n the heart of the stellar seas lay a nexus of immense power, radiating limitless energies into the vast expanse of space. This is what remains of Qualior: once the seat of power of one of the greatest civilisations to ever walk the mortal plane, now an eerie reminder of the past: a relic of an age long gone, and there it shall slumber until the end of days.

On Qualior it was that the elves were birthed and nursed, and from there they laid foundations to the concept of united civilisation.

It is safe to say Mundus as we know it today would be a lesser place if not for the qualis: elves in the common tongue, they stand to this day as the founders and leaders of the modern world, whether be it in military or ideology, they define the world around them.

For that reason, to many folk the elves come off as unnatural, although that cannot be further from the truth. Like all the other peoples of Mundus, the elves too are children of this world, and but one of the many races that inhabit it.

In physique the elves resemble mankind the most, but they are far different physically and mentally, with their own labours and sorrows. And though incredibly diverse, there are some traits all elves share, and some that are unique to specific ethnicities.

lves in general are taller than men, and much fairer to look upon, with long flowing hair, high cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes and lithe graceful bodies that are surprisingly sturdy for their appearance, hairless throughout save for the head. Though their physical features differ greatly from Clan to Clan, most have sharper features and larger eyes, androgynous to human sight as I am told.

It is true to some extent, though she-elves have less pronounced bodies and are oft shorter than their male counterparts.

Compared to wood-elves, high-elves tend to be far monochromatic, for all high-elves hail from Alímar, and any elf whose ancestors were never nursed under the light of Alímar may be called a wood-elf, regardless of whether they are from woodland or not. As such, even though some nobler wood-elves have made pilgrimages to Alímar, they still count amongst the wood-elves.

High-elves tend to have eyes of blue and grey, although they change in colour based on what form of energy they feed on, for arcanists may have eyes of blue and purple, whilst those who consort with daemons sprout shades of green or red. Wood-elf eyes on the other hand have a multitude of shades, ranging from blue to green to teal and hazel, luminescent wolf-gold eyes are common in forest-tribes, who with them can see in absolute darkness with ease, fire-red eyes are found commonly in desert-tribes, who can detect heat with their vision. Black eyes are uncommon, and feared throughout.

As of hair, most high-elves have shades of gold or silver, auburn and black are not uncommon either, but rarer. Save for the Minyär Clan, whose clansmen are all black of hair. Wood-elves on the other hand have hair colours ranging from milk-white to black, with a variety of shades in between. Most wood-elves, like their high-elf cousins, have platinum or silver hair, with some noble families recognized by shades of auburn or black.

Most high-elves are pale of skin, but wood-elves differ widely from pale white to light copper and ashen grey. Those who dwell the frigid wastes grow skin as pale as milk, whilst those who dwell forests grow darker shades of beige and almond, a select few tribes are known for their skin as grey as ash and eyes as red as hell.

You can tell the habitat of a wood-elf by their appearance: the forest-elves boast their beige skin and amber eyes as they masquerade their feral beauty, the snow-elves loom haughty and grim with pale skin and hair and steel-blue eyes, and the dune-elves revel with their skin like ash and eyes like the fires of hell, ready to defend their ancestor's burial mounds with their lives.

ompared to humans, elves may seem better in all aspects, and it is true. Should a human and elf ever battle alone, the elf would overpower the human with ease in every way.

All elves are keen of sight and sharp of hearing, able to learn the intention of their enemies from many leagues away on a moonless night, tell bird and bat apart in the midst of smoke and storm, or even sense movement half a league away.

High-elves have a keen sense of arcane energies, and can read the minds of lesser beings, or plant thoughts in their head without spending mana, or even overpower them directly.

Wood-elves though have a variety of senses: forest-elves have a sense of smell that can rival that of bears, dune-elves like serpents can sense body heat and find water where there seems none, while those devoted to Sithur can drink your blood and tell of your body and lineage.

But the greatest weapon of an elf is not their physical might, but their immense psionic abilities. For a single glance is all it takes for an elf to disarm you physically and mentally.

Elves live much longer than men, theoretically forever, and the older they get, the more honed their skills become. An elf as old as Darrian can rival the might of dragons with ease.

Like any other mortal, the elves too require sleep for at least a third of the whole day. Unlike humans, they do not have fixed timings, but most elves tend to sleep at night when the sun is down and lands dark. Another option for the elves (especially soldiers) is reverie, where they enter a state of half-sleep, but can still march on or stay on guard subconsciously.

As per physical prowess goes, high-elves are far tougher than wood-elves, although the wood-elves are far more nimble on their feet and can outrun a high-elven army, and defeat them on uneven terrain where their phalanxes fall vain.

But the high-elves can make up for it with their incredible vigour and unmatched zeal, for there are few things that are more dangerous than the wrath of a high-elven legionnaire, as per the saying goes. They will fight and die but not surrender; especially older elves.

Finally, the elves tend to share a greater connection with nature too. Although in high-elves it is all but absent, wood-elves are known to speak the tongues of nature, and those together are few of the many things which make the elves unique.

ontrary to popular belief, elves are far more driven by lust than they are believed to be, although for them carnal lust and genuine affection are two different things entirely, and the concept of 'marrying someone you love' is as absurd as tossing gold coins into the ocean.

Not to say marriage doesn't exist in their society, it did since the days of Qualior and it exists still (although almost exclusively in White Elf societies), just that unlike in human societies, sexual relation does not exist only within such unions (although it's pretty much the same for humans, the only difference being what's common amongst elves may result in a tantrum and marriage annulment amongst humans).

For most elven people marriages are political endeavours: a union between a maiden and a lord, with the promise of birthing children who inherit both their parents' heritage. That, and only that, is the type of marriage that exists within the elven peoples.

But other than that, everyone who is past adolescence is free to mate who whoever they please, regardless of gender or social class. Such things are tolerated as much as grand feasts are amongst human nations, although some humans may find this loathsome.

When a man-elf and a she-elf mate, there is a small chance of conception, although such moments come only twice every year, and require high levels of psionic bonding ere conception can occur. If it does, however, a child is born twenty-four months later. Should the child be the offspring of a marriage, both the parents have equal rights to the child, and the child inherits a part of both the parents' heritage.

Those born outside marriage, on the other hand, are placed in the custody of the mother, who can do whatever she wants with the child. If she chooses, she might raise the child as her own, giving a small fraction of her inheritance as per her will. She may also reject the child, in which case the local slave-house adopts the child to be raised into slavery.

In Red Elf societies on the other hand, where marriages are less of an issue (if not absent entirely) and this form of birth the most common, the child is often raised in a communal home, cared for by all the mothers of the village or city-district.

Such a child is born free from the bonds of heritage or slavery, with the gift of a clean slate to build themselves from the ground up, knowing only their parents by name but treating all mentors and nurses with equal respect.

Elves do not die of disease, nor of age, that is true, but still they are not immortal in every sense of the word. Though their bodies can last forever, their minds wither away fairly quickly. At first it starts like a wave of depression, and a gloom that takes the joy out of life, until at last the world loses its colours and there is nothing worth living for.

Most elves tend to fade away into death, partners together; yet others seek to rejoin their kin in Alímar, or die valiantly in battle, whilst the brave go in search of Darrian to join the legions that would take part in The Last Battle.

As such, all elves have a 'lifespan', which is not a lifespan in every sense of the word, but states the average age at which the elves die of this gloom, and though it varies greatly, for most elves it is anywhere between a thousand and ten. Wood-elves tend to have shorter spans, and die earlier than high-elves, save for those of mixed blood or noble heritage.

On the other hand, those who dwell in Alímar, permanently in a state of bliss, are immune to the effects of age, and thus do not die unless they choose to leave the motherland for Mundus below.

However, some things like gloom or abuse tend to hasten the withering, whilst other things like love or curiosity tend to reverse it and bring back the colours of life. Humans call this depression and coping, but for elves it is literally aging.

As such, there also exist diseases which hasten up your age, spreading psionically from elf to elf, bringing with it a wave of gloom as it passes through. And though rare and periodic events, a single cloud of gloom can wipe out an entire city with ease.

Elves though, do not take death the same way humans do. For most it is a moment to rejoice, dying in battle in most societies is considered an honour, and dying of withering looked up with sadness yet relief, for those who are no more are now finally at peace, free from the ailments of the world.

On a final note, suicide is a common thing amongst the elven youth. Those who are young in years and unable to die of mental withering often seek a way to ease the pain. As far as I remember, those are the only deaths truly mourned for, for no soul so young needs to die, for the world is joyous and their life has only begun.