Kawin Landscapes
Kawin is a very green foresty land. The countryside landscape is much like the French countryside, with open light forests, and large lakes, and flowering meadows. The land of the elves is not like what you see in LotR. It is light and airy, and forever young, with bright sunlight and wildflowers. It is really lovely.

The map is easy enough to understand. Kemi village is to the west, on the shoreline. Tuure village is in the middle, and the high palace is east, up in the mountains. South of Kawin is where all the travelers come from. Mountains line the east and north. The high palace is up in the foothills of those mountains, called the Oron Mountains.

The weather up in the mountains is slightly colder, with light showers, and sometimes light snowfalls that only last the mornings. It rains more there then anywhere else. The middle forest and hill lands are drier, and tend to be more windy. Though the weather is always around 70 in the spring and autumn, though it goes up to say 80 in the summer, and as low as 50 in winter. The warmest place is Tuure. Though seaside villages are usually colder, it is quite warm there, though there is always a nice salty breeze. It can get as warm as 85, or on a rare day 90. And winter never really hits that area.

Physical Elves
These are not LotR elves, though they may be similar in some aspects, like in their fair skin and thinness. One difference is that they are not tall. They tend to be smallish(5'), though can reach 6'4" easily. They possess an incredibly high metabolism, and tend to stay on the thin and sometimes muscular side of the scale. The ladies, or edainme, are always smaller then the men, hanu. They are more delicate. Both men and women wear their hair long. Men braid theirs traditionally, and women braid the hair that would be in their face, and pin it back, though the rest is left long and natural. Hair colors range from auburn, to white-blonde, to black, and every color in between. Their hair is straight or wavy, and sometimes comes in slightly unnatural colors like white or bluish gray, though never purple or colors like that.

Elves age like humans until about age 12. Then their age slows to half speed until they are around 18. Then they age according to how their ooc.player wants them to - which can be never. If an elf has a very childish personality, they could also get stuck at a younger age and not age at all then.

Elves can speak Tolkien Elvish, but it is their formal language, and the common toungue(English) is spoken usually. Though formal adresses, songs, and poems are stated in Tolkien Elvish, and usually strangers are adressed in it too. A good guide for words is http://grey-company.org/Language/Files/elven.pdf, though a google.com search for Elvish Translators brings up many more that have more small words like a and the. Most names are taken from Tolkien Elvish.

The Nessesities
Every elf must pledge themselves to a clan for a place to live and where they eat dinner. Once elves pledge themselves to a clan, they are part of that family and the other clan members look after them. But they still need to earn some food. You can sell something, or go and work for the clan leader, or find food in the forest and fields. However you want to, you need to earn food.

Elves are said to be a quiet folk. But among themselves, they can be loud joyous people. They are not prone to joke around, though everything varies by character, but love to have competitions. Indeed, they are a very competitive people - it is considered a shame not to know how to battle, and not to compete in the bi-yearly contests. Women fight as well as men, and against them too. For they may be smaller, but they are quicker then men. Elves hate to harm anything, and blood is never drawn in battles. But if drawn by accident or some other circumstance, elf blood is the purest shade of red - not a dark crimson, but bright.

Relationships are a big part of the elvish lifestyle. Friendships are very important to elves. Almost no elves are outcasts are loners. Most dating relationships are sweet and innocent. Couples propose to eachother just like in human life, and then get married. The representative for that clan that lives in the high place must do the marriage, and for their honeymoon the couple gets to stay at the high palace for a season - or even more if a ruler or representative invites them to stay.

The Clans
The indivdual clans are like little societies in themselves. There is the Lord and Lady, which is usually the most capable, smartest, wisest daughter or son and their husband/wife. The Lord and Lady aren't always the son or daughter. The previous ruler chooses their descendant. Sometimes the Lord and Lady rule for a very long time. Elves are immortal. But most wise elves choose to age, because it is a special experience. Then they spend all the time they want as advisors who are still as strong and capable, until they have had enough and choose to die. Well, most Lord/Ladies just plain have had enough time ruling. When they know their choosen descentant is ready and trained up well enough, they retire.

There is the mentor, who is like the beta or right-hand man. This guy is usually a very capable hands-on kind of person, who can arrange things for the rulers and check their work. He carries out their word. If the Lord and Lady write a decree, the Mentor takes it to the advisors, gets it signed, and then finds the people who will write it out and then makes sure it gets posted. The mentor cannot be a procrastinator. They have to be go-getters, people who get things done quickly and correctly. Though, since it is like the second highest position in the government, rulers might want to put their friends in that spot, it usually has to be a young elf with a lot of ambition.

The Advisors are all the older elves, all the wise ones. They must sign all the laws and such. They are the healers and the story-tellers of the clan, and usually contain the retired Lords and Ladies. There are usually around three to ten Advisors. If the Lord and Lady want more, they can form a counsel which will just be added to the ranks, which will act like the advisors, but make more sense to be bigger.

The other Appointed Ones are fairly obvious. But we will list them here to make sure there are no mistakes.

Physician: This is the healer, or doctor. The elf is often young, because the older Physicians are moved to the advisors. Though the Physician will frequently consult the old one for advice. All the healing and a lot of the training to overcome physical weakness are done with the physician. Elves don't often have "check-ups". They just go when they dont feel normal or good.

Tutor: This is the teacher. Usually a fairly young elf, because any old Tutors usually move to the Advisors group but still keep teaching the masses. It is the Tutor that teaches the young children all the practical things. Like basic arithmetic; astronomy; biology; some art; lots of elvish history, especially of their clan; politics; basic battling; geography; usually the flute or harp though on request only; and grammar; as well as the olden speech for advanced students or offspring of the Lady.

Blacksmith: Makes all the armor, repairs things. Makes horse shoes. Makes door hinges. Makes everything metal. And usually deals with wood too. Basically makes everything the elves use. Often has an assistant carpenter and an assistant blacksmith and an assistant weaver.

Stable Master: Hostler - handles all the horses. Usually just cares for the Lord and Lady's horses and then owns a few horses that people borrow. There is not much need for horses. Just for traveling to the other villages for battle time. More horses are needed on the trip to the high palace. More are usually bought for the victors as gifts.

There are also the two catagories that contain the bulk of the clan members. There is the family, which is everyone born into the clan, or married into it. And there is the adoptives, which are everyone not related to, or born into, the clan; whom just asked to join.

The Trials
Okay, the trails are kind of complicated. The point of the trails, is to get elves to the high palace to rule over all the villages. At the end of the trials, where will be one High Ruler picked, and one Representative of each clan picked. Those elves, with everyone they want to bring along, will travel to the high palace, explained below.

Before the trial seasons(Spring & Autumn), the clans choose who their representatives will be. They choose three elves who will compete in the trials representing their clan. And those elves spend the rest of that season training. And when the trial season rolls around, all the elves from the different clans fight in organized battles at the battle grounds. The battles are explained below. There will be a chart posted on the battle grounds page when the trials come around, saying who will battle who. They keep fighting, until there are only two elves left. Then those two, along with the best elf of each clan(the one that won the most battles) who is now the clan representative, either travel to the host village, or play host to the final trails contestants. The two elves from each village battle it out, and one comes out as overall winner. That elf become the high ruler. Then the high ruler elf, and all of the clan representatives, travel to the high palace and rule.

The Accual Battles
When they meet to fight in the trials, the warrior elves(which is just about everyone who can fight), specialize differently. There are three events - though each pair can only meet in one. At the actual tournament, there is a line of pairs set to fight, and those winner go on to battle eachtother... When a pair meets, they both say their preference in the battle type, and then agree. If they each really want one and refused to agree, they are forced to battle in the third event neither choose. The three types are Hand-to-Hand, Fencing, and Free-for-All. Hand-to-Hand is the most admired, and Free-for-All is the most dangerious.

Hand-to-Hand is with no weapons of any kind. It is not allowed to be choosen if it a man against a woman. It is usually an exciting test of speed and strength, similar to wrestling, but without any recorded moves or plan. Fencing is with one fine light elvish sword each, and no other weapons. The opponents are not allowed to touch eachother with anything but a sword. It is looked down upon to draw blood in these matches - and if a warrior draws two opponents' blood, or does a major wound to an opponent, then he is disqualified. If an elf tries to get minorly cut to disable his opponent - then he is disabled. And finally, the roughest. Free-for-All is an anything-goes, do-whatever-you-want match. Usually amazing quantities of weapons are used. Bow and Arrows are not permitted. This is the only event where kinds of armor is worn. It is dangerous to partake in this event. For some elves fight unfairly in this event, and murder happens. Anything is accepted in this event. In all events, the winner is choosen when they have the looser pinned/unable to move.

The High Palace
Once the high ruler and the representatives from each clan of each village are chosen, they and their chosen court(anyone they want to take with them), move into the high palace. A magical castle with hundreds of rooms and beautiful romantic gardens. They high ruler lives like a king, and the representatives live like royality. They "discuss important matters of laws and taxes", but really it is just a reward for the best of the best and their loved ones. It is a fun place away from the hardship of peasant life where you get waited on by silent servants(that you RP as needed), and have good times with your buddies. But their can also be back-stabbing. For there are no real guards or leaders within the castle aside from the hiarchy of high ruler, representativies, and court. Also, most of the time some of the hostility between clans is dropped, though not always, which is usually the cause of fights within the high palace.