>>43269592>I like it when elves are mysterious, but not too detached from the rest of sapient society.To expand on this, they'd be mysterious in a cultural sort of way. Residing in the woods, they'd be a relatively reclusive society, sort of like how Japan uses "muh island nation" as an excuse to isolate itself from the rest of the world.
Elves would pick up lots of things from human culture, but always end up putting their own spin on it, to the point where many of them act surprised when they hear that humans use [insert thing here] too. Because of all this, elven culture would have a certain mystique to it from the perspective of humans. Many human youth in larger cities where more cultural exchange takes place might go through real cringey elfaboo phases.
Dwarves, on the other hand, hate elves because dwarves feel the need to understand and analyze everything. They're curious, too, but in a slightly different way from humans. Humans are enticed by the elves' elusive nature and drawn toward the forest, because people are drawn to what is difficult to understand. Dwarves, on the other hand, are pushed away from the forest because, to them, it seems like the elves are actively refusing to be understood.
