Aelven

Aelven, ordinarily called elves, are one of the five mortal peoples and bear the burden of Memory. They live substantially longer than humans and excel at preserving, reproducing and refining existing knowledge, but show comparatively little creative variation.

Biology and cognition

Aelven usually live between 180 and 220 years. Adults average about 184 centimetres and generally have fair skin, sometimes with a faint green cast, pointed ears, blue eyes and blonde, white or pale-grey hair. Visible facial hair is uncommon.

Their relationship to Memory gives exceptional continuity. An Aelven craft tradition can refine one technique for centuries, but the same stability makes genuinely novel approaches difficult. This tendency is magnified disastrously by Gwildor's final curse.

The curse

The curse convinces cursed elves from birth that only Aelven can restore balance and that all other consciousness must be removed. It is not ordinary propaganda, a shared delusion or a biological instinct. It is a Kaz-level command fixed into the lineage and strong enough to prevent Ūrkléan from inhabiting cursed minds.

The curse does not abolish internal states, class differences or politics. Outsiders nevertheless encounter Aelven society almost entirely through the Forever War, making its internal history poorly known. @Imperial becomes the common language of the war societies as older languages collapse together.

Uncursed communities

A small group escapes the first spread of the curse through the Lower Gate and joins the mixed population that becomes the Dawn Dominion. Their descendants speak @Common and preserve Aelven life outside the genocidal command. They remain a demographic minority and carry an increasing share of the Memory burden as cursed populations are destroyed.

Omega extermination

After Operation Artillery in 622 AFK, the Omega Alliance systematically eradicates almost every cursed Aelven outside the Dawn Dominion. Tiny isolated remnants survive, but the destruction transfers the planetary Memory burden onto a very small uncursed population. The full health and political consequences inside Dawn remain underdeveloped.