The Elves of Saga

 Previously, we've discussed the Dwarves of Saga, the world's most powerful and advanced people (according to the Dwarves, anyways). In that post, I mentioned how many fantasy settings seem to have an overabundance of different kinds of Elves - wood elves, dark elves, blood elves, sea elves, and so on. This is my take on Elves, or at least the Elves found in the world of Saga.

The Elves of Saga are the most widely varied of any folk in the world. While there are broad trends in Elvish culture, Elves are so fiercely individualistic and ever-changing that establishing a single truth about Elves as a whole is nearly impossible. While Dwarves and Men are consigned to labor under the established laws of reality (Men have some sway over such things, but that is a subject for another time), Elves shape reality with their belief, making it conform to them, rather than the other way around. 

If an Elf believes something to be true with enough fervor, it can become so. The Elf must truly, genuinely, and deeply believe in something for it to become true, and it is much easier for an Elf to change something about themselves than about the wider world. An Elf who is convinced that their hair is blue might cause their hair's color to change, gradually over time or suddenly and spontaneously. Cosmetic changes are the most common (if unintentional) effect of Elvish belief. Most Elves will gradually change in appearance over time, adapting and adjusting to their own mental conceptions of how they should appear. This can make recognizing Elves over long periods of time quite difficult, as they can change appearance quite drastically, even over spans of time as short as a few months.

Other commonly believed changes include physical capability, with some Elves believing themselves into previously absent strength or vitality; recovering from illness; sudden learning of new languages; and a proclivity for magic. Though an Elf's ability to believe changes about the wider world into existence is limited, this innate capability does lend most Elves a great skill at the magical arts, as their powerful beliefs aid in the shaping of spells.

Of course, this ability to shape reality with belief gives Elves a complicated relationship with truth. After all, if one believes in something with enough fervor, it might become true, even if previously untrue. This has earned Elves an (often deserved) reputation for playing fast and loose with the truth, except when it comes to their own word. It is never wise to believe what an Elf says about matters, unless they promise or swear upon their word. In such cases, the Elf's own bending of reality should ensure a consistent result or outcome. To many Dwarves and Men, an Elf's words are only as good as their willingness to swear by them.

Elven Society

As previously mentioned, Elves are fiercely individualistic, and prefer to keep to themselves most of the time. Elves will often find particular natural areas or formations that they feel drawn to, and will establish residence there. Many a hill, forest, glade, creek, swamp, cave, river or field of flowers will have a nearby Elvish resident. These Elves often charge themselves with protection of their particular domain, and have a view of outsiders that ranges from wary to openly hostile. 

While these individual Elves might be found anywhere in the world where they feel called, Elves do have their own cities, hidden away in enchanted forests, the locations known only to Elves who have visited. Any Elf who visits one of these hidden cities will always be able to find their way back there, and the only way for an Elvish City to be intentionally found is for an Elf who knows its location to lead you there. Unsurprisingly, there ae many of these hidden cities which have been lost - with no living Elves to serve as guides, there is no way to find one except by the rare chance of stumbling across one while exploring.

Even within these hidden cities, Elves are highly individualistic. The city-dwelling Elves just happen to prefer other Elvish company to naturalistic isolation. These cities have no governance and no laws. Disputes are settled on a case-by-case basis by a First Speaker, the eldest Elf in a given city. The First Speaker is only ever called upon when agreement cannot be reached through any other means, and their decisions are final. Any Elves involved in the dispute are made to give their words regarding their conduct, which creates a self-enforcing system where Elves are bound by the prior decisions made on the issue. Of course, some Elves still find ways to bring the issue up again, under different pretenses. No one ever claimed Elvish law was simple or straightforward.

The One True Elvish God

Elves, the highly individual creatures they are, have no grand pantheon. Most Elves pick and choose Gods to worship based seemingly on nothing more than convenience, preference, or whimsy. As a whole, Elves are not a particularly faithful folk. Despite this, there are theologians and religious scholars who posit that the reality-impacting properties of Elvish belief may be what gave rise to the Gods in the first place. As with many other religious answers, it seems unlikely that there will ever be a way to confirm one answer or another.

However, there is one God which objectively, provably exists. He does draw his power from worship, and he frequently intervenes and interferes in the world. His name is Nari, and in addition to being a God, he is also an Elf. Through a series of circumstances lost to history (and likely partially obscured by Nari's own handiwork), Nari managed to convince a large number of Elves that he was, in fact, a God. It is generally accepted that the latent belief of thousands of Elves was enough to warp reality and make Nari into a God. His divine status is disputed (especially among the Dwarves and other religious orders, who claim that mortals cannot ascend to divinity), but he has a sizable following and frequently uses his incredibly power to alter the course of events. 

Nari is known as a trickster, a vagabond, a wanderer, a teller of stories, a great boast, and a fickle foe. When treated well, he can be a powerful ally, but his loyalty is capricious, and if he feels insulted, he will often go out of his way to cause trouble in retribution. Many stories about Nari make clear that treating him well should be one's top priority, lest his ire be drawn and his curses be spread.

A Lunar Connection

The Elves of Saga have a special connection to its moon - not for magical or religious reasons, but simply as an object of cultural focus. Many Elvish ceremonies (weddings, funerals, coming-of-age celebrations, trials, and festivals) are traditionally held under moonlight. Especially significant ceremonies are reserved for the nights where the moon is full, and ceremonies are typically not held on nights of the new moon, which is instead reserved as a time of meditation and contemplation.

Many Elvish buildings are constructed with windows facing the sky. Curtains or coverings keep the room cool during the heat of the day, but can be drawn back to allow moonlight into the home at night. 

Elvish Weapons

As highly individualistic folk, Elves are skilled in wide varities of weapons, with individual Elves favoring spears, axes, hammers, swords, glaives, whips, knives, and unarmed weapons, in addition to virtually ever other kind of weapon found in the world. Elven weaponmasters and smiths often invent their own, unique variations of common weapon forms, or even outright unique weapons, tailored to the exact preferences and fighting style of a given Elf.

Of course, there is one kind of weapon that Elves do not use - the black powder weapons invented by the Dwarves. The black powder is extremely unstable in the hands of most Elves (likely due to their reality-bending nature), and the precise firing mechanisms of the weapons are prone to failure. As such, Elves almost universally stick to bows, slings, thrown weapons, or magic when it comes to fighting at range.

Elves and Other Folk

Elves, much like Dwarves, tend to have a rather self-important perception of themselves, which can often be off-putting to other folk. To many Elves, their ability to warp the nature of reality itself makes them due a certain amount of respect, and their long lives only exacerbate the feeling. Despite this self-important air, Elves are often seen by other folk as whimsical, flighty, charming, refined, in-tune with nature, and magically skilled.

Elves have a longstanding rivalry with Dwarves - an ancient thing that none among either race can recall exactly why it began. The many centuries have softened the rivalry to the point that many Elves and Dwarves have a fond view of their rivals, and enjoy friendly banter and contests of one-upsmanship, taking it as an excellent opportunity to attempt ill-advised feats in the hopes of gaining a new boast. Neither Elf nor Dwarf will admit that the rivalry is as friendly as it truly is.

Elves and Dwarves do often have one point of true disagreement, though. While reality is rather fluid around Elves, Dwarves prefer things to work consistently, like they always have, and find the ability of Elves to warp reality around whatever whimsical fancy has taken them at the moment to be somewhere between "extremely frustrating" and "utterly horrifying".

Elves and Men get along well most of the time, though most Men are wary around Elves (due in no small part to a prevalence of tales which instruct caution around Elves, lest one find themselves enchanted and taken into the woods forever). Most Elves view Men as acutely interesting, and their shorter, more action-filled lives tend to make excellent stories and short-term interestes for many Elves.

And that's all for Elves so far! The race of Men will probably be the next to recieve a write-up, though I do intend to write more about the Elf-God Nari, who has many hijinks to tell about. Until then!

-Rabbit