Star Elves
The elves of the land call themselves the edelín, or the "people of the stars" (and use the term edelénath, or the "people of the firmament" to describe all of elven-kind). It is, in fact, a corruption of this term that the human "elven" derives, and then "elf" for one of the eledín. The edelénath say this name isn't merely fanciful: they claim that each star in the sky has an earthly counterpart, an elf whose very soul is the light of that star. They divide themselves into four peoples, one for each season during. A winter elf's star can be seen in the sky during the winter months, and likewise a summer elf's during the summer.
The legends of the elves claim they were the first to awaken in the mortal lands, before any other folk. Indeed, they claim to predate the sun and moon, incarnated when the light of the stars shone down on the waters, giving rise to their other name, the "children of the starry waters" (ellornhîn). It is said that the thing most sure to draw elves out of their homes are dark, moonless nights where only the stars shine down, for these remind them of the Aduialfuin, those ancient primordial days of gloaming when the world was lit by the cool lights of the stars alone.
Beauty & Grace
The edelénath are tall and graceful, with smooth skin and long flowing hair. Their bodies are lithe and quick, with dextrous fingers and nimble feet. They are lovers of beauty and grace, in both aesthetic and philosophical senses. The light presence that does not disturb the land, the soft tread that leaves no track, the whisper over the shout, the word that cajoles over that which commands: these are the embodiments of the highest grace among the elvinfolk. In art, they prefer things that are near and close to natural beauty, organic flowing things with graceful lines and delicate features.
So great is the elven need for such things that a type of magic pervades their homes (rarely spoken of but called the minaglar, or the "between-beauty/beauty of between"). No one truly knows if this magic naturally occurs where the edelénath gather, or if they only make their settlements in places that bear this magic, but there is an undoubtable magic to elven homes. The weather does not beat down on those who live there as it might in other places: the sun is gentle and shade plentiful, the cold crisp instead of biting, and the rain simply does not seem to touch the elvinfolk who live there. Likewise, the needs of their incarnate bodies are lessened – hunger and thirst are rare, and come only after many weeks, so there is no need to bother with foods and drink that merely sustain.
Non-elves may also benefit from this inherent grace, albeit not to the extent that elves do (although this effect grows the longer a visitor stays); unfortunately, those non-elves also experience their time with a distant, somewhat dream-like quality. Indeed, they may find themselves sleeping longer and stranger hours, and their dreams difficult to separate from their waking hours in the memory. Still, dwelling in elven lands is an idyllic, healing experience for some folk, particularly those who have known tragedy or spiritual corruption.
Elves who depart from their homelands are as required to seek sustenance and rest (although never truly sleep) as any mortal might, so many choose not to leave. To elven sensibilities, the outside world is harsh, a place of furious elements, painful bodily processes, exhaustion, grief, and ugliness. Indeed, elves refer to the lands outside their homes as dôrnaeth: the "places of woe."
The Dimming of Starlight
Elvenfolk use the term firiath ("mortal"; firion for a mortal man, or firiel for a mortal woman) to describe those outside themselves. Though many believe that this may be hyberbole, the elves claim that those of their people who never leave the grace of their homes are functionally immortal. Rare is such a being, though, and even the elves may die of violence, illness, and old age given the touch of the dôrnaeth outside their homes.
Still, they use the term "immortal" for themselves with good cause, because they believe that when they die, their star-spirits are incarnated once more upon the world. Indeed, the reverie elves fall into when they rest is nothing less than the dreamlike recollection of the memories of their previous incarnations. (It is noteworthy that the elven term for "immortal" is alfirin, which means "flower-like," referring to a cycle of constant blossoming and wilting as immortality, rather than a static, unchanging immortality).
This does not mean that the elvenfolk are all light-heartedness, however. There is a particularly melancholy air to the ellornhîn, for all of them are capable of recalling, to one degree or another, the primordial star-days before the sun and moon, and to the joy of existence for their people during those times. Though they take delight in what is fair, it is tinged with the grief of never again knowing that joy.
The Gwannim
Indeed, this grief has driven elves from the mortal realms. Those who do so are called gwannim (or "those who flee"), and are looked upon by elven sensibilities as tragic if understandable. Some (called "merennim, or "the joyful") flee to the Feywild, the faerie realm whose entirety is imbued with the graces of the elven homelands, although doing so means flight from the stars of the firmament forevermore, and likely service to the Archfey.
Others (called the môrnim, or "the darkling") seek out the dark embrace of the Shadowfell, which is lit only by the wan light of the stars, though is also a realm of death. Those who die within the Feywild are always reincarnated in the mortal lands, while those who die in the Shadowfell may be reborn among the môrnim as the shadow-elves, or the eddúwath, who are notoriously wicked and twisted. While many among the gwannim seek the sanctuary of the Shadowfell, most of them do not intend to do so forever, seeking only a starry respite.
