# Ash Elf Ash Elves are a solitary, monk-like branch of [[Race of Elf|elves]] scattered across the Great Land of [[Weststretch]] and in small amounts east toward the Great Land of [[Frostwalk]]. They live not in cities or castles, but in temples carved from ice and stone. They are devout followers of the (Cardinals) and [[Lurmira Pietaa]], Lord of the Mind, spending days or weeks on end in meditation. Ash Elves separated their newborns into 2 groups, those who are born under a veiling blizzard are a child of _Unknown Face_, and those who are born under normal circumstances are of the _Known Face_. Until maturity, both kinds of children are raised the same. But after the age of 20, those with a Known Face are kept in their temples and are forbidden to leave unless it is a pilgrimage to another temple or a holy site. And those with an Unknown Face will have their forehead embedded with an obsidian shard and cast out of any Ash Elven settlements and are bound to wander the [[Kaelarad|Great Lands]]. Those who are allowed travel at the cost of union usually adapts to lives in the other Great Lands fast. With their meditative habits, Ash Elves have developed a strong mind for concentration, but also a weakness to [[school of Enchantment|Enchantment]] magics. As a result, many of the other races often have a twisted depiction of them since many of them who travel to the other Great Lands end up being taken by brigands and mages with too much of an ego with hypnosis magic. ### Lifespan and Appearance Ash Elves mature at around the age of 20, and live on average to around 300 years old without magical intervention. They have pale and light grayish, slightly rough skin. Their ears are sharp and point up like the [[High Elf|High Elves]], but are not as long as theirs. They have slender bodies like all elves and about the same height as humans and the other races, around 5 and a half to 6 feet tall. Their hair is usually platinum blonde. #### Ash Elven Gods and Worship Beside the worship of the (Cardinals) like the High Elves, Ash Elves additionally reveres the Lord of the Mind, Lurmira Pietaa. With every arrival of the [[Dragon Hour]], Ash Elves begin on a ritual called the [[Ritual of Recollection]], in which they would light incense and perform a deep meditation in a shrine to Lurmira Pietaa, the Lord of Memories, that brings them into a hallucination of a past event of the Lord’s choosing. Depending on the memory they relived, they would pierce their right ears with a colored bead. Once an Ash Elf has 5 beads, they would begin their end-of-life journey, leaving their temple and begin a non-stop meditation until the deep snow takes them. #### History