The elves, known as “jingling” to humans, arose from a related lineage of primates in a more temperate climate. They tend to be much more individualistic than humans, and this trait, along with their origin on a large but not isolated island, led to their early conquest by and subjugation to said humans.

Since interbreeding beyond a single generation of sterile hybrids is impossible, the elves maintained their culture, traditions, and language under domination by other sapients, finding in a common oppressor the unifying force that they had lacked as an independent people.

This, coupled with their dramatically longer lifespan, allowed elves to break free of their subjugation during the exodus from the Garden World, seizing technology and ships from the Dihuang for the purpose. This, coupled with the invention of new fertility techniques to overcome the naturally long and widely-spaced breeding periods of the species, led to a population boom on their colonized worlds and their rise as a galactic-scale power to be respected.

On the whole, elves prefer cooler worlds, and have been known to claim icy planets that the Dihuang have spurned. They retain an independent streak even to the present day, and tend to have only planetwide or systemwide governments without any overarching authority. This does not stop them from readily banding together in the face of percieved threats, however, and several large, if loose, confederations exist.

The Core League and Verge League represent the largest elven confederations, with several smaller leagues drifting into and out of association with them. The Core and Verge are generally mutually hostile and at war, though in the face of significant threats they have been know to put aside their differences before falling to infighting.

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