The Arethara
The Arethara are believed to be the descendants of the Cephareth, Auryi beings that notably crystallized in the beginning period in which Caelarkhe was most abundant. They inhabit within Arethayn, the mythical homeland of the Cephareth, as the land proved to be impenetrable against the waves of darkness and chaos that plagued the eras after the Altori Era. As descendants of the Cephareth, they are capable of a great magic, creating or manipulating their environments with their gifts as they had been bestowed with power in these arts by their mythical bloodline. The innate ability of wielding the raw powers of magic is woven into their blood as it is this magic which allowed them to crystallize from the light, being the most divine of the Aurya as they strove to preserve Caelarkhe.
Origins
The Arethara are descendants of the first of the Aurya to incarnate from the light at a point where the light was plentiful and abundant, which is further described as crystallizing by these sophisticated and arcane people, the crystallized essences which emerged from this time constituting the beginning of this elven race. As an effect of their crystallized status, they wield a greater arsenal of skills and powers, one of which being their practice of magic which is lost to the incarnated mannish races.
Upon forming from the instabilities of the beginning time from the energies of the Aurya, they founded a mythical land that would come to be the elven homeland, the consecrated grounds of stability and immortality, as it was considered to be most reminiscent of Avaerus, the immortal plane of light and energy. This land, as is well-known by the Arethara, would be called Arethayn, meaning ancient land.
Culture
The Arethara necessarily acknowledge Caelarkhe as the primordial force from which all beings arose from and in relation to, and from this notion came the doctrines of Auryi purity and a lack of association with other spirits of the world. Notably, they are taught to only consort with powerful ancestor spirits and dismiss all other spirits as either being unworthy of worship or otherwise immoral. The idols of the original Cephareth are scattered throughout Arethayn, and it is there that they practice the worship of these potent ancestors who managed to crystallize in the beginning time. The Cephareth are thought to be beacons of purity and an ideal to strive for, and thus, they seek to emulate their ways.
Of the deities that they worship, the original Cephareth are included, however, they have since adopted worship of the Elefyr, who maintain themselves as beings who achieved apotheosis through supernatural virtue and discipline. The Elefyr consist of seven deities who profess themselves as the reincarnations of the original powers of the Cephareth, who had since faced death in accordance to Azratha’s curse in the forgotten worlds of creation of which there were seven. The Cephareth, though being worshipped in tandem with the Elefyr, consistently have become devalued as the Elefyr have proven themselves to be supreme and worthy of the worship of their people.
With the rise of the Elefyr, who maintained themselves as the supreme rulers of Arethayn, came the prolific caste system which necessarily placed the Elefyr on a higher echelon of existence than the others of the Arethara. In time, this would lead to the departure of what would become the Neiara as they were consistently placed as less than in this elven, theocratic society. Though the caste system is in place in order to allow for their superiors to reign, it is thought by the underclassmen that this necessarily preserves the purity of the original Cephareth, and instigates purity from them so that they can understand the Elefyr to be paragons of virtue and purity. In accordance to this, any deviation from this purity is rejected, and they understand the ways of man and even, other elven races, to be impure and unworthy.
The construct of purity is necessarily founded on the preservation of Caelarkhe, a principle which the Elefyr most resemble as they achieved the original levels of power of the Cephareth who had been infused with Caelarkhe’s essence. Thus, the highest echelons are believed to have preserved Caelarkhe in their deeds of existence most easily, and thus, being more apt for the spirituality and magic which the force provokes. Accordingly, the Arethara believe that other races are less imbued with the powers of Caelarkhe, and are imperfect in all regards. Because of their descent from the purity of Caelarkhe, they believe that other races evolved from mortality and chaos, in a world where Caelarkhe was not preserved.
The magic that they practice is borrowed exclusively from the Cephareth, the most illustrious and eldest of the Aurya, who notably created the crystallized realm of Arethayn in a magical feat of great power and ability. It is this power shown by these Aurya that the Arethara strive to achieve, showing mastery of the manipulations of the various elements given to the golden realm of Arethayn by their ancestors. Most of the higher echelons show a gifted propensity in magic, provided that they were raised around their arcane parents and that they have the discipline to achieve. Magic is regarded as a gift, and something to be acknowledged as virtuous and powerful.
Biology
These elves are known to possess a variety of skin tone, consisting of a deep golden to a slightly golden tint. Oftentimes, the exact amount of a golden tint shows which group of Aurya the elves descended from, usually a signifier of the superiority or inferiority of their position in their caste system. Their hair color is often a dirty blonde, with some being browner and some being blonder. Their eyes are often golden, as a remnant of their godly origins.
As descendants of the firstborn of the Aurya, they tend to have a longer lifespan than the mortal races, the dilemma of time not being an issue for this elven race. They often live to ages of hundreds or even a thousand years, still maintaining their youthful appearances due to their potent magic. Those higher in the caste system live longer, due to their exposure to magic and relative safety from the world and its troubles.
They rarely reproduce due to their extended lifespan, not seeing a purpose to reproduce unless the population wanes. They rarely even have two children in their entire great lifetime, an elven union usually producing one child.
In addition to the other physical traits, they are known to be much more slender and graceful than the mortals are, the beauty of the gods revealing themselves in this elven race. Sharp, pointed ears also predominate among the race which descends from the gods, though the elven grandeur of appearance does not end with that radiance; the continuation is the flawless facial features of their high cheekbones and sharpness of the skull, the normally and traditionally taut skin revealing the original beauties of the elven facial structure.