In regard to 'Cold Elves' what exactly is the break out with the elves? Are the Svartalfar simply evil wood elves? As I said before, I always thought the pic of Faeyl made her look like she was underwater. Plus the 'historic' paring of them with illusions always made me think of water since any reflected image from water is always a 'bad copy' - Then again, Hannah the Irin always looked Elvish to me...and Luann looks like a typical anime she? he?
As I understand it there was basically an elven nation which was closely tied to Nature and so had "seasons". During Summer (and probably Spring) it was ruled by the Summer Court - under Arendel. During Winter (and probably Autumn) it was ruled by the Winter Court - under Faeryl. These were also known as the Seelie and Unseelie courts I believe.
With the Age of Ice however, winter lasted a little bit longer than it usually did. Faeryl obvious was quite happy about this and was reluctant to hand back power when Winter finally ended. This is possibly the main cause of a civil war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts.
The two courts however do not account for all elves in the world. There were musings on another thread that a majority of the elves would be best described by a Neutral alignment with the two courts (with Arendel's idealism and Faeryl's betrayl of the old ways) being the "good" and "evil" ends of elven culture. Some elves would side with each court, but there were probably others that just stay out of the way. This view also gives a good justification for the two neutral elven leaders - both serve the Ljosalfar but aren't necessarily "good" in all cases.
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Looking at it that way, we've got Summer Elves and Winter Elves, each with many sub-sects and factions. The main civil war is between Summer and Winter, but each sect may or may not be involved to some degree. Some sects will have parted company with the courts long before the Age of Rebirth and whilst most are unimportant to the "big picture" - being too small to be of interest to the larger nations - there was one sect that saw Mulcarn's rise as a way to ensure the Winter Elves ruled the forests forever.
They chose to leave their forest and aid the Illians, becoming servants in a manner similar to the Doviello. The Doviello were obviously the muscle and had great numbers, but the Elves were more subtle and skilled. In the end however, despite the fact that the old laws granted power to the Winter Court for so long as Winter remains upon the land, the Elves began to feel that Mulcarn's stasis was deeply unnatural and wrong for the world. Their existence was tied to the seasons and they could not rest easy whilst the balance was disrupted.
Long before Kyorlin began his quest for the Godslayer, this group of elves struck desperately against the Illians, but had never seen the power of Mulcarn himself. They struck deep into the heart of the Illian lands, but were defeated utterly at Letum Frigus. They fled the field and were hounded by the Illians and the Doviello for the remainder of the Age of Ice.
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In the Age of Rebirth, they are a people with no home. Having sided with the God of Winter, they are hated by followers of Sucellus and despite having initially sought to increase the power of the Unseelie, their association with Mulcarn means they are not fully trusted by the Svartalfar either (again it's their service to Mulcarn that makes them shunned, rather than their eventual betrayal). They are also forever changed by their experience with Mulcarn. They rushed to serve one which they believed would bring them power and were nearly destroyed for it. They are now cold and calculating, almost callous in their methods. Their true goal is unclear, but they seem uninterested in the elven civil war unless they have something to gain from temporarily siding with either of the courts.
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Cold-Elves
Cold, calculating, implacable.
Highly specialized - members of the civ have specific skills that they hone (military, not city-specialist).
Shunned - unable to follow FoL due to their betrayal of Nature.
Winterborn - forever changed by experience with Mulcarn.
Dictatorial - they serve no court and their leader defines their laws.
![[to_xp]Gekko](https://civfanatics-data.community.forum/avatars/m/74/74677.jpg?1475248346){kind=avatar}
But I always like the concept of the 'Pini' elves from Elfquest as wood elves because in most fantasy the only difference between Wood Elves and High Elves were their clothing. 
