my setting notes

Renaris- The Sparkling Mountain

     Not actually the mountain, but the city which has ground to stretch across it's entire surface. With a glittering Palace that looks like a beacon at its peak, this kingdom is inhabited by entirely elves with few exceptions. But not only a single race of elves, many kinds of elves live here and none of them look the same.

     Sun elves have warm, sunkissed skin and amber eyes with dark hair. They are strong willed and kindhearted, if a little hotheaded.

     High elves tend be the broadest category, with it not being uncommon to see many clans among them with odd traits associating them with the elements. Opalescent skin, shiny fish scales, feathers for hair or even birthmarks or scars that glow like fading embers. High elves are not hybrid elves, but can commonly be mistaken for such.

     Wood elves or Dryad Elves have antlers and a rare family here or there may also have digigrade legs like a faun but less fur, more like a fuzz if any. Sometimes the rougher parts of their skin might be calloused over with a wood like grain and feel.

    Moon elves are perhapse the most mysterious, with four different kinds ever been recorded. Full moon elves have the palest skin, a milky white with faint traces of light grey freckles if any at all. Their eyes may sometimes look blind but could not be. Half and quarter moon elves have a distinct tint of a colour like the moon they are aligned with (there's four moons orbiting Afea'Dorr sooo...). New moon elves have nearly pitch black skin and are the rarest, some have tiny white freckles that shimmer and their eyes can be hauntingly bright shades of blue, pink, purple, or orange. Only one family of New Moon elves live in Renaris to this day.

     Drow, or Underelves, no longer live in Renaris but some other elves still live in their subterranean city for the sake of space. Drow cannot handle the bright light of two suns, so they hide underground until more accepting light of the moons allow them freedom on the surface. Drow have the most diversity, their hair and skin could be dark or light, or any combination, and it is said that the tint of their skin correlates to the which moon shone on them for the first time. But this was never proclaimed as anything more than a common theme.

     In terms of culture these races of elves fell naturally into their own niches; sun elves proclaimed themselves the soldiers and military, moon elves and their pacifist nature took on the roles as teachers, diplomats, scholars, advisors, wood elves enjoy a work hard, play hard lifestyle and High Elves blend in wherever they do please. At one time, a royal family of Eladrin, unique elves whose appearance change with their emotional state or with nature, ruled them. Before that the royal monarch rotated within a counsel of families from each sub race. However a scheme unfolded which had the Eladrin Royals murdered or exiled for high religious treason. Afterwards a new grand counsel was elected where each race could choose their representative and there would be no monarch.

     Many believe the reason there hadn't been any civil conflict in the hundreds of thousands of years this city has stood is because there was always one central pinical to keep them all together. This was their religion. In Afea'Dorr it's not uncommon for a village or even an entire civilization to worship a powerful creature or spirit over any of the proper gods like Oesis or Otyx. Even though these gods are still acknowledged, in the case of Renaris, a golden light spirit named Luxia is worshiped strictly. Luxia was a benevolent dragon who once fought for the god Sirdohr (archon of light, healing, good luck) in the battle which created the Dead Zone (temp name). In that battle he saved this city from total destruction, and as a reward they vowed to worship him. Now fast forward and this worship has only ever intensified to a point where all other gods are passed off as minor gods.

    However, Luxia had a rival, a twin whose powers were darkness and evil. He was the one who almost ruined this beautiful city. Luxia won the battle and imprisoned him deep within the mountain Renaris sits upon. I haven't named the rival officially but I have a terrible feeling it'll stick for far too long. Anyway, this shadow dragon is seen as the evil of all evils now thanks to grandpa elves over exaggerating his role in the battle. And turns out, that scheme for high religious treason by the Eladrin Royals? Yeah they got exposed for leading the cult that worshiped evil boi.

    But secret, the cult was barely even real, really just a society meant to protect the seal from breaking but the best way to keep a seal powered by belief tight, ya gotta have people believe it. So the royals were like, we gonna pull a big brain reverse psychology on ya, lol but some bitch didn't get the memo, accidentally had a dream from shadow boi, and exposed the cult and had the royals executed. Publicly. Ouchie.

     Anyways, ja. That's the gist of Renaris. As far as appearance goes, think Wuxia (fantasy ancient china) architecture but with a lot of magic flare cause this shit literally in the magical fairy realm. I'm taking glowing spec ambience, glowing plants as light sources which are totally for decor, beautiful details. Some places have certain colours but really there's no true one colour for any one race. Black or other really dark tones are rarely used unless to make a focal point seem brighter, but that's part of the religion. Even the subterranean city is decorated and even overgrown with glowing fungi and ivies that don't need a lot of natural sunslight. Half of the old buildings are decorated with a kind of quartz that absorbs any light put into it and glows. Many of the larger quartz stones still glow from the magical light spells used to illuminate the city back when the drow still lived there (several thousand years ago for ref).

     Okay okay, since I'm an idea machine, the Undercity (totally stole that from Arcane no denying) is more like a gigantic cavern with buildings along the sides. Since this place is all magical and elves have enough magic within them to cast some basic spells I think it's safe to assume the fire they would use to cook is magical and doesn't require much in the way of a fuel source nor does it create smoke. In the center ceiling of these caverns are giant veins of this quartz. These create a sort of ambient light that give off a vibe like twilight or that time just before the sun rises. Drow can't handle constant sunlight, not ideally, those who live primarily underground or in areas where the sun doesn't come out often have it worse than some. And although moonlight is usually not impactful, during the bright season there are 

Some notable Characters in this area

     - Aegis Raloqen: born and raised prince, later exiled then came back and took up his throne, kinda sad but chill about it, literal slut for knowledge, is rich but sleeps in a library attic.
     - Zhang: general of the Twin Sun Army, AKA The Eclipse General. Son of De Li.
     - De Li: honestly kind of a psychopath, been in love with Aegis for too long, thinks he's a mastermind but really he's the one being played
     - Nori: a very sweet nonbinary bean, Zhang's loyal assistant, later becomes a super efficient spy/assassin but still softie somehow
     -Amnestria Fatefield: Aegis's sister but after exile she vowed to never willingly return.
     -Tsukki: was also crushing on Aegis in their childhood but grew out of it, selective pacifist, kinda scary ngl, big wine aunt energy, likes to dance
     - Xiao: is actually a golden retriever raised by German Shepards, loyal and in love with Tsukki, Zhang's cousin but neither of them talk about it, grumpy but also stronk soldier man
     - Zaira: also a psychopath, big Azula energy but almost worse, Zhang's sister but unknown to the general public, kind of an urban legend but a scary one. Big lesbian with the tip of her sword under your chin vibe but will absolutely slit your throat if you bore her.
    - Kali(temp name): Zaira's public personality, as the only daughter of the New Moon Elf family she has quite a fancy background. Publicly she is known simply as a royal-equal ambassador who lives a secluded life when not attending conversations concerning the state.
   

        If they don't have a surname then it's because I haven't thought of one yet.