Lhûren

The Celestial Elves or as they are called in their language, Lhûren (Celestial People) or sometimes Dragon Elves (Lûnren) are elves that are the most populous residents of the Aurlûnor Velande. Commonly referred to as the "High Elves", the Celestial Elves consider themselves to be the most cultured out of all the other Elven kinds. As a result, they tend to be closed off to the outside world, and do not seem all too keen on outsiders in their territory, nor all that trustworthy.

With a population of over 57 million people, Celestial Elves are by far the most numerous of the Elven species in terms of total population count of other elves.

History
Tracing back to the Elven Migrations, the Celestial Elves would originally come from the west, and went through the jungles along the way, but there was also those who would head eastward aboard ships. Eventually however, many of them would start to settle along the coasts of Southwestern Syltör, settling in a place known as Ardol in 11,000BCA. Celestial Elves under the Ardol Culture were largely a growing people that would expand slowly along the coastlines of southern modern Tacua Province, and settle their second city, which would become known as Estecónmar. These two ancient cities would become strong in terms of their nominal power, though, more tribes of Celestial Elves would come to dominate the region, starting confederacy conflicts with eachother. Those who stayed in the jungles in the west would become known as Jungle Elves.

By 4,000BCA, the Celestial Elves would of expanded further beyond their home, and would seemingly unify more together as the Kingdom of Almador, a powerful Celestial Elven kingdom ruled by an ambitious Celestial Elf named Maxion the Conqueror. This Kingdom would come to fight against the native humans resulting in the Elven-Human Conflicts, and eventually, conflicts with the native Kumiho in the southeast. The Celestial Elves would reach their highest point of a their first golden age under Almador, ruling dominantly as the majority species of the region. This would last until the fall of the Kingdom of Almador in 1500BCA.

Many Celestial Elves would be embroiled in the devastating Warlord Era. This period would be marked as a decline of Celestial Elves, as well as a population drop. One group, the Umarín, now known as the Sky Elves, migrated away as far as Eldham to establish the Crownlands of Yaszuma, completely separate from the Almadorians that they were once apart of. Eventually, with the unification of the core lands of the region undernearth Sareariel Lelya-Earcala and her Aurlûnor Velande, Celestial Elven population would become far more isolationist, yet, loyal to their new leader, who had lead them through a second golden age, despite the first four-hundred years of struggle. Sareariel would also be the first recorded Celestial Elf to sport rather draconic-looking features, much like their old beliefs in the Almadorian Pantheon and various other religions that other Celestial Elves had, including Ancestral Worship. The Twin Dragon religion would also start to phase in to the life of the Celestial Elves upon her descent and evidence of mystical powers., and her fire breathing.

The population would start to recover over the course of 900 years since the Celestial Ascension, with many new Celestial Elves growing throughout the Velande, and outside of the Velande, making them more of a majority group within Syltör itself. It would become the most populace of any elf population throughout the world.

Culture
Celestial Elven culture is quite odd to other cultures. Unlike other cultures, they do not seem to eat with silverware, but with chopsticks, usually seeing the practice of silverware as barbaric, and quite rude. They have a strong etiquette on respect, and how one should properly respect others, such as higher-ups, elders, soldiers and other sorts, and have various ways of showing respect, such as fist-palm saluting, bowing and kowtowing. Dragons are also held in high respect as guardians and wise beings, rather than malevolent beings, and even see it as heretical if someone demonizes a dragon. Celestial Elves are quite superstitious, and if anything happens of major sorts such as a drought, flood, or sorts, they beg to Vale to be merciful, and usually feel that it is always a curse caused by the divines due to their lack of respect.

Celestial Elves are agrarian, and usually have mostly farming communities, in which they plant wheat, millet, cabbages, soybeans and rice as their primary staple crops, with rice being the more commonly eaten foods due to how plentiful it is, and it's fullness that it can provide. Wheat is usually seen as more of a food for peasants, as it is more common, and can grow practically anywhere, whereas Rice can only grow in warmer regions. Celestial Elves eat various amounts of food that is usually prepared carefully, with fruits as appetizers, and main courses served with steamed, roasted or fried food. Food such as beef is seen as higher class dish due to how expensive it can be and the way it is treated.

Celestial Elves are also known to be extremely xenophobic to other races, and usually see them as barbaric, and generally think they are up to no good whenever they visit their nation or home. They also enjoy scoffing the appearance of foreigners, and usually have distain toward their grooming habits. There are very few examples of Celestial Elves actually seeing any other race as their equal, but one of them is the the Soleannan Empire, and only one of it's successor states, Theiónikos, which they see them as an equal in terms of strength and culture. They are also quite intolerant of other religions, and it is usually rare for Celestial Elves to even get themselves into a different religion other than Twin Dragon, though it is possible, it is a very small minority.

Celestial Elves also get offended whenever they are referred to as an "Elf" by a foreigner, although due to many years of foreigners coming and going, they had got more used to the term being used, and usually give a huff toward foreigners about it. A more respectful way to greet a Celestial Elf in terms of diplomacy, is referring them as "Lhûren", "Celestialkin" or "Star People".

Appearance
Celestial Elves are one of the tallest humanoid races in Rathnir, with their heights usually averaging from 5'6 to up to 6'5 at the most. Male Celestial Elves can grow to be all the way to 6'8, though this is usually rare, and this usually is seen with them being stocky as well. But at the most, a normal male can grow to be 6'4 or 6'3. A female can grow to a similar height but up to 6'6, with the average female growing to at least 6'2 to 6'1. Female Celestial Elves tend to grow very fast at around their preteen years, while male Celestial Elves grow later at around their later teenage years.

Celestial Elves are a long-lived people, and can grow to be around 300-350 years old, with their age of maturity coming at around 50 years of age. It is considered to be middle-aged at 240. However, this does not apply to all Celestial Elves, as the current leader of the Aurlûnor Velande is well over 931 years old, with very little signs of aging. It is rumored that some Celestial Elves practiced immortality, and some go through immortality rituals and even journeys to achieve it, but only four people so far, had even achieved such feats.

Celestial Elves have dragon-shaped eyes, which do not look very notable at first, as the lack of any sort of semblance to dragons is on them. Celestial Elves have dragon blood, and with that dragon blood, they are much more resistant to fire. Their skin is tougher than normal elven skin, being able to withstand hotter temperatures if exposed to, at the maximum of 160°F (71°C). As a result, colonization by Celestial Elves is usually easier than other elves who weren't built to the temperature.

The way Celestial Elves managed to gain their unique genes is unknown. Many theorize that early Celestial Elves may had mated with Aurlûnoren Lûns prior to their arrival to Ardol, or during the earlier points of their early history. This theory is often discarded as a mocking, or derogatory statement made by more bigoted groups that have a distain for Elves in general.