#how do i pay homage to tolkien's elves in my worldbuilding? easy! i just make survivorship trauma a subspecies-wide rite of passage! ^_^

[wizardlyghost]

dnd elves that go from baby to adult at the same rate as humans but start aging at 1/10th speed once they're done with puberty. the elven milestone for social adulthood is around age 100-120 because that's roughly when an equivalent-of-mid-30s elf reaches the point where most or all of the non-elf friends they grew up with have died, and they start to form more bonds with other elves than with shorter-lived folk. this also somewhat explains why elves are known for being both lively and fey and also serene and melancholy - the former is more typical of younger elves, the latter of elves who have passed this milestone and settled down somewhat.