Elves
It is said that the Elves were sired by our ancestors, perhaps through congress with a woodland spirit or a demon. Others maintain that the Elves are the results of a lost ritual undertaken by desperate lovers, two become one in the face of all-consuming Death.
The Body
Elves are immortal, after a fashion: when they imbibe a rare drink (usually referred to as Nectar), they do not age. Nobody knows exactly how much is required, nor how it is sourced, and many allege that it is brewed from the blood of children or the seed of virile young men or the tears of an orphan.
Elves are women, after a fashion: they are known to possess wombs, and can sire children at will. But in outward aspect they shift between sexes in a mercurial way; now hard and sinewy like an animal, now soft and graceful, like a ghost. To an elf, there is no ‘man’ or ‘woman’. There is just ‘elf’, and (ever so rarely) ‘motherhood’.
The Souls
The solitude of an elf is forever incomplete, as they have two souls, distinct personalities sharing their body as two shipwrecked sailors might share a coracle. One soul is always young and rising, the other slowly sinking towards death. When a soul dies, it leaves behind the germ of a newborn soul for the survivor to nurture (it is said this cycle takes two centuries, but who knows? The elves are loath to say).
The elves therefore see themselves as stewards of a body that will outlive them, just as the wise yeoman keeps the land in such a way that his great-great-great grandchildren may reap fertile yields. So that future souls may know an body’s history, elves record their greatest deeds in intricate tattoos. In the rare occasions when elves gather, those with records of the greatest deeds are afforded the highest honors.
Elves & Humans
It is for this reason that elves are known among humans as knights errant, charlatans, and adventurers. Where humans are bound in service to land, family, faith, and lordship, elves serve only their strange and immaculate bodies, and the highest service is to risk annihilation and survive.
Elves are, oddly, more likely to form bonds with humans than other elves. It is not uncommon for an elf to attach their selves to a particular village, noble court, adventuring party, ship, or guild, though this usually only lasts as long as the elf’s waning soul. The perpetual silent dialogue between the two souls produces shrewdness and perspicacity that can be a boon to the subject of these bonds but often invites suspicion from outsiders.
Hollow Elves
In rare cases, black magics can purge, subsume, or fuse one of the elf’s souls. The result is a hollow elf, with a single immortal soul and immortal body. Such beings are an affront to the Gods, who inevitably curse them with sadistic madness.