We remember cities now in ruin and forests murdered, yet still we sing to the stars and hope for renewal.
The elves of Toril collectively refer to themselves as Tel'Quessir, or The People in their tongue, signifying the subtle empathic bond they share with each other and the Weave. They sometimes refer to other races with the less-than-diplomatic expression N'Tel'Quessir, or non-people.
Personality Elves are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. With such a long life span, they tend to keep a broad perspective on events, remaining aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether an adventurous mission or learning a new skill or art, they can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.
Nearly all elves revere beauty in some form or another, even the cruel drow. Above all other races, elves are enamored with arcane magic. Though few pursue it with the focused ambition a human mage might, most elves dabble in the Art at least once in their long lives.
Physical Description: Elves are as tall as humans but much slimmer, typically weighing significantly less than an average human of the same height. Elf men the same height as and only marginally heavier than elf women. They are graceful but frail, possessing unearthly grace and fine features. Elves have no facial or body hair. Many humans and members of other races find them hauntingly beautiful. Elves only become ugly or disfigured through battle or scarring, and even their scars heal if given time.
Elves do not sleep, as members of the other common races do. Instead, an elf meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elf resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. While meditating, an elf dreams, though these dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. The Common word for an elf’s meditation is “reverie." Typically an elf reviews his own memories in reverie, though elves close to one another can share dreams.
Elves eat much less than humans, and in doing so have less of an impact on their environment. Though they are omnivorous, most elves eat more food derived from plants than a human would, instead of meat from animals.
Life & Death An elf becomes physically mature only slightly later than a human would, at age 25. However, elves are not considered adults in their cultures until much later in their lives, usually around 100 years of age. It is extremely rare for an elf below the age of 100 to leave his home for the life of an adventurer.
Until they are a few centuries of age, elves show little or no signs of aging. The Fair Folk remain fair throughout their lives, and it is only once they near the end of their days do they begin to appear as a middle-aged human might. Old elves very rarely wish to extend their lives beyond their natural years. As an elf ages, he feels a pull towards the communal home of his people, Arvandor. Since few have any desire to resist this pull, extension of an elves' natural life (often in the form of a baelnorn, a good-aligned lich) is usually done in service to some greater cause.
In death, all Seldarine-worshiping elves are sent to Arvandor, the home of the Seldarine on the plane of Arborea. As a land of incredible natural beauty, most elves find it the perfect paradise. Very few choose to leave if some magic calls them back to their mortal bodies. For this reason, there is a great taboo in elven culture against disturbing the dead except in times of great need.
Relations: Though attitudes vary greatly with subrace and individual, most elves consider humans rather unrefined, halflings a bit staid, gnomes somewhat trivial, and dwarves not at all fun. They look on half-elves with some degree of pity, and they regard halforcs with unrelenting suspicion. While haughty, elves are not particular the way halflings and dwarves can be, and they are generally pleasant and gracious even to those who fall short of elven standards (a category that encompasses just about everybody who’s not an elf).
Alignment: Since elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression. They lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Generally, they value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.
Elven Lands: Most elves live in woodland clans numbering less than two hundred souls. Their well-hidden villages blend into the trees, doing little harm to the forest. They hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allowing them to support themselves amply without the need for clearing and plowing land. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though some few elves make a good living trading finely worked elven clothes and crafts for the metals that elves have no interest in mining.
Elves encountered in human lands are commonly wandering minstrels, favored artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors, who teach swordplay to their children.
Religion: Most elves pray to one or all of the gods in their pantheon, the Seldarine. Above all others, elves worship Corellon Larethian, the Protector and Preserver of life. Elven myth holds that it was from his blood, shed in battles with Gruumsh, the god of the orcs, that the elves first arose. Corellon is a patron of magical study, arts, dance, and poetry, as well as a powerful warrior god.
Language: Elves speak a fluid language of subtle intonations and intricate grammar. While Elven literature is rich and varied, it is the language’s songs and poems that are most famous. Many bards learn Elven so they can add Elven ballads to their repertoires. Others simply memorize Elven songs by sound. The Elven script, as flowing as the spoken word, also serves as the script for Sylvan, the language of dryads and pixies, for Aquan, the language of water-based creatures, and for Undercommon, the language of the drow and other subterranean creatures.
Names: Family names are often combinations of regular Elven words; and some elves traveling among humans translate their names into Common while others use the Elven version.
Sources: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Player's Handbook Races of Faerun Races of the Wild Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves
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