Charter

General

Society is egalitarian, with women and men-folk performing an equal share of the work. There is no distinction drawn between men and women, sociologically, in Wildwood Elven tribes. Women can be found alongside men in war party or patrol, just as men can be found caring for the children, and cooking. Indeed, women are favoured as hunters, for they tend to be even more lithe and stealthy than the men.
Within each tribe is a conclave of druid, who take care of the spiritual, medical and magical needs of the tribe. Again, both women and men can be found within the druid conclave. The head druid offers advice to the chief of the tribe on matters of a magical or political nature. In reality, the focus of the tribe is on day-to-day survival.
Given the egalitarian nature of the Wild Elves, the concept of personal property is somewhat alien. Possessions are governed purely by need, and not greed. If an elf is going hunting, and he has no bow, he will take the bow of another elf who has no need of it.
One elf will respect the privacy of another's dwelling, and would not go unbidden into it to claim an item he needed. He would ask for the item first, and if the other had no need of it at that moment, it would be considered extreme bad manners to refuse. This courtesy is extended only to those within a given tribe. Trade is a known concept, but it is a thing between two tribes, not two individuals.
The closest things that Wild Elves have to personal possessions are the items of personal adornment that they wear. Such items as bead necklaces, earrings, carved belt buckles, bracelets and such, set with semiprecious stones, and occasionally precious gems and gold, if they had traded with other elves for them, or captured them in battle. A wild elf of high social status; a chief, for example, may have a small fortune in personal adornment. Indeed, it is true to say that any given elf wears everything they own. For everything they own, they wear. Also, metal tools are a prized commodity, for the Wildwood Elves do not forge metal.
The concept of land ownership is completely alien to them. Land cannot be bought, sold, leased, borrowed, lent or otherwise exchanged for any other commodity. Neither can it be owned by another being. If hunting is scarce in a particular area, there may be bloody squabbles over rights to live there, but neither side would claim ownership of the land.

Religion

The Wildwood Elves are a deeply superstitious people, guided in all things magical and spiritual by those of the druid conclave, known as the Medicine Lodge. Those of the Medicine Lodge are respected, and almost revered by the other elves in the tribe, although structurally, they hold no real political power, any more than a hunter does. Druids are like any other elf, in that they have a particular role to fulfill within society.
The beliefs of the Wildwood Elves revolve around a central goddess, Vala'Vanya'Amil, the Mother of the Land. She has many guises, and can take the form of anything natural, either living, or inanimate, to grant visions and advice to those who honour her. Her home is in the deepwood, wherever it is found, although she can be found wherever nature flourishes.
The elves also hold faith in the spirits of nature, believing that all things are possessed of a spirit, which can be angered or appeased. It is the job of the Medicine Lodge to see that the spirits are appeased, and all is well with the spiritworld.

Festivals

Wildwood elven festivals are for the most part conducted on a tribal level, with variances in the way each tribe conducts them. They are, without exception, times of feasting, song and merriment, and coincide with the turning of the seasons. During such times, the wandering bands of elves of a given tribe will band together as a tribe, and a great fire will be lit. Hunters will be dispatched to fell game for the feast, but even at such times of celebration, the Wildwood elves are careful to take only what they can eat, and nothing more.
The Festival of Spring's Dawn, is a time of the greatest merriment, and a time when the rites of initiation are performed. It is against this festival that a Wildwood Elf's age is judged, rather than the anniversary of their birth. It culminates with a gathering of all the tribes together in a great glade within the deepwood, the location of which is closely guarded from outsiders.
By attacking another elf is to invite the wrath of the Council. The offending elf is branded, and all tribal affiliations severed. No wildwood elf will talk to, or even acknowledge the presence of the offender ever again. To all intents and purposes, the elf is considered dead, but is not mourned. Faced with this fate, many elves commit suicide, others are driven to madness, but most leave the deepwood to find solace among those who do not follow the Wildwood elven ways. This is a very traumatic experience for the elf in question. Those who continue to attack and steal, taking advantage of being ignored, will be hunted and killed in short order.