Elves: General Information
The elves of Mist Valley Holt are based on the comic series called Elfquest. That means they have four fingers, four toes, large pointy ears that mostly reach the top of their head in length and large eyes. These are Wolfriders with an exception of two Pureblooded elves. The Wolfriders also have pointy canine teeth to be able to eat their meat raw. Wolfriders are mortal due to their wolfblood, which also causes them to live at night. The Pureblooded elves have adapted to the nocturnal ways in order to survive.
The tribe lives in a Holt, a place they call home. They live in self-shaped tree dens which are shaped in the stem and the lower branches of the trees. Most of the elves live in the tree they call Father Tree, which also contains several dens for storage and the practicing of the tribal duties. Some of the tribe prefer to live aside the Father Tree, but those trees are usually interlocked with the Father Tree.
The names of the Wolfriders are always descriptive. They include from one to three syllabics and can be changed over time, by themselves or by others after doing a certain deed. The Pureblooded ones have soundnames but have discriptive nicknames which are used preferrably amongst the Wolfriders.
The clothing of the elves is merely made of tanned leathers from the animals they hunt and of the softwhite plant of which a thin linen can be made. This plant grows in the area near the river. The colors differ; the leathers or linen can be colored with a lot of extracts from plants. Common are the colors brown, black, blue, green and purple, though a lot of other colors can occur.
All elves of Small Creek know how to wield at least one weapon. A variety of weaponry exists: From knives, daggers and swords to bow, spear and darts which are the most common to use. But there are also the arrow whip, sling and axe that can be wielded. Each elf decides for him/herself what weapon to learn. Most weapons are made of stone, wood and bones. Since the trading with the trolls ceased to excist, there has been no opportunity to achieve metal weapons though there are still some left.
Magic
There are a lot of magics which can appear in Mist Valley Holt, and here is a short description of each and every one of them.
Healing - Ability to heal wounds, diseases, infections, set bones, and so on, through combined psychic union with the patient's will and empathic union with the patient's nervous system. Although it is difficult, an elfin healer can heal humans and animals, too. Healing usually requires physical contact, by the touch of the hands. But a healer can also cure some psychological disturbances, to restore mental health. Healing does have its limits. A healer cannot bring souls back to life if the soul doesn't want it. Also healers get extremely tired when they heal someone.
Magic feeling - Ability to sense magic. One can get a magic feeling when someone is performing magic or many years later as a latent image. The majority of elves have this ability to some degree, manifesting as a vague feeling, but the most sensing is done by elves that really have this ability.
Plantshaping - Ability to stimulate growth of plants and shape living wood in a gentle way. The shaper's mind is, so to speak, connected with the tree when the actual shaping takes place.
Rockshaping - Ability to mold stone like clay. Rockshaping magic of an unknown origin was used to create the High Ones' throne chamber. It has become of use to easily shape rocks into weapons of all kinds.
Sending - Telepathically communicating with one another. Ranges of sending differs per elf and the way it has developed, but the average radius is about 1,5 kilometers. Sending can also be locked so that only one or two person can hear the words and feelings. One can never lie in their sends.
Shielding - Ability to shape a protective forcefield which keeps the one party out and the other in. Shield can appear in many forms; a bubble around a couple of elves (therefore, the shield also works below the water surface) or just a straight simple wall. The energy to keep a forcefield up is draining the magic user.
Song Shaping - Often said to be a magic itself. The ability to hear music and perform it at once. Songshapers usually have chosen one or two main instruments which they play very well, and is also said incantating.
Wolf Bonding - The ability to bond with wolves. Timmain, the mother of all wolfriders, shapechanged in a wolf to provide her people with food. She eventually had a wolfish child, Timmorn Yellow-Eyes who had both wolf and elf blood. Because of their wolfblood, wolfriders are able to connect with the wolves and befriend one in particular each time.
Celebrations
Elves are by nature friendly and cheerful and won't let any chance slip to celebrate. A couple of festivities, however, are less common which are described here.
Dreamberry Feast:
In the Cool season, just after the Rain Season, the first Dreamberries begin to ripe and only a couple of weeks after, the bushes are heavy with intoxicating purple goodies. Traditionally, when the chieftess notices these changes in the beloved plants, she calls for a feast which is attended by every elf. Some of the berries are squashed and mixed with water, to create a distilled wine for the cublings so that they also can participate in the festivities. Usually, after lots of dreamberries the feast results in an evening of joinings, when the cubs are brought to bed and the feast continues for the adults.
Long Hunt
Several times a year, a hunting party including a tanner goes out to the grasslands, to hunt large game in the open. The travel towards the hunting grounds takes almost two days on wolfback. Though the trip is not without danger, the long hunt is cause for huge excitement, before as well as afterwards. The group of a maximum of seven hunters spends three days on the grasslands, while the tanner collects the softwhite plant nearby. When they return, the meat is a huge celebration meal. Such returning is mostly followed by some tales by the Memory Keeper
Night of Joining
Adults Only! When the Cool Season runs at its end, little fireflies celebrate their dance of joining above the river. While they have their Dance of Joining, so have the elves. In the playful atmosphere elves join the bringers of light. The Night of Joining is one in which all elves can choose to join with others than just their love- or lifemate in particular, though these joinings can occur at other nights as well.
Chief's Tales
This celebration is not day or season bound, and can occur on each and every night. It's the night in which tales about the past chiefs and their lifemates are told by the memory-keeper of the tribe who will pass on a basket full of dreamberries. Mostly the story goes about the good deeds and decisions the chiefs made before, but occasionally other stories are told as well.
First Hunt
When the rain stops and the Rain Season ends, there will be a spontaneous hunt in a couple of different parties. The meat they bring back, and because the animals are coming out to enjoy the dry weather as well, game is plenty, is eaten and enjoyed with music and singing. Everybody is relieved that the Rain ended - again! The hides are skinned from their flesh and traditionally handed over to the tribe's tanners.
Elfin Birth
Because of the few births in the elfin tribe, Recognitions and births are highly appreciated and valued. When an infant is being born, the whole tribe waits eagerly to see their newborn tribesmates. Traditionally, the father takes the cub outside when it's been born, where it's greeted with a lot of cheers and laughter and howling. The father also usually announces the name of the cub it the name is already decided, while the mother recovers from the cub's birth.
Soul Name Search
Though not all young elves leave the holt to find their soulname, mostly they do to meditate in a peaceful and quiet surrounding. This search is often very dangerous, since the elf will be completely by him or herself and there are lots of predators on the loose. Armed with the weapon the youngster has learned to wield, he takes off to return a moon or so later, and he'll be received with excitement and relief. Sometimes, a cub does not return from their soul name search and is presumed dead.
Death Howls
Wolfrider spirits go wherever they want after their deaths. To say goodbye, the chieftess leads the tribe in a Death Howl to say goodbye to the fallen elf. Elves seek comfort with each other, support each other and cry while expressing their feelings in the all-covering howl of the wolf. Usually, the howl is followed by a short silence and some anecdotes told by different people who were close to the deceased.