Sylvania is the forested kingdom of the elves, inhabited mostly by those of their people who have chosen to withdraw from the world outside the forest's bounds, at least for the nonce. Most all of the structures and aspects of Sylvania are carefully grown from the native flora. The forest allows the elves a significant degree of autonomy, assisted by their magics to maintain the fertility and lively energy of the area. Experts at agriculture, the elves of Sylvania are peerless in their craftsmanship, some crafts taking several human lifetimes to produce.
Visitors are welcome in Sylvania, although most outsiders find it to be an almost disorientingly slower pace of life. There is little urgency to anything, and most of the time is spent in fairly leisurely pursuit of whatever engages at the time. Many visitors more familiar with fast-paced living find Sylvania refreshing and relaxing, with no pressure to produce or achieve. Some might find the life frustrating at times, since naturally shop hours are not always reliable and obligations cannot be rushed. However, most everyone agrees that life in Sylvania can be quite exciting. The parties thrown by the elves last for days or weeks, and their enjoyment of life is legendary and, to some, positively mind-blowing. A casual attitude towards interpersonal relations and the pleasures of the senses, not to mention in most cases centuries of experience in those pleasures, makes for truly the greatest leisure times in all of Arcadia.
Society in Sylvania is more or less egalitarian, with a few title-bearing nobles commanding slightly more authority, though this mainly relates to the very unlikely incidence of conflict or political entanglements. Visitors, even non-elves, are engaged civilly and judged on their actions and words, almost never by what traits were given to them by birth.
