#this extents both to ancient history as well as modern faction lore

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I feel like 'retconning' is the single most misused word in any fantasy or sci-fi setting. Specifically Dragon Age, a world that has always asked you to raise a questionable brow at it's world history.

[therealvagabird]

On the Kindreds of the Elves

Below the cut, or check it out on WordPress.

For as long as life has existed upon the world of Archenia, so too have the Fey, the spirits of life and nature. However it was not until the time of the Cataclysm that the peoples known as “elves” would walk the realms of mortals. The first elves, known as the Eldwe, the Eldar, or the Eladrin, were powerful Fey spirits who took on forms of flesh to act as soldiers in the war against the fiends and outer evils who sought to destroy the very world-spirit of Archenia. These Fey awoke beneath the stars, fully conscious, into the bodies of wild children. From the Eldwe thereafter descended many lines of the elven folk; the Kindreds – “We” or “Wen” in the elvish tongues. In great empires they spread across the earth in the Age of Elves and Giants, before the passage of many centuries crumbled their civilizations into dust. Now, the elves are much like any other race that might be found throughout the mortal lands, but the unique traits of their most prominent Kindreds set them apart from both other species and each other.

Eldwe

Known as “The First Kin”, the Eldwe were also known as the Eldar or the Eladrin. These were those Fey spirits who took on mortal forms so as to better combat the spread of the Cataclysm’s corruption. The First Kin were quite alien by the standards of modern elves, being liminal beings who remembered their days within the Green, but reveled in their new place as creatures of the physical world. They showed traits of their supernatural heritage, and some of these are still expressed in certain elven bloodlines, with mutations like antlers, floral growths, and other strange metamorphoses being considered signs of fortune in elven cultures.

Varwe

Meaning “The Lofty Kin” or “High Kin”. After the Cataclysm was contained, many elves began a migration to the mystic isles of Eld-Anor, in the western sea. There, they acted as a capitol to the early elven empires, growing strong in the ways of magic and lore. Though their new home provided a large amount of stability, protected by the sea and by powerful magics, their culture began to diverge from those of their mainland cousins. The Varwe, or high elves, became more attuned to secular pursuits, becoming more infatuated with the order and power of the Celestial Light than their inherent connection to the Green. Though they did not forget their roots, what resulted was a culture far more cosmopolitan, technological, and detached from concerns outside of their island home. Varwe are considered to be astute mages, scholars, and craftsmen, as well as skilled sailors.

Duwe

“The Dark Kin”. In the time of the ancient elven civilizations, there grew a schism between those elves who had begun to adopt the cultural traits of Eld-Anor but found the capitol’s superiority over the outlying territories to be stifling. Moreover, these elves found existing traditions and dogma to be a hindrance to the further advancement of their people. However, the major split came with the coming of Virilome. The Gloomweaver was a dark spirit of great power who came to several of the dissenting leaders and relayed to them a new philosophy based upon guile, competition, and a respect for those aspects of the Fey that the Varwe were beginning to forget. This faction of elves became known as the “Duwe” by the Varwe, and the name was later adopted out of humorous spite by the dark elves themselves. The Duwe coalesced within the eastern city of Avaroth and grew their own empire from there, with special focus on delving the secrets of the Underdark. This empire became feared by all its neighbors for the habits of the dark elven lords to take slaves and practice fell magics. Following several civil wars, the culture of Avaroth began to temper, with the Duwe becoming more amenable to reforming the most violent aspects of their culture.

Virwe

Meaning “The Clever Kin”, this is the Duwe’s official name for themselves. “Duwe” is not considered offensive by the dark elves, but use of the word is regarded to be lower-class slang, or the mark of an outsider. Virwe has always been the foremost name used by the Avarothi elves for their own people.

Siwe

The wood elves. Siwe means “Wild Kin”, “Forest Kin”, or “Green Kin”, deriving from an ancient elvish root word. Wood elves are the most populous and diverse group of elves, as their remaining on the main continents of Archenia has resulted in large amounts of interaction and mixing with other cultures. Most wood elven settlements can be found at the borders of civilized lands and wilderness, and tradition and worship of the Fey ancestors is integral to wood elven culture. The exact form these traditions take is dependent on location and history, making “Siwe” a rather narrow term for a broad collection of elven peoples. While not all wood elves are xenophobic, it is rare for their settlements to be home to other races. This is due to the elven cultural focus on family and child-rearing. Elven childhood lasts for some fifty years, and it is considered ideal by the elves that childhood be a time of exploration, enjoyment, and innocence. It is hard for elves to maintain these traditions on the timeframes of shorter-lived races, and so they are prone to keep to themselves. Wood elves tend to consider themselves protectors of nature, and this can range from being simple forest-tenders and druids, to violent predator tribes who kill any mortal that tries to enter their homelands without proper cause.

Te Siwe

Meaning “Deepwood Kin” or “Wildest Kin”, Te Siwe is a term used by the wood elves to distinguish the most traditionalist tribes among their number. The Te Siwe often live deep in the wilderness with minimal contact towards other groups, maintaining mystic traditions dating all the way back to the Eldwe. Lords of the Te Siwe are looked on with fearful reverence by all other elven races for their immense wisdom and naturalistic power.

Adwe

A somewhat derogatory term, the Adwe are the “city elves” – the term itself meaning “Mannish Kin” or “elves who are like humans”. Adwe are mostly derived from wood elven lineage, but consist of all elven groups who have intermingled with the cultures of other races to an extent that they are not “members” of other elven groups as much as they are citizens of these mortal civilizations. Adwe may not live in cities, or may maintain elven traditions, but in the eyes of their more fundamentalist cousins they are outsiders who do not share in the experience of elven upbringing.

Merwe / Te Merwe

One of the most reclusive Kindreds, to the point where some have even considered them a myth, the Merwe are the “Ocean Kin”. They are derived from those Fey spirits who felt the strongest connection with those myriad forms of life within the oceans of Archenia. In many ways they are more diverse than even the Siwe, for the seas are vast and full of innumerable secrets and strange forms of life. Also known as “Tritons”, the Merwe maintain immense cities deep beneath the waters, and despite their presumed great numbers have minimal interaction with non-amphibious races. In the south, where the coasts are more vibrant, some Merwe may take to trading with the landborn. Northern coastal Merwe and freshwater Merwe are considered to be barbaric and dangerous by most other races. Subgroups of the Merwe consist of the Merfolk, who are fully aquatic and possess the lower halves of various undersea species. Some Merfolk are almost bestial in their behavior, but others are held in high regard for their strong Fey blood. There are also the Te Merwe, consisting of those Merwe and Merfolk native to the very deepest abysses of the ocean, and who are regarded in a similar manner to the Te Siwe for their alien nature and terrible power.

Beyond these races there are many more sub-groups of elves, from broad Kindreds to distinct differences within each Kindred. The elves were some of the earliest colonizers of Archenia after the destruction of the Cataclysm near wiped the world clean of its former civilizations. The elves have lost much knowledge of their history, and some believe that a time is approaching when the elves will either have to return to the Green, or wither upon the mortal plane and lose all that made them unique. Some may believe this, and some may believe contrary, but most elves are focused on the usual concerns of any race – stability, prosperity, and pleasure.