Dark Elves (Drow)

Gray Elves (Kherin)

Green Elves

High Elves

Sea Elves

Silver Elves

White Elves (Albinar)

Wild Elves (Grugach)

Dark Elves (Drow)

The dark elves, or drow, are one of the most feared races on the world of Arrea. Breaking away from their surface relatives during the ancient Elfwars, the drow were banished to the depths of the Underdark. Despised by all, the drow are generally attacked on sight by all good races (and a great number of evil or neutral races as well).

Dark elves are known for their treachery, as well as their great skill at magic and swordplay.

Personality: Dark elves tend to be practical and willing to do anything to get ahead in their society. They claw, scrape, and backstab their way to prestige and power.

Physical Description: Dark elves are as short and slight of build as the other elves. Drow have jet-black skin and white or silver hair, although other light colors are possible. Their eyes are predominately vivid red. Dark elves wear dark clothing, allowing them to blend into the darkness of their subterranean homes. Their weapons and armor are noteworthy because of their strong magic that fades in the sunlight of the surface.

Relations: Drow hate just about all other races. The drow despise their neighbors, the svirfneblin; but save their greatest animosity for the other elven races, especially the albinar. 

Alignment: Dark elves are overwhelmingly chaotic evil. Their evil deities have led their race to the depths of depravity.

Adventurers: Dark elven characters that differ greatly from the standard drow alignment often become adventurers to escape from their oppressive culture.

Racial Traits: The dark elves of Arrea are identical statistically to the drow in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

Gray Elves (Kherin)

Known for their nobility and magical power. The Kherin are the oldest race of elves. They are aloof, city dwelling elves that dislike most non-elves. Gray elves rule the elven homeland of Anayll and the vast majority of Kherin never leave their island stronghold. Away from their homeland, Kherin are the least common surface-dwelling elves, preferring the company of their own kind.

Personality: Gray elves are the least friendly of the civilized elves. They are serious minded, superior, distant elitists that believe they are the favored race in the world and that all others should step aside so they can claim the right of rulership. Some of the most zealous Kherin actually hunt non-elves and actively work towards destroying the impure.

Physical Description: Kherin are tall for elves, standing between 5 ½ and 6 feet tall, but they are as thin and willowy as any other elf. They typically weigh between 90 and 140 pounds, with grey elven men being slightly taller and heavier than Kherin women. They are as graceful and frail as most of their elven relatives. However, gray elves are known for the strength of their mind, not their body.

They tend to be fair-skinned with exotic hair and eye colors. Common hair colors for Kherin are silver, white, violet, blue-green, and light blue. Black hair is extremely rare and Kherin born with black hair are believed to be bad luck. Eye colors are very similar to their hair colors with violet being the most common.

Kherin prefer fine clothing, the more colorful the better. They often wear exquisite jewelry and most use only the most artistic of weapons.

Relations: Kherin consider themselves above all other races, even other elves. They look down upon all non-elves with disdain. Their high elven cousins are considered wayward children, and the other surface elven subraces are pitied as savages that could be so much more.

Alignment: Kherin are predominately lawful neutral. They are much more serious than the other elves and like to think of themselves as the protectors of the elven culture.

Adventurers: Gray elven adventurers are rare. Kherin adventurers tend to be drastically different than the typical members of their race, sometimes even leaning towards one of the other elven races in personality.

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Green Elves

Green elves, also known as sylvan or wood elves, are uncomfortable with civilization. The live in deep forests, usually in beautiful tree-cities created by green elf shapers. 

Personality: In the forests that make up their homes, the sylvan elves are confident and competent protectors of the woodlands. Outside of their homelands, green elves seem less confident, introverted, and tend to quietly watch their surroundings intently. Green elves that have never left their homelands tend to be naïve about the other races.

Physical Description: Green elves are just as short as high elves, but they are slightly thicker and more muscular, often weighing as much as 160 lbs. They tend to have tanned skin with dark hair and eye colors. Common hair colors for green elves are black, brown, a dark, rusty red color, and very rarely dark green. Eye colors are very similar to their hair colors with brown being most common.

Wood elves are utilitarian; they wear mostly leather and furs and their clothing is dyed to blend with the forest.

Relations: Green elves are friendly to anyone who treats the woodlands with respect. They will attempt to mislead intruders away from their territory as long as the intruders mind themselves in the forest. Wood elves are close to the animals and fey of the forest, and often have allies if the forest is in peril.

Alignment: Green elves are predominately chaotic good. They work for the good of the natural order.

Adventurers: Green elven adventurers are uncommon. Sylvan elf adventurers are generally thrill seekers or on a quest that will help their people.

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High Elves

Arrean high elves are the most numerous elven subrace. They are, in all ways, identical to the elves in the Player’s Handbook. 

Sea Elves

Sea elves are the aquatic relatives of the surface elves. 

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Silver Elves

Silver elves, also known as wanderers, are much different from the other subraces of elf. Biologically, silver elves are high elves; in fact a silver elf can be born of two high elven parents. The difference between a high elf and silver elf is purely mental; silver elves are far more inquisitive and reckless, and they are stricken with wanderlust. They are the easiest elves to deal with by non-elves, not quite as xenophobic as the kherin or wild elves, and quicker to befriend than the high elves.

When the number of elves started diminishing, a fraction of the high elven population decided that the easiest way to slow the elven decline was to travel the world looking for a new homeland. After a millennia of travel, these elves found the island of Anayll and realized that they had found the home that they were looking for. Most of these elves, now known as silver elves, had become addicted to the travel and longed to see more of the world.

Personality: Silver elves are friendly, knowledgeable, and enjoy the company of non-elves as well as other elves. They view life much like humans; life is to be lived. People familiar with the other races of elves are often shocked when they meet a silver elf, since they will usually introduce themselves with a flourish and begin telling stories of their long lives.

They are the easiest elves to deal with by non-elves, not quite as xenophobic as the kherin or wild elves, and quicker to befriend than the high elves.

Physical Description: Silver elves are physically identical to any high elf. Wanderers prefer colorful clothing created from strong fibers that can hold up to their travels.

Relations: Quick to smile and easy to talk to, silver elves thrive in area where other elves would be seen as difficult and standoffish. Silver elven bards almost always get their meals bought for them when passing through a town.

Alignment: Silver elves are normally chaotic good, however there are large amounts of chaotic neutral silver elves as well.

Adventurers: All silver elves are stricken with wanderlust so they are commonly adventurers.

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White Elves (Albinar)

The history of the white elves begins just after the Godswar, when an elven hero named Arithan Venatha was elevated to godhood. Arithan became the patron god of vengeance, and his followers chased the Drow into the underdark.  His followers, the white elves, live deep in the underdark also and frequently war with the Drow.  They gave up their life on the surface to destroy the Drow menace.  They have lived in the underdark ever since, and have developed unique adaptations to their surroundings.

Personality: Albinar are the most serious minded elves in Arrea. They are taught from a young age that excessive noise could kill them. They speak only when necessary. They are loyal friends however and often adopt a surrogate family in their travels.

Physical Description: Albinar are short for elves, rarely topping 5 feet tall, but they are just as thin as any other elf. They typically weigh between 60 and 90 pounds, with white elf men being slightly taller and heavier than white elf women. They are more graceful than even other elves.

As a race, the white elves probably have the least variation in their hair and eye coloring.  A huge percentage of the white elves have white hair and white eyes.  The ones that don’t have white eyes will have pink eyes.  There are a few more variations to hair color, from silver to blond to even red, but the greatest majority has white hair.

Relations: Albinar tend to keep to themselves and rarely even meet with other races. When they do, the races they meet are their greatest enemies; the drow, duergar, and the derro. The white elves are neutral to the good races of the underdark, the svirfneblin, and the deep dwarves.

Alignment: White elves are predominately chaotic good.

Adventurers: White elven adventurers are rare, mainly because the albinar are so rare that most able-bodied adults are needed for the defense of their families.

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Wild Elves (Grugach)

The grugach were elves that, long ago, foresaw the destruction of their forest homes. They decided to withdraw deep into the forests to protect the woods from the encroaching races.

Personality: Grugach are serious and hate non-grugach with a passion. They attack intruders on sight and are dangerous combatants.

Physical Description: Shorter, but more sturdy than their elven relatives, a Grugach rarely tops 5’2” and weights about as much as a high elf.

Relations: Grugach are xenophobic to the extreme. When travelers intrude upon their land more often than not they are never heard from again. Wild elves believe that the other elves are traitors to the natural order. Other elves have just as much, if not more, to fear from these feral elves.

Alignment: Grugach are neutral. They care about their woodland homes and protect them fiercely against incursions.

Adventurers: Wild elves are the most rare elven adventurers. Most people never see a Grugach in their lives. When a Grugach becomes an adventurer, it is always because some dread danger is threatening his home and has left to combat it.

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Winged Elves (Avariel)

The winged elves live on high mountain tops and in cloud cities. They are often mistaken for celestials when seen.

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