(Matching music)

Sidenote: The images were made using a Learning Model Generator. I just think that it fits the dream motif I've got for the elves. They are up for grabs - after all, no one has copyright on something which was not made by a human.

Stages of Elven Development

Elves have 3 stages of development: Larva (aka low Elves) - they are born in the Dreamlands, out of eggs laid by the High Elves. They take the forms of little bugs that fly about in people's dreams, eating or causing flashes of emotions. They are about as intelligent as a mayfly, and have no way to influence the physical world. They spend up to 100 years as animals, before they gorge themselves on the dreams of opiumfiends and metamorphosing into the next stage, birthing themselves into the physical world.
Nymph (in the physical world, aka Elves) - they arrive fully formed, and with a vision of the world informed by the dreams they have eaten. Everything in this document which is not marked as being related to the other stages is related to the Nymphal stage. They spend 50-80 years in the physical world, before growing worldweary - when it happens, they stop eating and their body withers away, letting their soul move onto the final stage of Elven Development.
Imago (aka high elves, or Fair Folk) - mature Elven souls, they are the rulers of Dreamlands. They are constantly shifting insectoid Demigods, who live forever. They rarely reproduce, however, as it requires a complex ritual that always involves a human in the physical world acting in spite of themselves. The details are always different. \

Elven Physique

At the first glance, an Elf looks almost like a beautiful, tall (up to 2.5 m) and thin human. Only under closer inspection one may notice that their irises are a rainbow of microscopic eyes. Their skin is moving and flushing, as it lets the air into their bodies - this is why most elves prefer to wear little clothing, or at least keep it light. It is also covered in a lattice of tiny cracks, which make each elf's skin into a different work of art. They have tiny antenae hidden in their hair - they are what allows elves to easily contact the Dreamlands. They have wings on their backs, but they are vestigial - to be absorbed in their final metamorphosis. They are completely androgynous, with no sex characterstics (the High Elves are hermaphroditic). Their bodies do not change naturally during their stay in the Physical Realms.

Elven Strengths

Elves have many advantages over humans. Their bodies are naturally stronger, as their insectoid muscles allow them to lift more than their gaunt figures would suggest. They do not age, and they are free of human illnesses. They are also Glamorous - every word spoken by an Elf is said just right. Every look is either a threat or an invitation. They are never ordinary. They are special. It is hard to notice the Elf's eyes, or their smile that shows a hive of mandibles that pretends to be their teeth. A piece of Cold Iron in one's body protects them from the glamour. Finally, the elves may connect to the Dreamlands, making contact with their Forefathers. Each night they dream, they may observe the cryptic visions of the High Elves, and the follies of Low Elves. They remember them perfectly, and may make pacts with High Elves, who always need a pair of hands in the physical world.

Elven Weaknesses

Elves are not real. That usually doesn't stop them from doing things to the surrounding world, but that does not change the fact that they make no sense. They should not live, and reality constantly wants to reassert itself. Antimagic is deadly poison to them, as it stops their natural magic from keeping them alive. An elf stripped of magic is like a human stripped of air, thrown into the vaccuum of space. Even the touch of Cold Iron (Never forged with a person's intervention - most often it is meteoric, but there are other, stranger ways to get it) stops them from using their magics and causes a powerful alergic reaction. Finally, each Elf is bound by a pair of different rules that bind the creatures of legends and dreams. Examples (not an exhaustive list) include:

• Will never enter a dwelling uninvited
• Will never break a sworn oath
• Will never harm an innocent
• Will never breathe in the smoke of holy incense
• Will never stand on holy ground
• Will never refuse hospitality
• Will never ask for help

Most Elves are quite smart around their own weaknesses - they will hold them up to their exact wording.

Elven Culture and Psychology

Elves are defined by their contacts with the High Elves, as well as the cultures out of which they arose. Almost all Elves feel like they do not belong to the surrounding world - they see it as something transistent, and yet they also feel connected to it. They are creatures locked between world - their old lives have died, and their new lives are struggling to be born. They mostly try not to connect to the physical world, trying to live through it and survive to their metamorphosis. That aloofness does not mean that they have no feelings, however - it is simply a product of the promise of eternity. Some Elves die out of the various dangers of the physical world. Others live until they realize that they are ready - they simply stop eating and drinking, until nature takes its course, their bodies left as they no longer need it. They become High Elves. There is also a third way, even though the High Elves deny it. Some Elves find Love, which survives for long enough to hold them in the physical world. They deny their ascension, and become Sea Elves.

Low Elves

The larval form of an Elf is just barely an Idea. Imagine looking at a maggot, devouring rotten dreams. Now imagine knowing, that one day it may become a being greater than you are now. They move through the dreams of various cultures, eating up their pieces and incorporating them into themselves. They are not sapient nor sentient. They just burrow. They are safe. For a reason unknown to anyone who has a body, there are many more Low Elves seen than emerge in the world. This state has remained for as long, as history is kept.

High Elves

The Imago is perfection. Imagine a being refined by a complex process, like the finest brandy, like a thousand-fold mosaic. It is impossible to fully comprehend one's form - they may both an insectile being, a pack of wolves, a desert and a fractal form. They make sense only if one is dreaming. They still play their games, using the world as a chessboard. They have grown past a veneer of humanity that their lower cousins keep.

Sea Elves (also known as Abominations)

Some Elves deny the Perfection that is expected from them. They need to choose Love over anything else. They begin to change, molting and casting their skin away. It reveals a carapace. They are writhing abominations out of chitin and mandibles. They are also real. The bans and the weakness towards antimagic disappear. They may touch cold iron as much as they want. The glamour disappears. They stop sleeping - anything that would approach the Unreal would be too dangerous. A Sea Elf may remain in this world for as long, as it is not caught by the agents of the High Elves, who hunt them with an almost religious zeal.