Elves

Overview
Elves are a race that are longer lived then even the oldest living Vitae. Their lives spans the creation of worlds should they choose to live that long. Elves are finite in numbers, there are truly no new elves born. While there are many 'old souls' out there that might have had past lives, no elf is born without one. It has gone on since the creation of the multiverses so long that even elves themselves do not remember who created the first ones.

This is not to say that elves never give birth, they do though it is very rare. However babies are born as infants, with the mind and soul of a much older being. While they must progress much like any other race of growing up, learning to talk and to walk, learning basic skills they will retain the core knowledge that make them who they are. In a fashion elves are literally always stuck in their rut. If an elf was a blacksmith in their past lives, that is exactly what they will be in this life. There is no random 'let's mix things up and try a new career." Instead they are born knowing exactly what they will do and will be.

There are only ever five hundred elves at any one time. Since elves are never touched by age or time, after their twentieth birthday they stop aging the only thing that reduces that number drastically is times of war. Elves will never be touched by plague, nor by infection or bacteria. The only way an Elf is killed is swiftly by beheading, or a fatal wound that is not looked at by healers in time for elves heal rapidly. Elves also can will themselves to what they call 'sleep' that is actually they make a conscious decision to die.

Once an elf dies its soul is recycled,and eventually an elven maiden becomes pregnant. Elves enjoy an healthy sex life, but only amongst themselves for fear of cursing an elven soul into a body of an Half Elf. No one knows exactly what happens between their death and their rebirth, for sometimes centuries have passed before one is reborn, however all they know is the care and worries are wiped away that come from living thousands of years in a world as corrupt as the ones that they live in. So they are indeed recycling their soul.

Maturation and Skill Learning
While Elves always end up with the same jobs, and similar fates in every life time they are not recycled already knowing their skills. This is because of an age old agreement amongst the creator gods -gods and goddesses that created sentient beings- that none would be out of balance and proportion. Already Elves were given immortality, remembered history and fast healing, Vexious and Laila had to add things to bring the elven race into balance, to satisfy these rules and the deities of balance Gaug and Auta.

To do this they added to the elves these limitations, they are unable to recover spiritually, emotionally or mentally any wounds they sustain. This does not mean that elves are emotionally unbalanced or challenged, elves are not necessarily crying puddles of wreckage. This is why elves do not begin to live alone or start learning skills till much after their 100th birthday because their parents are teaching them how to cope with grief and anguish. Grief is avoided when possible for elves know the terrible price, but elves also know their responsibilities...their fate. This is to balance their being impervious to death or injury. Their remembered history and lives were balanced by their maturity and skill retention being stunted. Elves physically mature at age of 20 or so, their mental maturity does not happen until they are closer to one hundred. This means they do not work = on skills much at all for the first one hundred years or so of their lives. This also gives the elves a longer time to seek and determine their fate. Elven parents seek to nurture the desire to seek and find their fate before skills and job skills, to prolong any mental anguish that they would not be able to heal from.

Physical Appearance
Elves long and willowy though they are bipedal as humans and look like humans except with a beauty that is said to make men weep. Their shortest female is five foot seven inches tall, and their tallest male tops out at seven foot five. They tend toward silvery gold hair, though there are rare variations of reds and light browns. Never black. Their eyes are all greens or blues, and their skin tones are all to a one pale and luminescent. They are also noted to have slightly elongated ears, almost leaf shaped.

Clothing styles
Since the loss of their city Elves have immigrated to other cities and adopted their customs. So if they live within the confines of the faux Aroboa they might find themselves wearing nothing at all as the custom of the Vitae. If they live within a human colony they would dress as the humans do.

Ideology
Elves believe in fate. They believe the gods manipulate and push the citizens of Lothessia in a grand design that no mere mortal can comprehend. It is why being born into a half-elf body without the impervious nature of their elven form is considered a curse for they feel that elven soul will in all likely hood die before they fulfill their purpose. Elves also believe that they are god-touched so they tend to have a bit of a superiority complex when it comes to 'inferior races'.

Trade/Industry
Since they have lost their city they do not have a specific trade/industry. Though most do function in a capacity of adviser. When one has literally aeons of history at one's disposal in the mind of an elf a prudent ruler uses it.

NOTE: Elves are also unable to host a Humonculous symbiote, nor can they be deified into becoming Demi-gods.

History
The elves were created by the god Vexious, controller of the fates and his co-conspirator Laila the goddess of light. He felt that he needed his own race who would uphold the need for the fates and the need to uphold one's fate, Laila joined him in creating a race to be the champions of Light. Being the god of fate is a wearisome task because it meant that he needed to hold the strings of fate together on the loom of the world. Only those with major fates were touched by his own hands, or those who sought to upheave his tapestry that he was weaving. This is where the elves were brought in.

Vexious created long lived people, fair of skin and hair, unmistakeable as his creations for he was a jealous god and would not share his creation with any one else. This is why every elf that he created was strung with the heaviest of fate cords, controlled by his hand. Some people believe he strategically recycles the elven souls much like a person playing a strategy game on a grand level. These same people think that the elves know their importance and that is why they are self-important.

Vexious stopped at five hundred elves for one reason alone, it took a little bit of his power to make these ever lasting souls. He had weakened himself to the point where it was easier and easier for inferior races to tamper with his weaves. So now he sends the elves out to help maintain this balance.

There are several notable elves, and while names are so fleeting amongst elves that they do not put must stock in them there are a few elven names that are known far and wide. While these elves invariably get recycled and most will not use the same names that they are famous for it is up to them to reveal who they were in their past lives. Since elves respect and revere past lives it is considered rude to pry.