As the High Elves merged city and forest into one, settling their lives into the order and structure of established settlements, there were many who chose instead to continue wandering. These elves, soon known as wood elves, became wardens of the forests surrounding the elven cities, scouts and advance guards as well as snipers and guerrillas in case of attack by the many enemies of the elven people. Wood elves still keep this role as a people, and reap the benefits of associating with elven cities, while keeping all of the freedom that comes from their lives in the wild woods.
Personality
Loving freedom and personal expression, wood elves are more chaotic than their high elf kin, but no less good. They tend to be far more approachable than high elves, though they can also be quite standoffish and aloof until they know the intentions of others. A wood elf would much prefer to sit back and observe for a while before making any judgement calls or forming any sort of friendships or other relationships. Once they trust somebody, however, then wood elves open up fully to their friends. As beings who often traverse the borders of city and woodlands, wood elves have learned to be diplomatic and polite, and have a strong tradition of hospitality to those that they regard as friends.
Physical Description
Shaped by the woods that they call home, wood elves have skin that ranges from the pale color of almond nut shells to a subtle walnut brown, with a rare few that even have a green tinge to their flesh, likely the product of a dalliance with a dryad somewhere in the elf's ancestry. They are also the only known subrace of elves, besides half-elves to (rarely) have freckles. Their hair tends to be more earthy in color, with dark blondes, browns, reds, and blacks the most common, though there are a few with closer ties to the fey that can have more exotic hair colors, such as blue, green or purple. Wood elves are known to occasionally have a very light amount of hair on their bodies besides just their heads, though this is exceedingly rare. While wood elves are noted for being as slender and graceful as other elven subraces, they are notably shorter than humans, making it easier for them to traverse their arboreal homes in stealth, generally being around 5'2" on average, making them the smallest of the surface elves.
About Wood Elves
In the woods from which they draw their name, wood elves live a seminomadic existence, moving between a series of established dwelling places in the trees. While high elves prefer to live in cities with abundant plant life and an organic build to their structures, wood elves prefer to live directly in the trees, making cities of living wood in the tallest and most mighty of forests. They tend not to stay in one place for more than a few years, however, prefering to keep their constant vigil on the forests where they make their homes.
Wood elves are the elves most likely to interact with others races and to become adventurers. Already in a state of mobility, wood elves like to see new sites, explore new areas, and many like to meet new people as well. Because of this, young wood elves are encouraged to go on a period of wandering, exploration, and development, which can and often does take them outside of elven lands and into the lands of other races.
