Marilvayn Elves, also referred to as sea elves, are a sub race of elves long adapted to living in and breathing water.
While living underwater, Marilvayn elves exhibit a variety of skin tones and markings, ranging from deep green skin, mottled and striped with brown, to light blue skin with white stripes and patches. Some other aquatic elves have pale silver-green skin. All are robust and tall with long limbs.Their thick skin gives them protection from the cold of deep water, keeping them comfortable at just above freezing temperatures. Their fingers and toes were generally longer than a land-dwelling elf's and had thick webbing between them. Their most distinctive feature is the gills visible in their necks and over their ribs. Compared to other elves, aquatic elves have deep voices and are larger and heavier.
Marilvayn Elves have adapted to both water and land, though they require regular immersion in water to maintain their health and vitality. Failure to do so leads to a state akin to drowning, known among their kind as "Dry Suffocation." When Marilvayn Elves spend a significant amount of time on land, their pigmentation pales and their webbing contracts to slightly above normal ranges for an elf. This allows them to closely resemble land-dwelling elves without close inspection. They regularly wear scarves or high collared tunics to hide their gills.
Aquatic elves are isolationist by both their nature and the physical location of their settlements. Their trust does not extend far beyond their clan and others of their kind, and their communities are very tightly-knit. They struggle to understand why the surface dwellers do not realize that community and alliances mean survival, whereas rivalry, individualism, and factionalism brings death. However, despite being extremely cautious they are also extremely curious, and aquatic elves near the shore will often take advantage of the opportunity to secretly observe the land-bound races if provided a chance.