The Eldar

The elves in my home-brew are inspired by several sources, but Frank Herbert's Dune is the primary influence. The elves in my campaign are in the vein of Herbert's fremen; supreme survivors conditioned by the hell-blasted desert. They are mystic warriors who worship martial and magic cults. Though the aesthetic is  certainly fremen, thats really as far as the similarities go. These elves worship magic as men worship gods. Males follow one cult, females the other.  The elves were the first race to hear the whisperings of magic from the spirits. The eldar mother chose the cult of the *Nightblade. The son-father found the cult of the *Spellsword.

Picture link.

The males are not fair elves, their flesh has taken the hue of the red sands, and been shaped by it too. In Dark Sun (I never played it) I heard that the elves stood taller than men, something around seven feet tall if my memory serves me. So too will the elves in my campaign stand seven feet tall. The male's ziggurats are antediluvian pyramid-fortresses where the brotherhood may hone their magics and their steel through monk-like meditative practices.

Underground the female cult extends it's shadowy grip of the underworld ever further into the depths. The spirits of both cults require an absolute separation between males and females except during procreation rituals. Though ancient, the elvish race faces decline. Males are particularly hesitant to participate in elvish consummation because to do so would be to sever the male elf's magic potential forever. The elf may no longer level as a Spellsword, and must instead level as a fighter. Though a different system, this male elf attitude is comparable to the male Giant Spider's attitude in Luke Crane's Burning Wheel.

For this reason males are taught to practice asceticism at a young age. The only woman some males ever encounter is their mother before they are taken and delivered to a surface ziggurat. Female elves follow a more martial path than the brotherhood. As they are dwellers in darkness, their flesh is a light grey, and fairer than the brotherhood's. The sisterhood's cult of deep spirits demand virtue through conquest. Vengeance is the spiritual absolution the sisterhood's ancient matriarchs glean like coins. Breathtaking natural caverns and grottos house the sisterhood. Through magic the natural chambers have been enchanted to be both luxuriant and deadly. Obviously I've drawn some inspiration from the Drow as well.

* The Nightblade is an ACKS class which is effectively a thief/magic-user multiclass for elves.
The Spellsword is an ACKS class which is effectively a fighter/ magic-user multiclass for elves.