyes become more and more uncanny the older they become. It is said that each of the Courts has a specific token appearance, a combination of hair-and-eye hues that mark those imbued with their power.

Wood Elven Appearance

Wood elves discuss their own appearances by the poetic notion of rhaweryn - the "body of trees." All wood elves have a tone of skin that is best compared to woods, from the paleness of pine-heart to a lustrous dark ebon. Wood elven hair changes over the years, a trait they call lassfindel, or "leaf haired" among themselves: in the first quarter of a wood elf's life, their hair is often very light colored, from a pale blonde to a light nut brown (ethuilfindel, or "spring-haired"), deepening to a darker version of itself in the second quarter of an elf's life (laerfindel, or "summer-haired). All wood elven hair reddens as they enter the third quarter of their lives, taking on coppery-to-ginger hues (lhasbelinfindel, or "autumn-haired"), and all wood elves nearing the end of their lifespans take on pale, frosted hues of white, grey and silver (rhîwfindel, or "winter-haired"). Hair color is literally the only indicator of a wood elf's age, their appearances remaining the vigorously youthful demeanors they achieved in young adulthood.

Gwanath and Gwaedh (Lifespans)

In truth, the thing that mostly separates the high elven and wood elven folk is what the folk of the Feywild call gwanath - the act of dying, or the moment of mortality. Elven folklore believes that the mortal world is tainted, to some degree, by its connection with the Shadowfell, and the forces of death have seeped past the gates. The elven people, part of the vibrance that is the Feywild's life-emanations, are particularly susceptible to its touch.

The high elven people are those who have been less-touched by gwanath. They live for many hundreds of years, especially if they dwell in the Feywild, where their service to the Courts can result in such an infusion of the powers of the Feywild that they become functionally immortal. Those high elves who spend a great amount of time in the mortal world have noticeably reduce lifespans - some elven sages claim that each year in the mortal world is worth two in the Feywild.

In contrast, the lore of the Feywild teaches that the wood elves are what becomes of the elven folk who become comfortable with the touch of gwanath, living in its emanations. Their lifespan is significantly shorter than that of their high elven kin, a measure of three-to-four hundred years for wood elves, compared to the nearly six hundred of the high elves.

Many wood elves cast aside the notion of gwanath, however, and believe there is another factor responsible for their differences: they term this philosophy gwaedh, which means "bond" or "connection". The wood elves believe that it is in the nature of the elven people to form strong bonds of spirit to the prevailing powers of the lands in which they dwell. In the Feywild, this is the Archfey, the masters of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, creatures of sylvan enchantment and powerful magic. In the mortal world, however, the native spirits are the Primal Spirits, which is why the elves who dwell in the woodlands are closer to the natural cycles of the mortal world, altering in appearance as they do.