Elves
Elves are creatures of fierce beauty and steely determination who are a touch stronger and faster than mortal men and certainly much more agile with better senses just...think LotR elves that’s what they are. They can be spotted at a glance, if they have their hair pulled back, by their pointed ears and as a result, many elves tend to do what they may to adorn, augment, or highlight their ears. Elves tend to be tall and slim and beautiful; their presence as enchanting as anything. Their lifespans are very great and, it is said, that if unmolested, nature would keep them alive forever. This theory, of course, due to the nature of eternity, can never be proven.
Culturally, elves tend to be very proud and even more proud of their magnificence. Many elves also believe that one elven life counts for more than many mortal lives because they live so much longer. That being said, there are also many elves who believe exactly the opposite.
Religion
Their belief system is based on a concept which they call the Light, a force (yeah its basically the Jedi religion meets Melisandre’s) that curls through and unites all living things, creating and sustaining. Its enemy, equal and just as necessary, is the Dark, a destructive and chaotic force. As a result, the elves prize order and harmony above all things...something belied by their competitive streak.
The Trying
One of the largest contests in elven culture is colloquially called the Trying and it is a great event testing both the body a la the Hunger Games and the mind like the SATs jk, jk held each (elvish) generation, meaning that its one every few hundred/thousand years. The prize? The hand of the eldest elven princess.
The Trying is a sacred rite to the elves, who are a matrilineal race, meaning that the next elven ruler will be the firstborn (whether male or female) of the eldest princess. For this reason, the ruler’s children may or may not be the next ruler. For example, AMNON LAREAU is the current king of the elves, but any children of his would be in line for the throne only after any children of his sister, ORIANA, as she is the eldest princess. (Surnames also pass from mother to child and no one changes their surnames when they wed.) Because of this, the marriage of the eldest elven princess is of huge import to the elves, which is the reason for the Trying. Many die in the Trying but all who compete are forever after honored for their courage and spirit.
By tradition, anyone may participate in the Trying, though pureblooded elves of the nobility tend to win both because they can afford to spend their lives training and because they are given more points. Despite this, anyone may participate and there are, in fact, many popular lays about unlikely candidates appearing in the event. These range in theme from the adventurous and humorous the Trying of Adara (in which the elvish princess disguises herself as a man to compete for her own hand so that she may select her own suitor when she wins) to the epic and tragic Song of Leon & Odelia (in which a mortal man, desperately in love with the princess, competes in the Trying in order to win her hand but is tragically cut down instead. When the news reaches the princess, she casts herself from the tallest tower to her death so that the two lovers may be united in death, if never in life).
A century ago, a Trying was held for Oriana’s hand, which was won by VEREMUND LYONOR, but as he is considered dead and both his nation and that of the elves has been conquered, many eagerly anticipate the coming of another Trying for her hand...