After some thinking over the holidays, I finally have a decent idea for Elves.

Millennia ago, Elves ruled the entire mortal realm with an iron fist. Created to be perfect from the start, Elves were immortal save for injuries and looked down upon the lesser races of Mankind and Dwarves. Man was enslaved, Dwarves were merely looked down upon and mostly ignored (aside from the occasional requirements for excellent gear and craftsmanship).

Mankind rebelled against their oppressors, but the rebellion took a century; a long time for the mortal Man but only a passing moment for the immortal Elf. It was not until a powerful circle of sorcerors completed a ritual spell that was powerful enough to imperfect the Elves, making them mortal.

Some say that the gods themselves taught Mankind the spell because they were not pleased with how the Elves spent their immortal existance. Some say that Mankind employed the services of daemons to teach them. What ever the source of this spell, Mankind could now fight the Elves as equal mortals. Eventually, the Elves gave Mankind their freedom. From that year begins the Mankind's calendar.

Elves have ever since spent their existance trying to undo the spell that robbed them of their immortality. They do live awfully long, however, but many of them feel cheated as their promise of eternity has been revoked. There are still those that remember being immortal, but theyr time is nearing its end.

Most societies of Elves study different methods to attempt regaining their immortality, from necromancy to elemental naturalism. The major societies of Elves are as follows:

Alf'Tyran - High Elves, or sometimes called Gold Elves, are the proudest of the proud. They live in great citadel cities, full of industry and sorcery. They are certain that only great power will grant them immortality again. Their cities are controlled by a magistry of sorcerors, and they look down upon all others, even the other Elven societies.

Alf'Sylvan - Wood Elves, or sometimes called Bronze Elves. The Alf'Sylvan are druids and rangers, believing that harmony between the lifeforce of the forest and the Elves will grant them immortality. They are generally looked at by other Elves as fools (not much unlike how the government would look at hippies in the worst type scenario).

Alf'Nithran - Deep Elves, or sometimes called Silver Elves. The Deep Elves built their society underground. They are pale and often skinny, with hair as white as snow. They believe that the only way to truly regain their immortality is to cheat death. They master necromancy for that sole purpose. They are not inherintly evil, although they are frequently cast in the role of the evil Elf.

Alf'Orkan - The society that was known as Iron Elves no longer exists but is listed here nontheless. The Alf'Orkan believed that Mankind used daemons to end the Elven immortality, so to regain it they must also call on the aid of daemons. The Iron Elves summoned many daemons, until they summoned Dar Kali, the daemon queen of death and destruction. They pleaded with her to release them from the cycle of death, and she offered them eternal life if they would only serve her will. The Alf'Orkan accepted Dar Kali's terms and lost their minds to rage and destruction. The Elves no longer count them as their own, and over the centuries the vile creatures known to most Humankind as Orcs have served the lucky as boogey men, but the unlucky as their doom.

Orcs commonly live underground. They have no social structure except that only the strongest will lead and the weaker will follow. They eat their own in time of need, although they will eat anything with a beating heart if possible. Their curse of Dar Kali denies them the ability to build or craft anything, and Orcish farmers are unheard of. The Orcs pillage and loot, and their weapons and armor are commonly taken from fallen foes. The rare Orcish made weapon is crude and blunt, and the even rarer Orcish made armor is brittle and weak.

Luckily, a purebred Orc is rare, as they are the strongest of their kin. Orcs commonly kidnap women of other races to bear their children, something that nearly always results in the mother's death, but a female Orc is highly respected and protected. Only a female Orc can give birth to the strongest of Orcs. Inbreeding is also common among the tribes of the fallen Iron Elves.

The Orcs still worship Dar Kali and other daemon, and female Orcs are commonly put in charge of this worship. Whether or not Dar Kali has held her end of the bargain and given the Orcs eternal life is unknown, since infighting and death among Orcs is too common for any of them to have died of old age.

One of the first thing about the setting I had thought of was the importance of the number 7. Here I intend to keep all the important stuff involving the number.

There are 7 primary Sins: Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath.

There are 7 primary Virtues: Charity, Faith, Fortitude, Hope, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance.

There are 7 Saints in the Church of the Seven Saints, each linked to his own primary Virtue. As of yet, I have decided to call them Gawain (Justice or Fortitude), Faust (Faith), and Deidalus (Temperance or Prudence). Other names will follow.

There are 7 primary Elements: the classical Air, Earth, Fire and Water, but also Electricity, Frost and Metal. That last one might get changed into something else, but I don't know what yet.

There are 7 races in the setting. As of yet, we have the Mankind, the Elvenkind and the Dwarvenkind. I'm thinking of leaving a couple open for beta-testers and perhaps an online contest.

There are 7 Great Kingdoms in the setting. Already they are Anvil, Mistral, Merevik and Moonmeet. I found an almost complete map that I made some time ago, including all major towns and cities on it, so I decided to finally use it for something. The map can be found here and the four cities already selected for the Great Kingdoms have been marked with red. The map is still a work in progress and I might change the style completely (I can still do that).

EDIT: I've added the Kingdoms of Methral (Dwarven) and Nithranis (Elven) to the 7 Great Kingdoms.

There are 7 planes of existance. One is the Mortal Realm/Plane. Another is the Infernal Plane, aka 9 Circles of Damnation. Third is Mortis Mundus, which is the ghostly reflection of the Mortal World. Fourth is the Realm of the Fae. Fifth is the Celestial Plane, aka the Heavenly Stairway. Sixth is still unknown, as is the Seventh.

These are the major examples of the number 7. It does not always pop up; there are 9 Circles of Damnation.

I've been working on a map for the setting ever since I found an old map of mine rolled up with my battle mat. I redid it in Illustrator and Photoshop, then Illustrator again for writing out the labels. It is still work in progress, but here it is:

MAP