Elven Schism

The Elven Schism was an event that involved the splitting of the elven species into two major branches: the Erevi, made up of the Varlan (High) and Sylvan (Forest) elves, and the Thelvi, also called the Relaa (Grey) elves.

Background
Before the formal codifying of the Duemerus region, the wilds were inhabited by two broad tribes of elves: the Arre Var and the Tei Tcao. Both were extremely adept at the use of magic, but their philosophies could not have been more different. The Arre Var believed magic to be a gift from the Saints, to be used only for good works (such as healing and spiritual development), while the Tei Tcao viewed magic as a power no different from metallurgy or agriculture, to be used for whatever purposes it could (including defense and destructive ends).

In any case, once humans arrived in Duemerus, the elves kept their practice of magic a secret. This was mainly due to the reputation humans had developed for eliminating anyone they perceived to be more powerful than they were.

Takeover
When the humans began colonization efforts, the Arre Var enthusiastically joined them, making numerous concessions in exchange for being given nearly equal status to the human conquerors. One consequence of this was the merging of the human Tritachian religion with the elven Saints, resulting in the formation of what would later become the Church of Erevism.

Some members of the Arre Var sold out the Tei Tcao, standing by as the more militant of the humans led a series of raids on their camps. Though the Tei Tcao attempted to gain peace or simply hide for several years, eventually they resorted to guerilla warfare. This proved devastating to the human forces; while they were familiar with the healing and spiritual magics practiced by the Arre Var (who, by this point, had lost the ability to perform magic in the same way as their cousins), the powerful destructive spells of the Tei Tcao led to a large percentage of human forces being wiped out.

Treaty
Seeing the devastation wreaked on their forces by the Tei Tcao, the human rulers of Duemerus arranged for a treaty between the region and the Tei Tcao. The first offer was one which would lead to the Tei Tcao being allowed to remain in their homes, but also give them inferior protection and status under the law. The Tei Tcao refused, instead choosing to leave the region for the western part of the Continent.

Le'var
The region the Tei Tcao claimed was essentially a barren wasteland, with no natural resources of note except for large amounts of lead embedded in the rock layers. They used their magic to reshape the area to make it even more hostile to outsiders, naming their new home Le'var.

With this, they also decided to make a decided break from the Arre Var, and they used their sorcery to alter their appearance, making their skin extremely pale (almost translucent), lengthening their ears, and changing their eyes to blood-red and their hair to white. They now called themselves the Thelvi, meaning "dissident elves", and began to set up their own societal system.

After this point, the Thelvi were now the only ones able to use their form of magic which did not require spells (although they could certainly use them, if they desired); the Erevi were forced to pool their resources with the few human mages to create spells and enchantments.