Despite their lithe build, Nocturnal elves are quite husky compared to their tall and elegant cousins. Plenty remark on their rather wild and ferocious appearance as well. It's not uncommon for these elves to sport fangs either.
Despite their looks, they are shorter than most races, on average ranging between 150cm(4.92) and 170cm(5.57) for either gender. The smallest can be somewhere around 140cm, but neither gender grows taller than 175cm.
While plenty of the male populace is androgynous in appearance, many of the men can and will grow long thick beards. Though if they choose to do so depends on the local fashion tastes, with beards naturally being more common in Eretejva than in the underground.

Their eyes come in many different colours, from white to yellow or poisonous green and red, however blue and lilac eye colours are more commonly seen within albino elves. Their hair also comes in all of the natural shades, including snow white. Sometimes the hair can also be lilac, violet or blue in hue.

Their skin colour is, as the name suggests, blue. Sometimes it is very dark, bright, perhaps even cyan. Sometimes it's greyer or completely desaturated, other times its violet in hue. Plenty of skin mutations are commonplace in this race. Some of the more common ones include albinism (just colours their eyelashes and hairs white, while their eyes turn lilac, blue or red). Leucism, which colours them entirely white. Melanism, which colours them pitch black and Erythism which makes them brilliantly pink/violet or red.

Skin mutations are rather common in eastern dark elves across various creeds and populations, though they tend to appear more commonly clustered together like in hotspots. This is assumed to be a result from a bottleneck and the resulting inbreeding that followed that in their distant past. This caused many mutations to become prevalent.

Tapetum lucidum - Iridescent eye shine/glow
All cerulean elves possess a tapetum lucidum, which manifests itself as iridescent eyeshine that reflects light out of the pupil, making the eye appear as if it were glowing. It helps them see much better in low light situations and darkness. Often travellers mistake the gaze of these elves for that of wild animals or monsters. It can be any colour, most commonly it is a vibrant green, teal, blue or yellow. Underground elves have a tapetum lucidum that is red or pink. The variation in colour is heritable and independent of their eye colour.
It doesn't take much light to cause their pupil to flicker and glow, it will even illuminate itself brightly in ambiently lit indoor places.
Their tapetum lucidum is also one of the many reasons behind their exceptional eyesight in low light situations.

Night vision
Their night vision is their most defining trait, being able to see so well in low light situations as most diurnal races do during the daytime. This trait developed so they can comfortably live either in the underground or to be active during the night. It is so great it can capture the subtle bio or magic-luminescence found in underground caves, while others say they see the magic resonating within walls instead. This ability does come with a cost elaborated in the next point.

Sunlight sensetivity
Sensitivity to sunlight makes their vision during the day or other bright locations remarkably awful. Direct sunlight against their skin is discomforting to them as well.
Some may eventually get used to sunlight to tolerate it better than the rest of their kin, but the process in training their pupil to contract sufficiently is long and painful. It is so long it may take years if not decades to get even used to ambient indoor light.

Metaturnality
Some overworld populations are born with a unique trait, and that is an ability to see during bright light situations, often brighter than most other races can handle. (Yet quick flashes of light or lack of lighting can quickly cause disorientation and brief blindness in metaturnal elves)
However, this adaptation only comes with their unique lifestyle, which as how the name hints, consists of sporadic activity throughout the day and night with three to four hours of sleep during dusk and dawn, triggered by rapid changes in lighting.
Metaturnal elves are a lot rarer, but amount fo a fifth or third of all surface populations.

Clairsentience
They are Clairsentient with their environment, and when properly trained, they can efficiently identify the composition of metals as well as minerals. This enhanced feeling helps them navigate within confined spaces, locate and mentally map out 3D cavern systems as well as sense the slightest shifts in terrain.
Nocturnal elves are the first to feel even the slightest tremble in the land before an earthquake comes. Equally so, they are the first race to move away when a nearby volcano prepares for an eruption. Something that is rather valuable in a land as volatile as their homeland.

Equally so, they have enhanced senses in locating noxious and other toxic gasses before they can pose a danger to them and their companions. This trait is invaluable to any elf that spends their time underground where noxious gasses could quickly kill off entire populations of people. Other races have quickly found this trait useful, employing eastern dark elves as aids in mines, calling them by a rather degratory term: 'canary elves'.

Other traits
Their skull orbits are also uniquely square in shape.

Blue indicates overworld (and underground) populations, Purple indicates underground populations.
The population is densest on the transit island and the southern and northern end of Eretejva and Sheketh respectively.
Note that lands east of the spine were only recently resettled despite the spine being their de-facto original homeland.

They generally live underground, making them a scarce sighting in Epressa's overworld. Some are nomadic, but most prefer to live in grand cities deep within the land.

Nocturnal elves live in clan, tribe or house like arrangments, following strict hierarchical rules with the eldest family member, regardless of gender considered the de-facto figurehead of any given family unit.
They live past the eastern reaches of the spine, generally towards the north. Recently, however, they began to resettle the spine. Most of their architecture in that region belongs to their precursors.

Some Nocturnal Elves live in the overworld, namely in Eretejva and Sheketh, with the bulk of the population between the two islands. Their housing is adapted for frequent earthquakes, with walls made using the burdock piling method. While many are content to live in hovel villages, grand clans build mountain fortresses overlooking their subjugated towns.
It not uncommon for such towns to be multi-racial.

There are also certain villages of such elves which are devoted to training soldiers/mercenaries that serve the village. One notable such village is the Hidden village of the Sweet Peas.

The tribes of the Tabkha and Sokcha are one of the few entirely nomadic people, they live in Eretejva Proper, where they herd and ride reindeer.
Those elves that live in the overworld are either nocturnal or metaturnal, meaning they are active during the day and night and have their vision adapted for sunlight as well. They can be described as rather happy and colourful people, with their clothes being dyed in many diverse colours.

Stacks to the stars are a large formation of rocks created by Sannoru some forty years ago. [1]

Kim-Kurasi, the grand town beneath the volcano Kemuri is part of the Rana Hegemony. Annually there are horse races organised throughout the town, where various foreigners and prominent local clans participate with horses decked out in the most flashy of garbs. Kim-Kurasi is located on the eastern coastline of Kootahi. [2] [3]

Hidden valley of the sweet peas, Is a secluded village where entry to outsiders is forbidden. Most neighbours state that this location is filled with demons 'yokai', when in fact the village trains highly skilled mercenaries and sellswords for propagating the village's wealth. It's most defining trait are the massive swaths of land covered in sweet peas which grow higher than two meters. There are many villages like these. This particular village is ruled by the following clans: Raikara, Iobez, Runa, Saikara, Hyarovi. It also has a large population of 'clanless' that were absorbed by lesser clans, this generation of people is in the 50+ range.


Valley of the lasting mist, a valley that is perpetually covered in fog, it's very gloomy and is located between impassable mountains. [4]

Vrázev, a Kazačmryi town in the south, they ride Svijerogs, an unusual boar-horse with ram horns. [5]

• Wherever they live, they usually introduce their currency as well. It is a small green coin with a hole in the middle. The coin is called 'Mun'.

Anteortusian elves are an extinct race. They originally inhabited the spine and the land west of it, but now only ruins of their cities remain. It is unclear if they are progenitors of other dark elves or merely the most ancient branch in the tree.

They lived underground in large cities, most of which remain largely intact with only some minor surface locations being pillaged by looters.
Their ancient script is still somewhat legible if one knows it's modern version but their language is all but forgotten.

They left behind lots of beautiful artwork as well as magical artefacts like enchanted swords, invisibility cloaks (tarnkappe). From their art one can guess that these elves were ethereally beautiful. Their skin was pale white. while their eyes were almost entirely black with only a thin red iris mid the darkness.

These elves mysteriously vanished. However, most religious scripts suggest that they migrated eastwards to find a new homeland after their civilisation collapsed from unknown reasons.

Linguistic scholars were perplexed about this supposed language that Nocturnal elves speak by the name of 'lanshitanian'.
It was soon clear enough that this language is merely a mock name for all the various tongues they speak. Plenty of these languages are hardly even related to each other and it often seems as if each village has its own tongue. Nevertheless, their sign language and logographic script bridge many of the issues of communication.

(Some of the inspirations for language derivates come from east slavic tongues, tungustic, turkic languages, ainu and japanese.)

The sign language
Logographic script

Some unique translated and untranslated terms:
Kootahi: Meaning 'molten earth and ice' usually refers to the Transit islands which are located between Eretejva and Sheketh proper. This is the homeland of most of the surface dwelling Nocturnal elves.
Stargazer: A term generally used by underground populations to refer to overworld elves, generally their nocturnal brethren. Rarely used for non-dark elves or humans, never used for other races like dwarves or orcs.
Sunwatcher: A term referring to metaturnal elves.
Hindlands: Usually refers to the northern reaches of Kootahi, a land scarcely populated but is attributed to be land most in touch with the gods. Sometimes used to refer to the afterlife.

There is some dispute how to call these elves. Most would say Eastern Dark elves refer to them as a whole, and that cerulean are only the underground ones and nocturnal elves live in the overworld. Yet scholars are quick to point out that some of the supposed nocturnal elves are metaturnal.

In the overworld, a common saying is, "When the dark elves leave, so should we."

[Lore: History] Early Morning Haze
~Sands of Glory
~Leave all but the Memories Behind
~Watch Your Step
[Lore: History/Background] Hidden from death

0 > The three drawn images by Nidraak.

1. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/return-to-the-hindlands.1572/
2. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/glory-on-four-legs.531/
3. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/under-the-shade-of-kemuri.876/
4. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/early-morning-haze.117/
5. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/unlikely-paths-crossed.884/
6. ^https://chroniclesrp.net/threads/hidden-from-death.330/#post-5811