First Elves

First Elf
Major race
Example appearance
Attributes
Average lifespan (max)	2000 years (3000)
Age of maturity	500 years
Height range	1.75 - 2.20 m (5′9′′ - 7′30′′)

Parent Race: Elf

Note: The First Elves are considered an extinct race. While their legacy is alive in elf minor races, the First Elves should not be used as a playable race by new characters.

The First Elves, or L’nai, are a mythic and foundational elven lineage believed to be the origin of all other elven races in Alathra. Existing in the ancient age of the world, the L’nai are regarded as the progenitors of the elven condition: long-lived, magically resonant, and intimately bound to the natural and cosmic forces of the world.

According to the oldest myths, the L’nai they descended into the world int eh lost continent of Aurel. Their bodies shimmered with the dust of nebulae, their skin crystalline and light-bearing, their eyes reflecting the cosmos itself. Some bore the moon’s pale glow, others the sun’s radiant gold, and some shimmered with the hues of galaxies untold.

Though the L’nai no longer walk the world in their original form, traces of their essence persist in the bloodlines, rituals, and latent magic of their descendants. Their legacy splintered early into three dominant aspects: the Aure’lai (Sun Elves), the Sira’nai (Star Elves), and the Elva’rai (Moon Elves). From these lineages came all other elves, each carrying fragments of the L’nai’s primordial gift.

Some traditions suggest that rare individuals—most notably the Veyari—may still carry the L’nai spark in its raw form, allowing them to shift, adapt, and traverse boundaries between kin.

Etymology

• L’nai: From contraction of two root syllables elun (first, beginning) + nai (essence, bound)—roughly translating to “those of the first breath” or “origin-bound.”

Physical Traits

Descriptions of the L’nai vary widely and are often symbolic:

• Skin tones: Translucent crystalline, embedded with luminous motes or stardust. Hues range from pale violet and blue to golden-silver light.
• Eyes: Varying from cosmic violet to radiant gold or deep nebular blue, glowing with starlight.
• Hair: Weightless, ever-shifting in color—from cosmic white to obsidian veined with constellations.
• Build: Exceptionally tall and slender, appearing gravity-defiant.

• 
  First Elf Male
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  First Elf Female
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  First Elf Sun Seed
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  First Elf Moon Seed
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Ancestry

The L’nai are the direct children of the celestial source. From them descended the Aure’lai (Sun Elves), Elva’rai (Moon Elves), and Sira’nai (Star or Light Elves), who each carried fragments of their essence into the world.

With time, their immortal unity fragmented. Diverging thought, purpose, and spirit gave rise to the branches of elvenkind that would shape the ages of Alathra. The L’nai themselves, faded into myth and starlight.

Elven Lineage

The elves of Alathra trace their origins to the L’nai, the First Elves—primordial beings of long life, arcane potential, and fluid essence. Over the ages, the L’nai gave rise to multiple branches through divergence in philosophy, environment, and magical affinity.

From the L’nai emerged the Aure’lai (Sun Elves), Sira’nai (Star Elves), and Elva’rai (Moon Elves), who formed the three great ancient lineages. Each of these lines would, in time, fragment further into the modern elven subraces of today: the imperial Vel’nai (High Elves), exiled subterranean Mor’nai (Low Elves), extinct seaborne Dor’nai (Tide Elves), forest-bound Silva’rai (Wood Elves), and the remote Zaure’lai (Ash Elves).

Scattered among all lineages are the rare Veyari, shapeshifters born with residual echoes of the L’nai essence. Though rare, they are found across all elven communities and maintain no distinct homeland of their own.

Homeland

The L’nai are not known to have built any cities. Their sanctums existed beteween dimensions. Their presence on Alathra is only known through the accounts of ancient Sun Elves texts and Star Elves records.

Culture

Littles is known of the L’nai, they are associated with a proto-society rooted in oral memory, elemental communion, and world-harmony rather than hierarchical structure.

They revered forces and astronomical entities. Over time, these philosophical lenses hardened into distinct practices that birthed the ideological divides between their descendant races.

Legacy

Though no L’nai is believed to exist today in pure form, all elvenkind carry fragments of their essence. Their disappearance is considered the beginning of elven history and the end of the age of origin.

The Veyari, rare individuals born with L’nai spark, are considered sacred by some and feared by others. They alone retain the instinctual shapeshifting traits said to define the L’nai.