Elf Details

Elves, also known as Long-Ears, are a magical and long-lived people known for their deep, innate connections to magic and the spirits. Many elves have a reverence for nature and strive to find balance with the environment. They typically value craftsmanship, storytelling, and the preservation and transmission of knowledge.

Appearance and Physiology

Elves are humanoids distinguished by their long ears and often possessing slight builds. They stand five to six feet tall, and often weigh slightly less than humans of the same height. They are also exceptionally long-lived compared to other mortals, living up to 400 years under ordinary conditions, but their birth rate is low and they only reach maturity after around 80 years.

Their ears are sometimes likened to those of goats, they are long, thin, and easily movable, and rounded or pointed tips. Pointed ears are a beauty standard among some elves.

Society

Elven societies can be found throughout most of Kamiato, though their communities in the Spiritwood and the Dragon Sea are most well known. Each of these communities possesses its own unique culture and roles in the fabric of Kamiato's societies.

It is not uncommon for elves in smaller, more isolated settlements, to consider all those who live in their village to be a part of the same clan, even if they are not related by blood.

Elf Bloodlines

Elven bloodlines can be further divided into two separate categories. These are the elves native to the world of Kamiato, and those who came from a distant place. This second group is known as the Enrai Elves or the Elves-from-Afar.

Primal Elves

Primal elves are native to the world of Kamiato, and resonate with the natural world in the form of seasons–affinities that affect their appearance and mood. The primal elves also possess a connection to the Spirit World, the place where many unseen yōkai make their homes, and use the magic of this realm to step between places in the blink of an eye, as both time and space function differently there. Some primal elves exist in the state of a single season for their entire lives, while others change more regularly.

Primal elves are often exceptionally slender, and their coloration is determined by the season they are currently aligned with. Most primal elves make their home in the Spiritwood or the Isles of Mist where their connection to spirits, yōkai, and the natural world are strongest.

Sea Elves

The sea elves are another bloodline of elves native to Kamiato. As the primal elves are aligned with the seasons and the trees, the sea elves are aligned with the lakes, rivers, and seas in and around the archipelago. Their inclination towards the water makes them excellent sailors and swimmers with an ability to communicate with aquatic creatures. The sea elves have made their homes primarily in and around the Dragon Sea, on the coasts of Hinode and among the Dragon Isles. Sea elves living further inland on Teishin typically live in settlements near lakes and rivers.

Shadow Elves

The shadow elves are the final bloodline native to Kamiato. Instead of the seasons and the waterways, the shadow elves are aligned with the darkness of Kamiato. Said to be descended from a lineage touched by vestiges of Yami no Shin or tied to the Underworld. Shadow elves have ashen skin tones, and hair in shades of grey, black, or white. They possess abilities related to stealth and manipulation of the shadows. They are also few and far between, but scattered across all of Kamiato. The majority dwelling in secluded villages in the Isles of Mist.

High Elves

The high elves are one of the Elves-from-Afar. They are taller than the average elf, and possess keen minds and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. They have bronze skin and copper, black, or golden blond hair. Most high elves dwell in Hinode, the region they landed when they arrived upon their celestial barge. They often congregate in larger cities, and have successfully interwoven themselves with some of the powerful clans of Hinode, and the more scholarly and magic-oriented factions of Kamiato.

Because of their integration into so-called "human" society, many of the native elven bloodlines distrust the high elves and are suspicious of their alien traditions, deities, and views on elvenkind.

Wood Elves

The wood elves are the second group of Elves-from-Afar, while they arrived together with the high elves, the wood elves more quickly integrated into the ways of Kamiato's native elves, dwelling alongside them in the Spiritwood and the Isles of Mist. The wood elves were eager to learn about the traditions and spirits of Kamiato, not far scholarly research at a distance, but out of a desire to find a new place for themselves to call home. Wood elves tend to have copperish skin with green undertones and hair that is typically brown or black, but sometimes lighter shades of copper or blonde.