This grew out of my thinking about Greyhawk, but like my post on the religion of Law, it certainly can exist outside of that setting. It also might be modified a little bit when I finally reference it in a Greyhawk post.
When talking about the belief system of an entire people it's necessarily to do so in very broad strokes. Elves as individuals believe a lot of different things, and elven cultures have different understandings and expressions of beliefs that they share with other elven cultures.
Where did the world come from? The multiverse is shadow of the source, the singular truth. It developed from a series of emanations, the cause of which is a mystery, but it is neither in error nor permanent structure.
How do elves differ from other beings? Elves are unlike the souled. We are not matter shaped by the Powers to serve and amuse them. We are, like the Powers, beings of the prima materia, Spirit.
Why is there death? Impermanence is part of the source. Death and rebirth, cessation and resumption.
What happens after elves die? Elves are beings of spirit and spirit flows in a cycle because it remembers that it is one with the source. Unlike the created souls, it will never cease its motion the multiverse remembers its oneness. Elven spirits migrate to a new birth, a new life.
Why we here? The source is both here and not here, because it is all. We are here because the multiverse has forgotten its oneness with the source.
Who are the Seldarine of the tales? The humans and some ignorant elves think the Seldarine gods, but what is a god? The Seldarine are what it means to elven. Thee preceded elves, and are closer to the source. Learn from them and seek to understand the virtues they teach.
What are the beliefs of the...
...Gray Elves? The Gray tend to reject the material world, seeking a life of contemplation and arcane study to achieve oneness with the source in fewer lifetimes.
...Sylvan Elves? The Wood elves seek to find the movement of the source within the natural world and to act in harmony with it. By becoming one with the world they see the truth behind it.
...Dark Elves? The Drow have fallen under the sway of the demon goddess Lolth. Instead of pursuing action without thought to move within the source, they seek drastic rupture of multiverse, believing that intensity of experience and transgression is the shortest path to oneness with the source.
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