-Cracks neck-

So, right, [i]elves[/i]. Elves have gotten a lot of interest, so I feel it's a good time to dump some more history that goes way beyond the basic stuff in the intro and how this leads to the [i]current[/i] elf situation.

Back when the world was young, the elves were an undifferentiated group, taught the first magic – astromancy, the magic of starlight and still considered the purest part of the art – by the goddess of magic and many things besides by their own deities. Although mostly they lived in the western continent, over time some spread eastwards towards the lands covered in the opening… 

And then there was Hidroroth, the first dark lord, and in his rage and hatred, most of that continent was destroyed and sunk, the veil thrown up to contain the devastation and the lingering magic from spilling over. But still, they were a united people in anger and purpose, for a time, the Elf King even challenging him (unsuccessfully, but impressively enough to [i]buy time[/i] for everything else that happened) in combat. Not many of the true firstborn survived, although enough hung around here and there.

[i]That[/i] was what broke them. Some remnants of their armies took to trying to eliminate the remnants of Hidroroth's forces, but the ever-worsening weather caused them to spend more and more time underground. Through ritual, they managed to grant themselves the darksight they have now, and those are the dark elves. Some took their leave of the continent entirely – desert elves, and those high elves that might consider themselves sea elves. The high elves and wood elves… well, there wasn't [i]that[/i] much distinction, things were more continuous even with the veil.

Cue Dark Lord #2, even more destruction, and much more prominence of the humans, plus the diminishment of the forests. [i]That[/i] set up that split. 

In the end, due to slow generational drift, the fact that the old generations always keep around, and a still-considerable amount of contact and occasional intermarriage, it's more ethnic and cultural differences; the various forms of elven are still arguably dialectical and (sometimes with effort) mutually intelligible. They're also not too terribly dissimilar when it comes to knowledge or technology, it's more… well, resources and adapting to their surroundings. It does help that the wood elves are also very close to the great [i]dwarven[/i] kingdoms.