Elves are one of the oldest races in the world. They're naturally attuned to magic and possess great dexternity thanks to their slim bodies. They are an immortal race and for most part it shows since they don't have as many children as other races and in case of war it can lead to population problems if all older will be called in to raise their weapons.

Elves can procreate with other races but it's the most often with humans. They make half-elves, a more human-like in posture with facial hair but still having long ears, if there will be a child. They hardly care for most of other races and usually look down on them. With a few exceptions most elves stick to their homeland.

High Elves of An-Hareth

High elves' homeland is the giant island between the three continents - Ar-Hareth. This giant island has natural defences in form of mountains with rather small passages, not allowing for a quick move for armies who would try to storm the fortified positions of High Elves.

They also have a close alliance with Naga who live in water below their island, keeping good relations in order to protect each other. Thanks to this the fastest and safest way to breach their homeland is by charging ships in the passage by the Gate of Fiord and continent Frelorth.

They have beautiful craftsmanship and powerful mages. High Elves belive to themselves to be the one true defenders of the world and shun most of other races despite having at least a few politicians in every court in each kingdom. Their arcane power is one of the most fearful weapons they use against others but their normal units are rather weak.

High Elves' army is set on their special units with basic ones simply being a wall to hold off enemy, not letting them throught and allowing others to do the job. The generals in their army are princes and princesses of the royal families and everyone lower is looked down upon. Often it turns out that it's the fault why their army is not as effective as it should be, since they often don't know how a war looks like except for those they read in books.

High Elves were rulled by the Pheonix King, who was wielding the Blade of Pheonix Fire. That is until the Pheonix King was killed in a battle and the blade went missing. Since centuries High Elves' royal representatives meet in court to lead the nation while searching for the greatsword in secret from each other to gain the power as the sword marks the wielder as the next King.

Also, High Elves are exclusive slaves for representative meanings. They are very beautiful so if a girl is lucky she can become a maid of some noble family or even lady-in-waiting which is a pretty good circumstance as they will be well treated, if she's not then the large and influential houses of pleasure always seek a pretty High Elf to sell her body...

Units of High Elves :

Spearman - Medium armor unit armed with spear and tower shields. They are effective at holding the line and can protect themselves against cavalry charges. They're the most basic unit making them into simple lineholders while the other units strike at the enemy. Their captains don't have shield but they're holding a large spear with banner on it and have war horns to bolster the morale in case of faltering.

Archers - Lightly armored archer unit who takes place directly behind the line of spearmen. Their rather normal bows don't have as much power as some of the more advanced and stronger units but they're well trained for shooting volleys of arrows in quick succession and with a rather good aim. Their captain is usually someone from one of the better units who was assigned to prove the highest effectiveness.

Sea Guard - Medium unit very effective at throwing javelins and skirmish combat. They're usually the crew that's on the ship. Aside from javelins they use kite shields, sword and bows to strike at the enemy. Sea Master is their captain and usually capable of bolstering the morale of their troops with the horn of Aurora, their goddess of stars who guides sailors home, and even some basic water magic to help them with manouvering.

Lion Guard - Medium armor unit with greataxes. They're capable of sweeping throught enemy formations with ease if not countered properly. Their helmets are shaped like lion's head and they wears cloacks made of lion skin. The strongest are given privilage to hunt the most dangerous of lions and join the ranks of White Lions, who are symbol of courage among High Elves, bolstering morale with their very presence.

Pheonix Guard - Heavily armored unit with long swords capable of using magic. While in the battle they can cast basic level magic but it's in their combat prowess that dominates the battlefield. They're recruited from Noble families and spend entire life training swordplay and magic. They were personal guard of Pheonix King before he died and his sword went missing. Right now they're defending the palace and act as neutral side on council meetings.

Loremaster - Magic commanding unit capable of casting powerful magic. They're very dangerous as they continue to grow in strength and learn more spell. They study magic all their life and those who achieved the vast knowledge and magic art is risen to the rank of High Loremaster who may be chosen as a mentor by others. The strongest of High Loremasters will be crowned as The Prince of Mana and given Staff of Pheonix.

Prince / Princess - Commanding unit. They're usually in heavy or medium armor and their weaponry is vast, all using the one they've been mastering for years. They're capable fighters and even magic casters to some extent but many do not know much about commanding which often leaves High Elves forces in disarrey as they leader went off into the middle of the battle. The constant battle is also in politics as they try to find the Blade before others and become the next Pheonix King.

Star Rider - Flying unit on pegasus. They're lightly armored magic caster who can swoop down for quick skirmishing. They're armed with glaives. Most Star Riders are powerful casters and some who can truly understand the magic of wind, heaven and stars are capable of taming the Star Dragon and riding on it into battle.

Sisters of Lion - Lightly armored unit of female archers with enchanted bows. They're usually cooperating with Lion Guard in ambushing invaders and show their prowess in combat, using their short sword with grace if they have to fight in close combat. They are also take part in council meetings as envoys from the outer ring, informing on possible problems. They are sent out into the world as scouts, spies or bodyguards for their politicians.

Mana Pheonix - Flying beast. Powerful mana-made entity of pheonix who accepted magic as it's basic element. Much like normal pheonix they're capable of re-birth from ashes or an egg they leave behind. They can breath mana fire and with their poweful flapping wings they can even cause small firestorms if near the ground.

Star Dragon - Flying beast, dragon. The most powerful beast unit of High Elves, Star Dragon was enchanted with pure magic and mana, giving him attribute of the purest magic and are manifested forms of their goddess, Aurora. They will allow powerful Loremaster or Mana Riders to saddle them and ride them into battle.

Wood Elves of Trelun

Elves who once left the island of An-Hareth to search for a diffrent purpose than ignorance and pride. They travelled almost whole world until they've entered a forest where the trees were whispering and branches were moving free.

Among the trees they've met branchwraiths who told them to turn back from the forest. Instead the elves begged the brachwraith to let them throught, telling that they're looking for purpose... And a purpose they received, souls of theirs and their children to be forever bound to forests and all it's creatures.

They pledged themselves to protect the Tree of Ages and forests around it. They were officialy bounded when Panathorn, the oldest of all Treeman connected their very souls to the World Tree in pledge to protect it and all forests with their life.

They've built their halls among the branches of seven Trees of Ages in the forest surrounding the World Tree, along with many outside the main forest. They've also chosen the Lord of Hunt, an elf who was representing them and was the best hunter among them, said to be the will of Orthos. Sadly, he was killed in the battle and his artifacts lost in time...

Wood Elves are ruled by two courts. First one is made of five elder Treeman, their leader being Panathorn. Second an elven court with representative from each Tree of Ages but the place for the Lord always staying empty. They have two other elven Gods on their side. Orthos, The Eternal Hunter, and Arian, Mother of Life.

Wood Elves excell as archers even among other elven factions. They tattoo their bodies, using nature based images. Often it makes people see them as more savage, they are, however, rather calm race who keeps to their forests. They're also found very exotic so in case their party is caught they're mostly likely forced to become luxurious slaves.

Wood Elves units :

War Dancer - Armorless unit with pair of swords. They've thrown away all armor in exchange for high mobility, often relaying on dodging and acrobatics. Wood elves are not the strongest race so they will fight with more dodging then trying to parry or block. They're capable of entering War Dance Trance which makes them almost one with battlefield making it very difficult to hit them and for them to swipe in wide arcs attacking multiple enemies at once.

Ranger - Light armor archer unit. They're armed with powerful longbows which give them range and power to break throught armor. They're capable of doing very good ambushes and even flanking enemies to fire on the unprotected weak spots. They can be lead by Waystalker who has ascended from Ranger ranks.

Glaive Guards - Medium armor unit armed with javelins, shield and sword. They're good at sudden strikes or simply acting as a wall against enemy attacks. They're the core of any war party and can hold off cavalry rather well. Some of the elite guards can be Hunt Master's bodyguards.

Eagle Riders - Archers mounted on giant eagles. They're good shooters and can flank enemies, besides that the eagle is effective at aerial combat against other units. Riders are picked from the ranks of Rangers after training and checking their compatibility with their feathery mount.

Wild Riders - Glaive guards riding on large stags. They're armed with spears and shields allowing them to charge enemies while being protected. They're very good at forest combat where only the best of Empire's Stag Riders can go toe-to-toe with them.

Druid - Commanding magic unit. Master of nature and life magic. They're capable of ordering roots to hold down the enemies or even turning a tree into a weapon. They can also heal their allies and provide the nature itself as a shield for warriors. They can also use nature's force to strike directly at the enemies, such as lighting strikes or even earthquakes.

Waystalker - Light armor commanding unit - archer. The best of Rangers are given this rank and only few have earned this title. They're so good at shooting with both sure aim and speed that they're equipped with two or even three quivers. Besides that their cloaks allow them to almost sink in with forest-like backgrounds.

Hunt Master - Medium armor commanding unit. They can be armed with bows but they're usually going about with shield and melee weapon, being the frontliners. They're lords of wood elves and some might even be part of elven court or court of their home tree.

Dryad - Special unit. Woman-looking forest spirit. There are many diffrent types of them, depending on where their live. There are those who live in trees and are capable of throwing exploding seeds. Those who live in water can burst high pressure water attacks and heal allies. Those who live in the ground or rocks have studry skin and can tank many attacks while also having powerful physical attacks. All dryads are capable of levitating but none of them wears clothes, they're usually covered with their respective element.

Branchwraith - Beast infantry. Forest spirit in form of twisted wood. They take humanoid shapes. While they're good against physical attacks and quite a bit against most types of magic they're very weak to death, ice, fire and dark magic. They can spread fear and can camouflage with forest to ambush their enemies.

Treeman - Special beast commander. Ancient spirit in form of giant humanoid trees. They're speaking for nature itself and each great tree where wood elves lives is also home to one of treeman. They also live in large numbers around the World Tree and are ready to die in it's defence. Much like all other forest spirit they can reform their physical form upon it's destruction.

Forest Dragon - Flying beast. Very tough skin makes it's hard to bring down with physical attacks but it's weak to magic. Their breath attacks may look like it's green fire but it's actually an acid that has the same property and while it doesn't spread it's almost impossible to stop it from sinking into skin once it makes contact with it.

Dark Elves of Yvernol

Exiles, criminals and dark arts practitioners of High Elves who were casted out of An-Hareth and banded together under the Witch King. Witch King was once a powerful warrior and mage, many calling out for him to be the Pheonix King without the blade but many opposed to this. He wanted to take the throne by force but was struck by Star Dragon who mercilessly breath fire and burnt most of his body. He ran away but promised revenge and since then every High Elf who was casted out go to join him.

Dark Elves belive that they should rule the world and High Elves are too weak to even achieve that. They dropped honor and order for cruelty and fanatic murdering. They choose to live in the Stormlands and under ground, where they often fight against other dungeons dwellers. They belive in power and crushing all that's weaker to replace them with stronger, in that case taking it for themselves.

Dark Elves have a blessing of Cairn, Mistress of Black Magic, and Malrath, The Restless Warlord. The blessing of Malrath gives them fury as they continue fighting, turning even weakest of Dark Elves into killers. They love to bring sacrefices to the altars of their Gods and the most satisfying of them are their eternal enemies, High Elves.

Dark Elves' physical appearence change from High Elves. They've become a bit taller than them and their skin turned to diffrent shades of grey color. They often tattoo themselves and female dark elves don't care about showing a lot of skin.

Dark Elves units :

Grim Guard - Medium armor unit armed with spear and shield, they also have swords in case of battle against other infantry. They serve as core infantry to hold back the enemy. Their spikes armor can catch blades and it's hard for bigger creatures to pick them up because the spieks would pierce into their limbs.

Heart Piercers - Medium armor crossbow unit that is also protected with tower shield. They're very good at getting throught armor and thick skin of most beast units. Their bolts can be poisoned to ensure enemy's demise. Some of the best are hired as slave hunters to gather people to sell without killing them.

Executioners - Medium armor unit with greatswords. They're very good against other infantry units and can cleave throught most formations if they can break first line. They wear skull-like mask to show who they are and their swords can nasty angles and points to them to cause as much pain as possible upon entering and leaving the targets' body.

Shade - Light armor archer unit with longbows and black arrows. They're capable of using their enchanted capes to turn invisible or simply hide in the dark to ambush their target. They can be lead by an Assassin who was assigned a squad to take multiple high value targets.

Witch - Individual magic unit capable of powerful dark magic. They're armed with enchanted whips that strike at the flesh and leave nastu bruisers or even tear skin off with a single strike, depending on what she wants to do with her prey. She can created spheres of dark elctricity which can stun everything they hit or even easily fry the target. They wear close to no clothes which makes their defense almost none existent.

Assassin - Stealthy individual unit armed with wide assortment of weapons and tricks. They have a vast amount of poisons, traps or even grenades made from stole black powder. They're masters at taking out other individual charactres - as long as they're the ones with innitiative and element of surprise.

Reaver - Medium armor unit armed with axe and riding raptor-like beasts into battle. Besides them being battle masters their mounts are very dangerous being capable of jumping, biting or even grabbing it's target making it impossible to escape without others' help. They can arm themselves with repeater crossbows to become a mobile ranged unit.

Minotaurs - Were-folk infantry. While a large number of minotaur are usually rather good natured and live even among Empire folk those twisted by darkness are accepeted by Dark Elves. They're armed with twin axes and heavy armor to act as a powerful, difficult to bring down unit that can dish out a lot of damage.

Wyvern - Flying beast. Flying monster capable of weaker dragon-like attacks. They often serve as mount for dark elves' lords, assassin or even witches. There is a wide arrey of dark enhancement that can be placed upon them by magic users of dark elves to make them more ferocious and dangerous.

Hydra - Beast. Walking beast with multiple heads capable of attacking many targets at once. They can regenerate quickly - but won't grow back lost heads - and their blood is acidic making the direct combat a real nightmare.

Black Dragon - Flying beast. Very powerful dragon that's hard to bring down with magic. While it's almost completely magic-proof most armor piercing weapons are capable of killing it. It's breath is so strong it melts metals almost instantly and it's the most ferocious of all dragons.

Ice Elves of Frelorth

Those high elves who - much like wood elves - left An-Hareth and decided to find another place to live. Their journey brought them to Frelorth where they've settled on the frozen planes in the far north. They're a minor faction.

Their faith in Laios and the enviroment changed them, turning their hair completely white and their skin almost matching. They're not bothered by the cold no matter how bad it is and their mages are masters at handling ice magic at it's most advanced forms.

Their constantly battle barbarians and vikings of north but they seem to have much problem if there is a mage on hand usually deals massive damage before the battle can start for good. Their very exotic look made them a high payment target for all slave hunters...

Ice Elves units : 

Coldhearts - Ice elves' mage unit who is capable of the most powerful forms of magic and can cause ice blizzard even on desert. They can freeze blood in someone's body and shatter them like a simple ice figurine.

Freezing Mistress - Elemental. Female spirits of ice who are formed with mana. They look like beautiful woman similiar to normal ice elf but their skin is completely freezing in touch and they suck all warmth out of someone just by touching them.

Norscan Wolves - Beast. Wolves that managed to survive out in the freezing north and were infused with magic. Their skin is scaly allowing them to bounce off most attacks and their bites causes frostbite.

Wild Elves

Wild Elves are diffrent than every other elf. They're very tall and muscular in opposition to others being slim. Their skin is tanned or even dark and they're very good at melee combat. They usually keep to forests and plains near some water sources. They wear skin and furs and even the females are very large and bulky. They train since young years and become perfect hunters and warriors.

Many people belive that Wild Elves' females choose their partner basing on strenght, beliving that if her partner is able to overpower her than their children will be stronger.

Humans often hire Wild Elves in exchange for food to work for them. Wild Elf slaves are also rather expensive and exclusive product, especially for farmers or houses of pleasure.

They don't have any specially chosen units because everyone in their socity is a warrior and hunter. A few among them with magical potential become healers and shamans.

Half-Elves

The offspring of human and elf, half-elves, are often looked down upon by both races. They don't have much of a choice when it comes to where they'll live since most of other elven races don't want to take them in except for Wild Elves, since they care only about strenght. If in cities they live in separate streets.

Half-Elf can prove their worth in society and climb the ladder for better position which also brings them to better social status of not being pointed out as their now respectful citizens. It's not a surprise to find out that some of the noble houses also have half-elf children as young man like to play with elven maids or a young royal girl was swayed by an elf butler.

Half-Elves are welcomed in the military and church as both don't care about your race as long as you'll serve Empire and the Divine. Their free to achieve higher status in both as long as their service is as good as others or better. It's not uncommon to see a Half-Elf priest or seargent.

Now... Onto humanoids! It's good that I decided to set apart humanoid and were-folk or that would be a lot of words on one page...