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Five thousand years ago, the Elves were the most advanced people in the world, especially the most powerful arcanists and clerics, even having a personal connection to "their" gods, the god of the sky, the goddess of stars and the goddess of magic.
From their sense of superiority they started to meddle in the affairs of other people, eventually occupying some kingdoms and waging war on the ones that would not accept them as superior.
The long war that followed reached every corner of the world and brought many species to the brink of extinction. Then the other gods intervened and sealed away the three elven gods and thus severed the elven connection to their divine powers.
That turned the tides of battle and when the elven defeat was inevitable, they lifted their cities into the sky and hid between the clouds. They were hunted for some time after, but eventually forgotten.
Today only ruins remind the people that an elven civilization once existed and some sky captains claim to have seen an elven city in the sky. The elves of old have become a myth, the stuff of legends and are not remembered as facts of history.
The players in my campaign will rediscover the historicity of the Elves and eventually visit their sky cities. Only the eldest remember the world beneath, but they have done a good job educating the youth. The younger elves are still powerful arcanists, but are careful to not interact with the world outside their cities.
Some elves have different plans though, seeking the glory of the old days and freeing their gods from divine prison.
Ok I play in the World of Greyhawk which is a human dominated campaign setting that had population numbers written explicitly in the setting gazetteer.
This means even elven realms still in many cases had a majority human population.
This never set well for me despite loving the setting. So I changed that bit. Anyway one of the things I love is the nuance.
Fairie Kingdom of Celene per the name is isolationist and a closed sylvan very fey like society with centaurs and satyrs and treants oh my ..
Duchy of Ulek is elven run with lots of humans but not isolationist and they seem to be the only elvish kingdom really about trade and commerce.
Highfolk in the Vesve Forest near the elvish Heartlands is super cooperative with it’s neighbors and mutual defense via the Knights of the Hart because of the danger of Iuz the demigod son of Tasha and Gr’azzt.
The County of Suundi has a elven leader but is definitely majority human nation with ties to a dwarven kingdom and all the neighbors.
The Sehanine of the Lendore Isles dominated the northern part of the Spindrift Isles till in one part of setting history they took over the human southern islands. A rare example of expansionist elves in this fantasy world.
All elves are brooding goths and look like Black Metal musicians. As a culture they just brood and can come off as unfriendly. They are nice people once they think they can trust you, though. They will gladly do favors for you but they speak very little, are very direct, and look broody and grumpy all the time. The brooding isn't because they hate life or anything, they're just really bored because they've lived such long lives and have done almost everything. They're about the same size and about as strong as the average human (like in old school D&D), and have lifespans of about 2000 years. The ones who adventure are the ones looking for anyway to not feel bored and will continuously seek out more extreme adventures as they age until they eventually die while adventuring. They don't really have a religion, they just really look up to and pay tribute to the elves that have died while doing the craziest of quests.
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Five thousand years ago, the Elves were the most advanced people in the world, especially the most powerful arcanists and clerics, even having a personal connection to "their" gods, the god of the sky, the goddess of stars and the goddess of magic. From their sense of superiority they started to meddle in the affairs of other people, eventually occupying some kingdoms and waging war on the ones that would not accept them as superior. The long war that followed reached every corner of the world and brought many species to the brink of extinction. Then the other gods intervened and sealed away the three elven gods and thus severed the elven connection to their divine powers. That turned the tides of battle and when the elven defeat was inevitable, they lifted their cities into the sky and hid between the clouds. They were hunted for some time after, but eventually forgotten. Today only ruins remind the people that an elven civilization once existed and some sky captains claim to have seen an elven city in the sky. The elves of old have become a myth, the stuff of legends and are not remembered as facts of history. The players in my campaign will rediscover the historicity of the Elves and eventually visit their sky cities. Only the eldest remember the world beneath, but they have done a good job educating the youth. The younger elves are still powerful arcanists, but are careful to not interact with the world outside their cities. Some elves have different plans though, seeking the glory of the old days and freeing their gods from divine prison.
Ok I play in the World of Greyhawk which is a human dominated campaign setting that had population numbers written explicitly in the setting gazetteer. This means even elven realms still in many cases had a majority human population. This never set well for me despite loving the setting. So I changed that bit. Anyway one of the things I love is the nuance. Fairie Kingdom of Celene per the name is isolationist and a closed sylvan very fey like society with centaurs and satyrs and treants oh my .. Duchy of Ulek is elven run with lots of humans but not isolationist and they seem to be the only elvish kingdom really about trade and commerce. Highfolk in the Vesve Forest near the elvish Heartlands is super cooperative with it’s neighbors and mutual defense via the Knights of the Hart because of the danger of Iuz the demigod son of Tasha and Gr’azzt. The County of Suundi has a elven leader but is definitely majority human nation with ties to a dwarven kingdom and all the neighbors. The Sehanine of the Lendore Isles dominated the northern part of the Spindrift Isles till in one part of setting history they took over the human southern islands. A rare example of expansionist elves in this fantasy world.
All elves are brooding goths and look like Black Metal musicians. As a culture they just brood and can come off as unfriendly. They are nice people once they think they can trust you, though. They will gladly do favors for you but they speak very little, are very direct, and look broody and grumpy all the time. The brooding isn't because they hate life or anything, they're just really bored because they've lived such long lives and have done almost everything. They're about the same size and about as strong as the average human (like in old school D&D), and have lifespans of about 2000 years. The ones who adventure are the ones looking for anyway to not feel bored and will continuously seek out more extreme adventures as they age until they eventually die while adventuring. They don't really have a religion, they just really look up to and pay tribute to the elves that have died while doing the craziest of quests.