Elves

Elves, calling themselves "Tel'Qessir", which literally means "The People" in elvish, are an immortal race of grace, beauty and intelligence. They are generally slim, but many have adopted certain habits from Men, such as physical training or diets, that have resulted in elves becoming more robust and physically fit than they have been in the past. Given their history, today's elves are much stronger and have a slightly more emotional attitude than the civil, controlled ancient elves spoken about in famous literature.

Of course, they still retain the majority of the physical characteristics their fairy-tale cousins are famous for. They generally have blond or otherwise very lightly colored hair. They are also incapable of growing facial or body hair of any sort. This has often lead to embarrassing moments where a person unfamiliar with the elven race was unable to tell certain males and females apart.

The elves have always been a very proud people, despite their quick decline of power, not to mention influence, following the elven civil war. Even as Men began to seize control of the world's governments and eventually assimilate other languages, turning the Western Tongue (or "English") into the world's official language, the elves still keep with some of their more dated traditions. For one, they still speak their own tongue when not forced to do otherwise. Despite being used in ancient texts and being briefly taught in schools, Elvish is considered a dieing tongue and is seldom spoken outside of elven regions.

The Tel'Qessir also follow "The Way", which is a code of conduct dating back to even before the White Empire. "Bushido", a way of life practiced by some human factions following the Elf–Human Alliance, was heavily inspired by this code. Though the literal translation from elven manuscripts, as well as the elven people themselves, refers to it simply as "The Way", it is believed that the full title is "The Way of The Warrior" as the code consists of many militaristic references, encourages discipline, and glorifies honor. One of the teachings is that of the seven virtues of Wisdom, Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honor and Loyalty. The MPTF's military code of conduct makes use of many teachings from "The Way".

Elves are, for the most part, religious. They follow Isuviel and other deities of the pantheon. However, since the fall of the White Empire, they are considerably less devout than they were in imperial times. It is rare to find an openly religious elf. Most simply choose to worship the gods through a brief, quiet prayer in the morning before they go about their day, or drink a modest cup of wine in the evening (wine is considered the favored beverage of the gods, as many ancient tapestries depict a vine yard and winery found within Elysium).

The Tel'Qessir have a natural affinity to mana and can easily make use of the magical energy with minimal amount of training. Only celtic elves have a greater magical prowess than the Tel'Qessir. Of course, like all auras surrounding a magic user, it can slowly dissipate, and even disappear completely, from a lack of practice in the magical arts.


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