Endonym: Rrafos
I have traveled across the world studying different people and cultures and everywhere I went, every civilization of Rrafos, Dark Elves, wore masks. Many of the different cultures have different beliefs and explanations for wearing them, but few know the core truth. The Dark Elves, or Drow as called by others and Rrafos in their native tongue, were once just an Elven community. Their beauty, however, set them apart. This community was known for producing the most beautiful Elves, and people in general, that one could ever hope to see. But this was their downfall. The process of aging, although more drawn out for all Elves, was seen as a blight to this community. They thought that if they could kill Frithsaet then time would no longer pass and they would no longer age. But their community was small compared to the large Elven society, and their rebellion failed. As punishment for their rebellion against Frithsaet and Elvenkind, the Dark Elves were cursed with beauty.
There are millions of different combinations of Human facial features a Human could go their entire lives without seeing another person that looked the same as them. That is true of every other race - Orc, Halfling, Dwarf, or Gnome those the Dark Elves sometimes refer to as The Unmasked. But not Dark Elves. Those who have seen the face of an Dark Elf beneath the mask know that they are a uniquely beautiful race. Their faces are perfectly fair, proportional, and symmetrical in every way, but that horribly limits the different combinations of facial features. But the Dark Elves are cursed to see all other Drow as the same. Although the beauty remains and other races see the Drow as they once stood, the Drow can only ever see two faces. So the masks were born to hide their beauty and to distinguish one another.
This is compounded by the incredibly long lifespan of the Dark Elves. Imagine if the first girl you kissed bore the same face as your grandmother, who looks the same as your daughter. Dark Elves wear masks because their uniquely beautiful faces are not in fact unique.
Different Rrafos cultures adopt different customs regarding masks. Some have a strict caste system enforced by the masks. Many impart symbols on the mask displaying information about the wearer. Their title, role, gender and even their history can be displayed on a mask. One culture went the other way, the higher up in society one was, the simpler and more plain their mask. Their leaders mask was completely devoid of detail.
The masks are sacred and individual, when the wearer dies, it is customary to burn the mask, so that no one else may use it. Wearing another’s mask would be equivalent to assuming their persona, and unless that person had some other defining characteristic, it would be nearly impossible to tell from afar. To steal one’s mask is a crime punishable by death, but to use it as an aid in committing a crime is thought to be an offense punishable only by the Gods.