#How do you include a bit about the green elves snubbing the moon elves for appropriating their sacred tattoos and then bold facedly-

[y-rhywbeth2]

Oh boy, this is long. This may in fact be a small novel.

Are these getting longer? At least the wood elves will be short. And then its the fucking novel that will be the dark elves.

Technically there are two subsets of 'wood' elf, but they overlap a lot. Wood/copper elves are a subgroup of green elves, in a way, but the copper elves being the result of sun elves and moon elves (and others) intermarrying with green elves enough that they produced enough of a distinct philosophical/cultural and ethnic identity to stand out.

The terms: 'sylvan elves' or 'forest elves' can be applied to both. Technically, so can 'wood elves,' but since the Or'Tel'Quessir became their own distinct branch it pretty much just refers to them now.

Subraces categorised as 'wood elves' are still finer boned than humans, but more substantial than those classified as 'high elves.'

Average Weight Range: 80 lbs - 240 lbs

Starting with the original wood elves; the green elves, who got fucked over by the world hard and who reading about makes me want to start hitting the writers with the book. I tried to find a balance between exorcising the worst of it without getting rid of the content, but I don't know how much, or if, that's possible to do. Still, the lore is the lore and that's what I'm compiling.

The People of the Green - Sy'Tel'Quessir

Green elves*, Forest elves, Sylvan elves, 'Wild' elves**

* Green as in greenery and forest biomes.

** Despite that being what most of Faerûn and the writers calls them; don't.

Hair: Ranging from black through the shades of brown, including copper, through to blonde. Lightens 'til it's silver-white over the years.

Eyes: Green, brown and hazel

Skintone: Sharing the copper hues of the wood elves, but also dark brown, so dark copper hues.

Average Lifespan: 450 - 850 years. But there has been at least one elf who was 1000 years old.

Patron Deity: Rillifane Rallathil, god of nature.

Other quirks: While they share the human level height range of other elves, green elves apparently tend towards being tall.

'Well we tried the whole building cities and nations and then everybody else came along and burned it all down (again, and again and again and again and-). Clearly that was a waste of time; time to embrace a philosophy of impermanency and fuck off into the remote regions of Faerûn and never talk to anybody ever again.'

The Sy'Tel'Quessir are perfectly happy as they are right now and are not interested in whatever you're selling. Get out, and don't bother coming back with a warrant; they don't care. (Although they have been forced to play politics with the outside world every now and again.)

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The Road of Life:

Green elves largely agree with moon elves that one's life is a personal thing, that life in general exists to be enjoyed, and that one must walk ones path in life for for oneself (while also supporting others in your community, creating a network that supports everybody in living their lives to the full).

The joy of life exists in new things and the acts of change and creation, but not in stagnation - the world is ever changing and cannot be made static or controlled (trying begets tragedy).

Green elven life is heavily tied up with their spirituality and faith. One is guided through life by visions gained through communing with the (very large) pantheon of various gods, and although green elves are also guided by their druids, one's worship and relationship with the gods is also a deeply personal and individualistic thing.

Origin:

In -27,000 DR, 2,600 years before the arrival of the Tintageer refugees, the fey of Toril opened a portal to the Feywild, summoning elves loyal to the fey gods to the plane in an effort to counter the dominion of dragonkind by displacing them with the rise of elvenkind. These elves - who revered the natural world and worshipped 'fey spirits' and the likes of Titania and Oberon in place of the Seldarine and were nicknamed the Faerie elves by Tintageer refugees - were the people whose descendants would be known as the dark elves and green elves (Also the avariel and lythari migrated with them, I suppose, but this isn't about them).

They set out to explore and established the first elven settlements, and later became key contributors to the development of elven High Magic.

Of all the nations over the course of elven history, green elven nations were the least likely to commit war crimes - they had them inflicted upon them, instead.

Over the course of the Crown Wars, every green elven homeland was destroyed and at the end was a dark age they spent as 'fugitives, slaves, or rootless vagabonds' called 'The Wandering.' In the process the green elves lost much of the ancient lore that burned with their homelands, losing more as they moved their focus to the skills of day-to-day survival.

The constant destruction of their people and the destruction of the natural beauty of the world they had made their home, at the hands of dragons, at the hands of other elves including their closest kin, and then from orcs and humans, repeatedly, led the green elves to abandon the world at large.

They created the islands that would become known as Evermeet to escape the violence of the Crown Wars: They got colonised by Aryvandaar.

After the crown wars they founded Yuirshanyaar with the star elves: That got ruined by an invasion of Untheric humans, though at the very least external forces forced that to get better.

They settled the Chondalwood: the humans of Jhaamdath kept destroying the safety of their woods, ignoring their set boundaries and over-foresting in the name of their dreams of conquest. (The elves of the Chondalwood do get along rather well with the local ghostwise halflings who have a similar desire to be left alone - which is to say, both groups politely avoid each other.)

They lived in the forests around Amn and Tethyr (the Wealdath and Shilimista), and then were colonised by the human Shoon Empire, who enslaved them and tortured them in dark magic experiments. Then later down the line of history the human kingdom of Tethyr started an attempted ethnic cleansing of the elves following a failed attempt at building good relations, believing the elves had conspired to assassinate the king who'd brought in a golden age (technically it was a handful of elves who assassinated him, fearing future human abuse, this was not an official plan nor anything the elves of the Wealdath at large had any knowledge or part of).

The basic sum of green elven history is 'we build things and then outsiders come along and burn it down, usually while trying to torture and kill us.' As such the modern green elf has absolutely zero desire to ever interact with an outsider. They will see to their own, and everybody else can stay the hells away from them.

After the star elves and green elves settled in the Yuirwood, something like 10,000 years ago, the Seldarine came into contact with the local Yuir pantheon. The culture that worshipped these gods was long gone, and merged with the elven gods to survive. The fusion of Rillifane Rallathil and the gods Magnar the Bear and Relkath of the Infinite Branches saw the Leaflord - who had been moving away from his roots to become a more 'urban' god as the elves developed in that direction - revert to a much more wilderness-focused deity, who contained many animal-formed nature spirits that serve as his aspects and were also adopted into the worship of the Sy'Tel'Quessir and their later half-elven descendants (the Cha'Tel'Quessir of the Yuirwood) as their faiths and culture shifted to a more druidic tradition.

The constant loss of everything they've ever built, as well as observation of a history full of nations that rose and fell to changing tides, has led the green elves to become disillusioned with the notion of permanency, including static ordered 'civilisation' that causes so much pride and destruction chasing illusions. Rilifane's dogma of the natural cycles of change and death and rebirth, along with change and the creation of the new being seen as one of the joys of life defines the green elven mindset: Green elves, as a whole, find meaning in their current culture and have no interest in recovering or preserving the civilisations of their ancestors - an attitude that baffles sun elves to no end.

While green elves have retreated to Evermeet (or were there already) many remained on the continent to defend the forests from the spread of human industry and settling.

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Society:

Green elf culture is similar to the moon elves; usually nomadic, highly-social and gregarious, fun-loving and constantly looking for an excuse to party and play with new things. (Considering that moon elves are another branch on the green elf tree and the many iterations of dark elves are also party animals, it's probably safe to say that raging parties are just a staple of elves in general). Hunts are a cause for throwing a celebration - usually an excuse for a celebration. Everybody, whatever their ability; the young, the elderly, the disabled, is given a part to play within their abilities so that all may feel they've contributed and share in the joy of success, and then they party. (Elders in general tend to be respected, and when one cannot work their family or community will care for them until they pass on.)

A non-green elf, outside of the very closely related wood elves whose territories often overlap with theirs, will never know this about them. Outsiders mostly only know them through rumour as the mysterious and hostile 'wild' elves who have lost all their fancy elven culture. Green elves on their end minimise all contact with outsiders, usually expressing undisguised hostility when forced to endure it, and prefer to be entirely uncontacted if they can. One invited into their settlements will find the locals pretending they don't exist (while guards watch every their move). Green elven population numbers are so low that they don't feel they can afford the risk of trusting outsiders and inviting more destruction.

Normally green elves will hide their presence from outsiders, preferably in a non-violent manner that won't draw ire and further invasion. Usually they do this by retreating to/remaining in hidden settlements or 'elf paths' in the canopy while the intruders pass through without noticing, or by enchanting them and leaving them on the outskirts of the forest with no memory of where they've been. If it comes down to it though, green elves are ready to kill.

'The elves dare not trust humans or other outsiders if they are to survive. They will kill, and kill swiftly, to preserve the safety of this last stand of their people.'

It typically takes decades or centuries of interaction to build the evidence to make a green elf confident that an outsider won't bring harm on them (even by accident). Once a green elf's affection is earned they near enough adopt their new loved one, sometimes a bit literally; tattooing beloved friends is a common way of showing acceptance and broadcasting that the outsider is trustworthy (the sight of authentic green elven tattoos on a non-green elf thaws the icy reception enough that you can expect that most green elves will greet you as warmly as their kin.)

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Due to their isolationist policies, as well as being scattered all over Faerûn developed under different histories and surroundings, there are few sweeping statements that can be made about the structures of green elven societies. Some are nomadic, others are semi-nomadic and move from settlement to settlement, while others are sedentary - usually living in treetop villages, out of view of passers-by.

Most practice gender segregation. Where those who don't fit into the binary fit has never been discussed, but I imagine that also varies from place to place. Men and women, to varying degrees, undergo their daily lives and spiritual traditions separately. Power structures vary, with some being matriarchal, some being patriarchal and others being egalitarian in leadership or having men and women wield power over different aspects of life.

The pecking order of a green elven society ('gently established,' compared to the way non-elves consider and enforce things) does not apply outside of ones own. A green elf matriarch from, say, Shilimista meeting a young green elf hunter from Evermeet outside of each of their homes are strangers and will not have any form of ranking governing interactions between them.

Many green elves refuse to engage with items created by outsiders (especially magical ones) and the disaster they're sure to bring and have already brought with their creation (like metal, which was created with the deforestation and pollution of mining). Others refrain from mining, on religious grounds, but don't hold outsiders to the same standards and are cautiously willing to engage in limited trade (usually with other elves) for metal and sometimes interesting luxury items from outside their culture like instruments or clothes. Hostility and degree of isolation is another thing that varies depending on local history.

Some shared points:

Green elven life is no less steeped in the arcane than any other elven culture (save wood elves, who have little interest in the arcane) but they ignore the static and structures of wizardry in favour of the creativity and natural spontaneous magic of sorcery. Green elves have similar runic magic traditions to moon elves, although their traditions are not linked to Angharradh and are not necessarily restricted to women. In some places they may not be gender restricted and in others they are restricted to specific genders. A unique form of green elven magic involves storing spells in the skin in the form of tattoos, and often has a similar effect to a magic garment. For example; tattooing a haste spell onto ones legs or feet would have a similar effect to boots of speed. (The effect of the spells in question must target the person bearing the tattoo). Said tattoos also fade once the magic activates.

Green elves don't build architecture or tools to last. Generations faced with the destruction of knowledge and the pressures of survival without infrastructure, coupled with their faith shifting to focus on a druidic coexistence with nature (minimising disruptions for personal gain) has developed a culture of using only what materials they can find around them - wood, bone, leather and raw mineral that doesn't require mining. A good tool is a practical one that can be easily repaired on the go.

What permanence is permitted is when living things are part of the structure, such as still-alive trees (able to change and grow) shaped into buildings like the Eight's Tree: a sometime court, manor and guesthouse (that also serves as a granary and armoury for the community) hollowed into a giant oak tree, belonging to the Duke of the Eastern Wealdath.

Art and creative hobbies are beloved, but the folly of trying to trap the beauty of art and life locked in place is shunned, with the sole exception being their religious tradition of tattooing (an artform embraced by all elves, except drow, but none more so than the green elves). Permanent art like sculpture and painting is avoided (or perhaps destroyed or left to rot after its making), they don't generally bother with the written word, at most maintaining the stories that need to be remembered in oral tradition if they must be recorded at all.

Green elves have a similar competitive streak to dark elves; they don't shy from combat and enjoy martial contest. Unlike mainstream dark elven culture this doesn't get bloody (it can't anyway; green elves are too endangered to throw away their population). Raiding and mock-battles are a sport and a form of politics.

Funerary customs usually involve tree burials. For noble/well-respected individuals the ceremony involves using magic to encase the body in a still-living tree.

Following their philosophy of not holding onto permanence, it's common for green elves to reject the concept of monogamy. Considering the ancestral ties and other points of similarity it's possible that green elven marriages operate like dark elven ones; a marriage lasts for a certain span of time, lasting years to decades before expiring, leaving the partners to decide whether to renew the marriage or go their separate ways.

Animals are generally viewed fondly, and relationships with animals that can serve as guardians or aid with hunts like wolves and birds of prey (usually as druid and ranger companions) are deliberately cultivated.

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All elves cultivate the natural environment around them for agricultural and construction purposes while keeping disturbances to the ecosystem to a minimum, but the green elves are particularly adept at it. The Wealdath, for example, is cultivated into something of a fortress:

The 'walls' surrounding the forest, known as 'The Shield,' are formed by dense, borderline impenetrable trees (some of which are actually treants who are perfectly ready to rip you limb from limb) behind and around which are entire areas of natural traps made of entangling thorns, fungi that emit spores that make humans ill, and a deliberately encouraged population of dangerous animals - all geared to keep outsiders out of their realm and far away from the elves. (Outsiders can stay in the plentiful 'upsun' parts of the outer forest - 'There, the forest is expanding by itself, sunlight is plentiful, and birds and small forest beasts are numerous.')

A series of roads connects the forest, allowing the elves fast and safe travel from place to place, known (to outsiders) as 'elf trails.'

'Barely noticeable to human rangers and druids, they have no names and often combine ground level and “uppertree” travel, running along and leaping from branch to branch. Uppertree routes cross over bogs, thorn-thickets, and beast lairs that the ground routes lead into, only to fade out in the very heart of danger. Swing-log rams and deadfalls are favorite trail traps.'

The ground level faux-trails trespassers might come across are marked with neon 'keep out' signs in the form of human skeletons pinned to nearby trees by arrows, enchanted to glow blue in the darkness.

The paths are dotted with hidden caches and natural shelters (caves, particularly sheltering trees, abandoned structures built by others), holy sites, and safe peaceful parts of the forest that are ideal for camping or foraging (foraging spots are also deliberately located, placed and cultivated, encouraging health and spread of desired resources; 'several ponds of drinkable water, edible berries in profusion at the right time of year, and small game in plenty.').

The tree-city of Suldanessellar is the largest permanent settlement consisting of ancient still-living trees with hollowed out living spaces within their trunks at 50-300ft above the ground, the higher the better (green elven architecture is 'inextricably part of the healthy trees that support them—an engineering feat that would baffle the best gnome architect.') Most residents are not permanent; the elves travel in family units or other groups through the forest, often coming back to the city to socialise or rest. It also serves as a neutral ground for green elven politics.

Swanmay's Glade, at the foot of Suldanessellar serves as a sometime trading point, since apparently merchants simply won't stop trying to barter for 'exotic wild elf goods.' '...some elves have come to hold the view that if humans are going to blunder into the Wealdath attempting to trade, they might as well be met here. And if they come to steal or slay, the Glade is as good a place to kill them as any.'

The village of Talltrees is the other, smaller settlement, also far above ground in the canopy. Human mercenaries burned it down in an attempt to murder all the elves there in 1364 DR (you know the drill by this point, I'm sure) though there was mention during the 14th century that the elves planned to rejuvenate the forest and start a new one. It also serves as a peaceful meeting ground for external politics.

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While green elves would rather live in total isolation, sometimes proximity forces diplomacy. Usually in the form of: 'these are our boundaries, which you do not cross; you can go logging and hunting here, here, and here but nowhere else; and we will agree to trade with you on these neutral grounds and you will respect every single boundary we place upon you while in our domain. Trespassers will be shot.'

Green elves and their leaders may be involved with local human politics, even if their people are not.

Some will begrudgingly reach out to the likes of adventurers during times of dire need, and others will trade for resources unavailable or less available in their lands.

Visitors like traders who are permitted near settlements are to wait at a designated camping point to wait until an elf shows up to guide them to the 'marketplace,' which will usually be as far away from their actual settlement as it can get without making moving goods back and forth impractical.

'[Merchants] report that the elves desire finely made metal needles, fastenings buckles and clasps, pans, bowls, and weapons; cheeses, and durable, fine-woven fabrics in hues found in nature. In return, they trade fresh and ground forest herbs; edible forest mushrooms; delectable sweet jellies made from certain plants and leaves; potent berry wines; and a flavorful paste or spread. This “Wealdathar” is made from certain crushed and ground roots and berries, the flesh’ of quail and other forest fowl, and smoked forest meats. [...] I know of no human coming to harm from eating it, but there are some folk who swear it contains some secret ingredient that elven mages can use to control the bodies of anyone who's ever eaten Wealdathar. If so, the mages seem to be waiting for some future occasion to wield such power.' - Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II

Diplomacy, as ever, changes by location:

On Evermeet they mostly shun their cousins unless required to band together for mutual defence, but are willing to mingle with them during festival times and are engage in trade with the moon elves for items like chainmail and musical instruments from other elven cultures. (Moon elves also tend to annoy green elves by trying their usual cultural thing of assimilating to and exploring other cultures without thinking things through, and in the process overstep the boundaries of the Sy'Tel'Quess and start appropriating their culture. Other elves in general tend to romanticise/fetishize the 'purity' of green elven culture, though the sun elves continue to be completely baffled by the notion of letting your ancestral culture fade into nothing without fighting for it, and may start trying to push it back onto them.)

The green elves of the Yuirwood made peace with the humans after banding together against mutual threats eventually formed a blended society. Their descendants are mostly of human and elven descent forming the half-green elven people known as the Cha'Tel'Quessir, who have made a place for themselves as members of Aglarondan society and their way of life is protected and respected.

Elves of the Wealdath have a long, long bad history with humans. In the late 14th century attempts on both sides to forge more peaceful relationships started up again, but they were still icy and probably still are.

'Anyone who thinks this is all “old dust history” is reminded of the Battle of the Burning, some twenty years ago, wherein an adventuring band decided to expand the valley they'd retired to by burning back the forest. All of them died, along with every local farmer and every last sheep, hog, and ox. Sorcerous rain clouds remained over the smoldering trees for months, and all of the human corpses and their livestock were left for others to find, bristling with arrows.'

Religion:

'The Great Oak draws energy from all the living creatures of the world and nourishes, sustains, and protects them from outside threats. Live in harmony with the natural world, allowing each living being the opportunity to serve out its natural purpose in life. As the Leaflord's countless branches, his faithful are to serve as his mortal agents in the natural world - Defend the great forests from those who would ravage their riches, leaving only destruction in their path. Contest both the quick and the slow death of Rillifane's bounty and hold strong like the great oaks in the face of those who can see only their own immediate needs' - Rillifane Rallathil's dogma

The green elven pantheon is a rather large one, compared to other elves'. A core part of the faith is that the world itself has its life energy, which is sacred, and gods representing that world (Rilifane, Silvanus, Mielikki) are worshipped alongside weaker powers that represent them, and - much in the spirit that the Seldarine are considered to be spirits of the world of Arvandor - local spirits are respected and made homage to - albeit not worshipped. The spirits of ancient trees are particularly venerated (though, again, not as deities) as sentient foci of 'good' natural energies. Elves may reverie beneath the shelter of the tree after asking a question of it and making an offering and can expect to see answering visions in their rest.

Individual elves tend to find specific spirits and divine servitors are more significant to their lives than others, and pay more attention to the omens and symbols associated with them.

While at least some of the green elves at some point rediscovered Sehanine after migrating to Toril, and have long since resumed the worship of the Seldarine, they continue to pay homage to the fey gods. While they recognise Corellon as head of the elven pantheon, they do not place the same import upon their creator that they do to Rilifane Ralathil, Solonor Thelandira (hunting) or Erevan Ilesere (fun, championing the underdog, and antiauthority - Erevan is noted to get dangerous when groups of sylvan elves are threatened). Those are near enough the only members of the elven pantheon they feel any connection to.

Druids serve as spiritual advisors to the community, sometimes leaders, but there's no calendar or set holidays or services, a green elf prays as and when the mood takes them.

Elven subraces

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. There's a lot of lore; I don't know everything. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest. etc]

(Tel'Quessir only, we're not going into the non-Torillian stuff like snow elves or astral elves)

How many of these bastards could you possibly need, you ask? Well according to the writers there are never enough:

So lore dumps on Moon elves, Sun elves, Star elves, Wood elves, Green elves, Aquatic elves, Winged elves, Dark elves (and their infinite permutations), Lythari, Fey'ri, and Celadrin. And we're not going into the other tiny little pockets of culture like the Llewyrr or the Poscadari.

A brief talk about the mixing of subraces, and then starting the lore dumps off with the moon elves.

A note before going into it is that, obviously, elves can be descended from multiple subraces. Mechanically they will take after one parent, usually a mother. In appearance they usually favour one parent over the other, but they may have any mix of traits from their parents.

So a green elf (wood) and a moon elf (high) may produce a child whose 5e character sheet says either wood elf or high elf, with the appropriate stat bonus (3.5e would put them down as green or moon). It takes generations of mixing to produce a distinct subrace as the moon elves and wood elves have.

Canonically:

Shemmithil Maraphiir - better known as Ashemmi - is the daughter of a sun elven mother and a moon elven father. Mechanically she was a moon elf (and identified as one), and she had blonde hair and golden eyes from her mother.

Halanaestra, a tavern-master (barkeeper/pub landlord) on Evermeet is of mixed silver, green and sea elven heritage.

There's also an elven noble house (House Le'Quella) of mixed moon and green heritage.

As the offspring of an elf and a half-elf is mechanically classified as an elf in the Realms it's also possible for an elf to display human genes from a grandparent or more distant ancestor. (Or even a non-human non-elven ancestor).

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Elven aging, in DnD baseline canon, features a lifespan of aprox. 750 years. That said, sources have varied and different elven subraces have different average lifespans so I'll mention them. It's also worth noting that these are average lifespans, and even the shortest-lived elven subrace (drow) are known to live into four digit numbers.

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Obviously the lore presented is cultural norms and stereotypes, and individual elves may not fit the mould perfectly.

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High Elves are sometimes referred to as Eladrin, which also happens to be the name for the closely related celestials/fey who dwell in the Feywild and Arvandor. Generally people just call them elves.

Calling a moon or star elf a high elf may cause confusion, as while there are three subraces that fall into the category it's also one of the terms used to refer to sun elves.

All high elven subraces share the same average heights and weights, standing on average about the same heights as humans (in contrast to elves of other worlds, who tend to be shorter)

Height Range: 4'5" - 6'6", averaging the same heights as humans.

Weight Range: 70 lbs - 250 lbs, lighter than a human of the same height and build - likely due to the comparatively physical fragility and 'delicateness' high elves are known for.

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The People of the Moon - Teu'Tel'Quessir

Moon elves, Silver elves, Grey elves*

*A slur used by gold elves who consider them inferiors (and what an elf should not be).

By far the most likely to show ancestry from outside the moon elf gene pool. For example; while moon elven hair skews towards silver-white, they can be seen with hair of any colour.

Hair: silver, white, silver-white, white-blue, white-green, blue, midnight blue, black. Very, very early generations of moon elves had bright red hair, but that gene seems to have died out.

Eyes: Green, blue, grey, silver. A distinct trait of moon elves is that their eyes are always flecked with gold (which catches the light, giving the impression of literal gold or even stars).

Skintone: 'Bleached white' - also likened to ivory, alabaster and snow - with blue undertones, and an affect that's described as being like 'white marble' (which I assume is the blue pattern formed by veins under the skin where it's thin, but that's just my assumption.)

Average Lifespan: 500-900 years. Second longest lived of the elven subraces.

Patron deity: Sehanine Moonbow, deity of death, journeys, transcendence, dreams, mysticism, the night sky with the stars and moon. Moon elven religion is also the only one to officially include Angharradh in the pantheon.

Wandering party elves who may have to show up to work hungover. Individualistic, impulsive, flighty, fun-loving, hedonistic little bastards who tend to take risks and have a horrible ability to judge said risks: Do first, think later. Being alive is a delight, and the purpose of life is to enjoy it to the fullest (and to have the freedom to do so). If you visit Evermeet some of them will board your ship without warning on the way in and drink all your booze while singing bawdy songs. They tend to embrace change, delight in gambling, and see life as something to be enjoyed - other elves simply need to pull their heads out of their asses.

'Life is for the living and is best spent among the lively. Revel in variety and laughter, for all living things can learn and laugh with each other.'

Origin:

Moon elves are descended from the children of Sharlario Moonflower, an adventuring merchant from the Feywild (although his rival personally believed the man to be a pirate). He was staying in the city of Tintageer when it was destroyed by disaster and fled with the survivors to Toril. Said survivors became the gold elves, while he married a green elven priestess of Sehanine Moonbow. Their children inherited his white-blue skin and their mother's devout reverence for the Daughter of the Night Skies and were nicknamed moon elves as a result, they took to wandering as he did and served well as diplomats between the various elven people who had made their home on Toril.

(The Moonflower clan also went on to be the royal family as history progressed, and some sun elven reactionaries have never really forgiven the moon elves for that since that's their place.)

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The Road of Life: 'The silver elves strongly believe than an individual must choose his or her path through life.' In the moon elven take on the core elven philosophy there is no one correct way to live life, and every individual must be free to find their own way and chose the path for themselves. It's not the destination that matters, but the journey.

Moon elves have a drive to seek excitement and new experiences; to see and do as much as they can within their lifespan, trying out new things and dropping them for the next as they go. They often spend the longest time in the first stage of the road, characterised by chasing impulse and entertainment, travelling and adventuring, focusing on themselves and their own interests rather than the community - and sometimes lapsing from the second stage (the mature stage where they focus on their society and their place in it) back to the first wanderlust stage in later life. There is no stigma against this however; it's their road to walk and they must walk it as they see fit.

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Society:

Moon elves found outside of elven lands are transients, usually travelling in extended family groups. Of course, being elves, their idea of a brief stay has them hanging around in one settlement for years, sometimes several decades. They're likely to own houses and have jobs and long-term friendships before they decide to wander off again.

Their nomadic lifestyle often leads moon elves to pick up multiple languages over the course of their lives.

Due to their history of wandering and mixing with the people they encounter, their culture encouraging a love of fun and new experiences, and the presence of Angharradh in their religious beliefs encouraging strength in diversity, moon elves are the most outgoing and amongst the most open-minded and friendly elves (the others are the copper elves, who share their open-minded outlook but are more settled and reclusive). They do have conflicts - some moon elves are embittered by historical losses at the hands of humans; Evereska has historically been barred to any non-elves save Harpers and elf friends. And sometimes the friction between the clashing ideals of moon and sun elves, as well as their bad history, turns to real enmity rather than their usual 'disapproving family members' treatment. But the philosophical outlook moon elves have drilled into their head from birth, favouring individuality, generally leads them to be willing to treat people as individuals rather than members of their group.

Moon elven houses are the most likely to adopt non-elves into house membership, and often frown upon refusing to legitimise mixed children born to their house.

They usually happily integrate with their neighbours in whatever society they're staying in, though if they feel persecuted or othered they're known to respond by becoming the most obnoxious elven stereotype in order to annoy said neighbours. An elven household in a human city isn't going to have a bedroom and is liable to be covered in plants like some kind of greenhouse (these plants are actually edible - to the elven digestive system, at least), but assuming they like their guest they'll put the plants away and prepare a guest room while hosting. Sometimes the plants are enchanted to levitate to the rafters on command.

Fighters aren't uncommon, but moon elves prefer to approach conflict with a stealth-first mentality; moon elven stories favour heroes who outwit and humiliate their opponents with quick thinking and cunning.

Literature, song and poetry favours light-hearted with a focus on humour - especially dirty humour. They have their share of more solemn and tragic historical tales, but these things have their time and place and don't get the focus.

They like to party and all night revels are a common thing. Gambling games are also a staple of moon elven social life and getting dragged into games of kholiast (a very complicated card game involving dice and a deck of 1000 cars) is to be expected.

Pets are common, especially hunting dogs and birds of prey. They don't seem to care for horses though, preferring their own two feet. On the less common selection are blink dogs, pegasi, unicorns and dragonnes (cat-dragon things).

Moon elven culture doesn't encourage hiding or repressing emotion and many wear their hearts on their sleeves. They have a reputation for mood swinging, going from exuberant joy and merriment to 'the pits of despair and melancholy' and back again at speeds that non-moon elves struggle to cope with. Hiding or repressing your emotions is frowned on, and the stoicism practiced by gold elves is derided as a 'colourless' existence.

Customisation and self-expression in fashion is big. Makeup, especially eyeliner and eyeshadow is well loved. Piercings made of metal are less common, and bone - especially from a deceased loved one or revered ancestor - is favoured. If they use metal it's likely to be silver. Most moon elves having such pale hair means that temporary dyes see a lot of use, and they like painting their nails.

They also enjoy fussing over their hairstyles, and braids, ponytails and hair decorations like beads and wrapped wire are popular.

Some - though not all - moon elves have a tradition of body paint and tattooing in 'mystic patterns,' some of which were appropriated from green elven culture while others were maintained from their mutual ancestors. Body paint and temporary tattoos are far more common as their impermanence makes them more appealing: what if you change your mind about the design later, after all? You can change temporary designs as much as you like when you get a new idea and then put the old one on again later.

Almost as if they're making up for their flighty hedonistic ways, moon elves do take their oaths and responsibilities very seriously: an oath from a moon elf should be a binding contract, and oathbreakers are reviled as the worst sorts.

Adopting the local N'Quess fashions aside, traditional moon elven clothing is relatively simple but favours the highest quality material and construction possible. They enjoy embroidery and customising their own clothes, featuring patterns and beadwork and intricately carved stones. Some even add feathers. Where moon elves feel safe they favour bolder colours - cultural wisdom says 'brighter is better' and your peers respect you more the more ostentatious you go - but in places where they feel threatened they dress conservatively and tone it down to more earthen colours to blend in and avoid notice.

While they have the usual elven love of magic, and delight in experimentation and pushing the boundaries of the Art, moon elves despise black necromancy and its creations - likely a combination of their reverence for Sehanine to whose doctrine undeath is an abomination, and their love of life and freedom (to which undeath, a form of slavery and mock existence, is also an abomination). It is not taught or studied in Evereska, which may actually put them at a disadvantage when faced with hostile necromantic spells. Want to be an elven necromancer? Be ready to live alone.

They don't tend to make very good enchanters though, as few have the patience to sit around for ages doing all the long repetitive work that goes into making and enchanting a powerful item ('Sun elves in particular find this trait somewhat embarrassing' and moon elves respond by saying that think the sun elves' taking decades to make a single object is 'obsessive'). They usually make a bunch simple, weaker enchantments to-go.

Evereska, 'the Fortress Home,' and last major elven civilisation on Faerûn, located in the far North-East of the Western Hinterlands is a moon elven state. It does host sun and wood elven residents, but the city is still founded by and mostly populated by the Teu'Tel'Quessir.

The moon elven reputation for open-mindedness may find itself faltering there thanks to an extremely xenophobic noble population; half-elves are barred from certain privileges, such as membership at the Academy, without the backing of a high ranking elven parent and during the spellplage a rise in xenophobia saw many Evereskan half-elves leave the city. They prefer never to let dwarves of half-orcs in under any circumstances whatsoever. Said noble houses are ancient lineages and think moon elves not part of these esteemed houses are second-class citizens. Non-moon elves and non-elves can get fucked. As ever, Toril's nobility are a deranged world unto themselves and you can't really judge what to expect of a people by their rulers, nor what to expect of the nobility by looking at the average citizen.

(The moon elven noble houses of Evermeet tend to be friendlier.)

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Religion:

Silver elves are pious as a people, and their idea of worship is (can you guess?) partying. You start a ceremony with a few moments of solemn prayer, the elven equivalent of an 'amen,' and then immediately start the revel. Festivals end when the last elf collapses from exhaustion sometime in the early morning after.

Sehanine Moonbow features prominently in their worship, and moon elves account for 54% of the membership of her church.

They are also the only elven subrace to remember the triune goddess Agharradh: the queen of Arvandor and a fusion of the deities Sehanine, Hanali Celanil and Aerdrie Faenya. Other subraces may find themselves called to her service but 93% of her total followers are moon elves. Sun elves are the only other elves who know who Angharradh is, and they dismiss her as moon elves misinterpreting Sehanine and consider her worship heretical (though they largely leave the moon elves be).