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Social Structure: The Wild Elves are divided into the Five Branches, each of which is ruled by a Council of Three, most often the three eldest members of the Branch in question. They have ultimate authority over any disagreement that may arise within the Branch, or between their Branch and another. Though it is only in extreme cases that the Council will intervene in personal disagreements. Inheritance of wealth and frequently of career among the Wild Elves is matrilineal, marriages between Branches are not uncommon and the children of such marriages are always considered members of the mother's Branch. Wild Elves place more emphasis on wealth and status than do their mainland cousins. To be born the child of a warrior or bard affords one a higher place in the social structure than a farmer or artisan may have. Though no one starves, money is an issue within the Wild Branches, and one is certainly more comfortable if the family has it. Often Wild Elves will wear ostentatiously jeweled weapons and armor as a means of showing off their wealth and status. Each of the Branches has one central fortress, usually built around a spring, to hold off a long siege if need be and several smaller ones along its' borders. These often house most of the Branch's people, with the exception of the various farmers who have their own houses close to their field or corrals. Often a single farm will hold an entire extended family. The warriors who live in the border fortress will send their children to the main home of the Branch for training at a young age, as a result few Wild Elf warriors know their parents well and often feel a greater loyalty to the Branch itself than to their own families. Young Wild Elves, warriors and mages included, are not often encouraged to experiment with other careers or traveling. They train from a young age with very little leisure, save on the longest and shortest days of the year, when warfare (though not war-games) is forbidden and marriages are arranged or dissolved. Most Wild Elf marriages are arranged by the parents of the groom. Like their mainland cousins the Wild Elves hold a celebration for the days it may take the Fates to intervene after a death, and like the Forest Elves they cremate the bodies. However the Wild Elves are the only ones that maintain any sort of cemetery. Each Branch has a cairn, expanded according to need the cairns hold the ashes of all members of the Branch who have gone before, and often Branch members will meditate at the cairn when they are in need of guidance. |