Polesian Elves
The elves are one of the most advanced races in Polesia, having learned from elder races beyond the understanding of most mortals. While this has been the downfall of many civilizations, the elves have curiously managed to hold onto their core beliefs, self-identity, and sanity. Many see them as arrogant but they've displayed wisdom, knowing when to simply walk away from certain subjects while embracing others. Despite all this incredible luck over the millennia, the elves are and have been in slow decline, having few children and losing their people to the everyday dangers of Polesia. As a result their holdings that once included much of the world are now dwindling to a few strongholds that dot Antanides. Despite this fact there is one bit of hope for the elven heritage, for half-elves (born of human/elven coupling) and elflings (born of elven/halfling couplings) are starting to become more common and have the ability to breed true, possibly ushering in another incarnation of the elven people.
General Characteristics[edit]
Unlike many fantasy rpg settings, elves are not the saintly defenders of wood and hollow. While they do have a deep connection to nature through their fey bloodline, and they are very peaceful, it is not necessarily due to altruism but rather pragmatism. If asked many elves would freely admit to longing to days of legend when their people ruled Polesia, bringing some sense of propriety and wisdome to the "lesser" races. But due to their declining numbers and declining numbers of fey allies in Polesia the elves stick mostly to their fortresses and forest retreats, using their natural stealth and expertise with ranged weaponry to take down despoilers and foes from a distance rather than lose even more of their numbers in an unnecessary pitched battle.
Elves have long since lost their central governments (the last one Aredhel, was brutally destroyed by the kingdom of Shahar-Khet and the elves have yet to fully recover) and as such they operate very independently, using their own judgement or (more likely) following their own whims, and come together in force only when the situation is dire. But in general elves can be found just about everywhere in Polesia doing just about anything that most other races would do.
History[edit]
While dwarves lived in caves and humans migrated through the wilderness, elves began to assimilate the culture of their former serpent folk masters. Many of the first elves lived in the ruins of the ancient serpent folk cities and studied their architecture as well as the tablets dealing with magic, society and their treatises dealing with the outer powers. While much of this was alien and repulsive to the early hominids the elves were able to pick and choose certain secrets that they could use without violating their own sense of morality. They also applied their own extensive animistic beliefs to serpent folk theology, “correcting” what they saw as flaws in the races depictions of certain deities and powerful spirits. Thus, elven society advanced rapidly, having a framework to start from. They rapidly built fortresses, trained animals and began to farm, making them the first true agrarian society. From these early settlements they set out to secure their lands, either driving out the humans they encountered or bringing them into the fold, either as serfs or slaves. They rarely had any interaction with the dwarves early on, and by the time they did, the dwarves were well situated in their mountain fortresses and the elves found their territory not worth the cost of a prolonged siege.
The elves at this time were little different from humans save that they had better vision and senses than their seemingly dull kin. This changed quickly when the elven dreamers finally managed to plunge themselves into the deepest regions of the void and discovered the Dreamlands. There they first encountered the alien fey known as the Sidhe, who in curiosity followed these dreamers back to the physical world. The elves treated with these powers, seeing them as incarnations of nature and their gods. The Sidhe became fast allies of these interesting and temporary creatures, and many of them settled in the more rural elven lands, forming the first sacred groves and awakening the first treants and other speaking plants. After a time the fey influence of these powerful creatures and even direct interbreeding, produced the elves as they are known today. These new children, partially descended from the denizens of dream no longer dreamt themselves, and their years on the earth were greatly increased, some even attaining a sort of immortality (though these were rare and have mostly in the thousands of years since perished from violence).
While this seemed to cement the elven hold on the world forever, it actually was their downfall. It was not in the nature of the fey to be prolific, and the fey born children were in turn almost all sterile (a sort of metaphorical price for their long years). With their birthrates becoming a small fraction of what it had been, the elven numbers began to dwindle as they fought and died to keep control of their territories. Within a thousand years the expansive elven empires became little more than strongholds and small holds where they could defend themselves with minimal risk. Now living in a shadow of their former glory, the elves try to maintain a peaceful stance with their neighbors fearing all-out war that will likely mean their utter extinction.
