Like the Valleymen, the elves are an artificial species. Unlike the Valleymen, they were not made to fulfill a practical purpose but as companions and honor guard for the Hours themselves. Elves are creatures of beauty, handmade by the gods to meet their aesthetic expectations.

With the death of the Hours, the elves have ruled themselves for nearly a thousand years. At least, nearly a thousand years by the reckoning of most people. While all the creatures of the world are affected by the unraveling of time, Elves are perhaps the most affected as they live in closest proximity to machines left behind by the Hours.

In the heart of the North, there lies a tower. A tower that stretches far up into the heavens, farther than the eye can see. In that tower, Elves are made. Unlike the Valleymen who lost the rites to make new members of their species, Elves took that knowledge from the Hours before their deaths and are therefore able to magically reproduce.

There are three castes of Elves in their society: Makers, Knights, and the lay Elves. Makers are the highest caste, the most prominent and oldest among them are known as Elders. Makers are the only ones with the privileged knowledge of how to make new Elves, and other arts of healing. When they permit a new family to procreate, a Maker is the one who determines the caste of the Elf to be. Then the new Elf, as yet unborn, is altered in the womb to fit that predefined caste.

Makers are given the means of casting healing magic. Knights are made to be strong. Lay Elves, those who work, are given minor alterations that befit their purpose in society. What is true of all Elves though is that none exist outside the framework of what they would consider perfect - all Elves are given a "perfect" form. As adults, they may even petition Makers to give them dramatic alterations to their body. Dizzying height, total changes in color, and so on.

Only Knights are permitted to leave the North. In extreme situations may Makers leave the north, but only those who have not yet learned the secrets of how to make a new life. All who leave the North with intent to leave permanently are considered exiles. Elves who abandoned the strictures of their comfortable life in the north, in order to live among the "baser men" of other species.

Unlike Valleymen, exiles are rarely if ever pursued. Communities of exiled elves are often visited by knights from the Tower, but not to destroy these communities.

The Fall of the Tower

That is, until recent history where a great elven diaspora has spread over the land. No one but an elf has ever seen the great tower in the north, but those elves who have fled their ancestral homeland bear rumors that the tower collapsed. As for why it fell, there are hundreds of answers and no clear consensus on which is true.

It is unknown how many elves remain in their ancestral homeland. It is incredibly far from most other civilizations, and through very dangerous terrain.

Verumii

While the tower has fallen, there exists a civilization of elves who live beneath the surface whose civilization never collapsed. They are called the Verumii, an ancient Empyrean word related to truth.