Elves are an ancient race, tracing their history to many millenia before the origins of the Empire. Elves are extremely long-lived. There are elders alive today who were contemporaries of Sigmar, though such lifespans are not common. The average Elven adventure is more likely to be shy of a century.

The Old World was once filled with the colonies of Elves, who carried on a successful trade with the Dwarven inhabitants of the mountains. This was a golden age, in which all continents were united by Elven trade. The golden age was not to last, however. A dispute over the succession led to a bloody civil war, and the Elven homeland of Ulthuan was largely destroyed and sank beneath the sea - an event remembered as the Sundering. Worse, the Druchii, the rebel elves, supported their cause by intentionally sabotaging the relationship with the Dwarves. The stubborness of the Elves in refusing to reveal the details of their internal struggle, and their inflexibility with Dwarven demands, led to a violent rupture known as the War of the Beard, since the proximate trigger was the enforced shaving of the Dwarven envoy to Lothern.

The War of the Beard spelt the end of Elven rule in the Old World. Following the death of High King Caledor at the Battle of Tor Alessi, at the same time that the Druchii were invading Ulthuan, the Elves opted to abandon the Old World entirely, fleeing westwards in their ships.

Not all chose to leave, however. Those Elves who felt most attuned to the natural rythms of the Old World refused to depart, and instead retreated into the depths of their forest domains. While the ancient capitals crumbled, and younger races claimed the rule of the Old World, some Elves deepened their connections with the spirits of the forest and remained in place. Their ancestors are still today.

The largest group of elves in the Old World is the Asrai of Athel Loren. They have formed deep spiritual bonds with the spirits of that magical forest, obtaining the right to live there at the cost of certain commitments to the spirits, up to and includng the periodic sacrifice of their own. It is rare for the Asrai to leave their forest, and they are violently protective against any outside intrustion.

To the north, in the Laurelorn forest, live the Eonir. While also wary of emerging from the forest depths, the Eonir do not take isolation to the same extremities as the Asrai, and they are willing to treat with and work with the surrounding human society. Most elves encountered within the Empire are Eonir, and a very small number live permanently in human lands. Nevertheless, it is still considered shaemful to abandon the ancestral homes. When an elf leaves the forest, even should they be travelling on an an officially sanctioned diplomatic mission, a ceremony of disowning takes place, due to the dishonour inherent in abandonment of the sacred home.

There are other elves in the Old World. Various forests contain other, smaller communities - usually similar in outlook to the Eonir. One of the few constants among these diverse Elven groups is that it is considered a great crime to reveal the locations of Elven settlements to outsiders.

In the ports of the northern and western coasts live scattered communities of Sea Elves. These are the Elves who handle the trade between mysterious and distant Ulthuan and the peoples of the Old World. Having spent so much time living among humans, these are fairly atypical elves, often looke down upon by their kin. The largest population by far is in the great port city of Marienburg.