Only the gods know why the goddess Elidra, mother of the high elves, chose to make her prized children almost sterile as she sent them to Norindaal, by the end of the Century of Fire and Rain which had devastated the world. As beautiful as they are insufferably arrogant, incredibly long-lived, the wistful high elves were inclined to mirth and melancholy, realizing their kind could only endure by mingling with the "lesser folk".
While they long held miscegenation in disdain, the urge to survive overcame their repugnance as their numbers dwindled.
No one knows for sure the parentage of the marsh elves. Given their lizard-like eyes, yellowish skin and webbed toes, the scholar Skalitos hypothesized that their ancestors have lmated with bog blinders or moonbeasts.
A concurrent hypothesis by Loremistress Ravène suggests the parentage of hobgoblins or even fungi folk, as unlikely as it seems.
The marsh elves themselves claim to be the original high elves, untainted unlike their kind, and that it is the others who are warty, repugnant and deformed. Few dare to raise the point with the irascible marsh elves.
Six known marsh elf tribes share the bogs, each tracing their lineage to a distinct high elf ancestor.
The Vouivre tribe claims descent from the first high elf king, the Everglorious One. Masters of obfuscation, they are fearsome conjurers, dealing with bog hags and riding ghost horses called selkies. This tribe’s color is green.
The matriarchal Orchid tribe is composed of traders known to associate with flower demons, flamingo folk, fungi folk, and necromancers. They trace their ancestry to the Blue-Haired Queen of the Blossoms' Demesne (which, they claim, is a high elf). They are feared for their ability to raise the dead. Their color is a bright pink, worn with vivid flowers.
The Toad tribe, who claim descent from the high elf archer Gordashi, master illusions and command both gremlins and fungi folk. Fiercely territorial, many loathe humans for their lands were the first to fall under Dorantia’s crushing legions. Suspected to worship forbidden deities from an older age, the Toad tribe has birthed batrachian hybrids known as bog blinders and bog elves, prized targets of the Inquisition’s purges. Their tribal color is dark yellow.
The Mosquito tribe, whose ancestor is never named but feared, is dreaded for its many diseases and poisons. The most reclusive of the marsh elf tribes, they are said to have pacts with the Rotten Hearts, eldritch fungi folk dabbling with chaos sorcery. Called Netherwalkers, they are shunned by the other tribes for their commerce with demons.
The Leech tribe claims lineage from the legendary healer Snowflake, father of the snow elves. Healers and experts in the erotic arts, they have formed alliances with swamp shamans and interbred with swamp barbarians. They enjoy friendly relations with wood elves, treefolk and bog blinders. Their tribe's color is a dark crimson.
The Ooze tribe has embraced its bog environment like no other. Their faces are blistered and fungal growths cover their bodies. Not only can they walk the swamps unharmed, they can transform forests and other environments into marshes. The tribe claims no high elf ancestor, pretending to be the divine offspring of the goddess Elidra and It Who Lives Below, the evil fungi god dwelling in the swampy maze known as the Dark Heart, in the deep north-east of the Sun-Kissed Vale. Their growing relations with the ravenous Rotten Hearts suggests the worse is to come. Their color is black.