The Wages of Sin (WIP)

INFORMATION
This is for a single-player RP. Those who know, know, those who don't, don't get your hopes up for anything. This post will be updated and changed as I continue to develop the setting.

A new, standalone setting, taking place in our own space, but many millennia into the future. The princess of Light, Lyndiel, and her crew of elves and dwarfs face the repercussions of humanity's seven sins and the downfall of a galaxy-spanning empire.

Mechanics:
While the RP is still relatively freeform, this time around there are some mechanics to it, meant to encourage choices and provide some direction. Therefore, the different characters, too, have different mechanics, and most of the action will take place during planet-side deployments; these are intended to be relatively swift to resolve. Most deployments allow only three characters (beside your own), so choose wisely based on each encounter and mission briefing. For example, Lyndiel, Eriande and Ingram form a very strong defence together, but they lack offensive strength and mobility. In their default roles, they are great choices for a defence mission, but they may struggle during offence missions. Replacing one of them for Inia, for example, adds a lot of offensive power to a force, at the cost of healing, defences or suppression.
For stealth and infiltration missions, Eriande and Ingram are both good choices in their alternate roles, while Lyndiel is not at all a stealthy character and will stick out like a sore thumb. Aroan, who by default is a sneaky rogue, is a more logical choice, but he also works well as spotter for Ingram's heavy ordinance on other missions.
In a purely offensive mission, Lyndiel's healing and Eriande's tremendous defensive power are of little help; one might consider leaving both behind. Ingram's explosives can be a great boomn, especially in his infiltrator role where he also can work as spotter and create setups for Inia's most devastating spells.
In addition to the different action-based deployments, there may also be certain diplomatic missions, meeting with alien races, which may or may not provide certain bonuses or other advantages.

Some characters are focused towards melee, while others are focused towards ranged combat. One may always wonder what sense there is in melee combat, when technology has advanced to the point of interstellar travel; however, many human and alien societies alike have regressed back to low technology levels (some never advanced to guns to begin with), and demons, such as they are, don't particularly care for technology. They are, after all, not of our realm. Additionally, both elves and dwarfs produce equipment of great quality, and a regular elven sword is a weapon far better than any sword made by human hands. Be mindful of different foes and their strengths and weaknesses, and choose wargear and combat roles accordingly.

At-will, per encounter and per deployment skills
Most characters have a set of skills, some which may be used at will, some which may be used once per encounter, and some which may be used once per deployment.
At-will powers are relatively regular skills which may be used (or attempted used) once per character, per turn (post), unless stated to have a recharge time. And, of course, only one at-will power may be used per turn. At-will powers may be used freely, and does not hinder characters from making other actions during that turn (unless the At-will power and their other actions would be physically impossible to perform.)
Per encounter powers, as made evident by their name, may be used once per encounter, and recharge automatically when all currently engaged foes are downed.
Per deployment skills are exceptionally powerful, but require a lot of energy/resources/what have you in order to be used, and will only recharge when the strike force returns to base.
Characters will try to use At-will powers when they deem it sensible to do so. Encounter powers and Deployment powers, on the other hand, are only used at their strike force leader's command.

Downed characters
During most encounters, a character who suffers enough damage will be downed, but not killed; whether Lyndiel is present on the field or no, her holy powers will keep her friends within an inch of their life. These powers are channeled through a bracelet she gives to each one of her friends, serving as focus for her power.
Downed characters may be revived by any other character in the strike force, by channeling holy magics through the bracelet. When revived in this manner, they do so with reduced health and at a risk of a lasting injury, which can only be healed up properly at the end of the current deployment.
Should all characters in a strike force be downed, the mission will be aborted and the characters warped back aboard their vessel. Some missions may be re-attempted, others will be lost and new alternate routes to their goals must be found.

Sin's corruption
Several missions will expose involved characters to the corruptive influence of the demons who hold humanity in their thrall. While Lyndiel is immune to the powers of sin, due to her unique circumstances, other characters have one, two or even three sins they're most susceptible to, each relating to their character. Corruption provides certain bonuses and maluses to characters, and alter some of their individual mechanics and talents; while it may be detrimental to the individual, and possibly ultimately doom them, it may be beneficial to the greater cause to allow sin's corruption to take hold of Lyndiel's friends. This is represented by a counter for each sin each character is susceptible to; in plain terms it goes from 0 to 100, representing a percentage of corruption.

Each sin is also strongly represented among humans, sometimes even manifesting in an avatar. Destroying an avatar of a particular sin greatly purifies characters susceptible to that sin; for instance, destroying an avatar of envy would purify much of Eriande's envy corruption. Avatars are hard to kill, however, they are also ideally countered by the very characters susceptible to them. Killing them is entirely optional; they are demonic manifestations not of our physical realm. Certain acts will come across as clearly corrupting, while in other cases, corruption may be subtle; in all cases, the evil lies in the action, not in the thought or the emotion.

Lust is typically a strong, intense, even, desire for something or someone. It has some overlap with greed, but is more connected to attraction, while greed ties in with possession.

Gluttony is overindulgence and overconsumption to a wasteful point.

Greed is wanting to possess simply for the sake of possessing; an example would be holding on to various unnecessary loot, rather than having it distributed or repurposed.

Sloth is at its worst when omitting responsibilities and not fulfilling duties, or simply failing to care for others' well-being or the general state of things around oneself; it is one of the more subtle sins, and may often be cumulative with other sins.

Wrath is excessive anger; while anger is a useful tool, it is a poor guide, and failing to restrain one's anger is a steady path to corruption by wrath.

Envy is to covet possessions, or even people, belonging to someone else.

Pride is the deadliest of the sins; while pride in one's accomplishments is nothing to be worried for, when that pride blinds one to the objections of others, it becomes a cause for evil, and is sure to lead to one's eventual downfall.

While defeating avatars is one way of purifying characters, Lyndiel herself, as the princess of light, is another; she may perform a purifying ritual once a day if asked to do so, reducing one character's corruption to one sin by 33 points. These rituals come in many forms depending on who is to be purified; typically, this is done through a sermon in which Lyndiel calls upon the powers invested in her to offer absolution.

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The characters:
Fighter: The holy elf
Lyndiel, Princess of Light
(Ready)

In brief:
Lyndiel is not a princess in a conventional sense; her parents, while highborn nobles, are not at all royalty. Rather, her birth was the culmination of a centuries long ritual, meant to invest in her the powers of ancient elven magics, so she might fulfill an ancient prophecy. On the night she was born, many a star was in alignment, and while nothing manifested immediately, it later became clear that the little girl was blessed in some way. As she grew, her powers began to manifest, and it became clear her very presence was anathema to evil.
Though Lyndiel has grown to be no less than 1298 years old, she still maintains a very bright, optimistic attitude. She's trained as a knight, and is a capable fighter; however, her unshakable optimism is rather in need of restraining from time to time, and she's not at all a great battlefield commander. Thankfully, she's aware of this herself, and accepts that others may be better suited to that, taking on the role of moral support instead.
Her background has given her a lot of special attention, however, and she may from time to time come across as out of touch with reality. Whether it's due to the ritual that was part of her conception and birth, or a simple fascination with them, Lyndiel has always felt drawn to the stars, and indeed, if the prophecy is to be believed, her destiny is to lead elfkind back out among the stars.

Her warm, optimistic personality borders on the naive, but it is so by choice; she is very aware of what's expected of her, and has been well schooled in both psychology and moral leadership (among other things), and has molded herself accordingly. By working hard to inspire her friends, always looking out for them and viewing them, indeed, as friends rather than assets, and never holding back on how she feels about them, she hopes to form strong bonds that can survive the hardships that are to come. She's rather unconcerned with minute details, sometimes outright ignoring practical matters to maintain her spiritual strength and radiance.

Combat role: Supporting frontline fighter, with healing powers and a strong anti-evil aura. She functions best in this role, preferring to lead by example.
Lyndiel may be used as a rearguard healer (but she won't appreciate it).
By the powers invested in her, she is incorruptible by sin, and will never turn on her friends; however, their corruption may influence her in negative ways.

Character mechanics:
Lyndiel is a relatively simple character, made so in part due to her immunity to sin's corruption. Many of her mechanics are passive, and as her power grows, her aura grows more powerful, while she herself becomes much harder to down, as she gains a powerful, passive self-heal.

Default role: Knight-Princess
In this role, Lyndiel is a frontline fighter, wearing heavy armour and wielding a longsword. She's defensively oriented, and will engage foes engaging her, or foes her friends are engaging.
Alternative role: Priestess of Light
This role sees Lyndiel don robes, a healing staff and an energy pistol (elven clergy do not ordinarily carry around energy pistols, for the record). In this role she prioritises healing, and will only start shooting if she herself comes under attack.

- Aura of Light (Passive)
Lyndiel's presence in a force passively halves corruption from sin for all deployed characters (it is usually possible to raise an individual character's corruption more through certain acts.) Her aura also weakens demons and provides passive healing, however this effect is reduced on her friends as they grow more corrupt.
- Dearest Guardian (Passive)
When Lyndiel is fielded in the same force as Eriande, Lyndiel's aura gains a boost, also protecting her and her friends from damage. This stacks with Eriande's Light and Envy bonuses.
- Healing Hands (At-will power)
Lyndiel is an exceptional healer, able to close wounds in a matter of seconds. She can revive downed friends and heal them back to full, also healing any injuries they have suffered, through the use of her powers.
- Blessed Blade (At-will power; Knight-Princess only)
Calling upon a blessing of Light, Lyndiel smites one of her foes with holy might. This ability instantly banishes lesser demons, and stuns greater demons for one turn. Non-demon targets suffer additional damage.
- Holy Circle (At-will power; Priestess of Light only)
Lyndiel consecrates the area around herself for three turns, suppressing nearby demons and quadrupling the effect of Aura of Light.
- Restoration (Encounter power)
Lyndiel uses her powers to restore a friend's energy, allowing an additional use of their Encounter skill. This may be cast regardless of whether her friend has already used their Encounter skill or not.
- Avatar of Virtue (Deployment power)
The seven virtues opposing the seven sins infuse Lyndiel with power for seven turns. Each turn, she radiates a halo of light, stunning and damaging nearby demons, breaking any darkness and demonic effects, healing her friends, and makes each of her attacks (from any source) cause searing damage.
Support - The Princess' blessing
If Lyndiel isn't part of a strike force, she will bless it before heading out. Her blessing empowers weaponry, both melee and ranged, and once per deployment, the Holy Handgrenade may be brought to bear, an intensely powerful weapon that utterly destroys even greater demons, though not avatars, who are instead significantly weakened.



Fighter: The dark knight
Eriande, the Dark Knight
(Ready)

In brief:
Eriande is Lyndiel's guardian, in many ways both similar and her polar opposite. Born an unwanted child outside marriage, Eriande faced a tough upbringing in the undercities of [major elven city]. She grew tough, then even tougher, cold and harsh in manner, reflecting the manner of her caretaker, an even harsher male elf who'd spent centuries beneath society, a scoundrel in every way. He brought Eriande along for his magnum opus, stealing a treasured relic from a temple of knights; unwittingly for her, she was only brought along as distraction and sacrifice. The crime went awry, her caretaker ended up in a pool of his own blood, while the still young Eriande was imprisoned by the knights. However, they found the scowling dark elf girl promising, already hardened by her circumstances, and without much choice, Eriande was inducted into the Dark Knights, learning to fight both with the blade, and with the Dark Knights' own secretive darkness.
Even among the dark knights, Eriande grew into a ferocious fighter, a cold-blooded, fearless killer with no mercy for her enemies; many believed her to be born for her role, the perfect example of what a dark knight should be. But Eriande suffered. She saw happy couples on the streets, children playing without a worry in the world, and envied what she didn't have. She never asked to be a dark knight, never asked to be a killer. Surrounded by fellow knights celebrating her successes, she felt alone.

It was another chance encounter that changed Eriande and finally saw light enter her life. Journeying back from a mission, she happened upon a group of nobles ambushed by criminals. She intervened, easily fending off the criminals and intending to show no mercy, but one of the nobles, a blonde elf woman, around her own age, asked her to stay her hand. Eriande was about to ignore her pleas when the other elf said the criminals were only victims of unfortunate circumstances, and would surely choose another path in life if they could. With a nerve struck, Eriande chose to stay her hand; each of those criminals could have been her. The noble presented herself as Lyndiel and thanked Eriande, while her father asked Eriande if she would serve as Lyndiel's guardian, a practically minded and down to earth counter to Lyndiel's spiritual, aloof manner. After some thought, Eriande accepted; as the two grew more familiar with each other, they became close friends. In Eriande, Lyndiel found someone understanding of her position in life, where her own wishes and desires plays second fiddle to fulfilling a prophecy imposed upon her by someone else. And in Lyndiel, Eriande found all the warmth and affection she hadn't gotten before; she had finally found someone who cared about her.

Combat role: Frontline fighter, primarily defensive.
Eriande will grow even more defensive if driven to pursue the dark, more offensive if driven towards the light. Corruption also affects her.
Her alternate role is a sniper, using an energy rifle to suppress and pick off individual enemies from afar. In this role, her ranged attacks cause suppression.
Eriande is most susceptible to the sins wrath (towards her enemies) and envy (towards those who, in her eyes, wish to draw Lyndiel's kindness away from her).

Character mechanics:
Eriande is a very mechanics-heavy character with several different mechanics affecting how she fights. It is recommended to bear in mind the way one wishes her to grow while playing; she is by far the most moldable character to one's playstyle, due to her skills and nature.

Default role: Dark Knight
Unyielding and unstoppable. Eriande calls upon the darkness of the universe as source of her power, wielding a greatsword into the fray, striking down her foes and protecting her allies. In this role, she is a natural spearhead of a strike force, advancing first and drawing enemy fire.
Alternate role: Sniper
Eriande is a good shot with a rifle, trained to protect Lyndiel from a distance when she can't defend her reliably up close. Combined with the darkness she wields, she can draw attention from her allies, even when she herself is concealed. In this role, she will operate away from her allies, drawing enemies away from objectives, provide support fire and suppress foes.

- Loyalty (Passive)
Eriande's unwavering loyalty to Lyndiel strengthens her resolve significantly. She knows no fear and suffers reduced damage compared to other characters. Additionally, if Eriande is fielded in the same force as Lyndiel, Eriande only suffers half of normal Corruption. This stacks with Lyndiel's Aura of Light, and when fielded together with Lyndiel, Eriande is practically incorruptible outside of special events.
-Shielded by darkness (At-will power)
Eriande draws out the darkness to absorb projectiles aimed at her; for the next two turns, she is invulnerable to ranged fire, but can't deal full damage or perform any weapon skills.
- Quiet (At-will power; Dark Knight only)
Eriande's darkness embraces a target, and for the next turn, the darkness absorbs any sounds made, as well as any projectile damage taken.
- Moonlight (At-will power; Sniper only)
A target on the battlefield is lit up by the nearest moon. This light will shine through any obstacle between the target and the moon, and is particularly useful at night.
- Eclipse (Encounter power; Sniper only)
For three turns, Eriande's powers blot out the lights on the battlefield, hiding her allies in darkness.
- Blackguard (Encounter power)
The darkness Eriande wields makes her a terribly threatening target to most foes, especially demons, whose powers have no hold over the dark. Once per encounter, she may lash out with darkness to draw her enemies' attention, immediately marking herself as the greatest threat on the field.
- Dark Knight (Passive)
In battle, Eriande is infused with darkness. She suffers less damage than other characters at all times. This stacks with Loyalty/Darkness, and is effective both as a melee fighter and as a sniper.
- Light and Dark (Special ability; Passive)
In the story, Eriande will be forced to make a choice between Lyndiel's light and her own darkness (influenced by others). The choice may seem counter-intuitive, but ends up making sense; choosing Lyndiel's light (Light) makes her fully embrace her guardian role, sacrificing her own defensive abilities to better protect others, while choosing her own inner darkness (Dark) makes her even harder to kill. This stacks with Loyalty AND Dark Knight, and is the go-to choice for making Eriande able to soak up damage that would down other characters thrice.
- Corruption
Wrath: Eriande's damage receives half her corruption as a percentage damage bonus.
Envy: Eriande's damage-reducing abilities extend to other party members, proportional to Eriande's corruption; Lyndiel receives twice the damage reduction others receive, however, and Eriande's own damage reduction is reduced. This stacks with Light.
Should her corruption exceed 50 of either sin, she loses Loyalty and instead, depending on her choice in Light and Dark, gains either My Light Eternal (Passive); should an ally be downed, Eriande will go into a frenzy and inflict significantly increased damage; or Killer (Encounter skill), allowing her to disappear in the shadows and instantly murder one target (avatars will only be crippled and suffer a damage penalty). Killer is a great choice for using her as sniper.
Support - Fear of the Dark
If Eriande is left behind on a mission, she may assist the strike force by bringing darkness to bear against the enemy, temporarily blinding most enemies in a large area. Demonic entities are also struck with fear, and will flee cover.



Fighter: The dwarf gunner
Ingram, combat engineer
(Almost ready; missing description of default and alternate role, and some abilities)

In brief:
While Lyndiel's expedition is the first official venture into the vastness of space, organised by both elves and dwarfs, many dwarfs have travelled into neighbouring systems for a couple millennia already, seeking resources and ore. These have been performed by private parties, unsanctioned by their king but encouraged. Ingram's family was heavily invested in one of these entrepreneur firms, and Ingram's brother, Ilvar, was a leading figure. Ingram had always wanted to be a soldier of fortune, himself, but his father was insistent he rather take up engineering; while dwarfs are not quite as into their prophecies as the elves, Ingram's father had a premonition that should Ingram take up the soldier's path, he would be end up dead, killed by demons. Thus, Ingram picked up engineering, crafting many a useful apparatus and maintaining mining equipment; not the glorious life he had wanted, but rewarding enough.
All that turned around when news reached that Ilvar, leading an expedition to a neighbouring sector, had been killed by a force of corrupt human raiders. With his family struck with grief at the loss of their most successful protegé, Ingram decided to take revenge and kill every demon unlucky enough to get in his range. To that end, he started designing numerous guns, each one spraying more bullets than the last, until he finally designed his greatest yet, the Demonator X000 (pronounced, indeed, x thousand), capable of firing no less than 666 bullets in the timespan of 10 seconds (a number Ingram found symbolic); its revolving barrels are designed with a cooling fluid system that not only cools the barrels and the gun's many mechanical parts, but spreads the heat as efficiently as possible to its surroundings, allowing the gun to keep firing almost indefinitely. While it may jam on occasion, Ingram is working on solutions to prevent that. While he is very keen on getting Eriande's help in using darkness to power the gun even further, Eriande has so far refused to help, as Ingram has no training in handling darkness, and without such risks, the dangers of using the dark, and it spiraling out of control, are much greater.

Combat role: Ranged fighter, both offence and defence. Able to lay down copious amounts of suppressive fire, some of which may even hit the enemy. May also plant mines and launch explosives.
He may be used as infiltrator instead if needed, bringing a shotgun and copious amounts of mines with him.
Ingram is most susceptible to the sins wrath and greed.

Character mechanics:
- Devastating (Passive)
Ingram's attacks, whether he serves as infiltrator or one-man heavy weapons team, strike fear into his enemies, and any enemy squad he opens fire on will be pinned down.
- Vengeance (Passive)
Each demonic entity Ingram kills provides him with a damage boost. This is not without risks, however, as it feeds his wrath. If his Vengeance damage boost goes overboard during a mission, he will suffer double Corruption upon mission end and/or from corrupting events.
- Explosives (At-will power)
In addition to his weaponry, Ingram may also place mines, blow open walls, level buildings, and otherwise cause significant destruction to his environments. He will choose the right explosive for the job.
- Corruption
Wrath: The more wrath Ingram accumulates, the more ruthless his engineering; his bombs and mines grow more destructive the more corruption he gains. Additionally, if his corruption exceeds 50, he modifies the Demonator X000 to infuse bullets with darkness, in spite of Eriande's warnings. Darkness-infused bullets are extremely deadly to demons, but also cause high collateral damage.
Greed: Corruption deteriorates Ingram's morals, and as his corruption grows, his greed drives him to collect more and better loot.
Support - Death from Above
If Ingram is left behind on a mission, he may drop a variety of explosive charges from orbit, such as incendiary charges, high-explosives, penetrating bomb shells...



Fighter: The fire mage
Inia, Conjuror of Flame
(Under development)

In brief:
Arch-mage among the elves and a powerful voice in their society, Inia is driven by the flame of ambition, seeking power and influence for herself. Her mastery of the primal flame is without peer. For a few millennia already, she's been vocal about once more reaching out into space, for elfkind to reach their former heights again, but her people were hesitant; without the princess of Light to face the demons, many voiced concerns that the elves would fall into the same trap as the humans did, enthralled to demons for the unforeseeable future. While Inia was none too pleased about that, certain of her own ability to overpower any demon foolish enough to stand against her, she recognised that not all elves had her power. Thus, in order to further her own goals, she worked hard to see the princess of Light conceived. Her arcane knowledge were important to the ritual's success, and as such, Inia considers herself as naturally part of Lyndiel's life as her parents, seeing herself as Lyndiel's spiritual elder sister. Lyndiel, of course, doesn't quite see it that way, considering Inia's 'sweet little Lyndiel' and almost excessively affectionate mannerism to be more patronising than anything else (in part because it feels very false). Either way, this culminated in Inia selflessly volunteering to accompany Lyndiel on her mission, which most certainly has nothing to do with Inia's own ambitions.
Inia is very uncaring for anything that isn't fueling her own ambitions. She cares a lot for Lyndiel's success, and by extension she does care for Lyndiel, but her only concern for Eriande and Ingram, for instance, is that they too are working to support Lyndiel's mission. Whether they're in good spirits or no is of no concern to her, though she'll easily put up a concerned face.

Combat role: Inia's mastery of the primal flame makes her extremely dangerous, both at close range and at a distance. She blasts gouts of flame from her hands, throws fireballs, summons meteor rains, forms swathes of flame on the ground burning anyone who tries to cross them and more; however, the flame is neither good nor evil, and burns indiscriminately, though it is more effective against foes of this realm, than against demons. Her magics are indeed deadly, but they are also a danger to her allies. As such, Inia's powers must be restrained, and Inia herself must be protected, as she is fragile and goes down easily.

Character mechanics:
- Primal flame
The primal flame Inia wields is the very origin of all life in the galaxy. It burns away at whatever it targets at an entropic level, causing crippling injuries beyond that of ordinary fire, and continuing to burn with increasing intensity as more spells hit home. Inia causes a lot of damage over time if she's allowed to focus on her spellcasting, but if she's forced to move or change target her damage falls off quickly. Darkness is a strong counter to the primal flame, however; darkness-based attacks on a foe smother the flame.
- Arch-mage
Arcane knowledge like Inia's is a rare thing to come by, and she can see much that those not magically inclined can't. Among other things, she can see through disguises, technological cloaking devices and so on, through seeing someone's arcane signature where their physical form can't be seen.
- Corruption
Sloth: Growing increasingly unconcerned of the well-being of others makes Inia fuel up her flames further, ignoring her allies entirely. Her spells, and Primal flame, receives a damage bonus proportional to her Sloth corruption, adding 1% damage increase per point of corruption.
Pride: As Inia's pride grows, she also gains more confidence. At 25 corruption, Inia becomes fearless.




Briefly about the setting Wages of Sin
What if all our myths and tales about elves and dwarfs came about because they were once here? What if elves and dwarfs were aliens, working together in a galaxy-spanning empire, only to have their powers, influence and technology wane as ours waxed, until theirs was but a single world while humans reached across the galaxy? But, when it was our power's turn to wane, and the aliens' to wax, our sins corrupted us, and led us to hold on to our empire, no matter the evil it took to do so?
Join the Princess of Light, Lyndiel, first space-faring elf in many generations, on her venture out into the vastness of space, as she seeks to break the curse upon humanity, restart the cycle, and see light restored to a galaxy suffering the wages of sin.

The elves:
Extremely long lived as they are, their perspective on history is a very different matter to ours. Elves have incredibly low birth rates, and Lyndiel, for example, was born after centuries of preparation, where her father and mother both had worked with seers and sages to fulfill an ancient prophecy, from before the elves' empire even waned. That is, of course, not to say all elves seek to fulfill ancient prophecies; nevertheless, elves tend not to die of old age; of course some die in tragic accidents, in battle and such, but most elves only die when they choose to do so, a choice often made more attractive when the elf in question feels he or she has seen all there is to see, done all there is to be done, and whatever sense of purpose they've held throughout their life is all but spent.
They are beings of great wisdom and knowledge, all the more so due to their lifespans. Acutely aware of past and future, elven societies are more in tune with the ebb and flow of nature and the universe; when the time came that their great empire was at its end, the elves willingly let their empire wither. This, of course, took a great deal of time as the elves themselves had a lot of time, but in the end, the remaining elves lived solely on their homeworld, in a solar system far from ours even then. And there they have remained, through our lifetime and far into our distant future.

The elves and dwarfs share a homeworld now, known to them as either Eleann (traditional elvish for 'home'), Nairn (traditional dwarfish for 'home'), or Eleann Nairn (which was the best compromise they could find), from which Lyndiel launches her adventure.
Elves have very slow biological processes; they age so slowly that any damage to their cells caused by traditional "wear and tear" of their bodies is effectively repaired before any cumulative cell-structure damage is built up. Damaged cell buildup simply never exceeds their cells' reparation rate, save for when exposed to extreme damage which would likely kill them anyway. This, curiously, also means that as an elf is bound to replace his or her entire cell structure several times over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, and the elf's DNA structure changes as his or her environs change, he or she may change rather dramatically as millennia pass.

Elves have had billions of years to grow and adapt, and like all mammals, elves have developed some significant sexual dimorphism between the male and female. Males usually range between 190 to 230 centimeters of height, while the females range between 150 and 175 centimeters of height. Both genders tend to stay lean. Males grow muscle with ease, and can do so almost entirely through diet. Females have a harder time growing muscle, and combined with the size difference between the males and females, it's unsurprisingly the male that takes on the fighter, hunter and protector role in rural societies. A feral elf living in a hunter-gatherer society is a fearsome sight indeed.
In more advanced societies, which means most of the elves living on Eleann Nairn, such gender roles aren't quite so set in stone. Machines have been doing most manual labour for, well, the past million years at least. As such, most elven men aren't very muscular. Even so, most elven soldiers, guards and what have you are still men, but women who wish to serve in these roles are allowed to do so, often through a training regimen tailored towards women.

The default elf, simply referred to as just "elf", is adapted to life in yellow dwarf systems, functioning best in a relatively set sleep cycle not too different from that of a human, though when needed, they can spend an earth week or two awake without sleep.

Dark elves are elves who adapted to life on planets and their moons in red dwarf systems, as opposed to yellow dwarf systems. The most prominent difference is the dark elf's paler skin and different need for sleep; the dark elf might stay awake for several earth weeks at a time, before essentially entering hibernation for a week or two. Or, alternatively, hibernate for several weeks to prepare for a long period awake.

Thanks to the elves' exceptionally long lives, they develop a certain affinity for the universe around them that's denied any short-lived race. There are three primary schools of these affinities; Light, Flame, and Dark. Light and Flame are naturally closely related, and the separation is really more of a separation between the life-giving and nurturing nature of sunlight, and the scorching, destructive nature of flame, as anyone who has flown too close to a sun would attest to if he was still able. Light and Flame represent the lifegiving forces of the universe, the disparity that creates heat, cold, life and death, and all between. They're the extrovert, the outspoken individual, both the empath and the pest that won't stop bothering you.
Dark is another matter entirely. It is at its core always in conflict with Light and Flame, and yet, they can't exist without each other. Dark is the eternal night between the stars, the black holes eating light, the state all things return to when Light and Flame disappear; it is entropy, peace and quiet, and yet, as it can't exist without Light and Flame, it is also conflict; a power of destruction to rival the Flame. It is the introspective individual in a corner, quietly listening, the thinker; both the handsome, mysterious stranger and the scary stalker in an alleyway.
While all elves tend to be drawn to one of these, some even saying each child is destined for one of three from birth, they do so in varying ways; most elves rarely grow attuned enough to draw power from them. Lyndiel, whose conception and birth was preceded by great ritual, was blessed, and has an innate attunement to Light. Inia, whose thirst for knowledge is exceptional even among elves, have learned to weave Flame through arcane learning, great will and carefully tended attunement. And Eriande, touched by Dark from birth, was trained to master it by the Dark Knights who took her in.

The dwarfs:
Shorter in stature and lifespan than the almost-eternal elves, the dwarfs still lead formidable lives compared to humans; the oldest dwarf ever recorded lived to an age of 3012 years. As with the elves, they follow history more closely than humans, living long enough to see history turn upon itself and consider its lessons. Their birth rates are higher than the elves, and dwarfs once outnumbered the elves by vast amounts, their intrepid explorers travelling throughout the galaxy, mining precious ores from worlds, moons, even asteroids, and creating wondrous technology not even matched by the peak of human technology. While the dwarfs were less keen on retreating into obscurity than the elves, the dwarfs' colony worlds were plagued by great unrest, and the dwarf king at the time finally agreed to abolish his rule over these colony worlds, leaving them to govern themselves. He, along with those dwarfs loyal to him, settled together with the elves, and while the two races haven't always seen eye to eye, they've found common grounds and avoided world-shattering wars against each other.
According to legend, there are still other dwarfs out there in the galaxy.