Wild Elves

Note on Wild Elves: they are not a single race. The Wild Elves come from a few situations in which young children were forced to raise themselves. As they live in the Waste, they are the shortest lived of all the Elf races, only living a few hundred years.

looks/traits

Hair: long and wild or raggedly short, and mostly bleached pale
Eyes: large and bright. The colour of jewels; red, green, gold, blue.
ears: medium size, forward curving.
Height: middling, 5'4"
build: muscular but scrawny.
colouration: dark tan.

personality types

Very fierce and suspicious. Once their trust is gained they're very loyal and friendly.

dress style

Make: Wild Elves often go naked. When they wear clothes, they are made of hides and leather.
Top: poncho style, tied at the waist.
pants/skirt: wrap skirts or loincloths.
shoes: none or wrapping the feet
overclothes: more wraps
underclothes: none
sleep clothes: none
accessories: wood and stone weapons, carvings, jewelry

powers

raw energy, and elements. Mix of everyone else's powers.

home/family

They live mostly in caves in wasteland. Children are raised communally and lineage is through the mother. Few long term relations are maintained. Halfbreeds are uncommon and of no concern. Wild elves live in large caves with hide and pole tents that have tyable flaps for the doors and windows. Furniture is made of piles of hides, or bags of hide filled with down and fur. Bed areas have a shallow pit filled with down, fur, and grasses, and covered by a pile of hide blankets.

Eating habits

Wild Elves have no agriculture. They hunt and forage for their food. They also have few to no domestic animals. They drink water. There is always something being cooked and most meals are taken when hungry. In cases of important feasts, everyone eats together.

Social Structure

There is a chosen leader, almost always female. When that one dies or is found unacceptable, a new one is chosen. Very matriarchal. The accomplishments of each individual helps determine status, but it mostly comes from the mother's status. Once a girl becomes an adult, she has to build her own status. If she has none from her mother, this can be very hard. A boy carries his mother's status until he joins with a woman and then he takes hers.

religion

Wild elves worship the spirits of animals and plants. They believe that some protect them while others wish them harm and if they can enlist the help of the good ones they can keep the bad ones away. Each has a guardian spirit given by a shaman figure [always female] at or near birth. The guardian spirit can be of either type, and those with bad spirits are often disruptive to others.

barn owls, vulture, hawk, fox, bobcat, coyote, gray wolf, bighorn sheep, hare, pocket mouse, hedgehog, hyena, sand cobra, rattlesnake, viper, scorpion, black widow spider, dragonfly, locust

taboo

There are grounds that are forbidden entry to either men or women depending on who uses them. There are places that children cannot go, and there are places that no one is allowed to enter except a shaman. Those of different guardians have different specifications for taboo.

law

The way things are made is prescribed, as is how hunts are carried out. Women always have priority in any case dealing with family, or indeed in most cases, as it is a highly matriarchal society. Women run almost everything and men generally follow their rules.

language

Completely different from any other language. To outsiders it sounds like a combination of gibberish and childspeak.

Naming

Wild Elf names constantly change. They have a name that they use with everyone, and a name that's only used with family and closed friends. They are known by their mother's name. In addition, they are known by their work and if they are good at it. Additional names can be added if they are involved with someone, if they have children, or for their totem animal, or for other accomplishments.
ie: Judith daughter of Sharon, love of Fran, teacher extraordinary, known to her family as Judy.

Arts, music, and literature

Wild Elf art has a lot of body art. They have many sorts of tattoos, one of the main kinds being stylized images of their totems. Along with this, they will make dyes for things using metal ore and ashes. Their art is all stylized and mostly simple. Their living spaces don't display a lot of decoration, but they mostly use them only for sleeping and storing things. Wild Elf music is strongly rhythmic. There is always a strong beat, but they also have pipe instruments and some strings to add to the melody. The vocal part is always the harmony. Wild Elves don't write things down. Their literature is an oral tradition of poetic tales and myths.

Education and play

Children learn everything they need in practice before adulthood. There is some formal training for positions like shaman and in the methods that things are made. This all occurs after children become adults and are called to their professions.

Economy

money: Wild Elves have next to no contact with outsiders and don't trade with them, so they have no need of money. They barter with each other.
consumer sense: While everyone can take care of their basic necessities, better made crafts are more desirable and Wild Elves will try their hardest to get items that are good to look at as well as being useful.
imports: None, as there is no trade with outsiders
exports: None, as there is no trade with outsiders
trade style: Trading has to involve equivalent items. Traders will bring along as many items as they think they will need, but try to trade the fewest things they can for the most they can, always offering very little at first. If an early offer is accepted, they are insulted.

relationship with outsiders

Wild Elves rarely see outsiders because they live very far into the Waste. When they first meet anyone outside of their clan groups they are very mistrustful of them. It takes time for them to open up. Sometimes, if groups are too close together for the land to easily support them all, they will have battles. The losers are enslaved and eventually made part of the group, although they have very low status.

companions

Wild Elves don't domesticate animals. Sometimes creatures will decide to join individuals, often a totem animal. When this happens, the individual is considered powerful and lucky.

transportation

Wild Elves walk.

medicine

Wild Elves heal using herblore and magic.

Differences

Since Wild Elf life is very difficult, those born with handicaps are often left out to die. Those who get into accidents later in life are given easy tasks to do because they have been useful before and are owed a living by the community. Twins are thought of as a nuisance because they're harder to take care of. than single children.

manners

Women take precedence in Wild Elf manners, and they set the standard for everything. Because there is a distinct hierarchy, deference is very important.

sex/reproduction

Like all elves, Wild elves reach sexual maturity around the age of twenty. Females know as soon as conception occurs, and gestation is somewhere between nine and twelve months. Sex is casual and always initiated by females. During pregnancy, the males take care of the females. Wild elves often have up to six children and generally stop being sexually active around age 800.