Elves

Long ago, even before the Dragons had created their namesakes, they sculpted creatures from special stones and gems. They bathed these sculptures in solar magics and implanted a fragment of their essence within these stones. The creatures that emerged came to be known as Elves. They are long and lithe with pointed, angular ears. Among their own, they are hunched over as they move around, but they will artificially adjust themselves to mimic the movements and behaviors of those that they are around. Their flesh holds the appearance and properties of stone and yet somehow doesn’t hinder their movements in any way. They lack mouths and nostrils, and communicate primarily through the light in their eyes. Some of their kind also have exposed veins of light chiseled across their bodies, the function of which seems to determine their capacity for magical output. Elves are natural guardians and will seek to protect and prosper that which they choose to devote themselves towards.

Physical Characteristics
Standing upright, Elves are slightly taller than Humans on average and weigh significantly more because of their stone bodies. They are shaped in a similar manner to humans, but thinner. They have long pointed ears, lack mouths and nostrils, and communicate primarily through the light in their eyes. Their flesh holds the appearance and properties of stone, but doesn't seem to hinder them in any way. Interestingly, some elves have cracks that have been chiseled across their bodies. These cracks are often referred to as veins of light and represent an Elfs's magical potential. The more exposed veins of light that an Elf has, the more magic that they are capable of releasing. However, this comes with a heavy downside, the more cracks in an Elf's body, the more light that escapes from it. Because an Elf subsists upon light itself, this can be dangerous and cause the light within to grow dim and eventually fade. Elves will always die if their internal light is lost to them. Elves have no concept of sexes, although an Elf could presumably be shaped to look more masculine or feminine at birth. Elves don't grow, and they are born from stones and parts of other elves freely given (that as a whole has been scuplted in the shape of an elf) and is blessed by the sun. Elves are slightly stronger than Humans, significantly more durable, and possess roughly the same level of agility. They are typically found underground mining and tunneling. They don't get tired, they don't sleep, but they require light to function.

Behavior and Psychology
Common behavioral patterns, mannerisms, personality traits, fundamental beliefs, etc. Elves are sentinels by nature and seek to ensure that whatever they devote themselves to is prosperous. They disdain isolation and prefer to be part of a group. Generally speaking, Elves are the opposite to humans in terms of ambition. Almost without exception, Elves have goals of their own, but they are usually simple or secondary to the goals of others. As must be apparent by now, the Elves greatly revere and worship the sun. It grants them life and allows them to support the world, and so they hold it in greatest esteem. They live underground primarily because the prevailing belief among their people is that they are not worthy to stand in the sun's presence. Only very occasionally are they allowed to walk the surface, and most commonly only at night.

Society and Relations
Elven society is very much about the group and not the individual. Which isn't to say that they don't care about each other on an individual level, they do, but whatever is best for the whole always prevails within Elven culture. When regular Elves venture out into the world, they'll generally form a bond with whomever seems to most reciprocate their individual values. They will tirelessly support this individual, but are quick to leave those they deem unworthy. If they can be convinced to come out during the day, they will often hop from shadow to shadow to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. Not because it harms them in any way, simply because of their reverence for the sun.

Habitat and Locations
Elves live underground first and foremost. Rarely, they can be found within dense forests or under large bodies of water however. Elves cannot swim, so the ones at lake and ocean bottoms simply walk around doing what elves do. They can survive anywhere as long as they can get to a light source often enough to refuel.

Magical Inclinations
Elves are naturally inclined towards the Mundus Sphere. Their bodies are made of earth, and their cores are made of light. However, not all Elves use the Mundus Sphere. They are regardless likely to have experience with this sphere specifically in the aspects of light and earth. They can learn to use most other spheres, but they struggle with Vita, and to use the Anti Sphere would kill them.

Variations
Because of their nature, Elves can technically come in a variety of sizes and shapes, but they almost exclusively prefer the standard design. There is however one particularly notable variation of Elf, the Sun-Sent. A Sun-Sent Elf is an Elf that has been blessed by the Sun and its stony flesh is transformed into a crystalline structure. This is also a curse however as their internal light is constantly escaping. A Sun-Sent Elf is required to embrace as much sunlight as possible in order to survive, but this also comes with the trade-off of great power. It is fairly common for a Sun-Sent Elf to dirty itself to prevent light from escaping as much.

History
The Elves have been on Teilequin since its first dawn. They have kept largely to themselves and done their best to keep Teilequin healthy. The first Sun-Sent Elf acted as a representative to the Dryads and convinced them to spread the relatively sparse forested areas within the world. They have generally avoided the many wars, but the Xogar forced their hand during the Era of the Machina. More Elves have been found above ground after the Era of the Machina than before it, but the majority remain underground.

Racial Relations
As the Elves typically keep to themselves, they aren't perceived negatively be the other races. However, they do have an almost alien quality about them that makes them come off as strange and weird to most of Teilequin's denizens.

Elves
Elves get along with other Elves just fine. They treat the Sun-Sent as divine representatives however.

Dryads
The Dryads respect the Elves, but they'd rather respect them from afar.

Basaran
The Basaran are on neutral terms with the Elves. Neither are particularly opinionated about the other.

Mojuu
The Mojuu view the Elves as selfish individuals who are more concerned with nature than people.

Gorvol
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">The Gorvol view the Elves as agreeable folk, but also as unknowable folk.

Xogar
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">The Xogar view the Elves as little more than beasts and objects to gather resources from.

Humans
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">The Humans view the Elves as strange foreigners who don't quite fit in.

Fae
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">The Fae view the Elves as little pieces of Teilequin that have come to life.

Giants
<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">The Giants envy the apparent immortality of the Elves.

Trivia

 * <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">They weren't always known as Elves, but the Humans insisted that's what they should be called.