Elves, High

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HIGH ELVES

Appearance
High Elves, the most common type of elf, are somewhat shorter than humankind, not growing much taller than 5\'5".  Male elves weigh anywhere between 90-120 pounds and female elves between 70 and 100 pounds.  

High elves are dark haired and their eyes are always a beautiful, resonant shade of green.  The features of an elf are delicate and finely chiselled, with narrow faces and high cheekbones, slanted eyes and pointy ears.

They have a pale complexion, regardless of their time spent outdoors.

They are not as sturdy as humans but are generally more agile.  Nimble and graceful, elves walk so lightly that they tend to surprise people by showing up near them, without trying.

Clothing
Elvish clothing tends to be colourful but not garish.  High elves will favour pastel colours, especially blues and greens.

Lifespan
Elves live for many centuries (up to 1200 years) and are vigorous almost all the way to the end. There are no such things as immortal elves, though there is a constant mystery surrounding them due to their seemingly ageless lives. Their hair will silver in the last couple of centuries of their lives.

Region
In tune with nature, the elven community will build their homes among the forest without disturbing any of the trees within their city boundaries.

High Elf cities tend to be built from the ground up, with many levels in their narrow houses.  It is not unusual to have three or four levels with only a couple of rooms per floor.  They will put an axe to some trees in order to build their homes, but will not waste any of it, and will plant and nurture two trees for every one they cut down.  They carve beautiful flowing designs with wood into the very walls, doors or banisters themselves.

Community buildings will be made from stone and be an arduous and long task, for every building must be beautiful in its own right.

Society
Elves value their individual freedom so their social structure is based on independent bands.  These smaller groups recognise the authority of a royal overlord, who in turn swears allegiance to a King or Queen.  The laws and restrictions on Elven society are few when compared to humankind and practically negligible when compared to dwarven society.

Their long lifespan renders their viewpoint of the world a great deal more radically than other sentient beings.  Humankind sees them as detached or frivolous, while elves fail to understand why everyone else is in such a rush.

Elves will surround themselves with things that will bring them joy for a long period of time, like art, music and nature.  The company of other elves is important to their race as they find it hard to share their perspectives with other races of the world.  This is perhaps one of the reasons why elven families are so close.  However, friendships with other races are still important to elves, as they feel this type of relationship is worthwhile.

Ecology
Elves produce fine cloth, beautiful music and brilliant poems and paintings.  It is their performance in art and craft that they are most recognised.

Race Perspectives
Elves find dwarves to be restrictive and dour, and their strict laws and regulations unpleasant.  However, they have high respect for dwarven craftsmanship.  Elves think more highly of humans but find their search for financial gain and power to be rather sad.  They immediately mistrust their dark elven kin, and find their woodland kin rather untamed but tolerable.  Orcs and half-orcs are not tolerated and considered beasts that should be slain.

Name
Elven names are always flowing and have a certain uniqueness of sound to them.  The Elven names always mean something, in Elvish.

Using this Elven Name Table, which contains prefixes and suffixes of names and their meanings, you can make up a really nifty sounding name AND know the Elven meaning of it.

For example, using this table I could make up the name, Cythas Teasen\'ddare
Cy meaning Onyx, Thas meaning Harp, Teasen meaning Trackers and Nddare meaning The Winds, so I have a name which means Onyx Harp Windtracker.

Languages
The languages known are Elvish, Orcish and Common

Strengths
Elves have an almost innate natural ability with the bow and arrows and it doesn\'t take long for an elf to learn and master such a device, even when self-taught.

They can see further in the dark as their eye-sight is a great deal better than humankind.  This is a natural ability of the Elven race.

Weaknesses
Not physically strong in terms of being able to carry weight, their endurance is in the form of stamina not strength.  The lightweights of the world, should someone deliver a physical blow to them, it would render them unconscious and vulnerable.  An elf is better off not being in arm\'s reach.