Sylvan Elfs



The Sylvan Elfs

The Forest People, The Spiritfriends, The Wild Ones

“Listen to the wind blowing through the leafs; it wispers… it plays a song, the Song of Forest which we dance every day of our life.”

This race of slender short humanoids is known for is deep veneration of nature as well as it’s savagery. Few humans enter an elven village and are able to tell the tale back.

Society & Culture

The elven society is a tribal one, clans are ruled by elders and druids, some are nomads, other have villages on the soil, on the trees or sometimes even on water, in pristin lakes or calm rivers.Elves learn that nature is harsh, and to survive they need to be smart and quick.

Seasons have a great influence on this race. The time of the year when an elf is born deeply influences his mind and his body, and elves of a specific “season” are easily recognizable and they tend to gather with each other. Therefore elven society is divided in “Four Seasons” which usually share the same villages.

Hunters, druids and shamans (summoners) are typical elven professions.

Distribution & Relations

There is a strong and ancient elven community in the western Dragonlands but the largest one is on the Continent of Keiren. This is often considerd the elven “motherland” (although elvesare theoretically native to most islands).

Elves view Primalsouls with a mixture of respect for their wisdom and fear for their strenght; Zanaryan elves and to a lesser extent crowmen, are considered to bring bad luck and relations can be strained.

THE SEASONS

"When one of us is born it is the wind, the sun and the trees who decide how our soul will be"  elven saying

Elves are attuned to the nature that sorrounds them, they sometimes can understand the whispers of the trees and see secrets revealed on the reflections of a pond. When an elf is born he is immediately attuned with the forest and with it's "mood"; by " leasaigh" elves mean mood or, when referring to nature, the seasons.

Na Leasaigh - The Seasons -

Geimhreadh - Winter The Children of Winter, Coldborn, White Hunters.

Even when the wind blows cold and snow covers everything, life goes on and babies are born in the forest. These babies are the Children of Winter and they grow up the become elves attuned to the Winter season.

Appearance The Coldborn tend to be the most pale elfs, almost resembling zanaryans sometimes. Their hair is silver or light blue and their eyes can be grey or blue. They love furs made from winter animals (which they consider to be a holy hunt) and wear white, blue and brown clothing. Often they will wear on their head the part of fur of the face of the killed animal.

Lifestyle, the Friotaiocht -The Resistance -

"One must never stop, or the cold grab hold of your body and then your mind, and finally the spirits of Death drag you into an endless sleep"

The Coldborn know winter very well, they know the struggles that the cold can bring into the world and that you never have to surrender. The Friotaiocht, the Resistance, is the highest value for these elves. It means that quite strnght and patience are important. Hiding and knowing when to show yourself, defending your villages with wit. The elfs born in Winter tend to be calm and somewhat shy, they value few good comments rather than long speeches. Often others who do not know the Coldborn well consider them gloomy pessimistic and detatched. The Friotaiocht elves believe that a strong knowledge is a key to protect the elven race and they are often holders of ancient traditions.

Earrach - Spring

The Children of Spring, The Awakened, The Green Hunters.

When the frost of the mountains melts, streams grow into rivers and the land becomes green as flower blooms, some elves are born. These are the Lightchildren, elves filled with the energy of the powerful spring season.

Appearance The Lightchildren tend to dress very brightly and in many colours, not rarely their patterns will include flowers of some sort. Their eyes are usually green or violet and their hair varies from black or brown to a very dark green. Greenhunter can often be recognized for carrying with them a flower somewhere on theirself, be it real or not.

Lifestyle, Cruthu La creazione - "The Creation" Spring is a season of bursting life, it's the time when things which seemed to be dead come back to life. The Awakened value the start or rebirth of thing, they believe in Creation. Creation for them could be crafing a beatiful peace of art as much as giving birth to a baby. They believe that elven tribes should focus on strenghtening the nature that surrounds them. Planting trees, helping animals to thrive, all these are important things for a Green Hunter. The Spring Elves thend to be lively and vocal about their opinions, they enjoy discussing and talking. Even having fun and organizing hunts and feasts is a way to create something and empower the elves. They see speech as a way to create ideas and thus to grow, some of those who do not believe in their ideas see them as too talkative.

Samhradh - Summer The Sunborn, The Children of Summer, The Light Hunters

When the sun is high in the sky and air, earth and water warm up, Nature seem to be at its peak, green and powerful. In this mighty season, the elves who are born bear the strenght and the light of summer.

Appearance Green and yellow are the colours of the Light Hunters. Their skin tends to be darker than average and their hair tends to be blond or red. Their eyes are gold like the rays of the sun. Often these elves carry a stick covered with beautiful elven carvings.

Lifestyle, Comhcheol -Harmony-

Summer often seems to be the perfect season, the sun nurtures plants and warms animals, rain showers the land bestowing fertility... few would complain about it. Yet the Sunborn know that this will not last and that only the balance of the 4 "Moods" can keep things together. The Children of Summer believe that everything should be done with something that counteracts it. Patience and temperance are keys, and at the same time, bringing together and protecting all types of elves is key. Harmony can be achieved only if all elves are together. Hanrmony comes from the union of the different parts and with noble commitement the Ligh Hunters fight to protect this union. They believe that due to their "higher" understanding of Harmony, they deserve to command, and indeed they often reach such positions. The Children of Summer tend to be deliberate and solemn when they speak.

Fomhar - Autumn The Children of Autumn, The Lastborns, The Guardians of Life

When things start withering and nature seems to be dying, animals retire slowly and nature itselfs seems to start slowly to fall asleep. In this time of change the elves who come to life bear the sign of Autumn.

Appearance.

Autumn elves tend usually have black or brown hair. Eyes can be Hazel or grey. The clothing thends to be based on this colours: grey, brown and yellow. The Lastborns rarely do not carry a weapon with them. They often have a choosen weapon which they call "xxx", sister. Often these elves keep leaves in their hair. When their tribe is at war they wear leaves painted white.

Lifestyle, Racan -The Fight-  As life is drained away from the arrival of cold weather, nature still manages to survive and even thrive in some instances but there is only one way it can do this, it has to fight. As animals start growing their furs and fighting for food, both predators and prey prepare and fight to survive the incoming cold. Life is a fight, The Guardians of Life know that only with sharpened spears and trained bows the elves can make it year after year. These elves focus a lot on fighting and try to protect the tribes with their fighting skills and training others. They can sometimes seem aggressive, but they usually have a reason when they are upset...