Elves reproduce slowly. In fact it takes two full turns for an elfin pregnancy to come to term. One thing this means is that no two elves born of the same mother and father could ever be closer than two turns. The mother would never recognize immediately upon giving birth, not even if the cub were to die in that same moment.
        It is normal for elfin pairs to have children hundreds of turns apart. What is not normal is for elves to have children closer together than 50 turns, they rarely have children that 'grow up' together. Some may say that means after one cub is 16 or 18 another could be had, but for elves agemates of one cub may span one hundred turns. Those who were young adults at their birth and those who were born while they themselves were a young adult. The older agemates are not agemates with the younger but this is normal too. Clearbrook had a cub we never hear about, a daughter more than a hundred turns before Scouter was born. Strongbow and Moonshade had a cub named Crescent a couple hundred turns before Dart was born. Goodtree had a cub named Wellspeed, born when Goodtree was yet a young chieftess, a great many turns before she gave birth to Mantricker. We have however two examples of siblings growing up together, and here are the explainations for both.

        Twins: In the 10,000 years or so since the birth of Timmorn there have been 6 sets of twins noted in the books, I can't name all of them but one set was Owl and Greywolf, another set were females born of a rockshaper, and the third I can name are Suntop and Ember. None of the elves in either the wolfriders or the SunFolk had ever heard or experienced multiple births, and since Savah founded Sorrow's End it can be assumed it never happened there before Leetah and Cutter's twins. The wolfriders however have had it happen 7 times in the previous 10,000 years so it is a very rare thing. I find no mention of more than two cubs from a single birth.

        Rainsong's cubs: She gave birth to three cubs (Newstar, Wing, and Mender) within a dozen years, a feat unique among elves. Her father was Rain, her brother Pike. Rain was a healer, the last wolfrider with the magic before Mender (his grandson). He experimented with forced recognition and Pike was the outcome. Rainsong possessed no outward signs of the healing magics such as her father and son had, but it is said that her magic was birthing cubs. The healing magics passed on to her by her father and through her to Mender manifested within Rainsong as the ability to give birth frequently. However it is unknown why she had no more cubs after Mender. It is suggested that with three living cubs, each born through recognition, she never recognized again.

        One of the issues which seems to be a source of confusion for our roleplayers is whether elfin characters age at the same rate the humans do.

        Information from the books and interviews lead us to this conclusion: Elves age relatively the same as humans until adulthood at which point they reach a plateau, holding at a seemingly unchanging point for hundreds or thousands of years, and then moving quickly through old age if they even live long enough to reach it. Elfin children quickly enter into adulthood; adolescence (puberty) beginning at about 13 to 15 and most are considered to be adult by the age of 16 to 18.

        Conclusions: At least for the early part of elfin aging, it seems that elf characters should expect to reach adolescence at the same time a human character would. Although an elf would be considered adult more quickly than a human in RL.

        One final note: elves, possessing such long lifespans as they do, are highly prone to view time in a different manner than humans will. The sixteen turns of the seasons taken to reach adulthood might seem a significant portion of one's life to a human - but, to an elf, that sixteen years will be a brief portion of his or her life, and perceived to go by much more quickly in proportion to the elf's subsequent years.

        For the most part the elves will be dealing with Dolphins as 'friends' rather than as bonds. The dolphins are intelligent creatures that live in a group called a pod. The pod lives in the deep lagoon and in the open waters just beyond it numbering just more than 25. Communication from elf to dolphin is accomplished through hand signals, patterns of slaps against the water and tap of specially made stone devices which most elves carry.

        The friendship is deep, lasting a lifetime much as a bond would but with the smarter animals the deep communication is akin to that of Wolfriders and their bonds. The dolphins do not send, or even communicate telepathically, and yet the elves seem to know what they mean almost as if by instinct.

SeaElf
        Sea-elves are about the same height as the Gliders, but they are adapted to living in and out of water. Some have chosen to shape themselves to have gills or webbed hands and feet (flesh-shaping required by someone in the tribe to do this).

	Eye Color :	Blues, Greens, Greys, Purples, Lavender, Browns
	Hair Color :	Blondes, Reds, Black, White, Grays/Silver, Browns; All tend to be sunbleached
	Height :	Adult height will be between 3'5" and 4'8"
		Females: 3'5" to 4'5" --- Males: 3'8" to 4'8"
	Skintones :	Tanned and tends to range from a light golden brown to a bronzed copper
	Ears :	SeaElves' ears tend to be slightly smaller than most and it is not unusual for them to be lightly scalloped along the edges, not unlike a shell
	Soulname :	Have
	Magics :	Sending

Magics are passed down from an ancestor, near or far, yet are not possessed by all those in the family line. One may have had a grandparent that had a magic, and a child that possesses the same magic, yet neither parent themselves possess that power. Siblings of the magic possessing child may never have that power and yet one of their grandchildren may exhibit that same gift.

A clear example of this is Rainsong and Pike. Siblings that appear to be without magic their father was Rain, who possessed the healing magic we later see in his grandson (Rainsong's third cub) Mender. Only Mender's magic is much stronger than his grandsire's. Now obviously the potential was passed through his mother, but she herself was not a healer.

For instance say that one of the High Ones possessed rock shaping, but none of their three children (A, C, F) shows the power. A has 2 children (H, J) with the same father (B), neither of them have the magic. C has one child (L) with mother (D) and F has three children (N P R) with mother (G). Now of those four children only P shows rock shaping magic but very weakly. Yet down the line, J's grandchild shows up a powerful rockshaper. Then L has a great great grandchild who is also a rockshaper. Now neither A, C, or F had this magic, but clearly all of them had the potential for this magic and they passed it on to their children. This is seen in P having the gift, and the decendants of both J and L showing rock shaping magics passed down to them through those who possessed only the potential and not the realized gift.

You will need to read more about individual magics here and should take a look at the page even if you are not going to seek possession of one of the gifts for your character.

A lifemate is the term for the chosen lifetime mate of a character.
A lovemate is the term for a character with whom you have regularly occurring intimate relations.
A pleasuremate is the term for a character with whom you share infrequently occuring intimate relations.
A soulmate is the term for a character to whom you are recognized.
'Joining' refers to the act of making love.

All three of these terms are used by elves. Elfin society does not restrict one to a single lifemate or lovemate one may possess several of each all at the same time and nothing is thought of it.

Lifemating occurs when elves decide to live together as mates and partners. Usually a lifemating will be between two elves, though it will sometimes involve three or more. Larger groups are not impossible but would be extremely rare. Lovemating exists between regular mating partners who have not decided to bond for life. Pleasuremating refers to the 'one night stands' that may occur from time to time.

Elves do not attach any sort of shame to sexual encounters outside the regular lifemating or lovemating bonds. Jealousy is not impossible but is VERY highly uncommon. There is no shame in same sex matings in any way, elves are omni-sexual, meaning that the gender of ones mating partner is not important, only the pleasure or love shared by the pair.

Recognitions occur when two elves have genes to have the greatest chance of making a healthy child. It can result in the death of both elves if the recognition is denied too long. Soul-siblings are a pair that would have recognized, had they been opposite genders. (In other words, soul-siblings are the same sex.) Children usually are born only through recognition, though there are cases (such a the Sun-Folk, and Go-backs) where no recognition is needed to produce a healthy child.

One last bit of info that is very important: No elf is gay or lesbian. Elves are omnisexual therefore some choose to have partners of the same sex. This is accepted in the elvin community, and not at all looked down upon. If you have a problem with this, don't join this holt.

Recognition is an instinct built into the elfin genetic pattern, which sometimes occurs when two elves who can have viable offspring come into contact with one another. Elves attempt at times to rise above this biological imperative when it happens, but it is nearly unavoidable. Its most profound effect is the immediate and undeniable urge to mate; equally profound is its effect of causing the two elves to experience the sensation of "one soul in two bodies". The soul-bond that results from Recognition is so deep that if either elf has a soulname, the other will instantly know it, even if not normally telepathic.

Recognized elves are in a perpetual empathic bond, each feeling the emotions of the other; sometimes the elves will try to make this grow into love but often this is not the end result. Some classic tragic pairs have failed at this (e.g., Dewshine and Tyldak from the books), for anyone, even mortal enemies, can Recognize. One may Recognize more than once (though NEVER while pregnant, and never more than one occurrence simultaneously; also, it is highly unlikely that a second Recognition will occur within any short length of time of the first), if a second ever happens at all.

Recognition is *not* love, and it should not be mistaken for the elfin equivalent of marriage; it is not. Elves who have become lovemates or even lifemates have no guarantee that they will ever Recognize. In most cases it seems to ensure that they do not.

The bond of Recognition need not even result in long-term interaction between the involved elves. It will certainly enhance an existing relationship, with the insight to the soul that it provides. But when the child is born, Recognition's effects will fade somewhat, leaving behind the knowledge of the soulnames involved, and a special empathy for the partner.

Although some Elfquest stories have depicted the "pre-Recognition" of an adult party and a child (e.g., Raenafel and Barmek in the Wavedancers miniseries), Richard Pini when asked on the matter stated that Recognition should not occur unless both parties were able to bear children. Thus, elves that Recognize will be assumed to have passed puberty.

There are two general ways of naming for elfin characters. We use the second.

1. More 'elfin' names

   Elfin names that are not of the Wolfrider style tend to be short, generally no longer than three syllables, but lyrical.

2. Wolfrider convention or one similar to it. Tribes that name themselves as Wolfriders do tend to either be ones that do much sending, or that live a lifestyle highly dependent upon deep interaction with nature. Moreover, tribes that use Wolfrider-style names are generally the ones whose members have soulnames.

   The Wolfrider naming style is dependent upon one central idea, that a name should fit the individual who bears it. The following categories reflect the many ways a Wolfrider-style name might be chosen:

   • Birth-names, reflecting some trait of the child that the parents find singular.
   • Commemoration of events.
   • Reflection of parentage.
   • Striking or unusual appearance.
   • Favorite weapons or fighting techniques.
   • Nature names.
   • Skills or talents or favorite pastimes.
   • Extraordinary accomplishments.

   As a rule it is best to avoid the more obvious elements for names. Regardless of the type of name you try for, things such as star, moon, sun, fire, and shadow can become quickly over-used; make use of a dictionary or thesaurus to find less common synonyms. Also.. interesting gender neutral names such as Greensdark, are often very effective and not as overused as something like Shadowrun. One is bound to fit the personality of your character.

   Keep in mind that Wolfrider style names are given to the individual, not chosen by him or her. They should never be rude, tasteless, or derogatory; neither should they be pretentious or boastful. The name should be easily pronounceable, and blend together without breaks or multiple accents; short names are always preferable (after all, a Wolfrider whose name takes five seconds to pronounce might not hear in time about that arrow that will hit him in three).

   Regardless of the tribe of origin for your character, your name should reflect your elf's environment and heritage. Most importantly, an elf's name should enable a stranger to identify him from among his tribesfolk by looking at him or watching his activities.

   It is strongly recommended against using deliberately incorrect spellings of words. This may seem cute at first but it fast becomes annoying to those who keep spelling the character's name /wrong/ because they spelled the words /right/.

   

   Soulnames

   Soulnames are an elfin phenomenon: a word/sound/concept which represents/embodies all that an elf fundamentally is, their entire soul. It is also a shield for the elf's most private, inner self. The soulname guards that inner self against telepathic contact from all but those closest to the elf (Recognized mates, or the very closest of friends and family). Etiquette among elves dictates that the soulname not be spoken aloud. The soulname might be freely given to another, but an elf is very unlikely to do this except with someone he or she trusts implicitly.

   Soulnames are short and lyrical-sounding, one or two syllables. As a rule, they exist only with tribes who are highly telepathic. An elf in a non- telepathic tribe might have a soulname, but this is very unlikely, and should only be used if the character sends a lot.

   All elves in this holt have a soul-name. It was shown in ElfQuest stories that the soulname for a wolfrider is often the first 2 to 7 letters of their full Elfin name. Rahnee She-Wolf heard long lyrical names at the conception of each of her children, but none of them ever found more than the first part of that true name.

   The name can be made up by you, the creator, or part of a human word or name. The name is a special treasure, shared by an elf to only a precious few. Lifemates often share names, and a recognition automatically lets the other elf know what their recognized's soulname is.