The origins of Feyland have long been an object of contention between historians, as they mostly bypass the role played by their Undergroundian counterparts. Traditionally known as the Shadow Elves, Hidden Elves or Underelves, the peoples of the Shadowkind are very little seen on the Surface, and even then only around the gilded outskirts of Feyland.
Chiefly among the Feyland lorekeepers, the Shadow Elves are equally heeded as long lost siblings, elder foes and forgotten visitors, though their account of the meaning behind such epithets remain mostly anecdotal. What they generally see to agree upon is that, for some reason, their ways drifted apart. Somewhere far back in time, the Shadow Elves just vanished from all accounts in the matters of the Surface, just to reappear again only hundreds of years later, this time in diplomatic documents listing the concession of ambassadorships to certain figures of Shadow Elvish origins.
Perhaps it is from that time that we have the most updated description of their culture and ways. In one particular register, the scribe mentioned the incredible city of Umaúl, home to the Shadow Elves and forever hidden from foreign eyes by means yet to be understood. It then refers to some sort of structure that lies in the very center of their country, sprawling from somewhere on the top and extending its tendrils everywhere around it, surrounding buildings, rivers and trees.
As for the Shadow Elves per se, it is told that they are much like their Surface brothers in kind, though their hair has gone completely white and their skin is almost exclusively dark grey or pitch black. The leaves that spring from their hair are those of the Fall and Wintertime, and their eyes glisten with crystal white amber.
As per some records, Shadow Elves are unseemingly heavy, and no reason has ever been provided to explain that fact. Their footsteps dig deep into the dirt and, when they fall, others usually leave them where they lay, as they cannot bear to carry them along. Some speculate it must be something in their bloodsap, a dark, thick liquid that bleeds very slowly whenever it is brought forward by a wound or otherwise; a few others theorize that it must be something in their bones, with some claims that it is in fact made of an extremely hardy material, similar to ironwood in some ways. One way or the other, it is hard to notice that from their slender figures alone. To know if one belongs to the Shadowkind, one must only look over their footsteps and see how deep they go.
Regardless of what has happened in the past, the sense of rivalry between Surface Elves and Undergroundian Elves remains. Even if any hostility has faded over the millennia, and the very reason for it fairly forgotten, Elven bloodlines run deep and remember, even when the receptacles of their vital streams do not. All that is left for them is to live as an afterthought of something far, far grander than themselves.
Of course, Elven peoples, regardless of their heritage, will hardly ever accept that feeling out loud.
