Nightlands Races
I want to start outlining some races for the Nightlands, starting with Elves.
The most significant race in the Nightlands besides humans has to be the Elves, however the first thing most people make a mistake about is presuming that there is only one type of Elf, when in fact there are many. The three major racial groups are the High Elves, Middle Elves and Fae Elves.
High Elves
The first type of Elf is also the rarest, most powerful and mystical. HIgh Elves as a collective are tall, thin-framed, often inhumanly beautiful, magically powerful, and immortal. That is not to say they are unkillable, but without illness or injury will not die of old age, and are very resistant to most illnesses. Even when they are killed, they are able to be resurrected if their body is preserved and repaired, or reborn in a new body. There are three main sub-races of High Elves, plus a few random outliers who likely originate from one of the three groups, but has chosen to be independant.
Night Elves
Night Elves are the most likely High Elf anyone might meet, with small well-hidden settlement scattered around the mainland. In complection they can vary greatly, with the Night Elves of the equatorial Nightlands having darker skintones than those closer to the poles. Night Elf hair colours tend to be dark and can come in colours that would be unnatural for humans, like shades of blue, purple and green, as well as browns, reds and blacks.
It is not unusual to find groups of Night Elves at the centre of larger Middle Elf towns and settlements, with the Night Elves acting as mentor, history keepers, guides and advisors to the Middle Elven folk.
Moon Elves
As Night Elves are the dominant High Elf of the Mainland, Moon Elves are predominant in the Mist Islands, though they also maintain settlements on the mainland coast, mostly in the form of ports through which the Islands trade with the mainland. Because of the, Moon Elves are often conflated with Sea Elves and other coastal groups of Middle Elves, something that is not always helped by links some the Moon Elves have with such Middle Elf communities. The majority of the Moon Elves living on the mainland will always be found in ports that have a large MIddle Elf population, especially with Sea Elf contacts.
As Night Elves are dark in colouring, Moon Elves are pale, with hair colours that are always on the lighter side, including the occasional colours like blues, greens, purples, even pink.
Star Elves
Star Elves are the rarest group of High Elves, considered near mythical even amongst Nightlanders. They are intensely secretive, living in heavily protected enclaves. The most common place for such enclaves are in the northern Sunset Mountains, in hidden, magically protected valleys. They are also known to have strong friendly relations with the High King of the Dwarves and have maintained such a relation with the High Kings for as far back as history records, and rumours going on long before that. The Star Elves also maintain one heavily guarded port in the northern coast, and hold a small cluster of islands which they share with a clan of Moon Elves.
Star Elves only live in the northern hemishpere Nightlands, but the reason why they avoid the south is a matter of unconfirmed rumour, with stories of them having some time in the distant past fought with the Fae of the south.
Star Elves tend to be pale-skinned but with dark shades of hair. Those who live on the Star Islands can show more Moon Elf colouring due to intermarriage.
As a whole, High Elves avoid leaving the Nightlands at all and believe that doing so will cause them to suffer a slow and painful death due to the lack of ambient magic. The Moon and Star Elves on the Mist Islands are extremely careful about sailing too close to the Dayline and if accidentally crossed, will do everything to return to the night side as soon as possible.
Middle Elves
Middle Elves are, unlike High Elves, a mortal, but long-lived race. They are, on average, not as tall or thin as High Elves, not as magically powerful, but still magically adept, and not having the otherworldly presence High Elves can radiate. Middle Elves are often viewed by Nightlander humans as long-lived, pointy-eared humans. In colouring they can have huge variations, some of which can be related to their sub-race.
Gold Elves tend to have blonde hair and light to golden skin tones. They have something of superior attitude, believing themselves wiser and more powerful than others, and it is not unheard-of for them to claim to be High Elves, much to the offence of true High Elves.
Silver Elves are the most common sub-race of Elves in the Nightlands and the ones most found living alongside humans in human towns and settlements. Their colouring favours lighter skin and less golden hues in hair. They have a high instance of blue hair.
Wood Elves tend to live in inland forest communities, with villages in trees and reclaimed ruins. Their colouring can vary depending on how far north or south, but it favours tan to brown skin and brown and reddish-brown hair. Despite being woodland folk, they very rarely ever have green hair.
Grey Elves tend to live in the foothills of the Sunset mountains, having more affinity with stone than forests. As a whole their looks tend to have a distinct grey tone that is believed to be the reason for their name.
White Elves are a rare folk of near-albino Elves who live in the extremes of the icy north and south. The two groups should always be defined by which pole they come from and the northern culture and the southern culture are completely different, despite climate influences.
Black Elves originate from the south Nightlands, as as their name implies, have dark to totally black skin and likewise dark to black hair. The Black Elves have an empire that spans a large amount of the southern Nighlands, subjugating or outright destroying any other elves in their lands. They have an uneasy relationship with the humans of the south, who have resisted being completely controled by them. There have been wars in the past between the Black Elf empire and the Elves of the north, which so far the northern Elves have managed to win by dint of alliances that have given them the upper hand, including the power of the High Elves and even aid from the Seelie Court of the Fae.
Green Elves are similar in many ways to Wood Elves, being forest dwelling, but the Green Elves for the most part live on the subtropical Mist Islands and the tropical Midland. There are a few mainland settlements that their people hold, but they are at odds with the Wood Elves who feel they are encroaching on their lands.
Wild Elves are a southern hemishpere race of Elves who are nomadic, tribal, hunter-gatherers. They are often at odds with the Black Elves who dominate the south.
Sea Elves are a partically group of Elves with magics that make them suited to live in water. They the ability to breath underwater, tend to have webbed hands and feet and are sometimes known to shapeshift into sea animals. They tend to have blueish or greenish complections and hair that ranges from ash blondes through to green and blue. They live in the seas of the Nightlands and can have contact with coastal communities, though their strongest affiliation is with the Moon Elves. They are often mistaken for merfolk, but merfolk are a different race entirely to Elves. Some Sea Elf communities are shared with merfolk.
Winged Elves are a very rare race of small, light-framed Elves who have wings that allow them to fly. They mostly live in the mountains and in the north are likely to have contact with the Star Elves, if not sharing the hidden enclaves with the High Elf race. They can come in all sorts of colourings, but often their wings can resemble those of types of birds and their skin and hair colours blend with that.
Blood Elves are not so much a racial group as a cultural group. They originate from the south, making them mostly made of of Black Elves, but as groups of Blood Elves have settled in the north, have gained members from the northern races as well. Blood Elves started as a group of highly trained warriors, berserkers, and assassins who utilise very dangerous forms of magic. They were originally created by the Black Elves to be their enforcers, but the Blood Elves rebeled against the Black Elf empire. The Blood Elf clans who still live in the south remain in conflict with the Black Elves who seek to regain control over them, a conflict that has caused some of the Blood Elf clans to migrate north. Because most of these migrants are still Black Elves by race, they are held in suspicsion in the north, and if it is found out they are Blood Elves, will be violently hated as Blood Elves were once sent to attack and terrorise the north.
Fae Elves
The Fae is an extra-dimensional realm created some time in the distant past by groups of magical races seeking refuge. It is widely believed that the reason for the creation of the Fae Realm was the same situation that created the Nightlands to start with. Because of this, the Sidhe can cover any number of magical races, including it Elves.
The Sidhe are, collectively, wild, dangerous, capricious, mischevious, cruel, magically powerful and chaotic. As opposed to most Nightlands races, the Sidhe are strengthened by the effects of the Greater Moon, somethign that is theorised to be due to the chaotic natures.
The Sidhe are ruled over by two groups - two courts - between whom control of the network of linked pocket realms also known as "The Fae" or the "Fae Realm". The courts constantly fight between each other to gain more pocket realms than the other, and when this constant struggle overflows into the Nightlands it can cause serious trouble.
Seelie
The Seelie Court, also known as the Summer Court, is considered the nicer of the two courts, with a liking of playing tricks on people, and can leave them with life-long side-effects, but are more likely to leave them alive and relativelly undamaged once they are finished having their fun. It is considered risky to have anything to do with them, but far preferable than encountering the other option. Seelie races tend to be on the gentler end of the scale for magical creatures.
Unseelie
The Unseelie Court, of Winter Court, is considered the crueller, more vicious of the two courts, more likely to take deliberate delight in torturing and breaking outsiders they capture, and having little concern about keeping them alive. The creatures who willingly align with the Winter Court tend to be the more vicious monsterous types, the sort that are always told in tales as brutally killing and eating victims. The one positive thing that can be said is that Unseelie are more likely to kill someone quickly with the Seelie will want to play with them, even though the person may tire of Seelie games.
Wildfae
While the Summer and Winter Courts constantly fight for control over pocket realms, there are always some that are missed, or fall out of control of a court and are not immediately grabbed by the other. These are the Wildfae realms, where the small amount of fae who refuse to align with either court hide. The wild sidhe rarely stay in one realm for long, as the constant struggle for control will sooner or later have one of the courts claim control of any wild realm. Wild sidhe are rarely organised, with groups almost never being more than small nomadic clan groups at the most - large groups moving from realm to realm will get noticed more easily by the courts.
There are some outlying fae realms, ones far from the centres of the two courts that have more stable populations, but those realms are also wilder and more willing to defend their independance from the courts and if somehow an outsider got that far into the Fae, they would not be welcomed but more likely be greeted with weapons ready to kill them.
Elves in the Fae are the race that rules both courts. It is hard to tell however if they were High Elves or Middle Elves before the Fae was created, as all Sidhe creatures have far longer lifespans than any in the relatively mudane Nightlands. The queens of the two courts have never changed in the recorded history of the Nightlands, but any sugestion of Sidhe High Elves is violently rejected on both sides, as the HIgh Elves and the two Sidhe courts have hated each other for all of recording history.
Low Elves
No one is quite sure exactly how Low Elves came to exist, but they are believed to be a subsection of Elves who at some time in the past were twisted into wretched twisted creatures that are often mistaken as kin to gnomes, imps and some of the fairy races. They are short, never standing over three feet in hieght, with sallow skin, thin hair, and ugly features, but still have very strong magic, bordering on the levels of the High Elves and the Sidhe. Attitudes towards them vary greatly, all the way from pity, through aversion, disgust and outright hatred. They are not even considered Elves by the Sidhe, who treat them as slaves or even prey to hunt.
Sun Elves
Sun Elves are not a discreet race, but are Middle Elves who have left the Nightlands to live in the Daylands. Middle Elves can survive the lack of magic in the Daylands, but lose any natural ability to do magic, have their lifespan greatly reduced, and can be viewed, at best, as slightly exotic-looking people. At worst they can be considered freaks, paraded around as such, even enslaved by Daylanders. Nightlanders also look down on Sun Elves, more for their lack of magic than for being "exotic".
An Elf who visits the Daylands is not immediately a Sun Elf, they have to stay long enough to lose their magic and not be able to regain it even if they return to the Nightlands. High Elves can never become Sun Elves, niether do Sea Elves or Winged Elves, and Blood Elves have a high chance of dying from lack of magic due to the dark arcane discaplines they learn.
Sidhe Elves will die quickly and painfully in the Daylands as their need for magic is even higher than an average Nightlander. Some of the far realms in the Fae have gates that open into the Daylands, but those gates are kept locked and guarded.
The most significant race in the Nightlands besides humans has to be the Elves, however the first thing most people make a mistake about is presuming that there is only one type of Elf, when in fact there are many. The three major racial groups are the High Elves, Middle Elves and Fae Elves.
High Elves
The first type of Elf is also the rarest, most powerful and mystical. HIgh Elves as a collective are tall, thin-framed, often inhumanly beautiful, magically powerful, and immortal. That is not to say they are unkillable, but without illness or injury will not die of old age, and are very resistant to most illnesses. Even when they are killed, they are able to be resurrected if their body is preserved and repaired, or reborn in a new body. There are three main sub-races of High Elves, plus a few random outliers who likely originate from one of the three groups, but has chosen to be independant.
Night Elves
Night Elves are the most likely High Elf anyone might meet, with small well-hidden settlement scattered around the mainland. In complection they can vary greatly, with the Night Elves of the equatorial Nightlands having darker skintones than those closer to the poles. Night Elf hair colours tend to be dark and can come in colours that would be unnatural for humans, like shades of blue, purple and green, as well as browns, reds and blacks.
It is not unusual to find groups of Night Elves at the centre of larger Middle Elf towns and settlements, with the Night Elves acting as mentor, history keepers, guides and advisors to the Middle Elven folk.
Moon Elves
As Night Elves are the dominant High Elf of the Mainland, Moon Elves are predominant in the Mist Islands, though they also maintain settlements on the mainland coast, mostly in the form of ports through which the Islands trade with the mainland. Because of the, Moon Elves are often conflated with Sea Elves and other coastal groups of Middle Elves, something that is not always helped by links some the Moon Elves have with such Middle Elf communities. The majority of the Moon Elves living on the mainland will always be found in ports that have a large MIddle Elf population, especially with Sea Elf contacts.
As Night Elves are dark in colouring, Moon Elves are pale, with hair colours that are always on the lighter side, including the occasional colours like blues, greens, purples, even pink.
Star Elves
Star Elves are the rarest group of High Elves, considered near mythical even amongst Nightlanders. They are intensely secretive, living in heavily protected enclaves. The most common place for such enclaves are in the northern Sunset Mountains, in hidden, magically protected valleys. They are also known to have strong friendly relations with the High King of the Dwarves and have maintained such a relation with the High Kings for as far back as history records, and rumours going on long before that. The Star Elves also maintain one heavily guarded port in the northern coast, and hold a small cluster of islands which they share with a clan of Moon Elves.
Star Elves only live in the northern hemishpere Nightlands, but the reason why they avoid the south is a matter of unconfirmed rumour, with stories of them having some time in the distant past fought with the Fae of the south.
Star Elves tend to be pale-skinned but with dark shades of hair. Those who live on the Star Islands can show more Moon Elf colouring due to intermarriage.
As a whole, High Elves avoid leaving the Nightlands at all and believe that doing so will cause them to suffer a slow and painful death due to the lack of ambient magic. The Moon and Star Elves on the Mist Islands are extremely careful about sailing too close to the Dayline and if accidentally crossed, will do everything to return to the night side as soon as possible.
Middle Elves
Middle Elves are, unlike High Elves, a mortal, but long-lived race. They are, on average, not as tall or thin as High Elves, not as magically powerful, but still magically adept, and not having the otherworldly presence High Elves can radiate. Middle Elves are often viewed by Nightlander humans as long-lived, pointy-eared humans. In colouring they can have huge variations, some of which can be related to their sub-race.
Gold Elves tend to have blonde hair and light to golden skin tones. They have something of superior attitude, believing themselves wiser and more powerful than others, and it is not unheard-of for them to claim to be High Elves, much to the offence of true High Elves.
Silver Elves are the most common sub-race of Elves in the Nightlands and the ones most found living alongside humans in human towns and settlements. Their colouring favours lighter skin and less golden hues in hair. They have a high instance of blue hair.
Wood Elves tend to live in inland forest communities, with villages in trees and reclaimed ruins. Their colouring can vary depending on how far north or south, but it favours tan to brown skin and brown and reddish-brown hair. Despite being woodland folk, they very rarely ever have green hair.
Grey Elves tend to live in the foothills of the Sunset mountains, having more affinity with stone than forests. As a whole their looks tend to have a distinct grey tone that is believed to be the reason for their name.
White Elves are a rare folk of near-albino Elves who live in the extremes of the icy north and south. The two groups should always be defined by which pole they come from and the northern culture and the southern culture are completely different, despite climate influences.
Black Elves originate from the south Nightlands, as as their name implies, have dark to totally black skin and likewise dark to black hair. The Black Elves have an empire that spans a large amount of the southern Nighlands, subjugating or outright destroying any other elves in their lands. They have an uneasy relationship with the humans of the south, who have resisted being completely controled by them. There have been wars in the past between the Black Elf empire and the Elves of the north, which so far the northern Elves have managed to win by dint of alliances that have given them the upper hand, including the power of the High Elves and even aid from the Seelie Court of the Fae.
Green Elves are similar in many ways to Wood Elves, being forest dwelling, but the Green Elves for the most part live on the subtropical Mist Islands and the tropical Midland. There are a few mainland settlements that their people hold, but they are at odds with the Wood Elves who feel they are encroaching on their lands.
Wild Elves are a southern hemishpere race of Elves who are nomadic, tribal, hunter-gatherers. They are often at odds with the Black Elves who dominate the south.
Sea Elves are a partically group of Elves with magics that make them suited to live in water. They the ability to breath underwater, tend to have webbed hands and feet and are sometimes known to shapeshift into sea animals. They tend to have blueish or greenish complections and hair that ranges from ash blondes through to green and blue. They live in the seas of the Nightlands and can have contact with coastal communities, though their strongest affiliation is with the Moon Elves. They are often mistaken for merfolk, but merfolk are a different race entirely to Elves. Some Sea Elf communities are shared with merfolk.
Winged Elves are a very rare race of small, light-framed Elves who have wings that allow them to fly. They mostly live in the mountains and in the north are likely to have contact with the Star Elves, if not sharing the hidden enclaves with the High Elf race. They can come in all sorts of colourings, but often their wings can resemble those of types of birds and their skin and hair colours blend with that.
Blood Elves are not so much a racial group as a cultural group. They originate from the south, making them mostly made of of Black Elves, but as groups of Blood Elves have settled in the north, have gained members from the northern races as well. Blood Elves started as a group of highly trained warriors, berserkers, and assassins who utilise very dangerous forms of magic. They were originally created by the Black Elves to be their enforcers, but the Blood Elves rebeled against the Black Elf empire. The Blood Elf clans who still live in the south remain in conflict with the Black Elves who seek to regain control over them, a conflict that has caused some of the Blood Elf clans to migrate north. Because most of these migrants are still Black Elves by race, they are held in suspicsion in the north, and if it is found out they are Blood Elves, will be violently hated as Blood Elves were once sent to attack and terrorise the north.
Fae Elves
The Fae is an extra-dimensional realm created some time in the distant past by groups of magical races seeking refuge. It is widely believed that the reason for the creation of the Fae Realm was the same situation that created the Nightlands to start with. Because of this, the Sidhe can cover any number of magical races, including it Elves.
The Sidhe are, collectively, wild, dangerous, capricious, mischevious, cruel, magically powerful and chaotic. As opposed to most Nightlands races, the Sidhe are strengthened by the effects of the Greater Moon, somethign that is theorised to be due to the chaotic natures.
The Sidhe are ruled over by two groups - two courts - between whom control of the network of linked pocket realms also known as "The Fae" or the "Fae Realm". The courts constantly fight between each other to gain more pocket realms than the other, and when this constant struggle overflows into the Nightlands it can cause serious trouble.
Seelie
The Seelie Court, also known as the Summer Court, is considered the nicer of the two courts, with a liking of playing tricks on people, and can leave them with life-long side-effects, but are more likely to leave them alive and relativelly undamaged once they are finished having their fun. It is considered risky to have anything to do with them, but far preferable than encountering the other option. Seelie races tend to be on the gentler end of the scale for magical creatures.
Unseelie
The Unseelie Court, of Winter Court, is considered the crueller, more vicious of the two courts, more likely to take deliberate delight in torturing and breaking outsiders they capture, and having little concern about keeping them alive. The creatures who willingly align with the Winter Court tend to be the more vicious monsterous types, the sort that are always told in tales as brutally killing and eating victims. The one positive thing that can be said is that Unseelie are more likely to kill someone quickly with the Seelie will want to play with them, even though the person may tire of Seelie games.
Wildfae
While the Summer and Winter Courts constantly fight for control over pocket realms, there are always some that are missed, or fall out of control of a court and are not immediately grabbed by the other. These are the Wildfae realms, where the small amount of fae who refuse to align with either court hide. The wild sidhe rarely stay in one realm for long, as the constant struggle for control will sooner or later have one of the courts claim control of any wild realm. Wild sidhe are rarely organised, with groups almost never being more than small nomadic clan groups at the most - large groups moving from realm to realm will get noticed more easily by the courts.
There are some outlying fae realms, ones far from the centres of the two courts that have more stable populations, but those realms are also wilder and more willing to defend their independance from the courts and if somehow an outsider got that far into the Fae, they would not be welcomed but more likely be greeted with weapons ready to kill them.
Elves in the Fae are the race that rules both courts. It is hard to tell however if they were High Elves or Middle Elves before the Fae was created, as all Sidhe creatures have far longer lifespans than any in the relatively mudane Nightlands. The queens of the two courts have never changed in the recorded history of the Nightlands, but any sugestion of Sidhe High Elves is violently rejected on both sides, as the HIgh Elves and the two Sidhe courts have hated each other for all of recording history.
Low Elves
No one is quite sure exactly how Low Elves came to exist, but they are believed to be a subsection of Elves who at some time in the past were twisted into wretched twisted creatures that are often mistaken as kin to gnomes, imps and some of the fairy races. They are short, never standing over three feet in hieght, with sallow skin, thin hair, and ugly features, but still have very strong magic, bordering on the levels of the High Elves and the Sidhe. Attitudes towards them vary greatly, all the way from pity, through aversion, disgust and outright hatred. They are not even considered Elves by the Sidhe, who treat them as slaves or even prey to hunt.
Sun Elves
Sun Elves are not a discreet race, but are Middle Elves who have left the Nightlands to live in the Daylands. Middle Elves can survive the lack of magic in the Daylands, but lose any natural ability to do magic, have their lifespan greatly reduced, and can be viewed, at best, as slightly exotic-looking people. At worst they can be considered freaks, paraded around as such, even enslaved by Daylanders. Nightlanders also look down on Sun Elves, more for their lack of magic than for being "exotic".
An Elf who visits the Daylands is not immediately a Sun Elf, they have to stay long enough to lose their magic and not be able to regain it even if they return to the Nightlands. High Elves can never become Sun Elves, niether do Sea Elves or Winged Elves, and Blood Elves have a high chance of dying from lack of magic due to the dark arcane discaplines they learn.
Sidhe Elves will die quickly and painfully in the Daylands as their need for magic is even higher than an average Nightlander. Some of the far realms in the Fae have gates that open into the Daylands, but those gates are kept locked and guarded.