Anything of note in the world that we need to know? Something odd or different about these elves perhaps?

>>100805
Well, the elves in the world of Aoich are frequently subject to racism and/or sexism. People have less respect for an elf girl than a human male, for example.
The type of elf that Haru, Kyou and Akane are (as well as essentially anybody else living in Belos) is a sun elf. Sun elves tend to live in the desert and have tanned skin and hair colors typically sticking in the blonde>dirty blonde>brown>red scale, as well as light-colored, striking eyes.

In the elven community, a part of beauty standard is how droopy, long, or upright the ear is. Generally, people with broad starts to their ears and a long, narrow finish are considered more attractive than others. Upright ears (Kyou's) are a sign of masculinity, although female elves rarely do have them (Akane's). Droopier ears are considered more effeminate, though again it's not unheard of for males to have ears on the droopy side. Ears that point solely to the sides out straight are considered androgynous and can fit either gender.
Piercing and other body modifications like Akane's are typically worn by elves like dark elves, and in many other cities they are banned (such as Belos).

All jobs in Aoich are governed by the Capital, and to work an official job you have to pay some of your earnings to the Capital (it can range from 30-40% a month). This is why there's an entire underground job scheme, people like illegal merchants or illegal mercenaries (Akane) tend to show up because of the fact that you're earning way less if you decide to do your papers.
I can't think of anything else right now at the moment, but more stuff is probably soon to come.

yuffie 2016/06/28(Tue)15:31 No. 100811 ID: 006dfa
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Here are three of the characters in the world so far, by the way. (from left to right):
Haru, the main character of the quest. When she was little, she was adopted from the Slums' orphanage by two nobles who could not have children.

Kyou, a cool, fit guy who is intelligent, athletic, and very skilled at archery. Even if cute, there's some weird rumors floating around the Slums about him.

Akane, an illegal mercenary. Her irritable soliloquies are targeted at most anyone who even looks at her or her loved ones in the wrong way. This snarker is also a big fan of swearing. She's into girls.

Ah that bring up a good question how is sexuality handled with elves? Traditionally they tend to either be super laid back or super strict. Also how similar is their culture to humans? Sorry for questions but I do so love lore

>>100813
No that's OK I love questions!
Sexuality varies from each elf culture. Dark elves, for example, are super laid back, whereas sun elves tend to be more strict with gender roles and heterosexuality. Other elves are somewhere in between. Humans (especially in the Capital) tend to be extremely transphobic and homophobic, in addition to their frequent racism, because of the widespread religion there.
Kindred elves are sort of this weird mix between plant and human, but their sexuality follows plant reproduction. There's seeds and everything.

Their culture is quite different, although again, it does vary from elf culture to elf culture. For example, Sun elves have geometric, square-like housing built from adobe and paved with tools. Windows are traditionally open by default and have blue blankets to cover them, typically weaved by the woman of the house. Houses in the Capital, the most human-populated city, have more stone and bricks involved, as well as glass windows and wooden doors.

The most opposite culture as compared to sun elves and humans would be dark elves. They wear piercings, get tattoos, have the most cultural diversity, and also have the highest percentage of rogue workers, whereas all other cities typically submit to the Capital's tyrannical rules.

Language in elf culture used to be just elfin, a highly efficient language with little nuances. Over time, because of the two races coexisting (humans and elves), Common English became more prevalent. Dark elves are likely the only subrace who are still fluent in elfin. However, occasionally, elves who know the language will converse in it while around humans just for the advantage of speaking a language that another doesn't.

Oh, also, I saw some people asking about why Haru was in a slum's orphanage if she's a noble. It's because she has no actual claim to her blue blood, because she was adopted, and therefore simply "honored". (An adopted person cannot ever become truly a part of a family, in sun-elven culture.)

Because Belos is so far away from the Capital, she spent most of the money she inherited to get there, and was left with very little (not even to buy a small flat or house with).

We totally need to hook up with our criminal bud. That's a great adventure hook. We could have a lot of opportunities working with the criminal underground. Pure charisma and charm stitching together contacts and resources. Facilitating trade and other deals as a negotiator between otherwise warring factions. Working as the charming, trustworthy, and totally un-suspicious face for front businesses.

We can be the perfect goody goody no one will suspect being involved in what we're doing.

Plus once we start accruing a criminal empire we'll have all the sneaky assets needed to investigate our parent's death even if official lines of inquiry are blocked, payed off, corrupt, or otherwise restricted.

>She's into girls.
Well, duh. Her ears gave that away!

yuffie 2016/06/28(Tue)18:11 No. 100821 ID: 006dfa
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I'm yuffie and I made this edit because I never take anything seriously

SO how do elves age? Do they live longer than humans, shorter? When is an elf considered an adult and is there a coming of age ritual?

>>100825
Considering the elves' aging, they tend to age the same as humans until they hit their 30s or so, and then it slows down a bit. the end of their lifespan is maybe 115-120 years old, about two times the length of the average Aoich human's.
Dark elves often live for one if not a few hundred years older.

Elves go through puberty around the same time humans do, and when an elf is 13 year old (18 for dark elves) they're considered able to start working with pay officially, although child labour laws in the Capital forbid this. This also goes for illegal/rogue underground jobs.

When an elf is considered an adult, that would be about 15 for normal elves and then 20 for dark elves. This is also the time that they are expected to start looking for serious romantic partners. Before this, it's all casual flirting and games, and romantical relationships don't mean much.
On the matter of a coming of age ritual, for regular elves like sun elves it's usually a small celebration with several trials for the elf in question. Face paint and nights around a fire singing, celebrating, and dancing are encouraged.
Ceremonies tend to be more hardcore with dark elves, involving piercings and other body modifications, whereas kindred elves don't really care at all and have no such thing as 'coming of age rituals'.

What I am getting here is that the dark elves are more of a last vestige of a mostly assimilated culture. This implies that the elves and humans once operated separately, are we to assume there was a war then? If so how recent and how badly was it lost? Oh are there other races!?

>>100848
The common trope is that Dark Elves forsook the traditional elven religions to worship demons, and there was some sort of civil war/schism.

Usually their coloration is a reaction to living in nonstandard environments.

heyy soo I won't be updating for like half a week or so bc of other stuff (some of my distant relatives r coming to visit this weekend). I'll see you guys after tho!

What level of technology exists in the empire? How is the literacy rate? What metal is most commonly used? What percentage of people are farmers? How rare and how well understood is magic? What's the highest level of power a magic user can achieve? Has the scientific method been discovered? What are magic users called, do they specialize? Is magic categorized? If so, what denominations exist? Kindred elves are plantlike, how did that happen, magic? Why are they still considered elves? How did the sapient species come to exist, did they evolve, or were they created? Are they species or races, can they interbreed? Do gods exist? If so, how do they work? Do they interfere in the affairs of mortals, or are they the non-interventionist type? You mentioned that humans are very religious, just how much sway does the church have? Are paladins a thing? What sort of things does the church do as an organization, charity work, crusades, missionary work? What sort of governmental system exists, is it feudal? What's the economy like? Does paper money exist, do standardized denominations of coins? Is The Capital the only government, or are there other countries floating around? How much of this information is common knowledge?

Whew! That was a lot of questions, but you asked for it. I feel like some of this should be explained in-quest, you should at least link here at some point.