Lore

Harvest elf is a term used collectively to refer to most elves, and they come in as many skin tones, hair, and eye colours as humans. Harvest elves are distinct from the high elves, a noble caste that has been warped by time in the Lands Beyond. Regardless of if they are born in deserts, forests, mountains, or cities, the term "harvest elf" still applies, as it is considered a more polite term than "low" or "lowland elf".

 

Originally from the Lands Beyond, elvenkind sacrificed most of their magical potential and stabilized their forms in order to move to the world, becoming mortal in the process. Many view this as the first argument for elven superiority, implying a millennia old debt other mortals owe them.

The elves as a people have a rich history, primarily living in an empire that once spanned much of the known world. The region around Orcrest was but one portion of that mighty empire, although the empire of Aer Arnad has retreated and their people are in decline. Elves are still amongst the most populous people in the region of Orcrest, but humans are still the majority.

Though elves are given birth names by their parents, these childhood names are often set aside or discarded as the elf comes of age and reaches maturity. Members of their immediate family and childhood friends may or may not continue to call the elf by their childhood name - any given elf may resent, be embarrassed by, or still appreciate their childhood name depending on family relationship and history.

Harvest elves are typically shorter and slighter than humans, but have an unusual strength for their size. Their long lives are often spent in art and leisure, flitting from trade to trade every century or so. Those who stick with a single craft, however, often become renown masters, leaving the typical duties of their station to apprentices and servants while they focus on the finest part of their craft.

Because even a young elf is often far older and more experienced than even the oldest humans, elves often have trouble considering them equals - though they are rarely rude about this, despite the belief that it is only because of the slow decline of the elves that humanity has begun to rise in prominence. Still, elvenkind have finally been forced to take humans seriously in politics and warfare.

​

Quirks

• Though a given harvest elf may be born into a high elven family, this does not make them a high elf. See the high elf page for more details.

• Elves need rest like any other, though they need less of it than normal, either sleeping for less time or with larger gaps between rests. When they do sleep, they do not dream like most mortals - instead entering a meditative void where they can think and plan. Elves who sleep in close proximity can choose to enter the same void, able to share time together while their bodies recuperate.

• While every elf is treated as a citizen of the Empire of Aer Arnad and will be afforded rights there, many elves are actually born abroad in independent regions, and may be from virtually any surface city or land in the realm that other races hail from.

• While harvest elves do not typically carry the same racial pride as the high elves, older harvest elves often have difficulty being comfortable around humans and other shorter lived races, finding conversation with them exhausting. Many harvest elves tend toward a mild but non-confrontational prejudice but maintain necessary politeness and an interest in the affairs of the other races.

• Younger elves tend to be eager to ally with or at least attempt to live around humans, finding their dramas, struggles, and emotional highs and lows to be a fascinating contrast to the controlled stability of traditional elven culture.

• Elves younger than 100 years of age are children and may not be played on Orcrest.