The Elven Territories constitute a swathe of land to the northeast of the northern continent. Until recently, the elves have possessed significantly more economic, magical and military power than any other state in the region. However, they have broadly declined to get involved in any foreign wars, or conduct trade outside of a few select ports, and have generally opted for isolationist foreign policy.

The Elven Territories are so named because their actual system of organisation is so convoluted as to be more or less incomprehensible to most outsiders, and it is unclear whether this is an empire, a set of nation states, one really big sovereign nation, or what. It is broadly known and understood that they have some sort of centralised governing structure, and that their social organisation plays by strict rules. The High Elves appear to have some kind of strict hierarchy, but damn if anyone can figure out where everyone lies on it.

The majority of elves are spellcasters of some kind. Human visitors to their territories have reported being amazed at just how casually individuals will use what are considered to be advanced magics in the outside world. However, their absent-minded dominance may be coming to a close in the era of innovation, where pure magical force becomes less and less relevant.

Despite the general perception of elves as being 'cultured', it's often difficult for outsiders to get a handle on what that culture is. In general, elven society runs by strange and arcane rules that confuse even the most seasoned interpreter.

The core building block of elven society is a semi-familial, semi-professional grouping known, colloquially, as a 'branch'. These branches vary in size dramatically, but membership tends to number in the thousands. Branches will be focused around some central mission, be that managing a geographical area, honouring a god, or running an area of government.

Most elven settlements are run by a branch, and populated mostly by members of that branch (except, for instance, those dedicated to teaching, which will be mostly populated by the young!). Each branch has a home settlement it calls its own.

A peculiarity of elven society is that each branch has, somewhere in the settlement it calls home, a tree that is imbued with special magic. What, exactly, is special about these trees is a closely guarded secret, but it is clear that they have some kind of magical power. The oldest trees are said to be as old as elven civilisation itself - and one can believe it, looking at their majestic stature. All important oaths within a branch must be said before the tree.

Although branches are family-like in some respects, elves still place an importance on blood family. Most elves can trace their lineage back to what they call the 'first generation' - the elves believed to have been directly created by the gods at the dawn of time. Some elven bloodlines are known to exhibit tendencies towards wild and shadow magic, and still others are tied to particular magical artifacts and locations. Particular branches may also be associated with family lines, although nominally there is nothing stopping an individual from a certain bloodline from leaving them.

Elves have something of a complicated attitude to sexuality and families.

• emphasis on bloodlines naturally leads to an emphasis on blood family as well as one's branch.
• bastardry abhorred, though it is considered inappropriate to take the sins of the parents out on the child - at least in theory. in practice, children are assholes and people may still experience some stigma.
• high emphasis on the concept of a one true love you stick with forever - polyamory not accepted in elven society.
• elves are extremely weird about sex and culturally asexual (that is, the default asusmption is that people are asexual). they find the concept of physical love extremely distasteful. of course, this reflects a culture rather than the individuals. although society may find sex distasteful, who is to say what happens between elves in the privacy of their homes.
• Because they think sex is gross, they figured out a way to have children asexually fairly early on. elven reproductive technology is extremely advanced.
• Elves have a fairly vague conception of gender (their language, for example, does not have gendered pronouns, or a specific word for man beyond 'elf that is male'). It's not necessarily that they're all super androgynous, but that this is just another physical difference. same sex marriage is as legitimate as other sex marriage.
• arranged marriage is common

• The 8 gods were originally elves, who wandered the earth and brought it to order before ascending to the heavens and populating the world properly with more elves
• All gods are to be reverenced at the appropriate time and in the appropriate condition. It's only appropriate to dedicate yourself to one god if you intend to enter the religious life.
• Religious institutions act as a branch, and are often quite significant ones. Generally they focus around a single institution.
• while most elven interior decorating favours simplicity, religious buildings are actually extremely gaudy. statues of the gods are loved and decorated. religious ecstasy is not uncommon. they're just all very repressed and religion is seen as an appropriate outlet.
• elven priests are actually mostly quite feral.
• The elves seem to have a vague consensus that the world was actually originally created by the balance gods. who were also kind of elf shaped, if not Actually Elves.
  • They have a generally higher level of reverence for the balance gods than most other societies. Their temples, particularly to the preserver, are established in society.
• STRONG emphasis on nature as a gift from God. trees might be holy. religion actually one of the aspects where wood elves and high elves have a lot in common.

• Most aspects of elven arts and culture are highly formalised and regulated. Folk art and music are both rare. Invention and ingenuity is less prized than being able to follow the established forms with exactness and rigour.
• Elven culture has been carefully catalogued by the Kunjianzhu Branch for many years, and they are considered the ultimate authority on all issues of art. Their vast libraries are said to hold a copy of every book ever published in the Elven language, as well as sheet music for the musical canon and a staggering array of visual art.
• The highest form of elven art is considered to be the opera, combining the visual art of costumes with music and dance. Elven opera tends to be very long and very symbolic.
  • Some have observed that the average length of an elven opera is slightly longer than the length of time the average elf needs to meditate. This has been widely dismissed as coincidence.

• Elves take education very seriously. The vast majority of elves will spend several decades in education and receive at least the rudiments of a magical education.
• Education follows several stages:
  • Early years - the first two decades or so, taking place with the family and branch. Focusing on the basics of development, understanding the elven language etc. Play is encouraged at this stage, if somewhat reluctantly.
  • General education - from age 20 to 50, more or less. Learning how to write elven, etiquette, culture, the rudiments of magic. These generally take place at a school for children of various different branches. Some choose to send their child to a nearby school, while others may opt for a school that is particularly prestigious.
  • Specialised education - From 50 onwards, though the majority of elves will 'graduate' by their mid-seventies. Generally done in a school run by a specific branch. Students may end up shifting between several of these schools while trying to discern where they're called for the rest of their lives.

All elves native to Prime have a name that is a collection of short syllables, separated by spaces. More names denote more important elves - most will start their lives with two, three if they come from a particularly important background, but more may be acquired over time.

Names have complicated meanings that denote lineage and social position in ways generally too complicated for non-elves to master. One thing to note is that the surname - conventionally written as one word - does not necessarily denote their family. Surnames are associated with a 'group' of people, which may partly be related to family but may also be bound by something other than kinship. Children will typically use the group name of a parent, but may change should they be called to a different group when they are older.

Elvish is one language with a number of dialects based on where your elf comes from. the dialects that have travelled furthest from standard elvish are Sylvan and Cthonic, to the point where they're considered separate languages, but sea-elvish, high-elvish, wood-elvish and drow are all mutually intelligible. “standard” elvish sounds closest to high elvish due to their longstanding cultural dominance (… they write the most books).

Even focusing on a single dialect, Elvish is a complicated language that takes a long time to master, particularly in its poetic form. Very few non-elves could be considered truly 'fluent', even if they're able to communicate everyday, simply because elves are extremely pretentious and have created far too many words.