Post by Sofia on May 31, 2020 19:21:05 GMT 1
Beliefs
Elves don't really have a religion. They know that the spirit lives on after the body has died so they know, at least vaguely, what the afterlife has in store for them.
They don't believe in any kind of gods, but to them all living things have "souls" (although how much like the elfin spirits they believe these "souls" to be depends up on the elf and where the elf has been raised).
Elves do pray, sometimes. That usually occurs when they are faced with impossible tasks or sever danger and the prayers are either directed to the spirits of ancestors, the stars or the High Ones.
Children
In the tribes were Recognition is the main way of reproduction children are highly treasured, as they are so rare. In the none Recognition tribes they aren't quite as glorified, but not belittle either.
No elves hit their children (unless said parent/adult is slightly off his or her rocks. Such behavior is not usually tolerated by other tribe members.) There is no honor in attacking a defenseless child, that's just cowardly and meaningless.
Other than that how elves raise their children and for how long you're counted as a child vary from tribe to tribe. It all has to do with who the parents are, tribal traditions and how many, if any, age mates the child has.
Clothing
This, as so many things else, depends on the climate where the elf lives. Design is to each his own as long as the weather is taken into consideration. Materials clothes are made of are; leather, fur, wool, mothcloth (silk), feathers, and woven cloth (somewhat like linen). Good elfin tanners can make even the hardest of leather soft as the fur of a baby mouse.
Death
How the honoring of the dead is handled varies from tribe to tribe. How much an elf mourns a dead tribemate depends as much on personality as on what tribe she or he comes from.
One thing in common for all though is that elves don't burry or cover their dead in any way. Elves think of their bodies as shells for their spirits and will let nature take care of their dead, in one way or another.
Evolution
Elves are very adaptable, both physically and magically. Recognition (see Reproduction) always ensures that the child born of it is fully capable to survive in the environment it will live in. If a change or a new threat is introduced into the elves' surroundings it will only take them one or two generations to adapt to it, be it through a physical or magical change.
Expressions
A turn/a turn of the seasons: Means a year.
Bloodsong: Each race on this world has its own bloodsong. Animal-blooded elves have two, one elfin and one of the animal they are related to, though one of the songs might sing louder than the other. Bloodsongs are more or less the physical and mental differences between different races. Usually two beings cannot mate or have offspring if their bloodsongs are too different, but that obstacle can be overcome in three ways: 1. Affection. If the elf truly is attracted to or even loves the other joining and even offspring can be possible. 2. Strong magic users can rely on the mental strength it takes to be so good at controlling their magic that they can ignore the differences between themselves and their partners. 3. Shapechanging. This option is of course only avaliable for the few elves who have that kind of magic.
Cold-Rain: Tall Tree Holt way of saying winter.
Face-fur: Elfin word for facial hair such as beards or mustaches.
Furmates: Two elves who keep each other company in the furs, but have little to no emotional attachment to each other.
Harsh-Wind: Tall Tree Holt way of saying fall/autumn.
Heyla: Elfin greeting.
Holt: The area where an elfin tribe lives.
Joining: Elfin way of saying "sex". "To join" is the same as "to make love".
Lovemates: Elfin couple who love - or at least really like - each other.
Lifemates: A very serious relationship. Lifemates are not separated by anything less than death.
My eyes see with joy: Elfin greeting.
My hands touch with joy: Elfin greeting, often said as reply to above greeting.
Now of Wolf Thought: Many elves with wolf-blood prefer to live in the moment, not caring much for the past. This is known as "the Now of Wolf Thought".
Shore-Mist: Tall Tree Holt way of saying summer.
Skysong: Bloodsong of the bird-blooded elves, together with the starsong.
Soft-Rain: Tall Tree Holt way of saying spring.
Soul name: The very essence of an elf, wrapped up in a sound of one to three syllables. When you know an elf's soul name you know everything that she or he is. This can be a wonderful gift to be shared by close friends or lovers, but if an enemy gets a hold of it they will have terrible control over the elf in question. If someone who shouldn't know an elf's soul name speaks it aloud or sends it, the elf will feel indescribable pain and become weak as a newborn.
All elves have soul names. Some know theirs from birth, others must go out on a soul name quest and through meditation find it deep within themselves. The elves who don't send have a much harder time finding theirs. Some never do, but that doesn't trouble them much, especially if they don't know there is such a thing.
Soul siblings: Two elves who know each others' soul names, but haven't Recognized. They are often of the same gender and are often lovemates as well. This is no requirement though. There are two ways of becoming soul siblings: 1. Learning each others' soul names in a moment no unlike Recognition or 2. Being really close friends already and then telling your soul names to each other.
Recognition: How most elf babies are made
See Reproduction for more info.
Soulmates: Two elves who have Recognized each other or lifemates who know each others' soul names.
Soul meets soul when eyes meet eyes: Elfin saying. Most Recognized couples don't know each others' soul names until they look each other in the eyes.
Starsong: Bloodsong of the elves.
Swirling: Sea-elf word for "joining".
The Stone from the Sky: A magical stone that fell down from the sky close to the Tall Tree Holt.
Threemating: Same as lifemating, only with three elves. In a threemating all three elves are mated to each other. In other words: elf A is lifemate to elf B and C, elf B is lifemate to elf C and A and elf C is lifemate to elf A and B.
Twirling: Sea-elf word for "joining".
Wolfsong: Bloodsong for the wolf-blooded elves, together with the starsong.
Food
What elves eat differ greatly. Basically it all depends on what blood the elf has and what type of climate s/he comes from.
Animal-bloods that bond with some kind of predator usually prefer raw meat and fish. They may still eat berries, roots and fruits, but animals are their main source of food.
Purebloods tend to be vegetarian, like the High Ones were before they came to this world, and those of them who do eat meat cook it.
Sea-elves' main food source is of course the sea. They eat loads of fish, clams and shrimps. If they live part-time on land, as many sea-elves tend to do, they'll know how to cook their food, adding various seaweeds and land plants to their diet.
Magic
Although most of the High Ones' magic has been lost through the strange conditions on this world some still shows itself among the now living elves, and new magic has been known to develop in a few rare cases.
Here is a list of different magic abilities elves can have.
Mating
Elves give little thought, if any, to the gender of the elves they mate with. Some elves prefer to join with one gender, but there are no "straight" or "gay" elves. They join with a body, but fall in love with a person. All matings, be it with the opposite sex, the same, both or more than one elf at the time, is socially accepted in all of elfin society.
Random facts
Elves can take more heat and cold than humans can, and they can last longer without food or water.
Their bones are easier to break than those of trolls or humans.
Elves have no taboo against nakedness. A naked body is something natural, nothing to cover up out of embarrassment. Elves sleep, bath and sometimes even dance in the nude together with elves of both sexes and no one thinks twice about it. The only time an elf can get odd looks for walking around naked is when it's freezing cold outside.
Animal-blooded elves who share blood with nocturnal animals tend to sleep during the day, while most purebloods, sea-elves and animal-bloods with bond-friends that are active during the day sleep at night.
Elves don't kiss as humans do (ie. sticking their tongues into each other's mouths, to put it crudely); they have just never thought of doing something like that.
Reproduction
Elves mainly have one way to reproduce: Recognition. When two elves Recognize (a female elf can only Recognize a male elf and vice versa) they instantly know each others' soul names (unless one or both elves don't know their own soul name. You can't get to know more of another elf through Recognition than s/he knows her/himself) and become overwhelmed with the urge to join, to produce a child.
Recognition cares nothing for the parents as long as the child born from their mating is strong and healthy. In short you could find yourself lusting after your worst enemy if you're unlucky.
Refusing Recognition is hard, if not impossible. The longer you put off the intended joining the worst you will feel. Elves who've fought Recognition have been known not to be able to eat or sleep. Some have even held out so long that they've begun to feel unexplainable pain that comes and goes until they fulfill the Recognition. Mostly though Recognition leads to lifemating.
There are elves who don't Recognize anymore. They have somehow repressed this urge, to be able to reproduce faster. Recognition usually happens only a few times over a span of hundreds of turns in a tribe. Elves who don't Recognize have a chance to become a parent every time they join with someone of the opposite sex. But as this way of reproducing isn't the original, "natural" way for elves it has its risks. Children born outside of Recognition may not last through the first night or eight of nights as their immune system can be too weak. So far there has been no sign of inheritable mental or physical diseases passed on or created by births outside of Recognition, but if according to some elves (not naming any names) it's only a matter of time.
An "ordinary" elf can Recognize an elf who has repressed the ability to Recognize. The elf with potential for Recognition will then feel and know everything about their partner as they would in any Recognition. The "repressed" one will on the other hand only feel a bit more lustful towards his or her Recognized, which of course can lead to some serious conflicts.
It does happen that two "none repressed" elves get a child outside of Recognition together, but that is very rare. It's a bit more probable that a "none repressed" elf and a "repressed" elf get a child that way.
A child with one or two "none repressed" parents will be able to Recognize, while a child with two "repressed" parents won't unless s/he meets a "none repressed" elf that s/he is perfect for.
Mortal elves are fertile from the age of 18 to 1 000, immortal from 18 and forward. Pregnancy lasts for two years.
Elves only give birth to one child at the time, two at most. Twins are _very_ rare, most elves have never heard of such a thing happening.
Society
How elves live differ greatly. Some have a chief that makes all the important decisions for everyone, others decide by voting and others simply live their lives as they go, with or without other elves. Each elf tribe has figured out what they think works best for them.
Elves seldom, if ever, kill needlessly. Those who eat meat take what they need and nothing more. Elves killing other elves is something very rare. As far as most elves know such a terrible deed could only be done by a mad elf, or perhaps occur as the result of a challenge taken too far. This, of course, depends a lot on what tribe the elf comes from.
Weapons, Tools and Jewlery
Elves use axes, blowguns, bolas, bows, daggers, darts, javelins, knives, spears and staffs. Most of them are made of wood and sharp stone, but if the elves have Metal-Shapers or trade with trolls they might have weapons made of brightmetal (steel) and smaller versions of troll weapons.
Elves have needles, bowls, pots, simple spoons and things like that made of wood, stone, clay or in some rare cases metal.
Elves don't think in terms of "expensive" or "precious" when it comes to jewelry. A feather and wooden bead can be made into just as good a trinket as a piece of gold. Gems are popular, but because their beautiful, not because their worth a lot. Depending on the tribe's traditions and culture elves can have headbands, necklaces, bracelets, rings, foot rings and piercings. Pretty much anything you can think of.
Elves don't really have a religion. They know that the spirit lives on after the body has died so they know, at least vaguely, what the afterlife has in store for them.
They don't believe in any kind of gods, but to them all living things have "souls" (although how much like the elfin spirits they believe these "souls" to be depends up on the elf and where the elf has been raised).
Elves do pray, sometimes. That usually occurs when they are faced with impossible tasks or sever danger and the prayers are either directed to the spirits of ancestors, the stars or the High Ones.
Children
In the tribes were Recognition is the main way of reproduction children are highly treasured, as they are so rare. In the none Recognition tribes they aren't quite as glorified, but not belittle either.
No elves hit their children (unless said parent/adult is slightly off his or her rocks. Such behavior is not usually tolerated by other tribe members.) There is no honor in attacking a defenseless child, that's just cowardly and meaningless.
Other than that how elves raise their children and for how long you're counted as a child vary from tribe to tribe. It all has to do with who the parents are, tribal traditions and how many, if any, age mates the child has.
Clothing
This, as so many things else, depends on the climate where the elf lives. Design is to each his own as long as the weather is taken into consideration. Materials clothes are made of are; leather, fur, wool, mothcloth (silk), feathers, and woven cloth (somewhat like linen). Good elfin tanners can make even the hardest of leather soft as the fur of a baby mouse.
Death
How the honoring of the dead is handled varies from tribe to tribe. How much an elf mourns a dead tribemate depends as much on personality as on what tribe she or he comes from.
One thing in common for all though is that elves don't burry or cover their dead in any way. Elves think of their bodies as shells for their spirits and will let nature take care of their dead, in one way or another.
Evolution
Elves are very adaptable, both physically and magically. Recognition (see Reproduction) always ensures that the child born of it is fully capable to survive in the environment it will live in. If a change or a new threat is introduced into the elves' surroundings it will only take them one or two generations to adapt to it, be it through a physical or magical change.
Expressions
A turn/a turn of the seasons: Means a year.
Bloodsong: Each race on this world has its own bloodsong. Animal-blooded elves have two, one elfin and one of the animal they are related to, though one of the songs might sing louder than the other. Bloodsongs are more or less the physical and mental differences between different races. Usually two beings cannot mate or have offspring if their bloodsongs are too different, but that obstacle can be overcome in three ways: 1. Affection. If the elf truly is attracted to or even loves the other joining and even offspring can be possible. 2. Strong magic users can rely on the mental strength it takes to be so good at controlling their magic that they can ignore the differences between themselves and their partners. 3. Shapechanging. This option is of course only avaliable for the few elves who have that kind of magic.
Cold-Rain: Tall Tree Holt way of saying winter.
Face-fur: Elfin word for facial hair such as beards or mustaches.
Furmates: Two elves who keep each other company in the furs, but have little to no emotional attachment to each other.
Harsh-Wind: Tall Tree Holt way of saying fall/autumn.
Heyla: Elfin greeting.
Holt: The area where an elfin tribe lives.
Joining: Elfin way of saying "sex". "To join" is the same as "to make love".
Lovemates: Elfin couple who love - or at least really like - each other.
Lifemates: A very serious relationship. Lifemates are not separated by anything less than death.
My eyes see with joy: Elfin greeting.
My hands touch with joy: Elfin greeting, often said as reply to above greeting.
Now of Wolf Thought: Many elves with wolf-blood prefer to live in the moment, not caring much for the past. This is known as "the Now of Wolf Thought".
Shore-Mist: Tall Tree Holt way of saying summer.
Skysong: Bloodsong of the bird-blooded elves, together with the starsong.
Soft-Rain: Tall Tree Holt way of saying spring.
Soul name: The very essence of an elf, wrapped up in a sound of one to three syllables. When you know an elf's soul name you know everything that she or he is. This can be a wonderful gift to be shared by close friends or lovers, but if an enemy gets a hold of it they will have terrible control over the elf in question. If someone who shouldn't know an elf's soul name speaks it aloud or sends it, the elf will feel indescribable pain and become weak as a newborn.
All elves have soul names. Some know theirs from birth, others must go out on a soul name quest and through meditation find it deep within themselves. The elves who don't send have a much harder time finding theirs. Some never do, but that doesn't trouble them much, especially if they don't know there is such a thing.
Soul siblings: Two elves who know each others' soul names, but haven't Recognized. They are often of the same gender and are often lovemates as well. This is no requirement though. There are two ways of becoming soul siblings: 1. Learning each others' soul names in a moment no unlike Recognition or 2. Being really close friends already and then telling your soul names to each other.
Recognition: How most elf babies are made
See Reproduction for more info.Soulmates: Two elves who have Recognized each other or lifemates who know each others' soul names.
Soul meets soul when eyes meet eyes: Elfin saying. Most Recognized couples don't know each others' soul names until they look each other in the eyes.
Starsong: Bloodsong of the elves.
Swirling: Sea-elf word for "joining".
The Stone from the Sky: A magical stone that fell down from the sky close to the Tall Tree Holt.
Threemating: Same as lifemating, only with three elves. In a threemating all three elves are mated to each other. In other words: elf A is lifemate to elf B and C, elf B is lifemate to elf C and A and elf C is lifemate to elf A and B.
Twirling: Sea-elf word for "joining".
Wolfsong: Bloodsong for the wolf-blooded elves, together with the starsong.
Food
What elves eat differ greatly. Basically it all depends on what blood the elf has and what type of climate s/he comes from.
Animal-bloods that bond with some kind of predator usually prefer raw meat and fish. They may still eat berries, roots and fruits, but animals are their main source of food.
Purebloods tend to be vegetarian, like the High Ones were before they came to this world, and those of them who do eat meat cook it.
Sea-elves' main food source is of course the sea. They eat loads of fish, clams and shrimps. If they live part-time on land, as many sea-elves tend to do, they'll know how to cook their food, adding various seaweeds and land plants to their diet.
Magic
Although most of the High Ones' magic has been lost through the strange conditions on this world some still shows itself among the now living elves, and new magic has been known to develop in a few rare cases.
Here is a list of different magic abilities elves can have.
Mating
Elves give little thought, if any, to the gender of the elves they mate with. Some elves prefer to join with one gender, but there are no "straight" or "gay" elves. They join with a body, but fall in love with a person. All matings, be it with the opposite sex, the same, both or more than one elf at the time, is socially accepted in all of elfin society.
Random facts
Elves can take more heat and cold than humans can, and they can last longer without food or water.
Their bones are easier to break than those of trolls or humans.
Elves have no taboo against nakedness. A naked body is something natural, nothing to cover up out of embarrassment. Elves sleep, bath and sometimes even dance in the nude together with elves of both sexes and no one thinks twice about it. The only time an elf can get odd looks for walking around naked is when it's freezing cold outside.
Animal-blooded elves who share blood with nocturnal animals tend to sleep during the day, while most purebloods, sea-elves and animal-bloods with bond-friends that are active during the day sleep at night.
Elves don't kiss as humans do (ie. sticking their tongues into each other's mouths, to put it crudely); they have just never thought of doing something like that.
Reproduction
Elves mainly have one way to reproduce: Recognition. When two elves Recognize (a female elf can only Recognize a male elf and vice versa) they instantly know each others' soul names (unless one or both elves don't know their own soul name. You can't get to know more of another elf through Recognition than s/he knows her/himself) and become overwhelmed with the urge to join, to produce a child.
Recognition cares nothing for the parents as long as the child born from their mating is strong and healthy. In short you could find yourself lusting after your worst enemy if you're unlucky.
Refusing Recognition is hard, if not impossible. The longer you put off the intended joining the worst you will feel. Elves who've fought Recognition have been known not to be able to eat or sleep. Some have even held out so long that they've begun to feel unexplainable pain that comes and goes until they fulfill the Recognition. Mostly though Recognition leads to lifemating.
There are elves who don't Recognize anymore. They have somehow repressed this urge, to be able to reproduce faster. Recognition usually happens only a few times over a span of hundreds of turns in a tribe. Elves who don't Recognize have a chance to become a parent every time they join with someone of the opposite sex. But as this way of reproducing isn't the original, "natural" way for elves it has its risks. Children born outside of Recognition may not last through the first night or eight of nights as their immune system can be too weak. So far there has been no sign of inheritable mental or physical diseases passed on or created by births outside of Recognition, but if according to some elves (not naming any names) it's only a matter of time.
An "ordinary" elf can Recognize an elf who has repressed the ability to Recognize. The elf with potential for Recognition will then feel and know everything about their partner as they would in any Recognition. The "repressed" one will on the other hand only feel a bit more lustful towards his or her Recognized, which of course can lead to some serious conflicts.
It does happen that two "none repressed" elves get a child outside of Recognition together, but that is very rare. It's a bit more probable that a "none repressed" elf and a "repressed" elf get a child that way.
A child with one or two "none repressed" parents will be able to Recognize, while a child with two "repressed" parents won't unless s/he meets a "none repressed" elf that s/he is perfect for.
Mortal elves are fertile from the age of 18 to 1 000, immortal from 18 and forward. Pregnancy lasts for two years.
Elves only give birth to one child at the time, two at most. Twins are _very_ rare, most elves have never heard of such a thing happening.
Society
How elves live differ greatly. Some have a chief that makes all the important decisions for everyone, others decide by voting and others simply live their lives as they go, with or without other elves. Each elf tribe has figured out what they think works best for them.
Elves seldom, if ever, kill needlessly. Those who eat meat take what they need and nothing more. Elves killing other elves is something very rare. As far as most elves know such a terrible deed could only be done by a mad elf, or perhaps occur as the result of a challenge taken too far. This, of course, depends a lot on what tribe the elf comes from.
Weapons, Tools and Jewlery
Elves use axes, blowguns, bolas, bows, daggers, darts, javelins, knives, spears and staffs. Most of them are made of wood and sharp stone, but if the elves have Metal-Shapers or trade with trolls they might have weapons made of brightmetal (steel) and smaller versions of troll weapons.
Elves have needles, bowls, pots, simple spoons and things like that made of wood, stone, clay or in some rare cases metal.
Elves don't think in terms of "expensive" or "precious" when it comes to jewelry. A feather and wooden bead can be made into just as good a trinket as a piece of gold. Gems are popular, but because their beautiful, not because their worth a lot. Depending on the tribe's traditions and culture elves can have headbands, necklaces, bracelets, rings, foot rings and piercings. Pretty much anything you can think of.