“Purity and perfection are what we are. The sun and the moon are the Gods that gave us eternity. These are the realities of life. Those that do not share in our perfection are as important as the dust their bodies will one day become.”
Elves are eternal. Simply put they are incapable of dying from natural causes. An elf that does not have their life ended by spell, blade, or illness will live forever. This has led to a rift in the coexistence between elves and the other races of the world. As humans do not acknowledge the ant as an equal the elves do not acknowledge any other race other than dragons as their equal.
Elves do not have a standard for marital or sexual relationships. Believing procreation to be an act of necessity and sexuality to be indifferent from the act they see the world uniquely in the world. Many elves do not conform to a gender nor do any believe in gender roles. Though other races may be skeptical about same gender couplings elves have no such restrictions on the physical aspect of love or partnership. Even the terms husband and wife are rarely used in the society. In a relationship the partners refer to each other as sun or moon, believing their partner being part of their eternity and thus part of their divine state.
An elf will have a skin tone ranging from pale white to dark grey or black. Their hair color comes in all varieties with the exception of black. All elves have blue, silver, or violate eyes. Their heights at adulthood range from 4’6” feet to 5’8” feet. Their bodies also metabolize food and nutrients in such a way that they rarely weigh more than 150 pounds.
Infancy and toddler hood is a time of exploration as with any race however the toddler stage typically ends around the age of 10. During this stage elves have the physical development one would expect from a human between the ages of 0 to 4 or 5. Their mental state however is on the same level if not typically higher than those of their age group.
Elvin childhood to preteen years range from the age of 10 to 20. During this time like all humanoids of this world they begin puberty and their magic awakens. They tend to reach a physical stature equivalent to a human preteen. Though as intelligent as most human adults their society still sees them as children and treats them as such.
Their teenaged years are between the ages of 20 and 40. During this time they will grow into physical adulthood and usually begin apprenticeships outside of Elvin society. Those that would seek adventure tend to begin such journeys toward the end of this time.
Adult hood is reached at the age of 40 and continues until old age at the age of 500. It is during this time that most elves will start families and find their place in the world. Their bodies maintain the strength of their physical prime throughout this time. Though many races would see this as a fine time to birth as many children as possible elves tend to keep their immediate families small while building larger clans among themselves.
Elderhood is the time between the age of 500 and 1000 in which elves often resign themselves to fully perfecting the arts they have mastered in their youth. These elves are seen as societal leaders and often are elevated to the same levels as one would associate with a court advisor or lord. Many stay active in the goings on of Elvin society but most focus on self improvement and enjoyment of ones life achievements.
An elf is considered ancient at the age of 1000. There is not much known outside of Elvin society about such individuals as they tend to either be reclusive or suicidal. Some recklessly waist their eternity revisiting the glorious adventures of their youth. Others retreat from contact with the outside world and have little to do with the goings on of Elvin society other than to serve as living vessels of historical knowledge.
From birth elves possess a level of magical ability. It is small, usually, and rooted in natural (divine) magic. Some possess a natural link to the arcana as with all other races. Though other races believe this to be because of draconic and/ or demonic lineage elves look upon this as a symbol of further divinity in the bloodline. An elf that awakens their magic will awaken as either an air born or a water born depending on the half of the year they were born into. Elves cannot awaken natural fire magic though they can learn the other two natural elements to which they were not born. This only concerns natural magic as arcane magic can be learned through study and determination as with any practitioner of the grand arcana.
A final note on elves: they are one of the races that believe in slavery. Unlike humans who enslave other humans based on skin color elves will enslave anyone who is not an elf. Though this is a common practice within their society to maintain face and the status quo they do not often speak of or promote such things beyond their own borders.