Dark Elf (Race)

The Dark Elves are a race of Elves  who inhabit the realm known as Spookshire, the Central Territory on the Continent of Exorterra.

History
The Dark Elves were originally no different from the High Elves of The Realm. They were fair skinned, mighty, and had a beautiful land to call home. However, their beginnings start with a religious revolution when Phobiahnehzar, the God of Revolution and Revelation spoke to an Elf named Valyn , teaching him the ways of chaos and the nature of Dark Magic. In the coming years Valyn emassed a massive cult, and eventually the cult in its entirety faced extermination from the High Elf clergy. The Elves under Valyn fled the continent, sailing to the East, the wind seemingly guided by an energy of chaos. Eventually they landed on the Eastern coast of what would later become Arad-qur.

Sociology/Physiology
Dark Elves share much with their Western cousins as far as appearances go, but they are rather unique in many ways as well, mostly due to the conditions of the land they inhabit.

Dark Elves have obsidian, gray, and sometimes even jet black skin. In an earlier time when they covered the entire continent, some Dark Elves still boasted the light skin of the West, this was used as an identifier socially. The lighter the skin, the farther from the capital the Elf lived, thusly darker skin became a symbol of greatness as history progressed. Eventually the Dark Elves came to reside mostly near the center of the continent and due to this and interbreeding it is rare to ever find a Dark Elf with light skin.

The Dark Elves boast eyes red as blood, but ocassionally have purple, lavender, or even blue eyes. Generally this is believed to be a sign that the Dark Elf in question will become a talented spellcaster later in life. They generally weigh between 130 and 170 lbs, and have silvery hair, however rarely a Dark Elf will be born with scarlet-red hair. These Dark Elves are called 'Branryn' or 'Born of Smolders' in Low-Elven.

Psychology
Dark Elven psychology is strange in that it is built on kinship as well as distrust. Dark Elves have strong family values and many also value loyalty to a Great House and/or the Dark Temple. However, in all of these spheres betrayal is commonplace. Siblings murder each other regularly over inheritance or honor, priests will have each other tortured as repentance for perceived sins, and the great houses constantly betray each other for wealth, land, and power. Because of this assassination is legal in Arad-qur, and to be an assassin is considered a valuable and respectable position.

Despite infighting however, the one constant unifier of Dark Elven psychology is that of xenophobia. The Dark Elves see most other races as lifeforms or at best, children. They have attempted to enslave every other Exorterran race save for the Dustmen.

This hunger for power and constant competitiveness however drives the Dark Elves to be perfectionists, and a perfectionist with 900+ years to become perfect can be quite an amazing specimen. The Dark Elves have no reserves in war, magic, passion, art, or emotion. In fact despite their xenophobia, when a Dark Elf is in a foreign country they will seldom speak out of shame, shame that they do not know the customs or the language, for to speak without perfect grammar and pronunciation is dishonorable to the listener in Arad-qur.

Gender
Because of the lifespans of female Dark Elves compared to male Dark Elves, and the nature of their aging, men in Dark Elven society are generally considered to be weaker and/or less intelligent in comparison to their female counterparts. Because of this Dark Elven women dominate the priesthood and military, though both groups are equally active in politics and trade.

On top of this Dark Elves see gender as a spectrum as well as a fluid concept. Many Dark Elves assigned a man or woman at birth will identify as the opposite gender later in life, and it is fairly common for a Dark Elf to identify as different genders multiple times throughout their life. On top of this, the oldest and wisest Dark Elves often do not identify as a gender and it is considered rude to refer to them with pronouns of any kind. This is modeled after the diety Phobianezar who is considered genderless.

Food
Dark elven food is incredibly strange, colorful, and flavorful. Generally dishes are based around a lentil, rice, and a spiced sauce. These include toor, masoor, and urad. The dishes are generally stewed or fried in oil. Many dishes also include tofu, soy beans, peppers, gourds, potatoes, yams, insects, and sometimes live animals. A few dishes include lizard and insect eggs, and a type of rice noodle.

Because of the intense spices in Dark Elven food many foreigners cannot finish a dish, this has slowly led to Dark Elves integrating a flat bread into most dishes that cleanses the palette.