City elves are, imo, more iconic of the games theme than any other species. They should have coded representation, in the form of an OPTIONAL clan to join upon character generation. I say optional, so that lone wolf elves have people to seek work through, or have affiliation status with, similar to human/half-elf/dwarf/half-giant and even mul independents do. Even one city elf clan, with a couple PCs, could provide interaction and opportunities for involvement in the goings on, that is quite often closed to elf PCs.
There is little in the way of options for city elves, as they're quite difficult to maintain due to isolation/lack of options/difficulty of travel/extreme ooc player bias. When I say extreme ooc bias, what I mean is, players are predisposed towards treating elves, as ran-do-gank fodder, due to the knowledge they're codedly inferior to, basically, every other race, have almost no chance of having meaningful affiliations, and have no clan backing as an OOC rule, unless joining one of the WEAR OUR UNIFORM ALWAYS clans, which are naturally combat based and require extensive travel... which is not the forte of city elves.
I feel it important to insist, as well, that a city elf clan does not have to be criminal. I feel the portrayal of elves as suicidally stupid, hyper-klepto, wildly anti-social rebels is entirely too common. You can have an elf who is not into picking every pocket, stealing all the furniture, flipping off the man and spree killing npcs in the commons. You can have a clan with a legitimate front, it doesn't matter what, pottery or weaving or some other commons trade skill, with shady backroom goings on.
Indulge in theft, burglary, smuggle poisons and peddle the cure, be the Guild foil and run protection rackets that force players to choose a devil and take sides by association, no more friends-with-everyone safety, but in a way that keeps up a legitimate front. Give the Templars a reason, to come collect tithes, to distribute jobs to elves and have an alternative to the Guild. The guild PCs I meet, are often lazy, usually incompetent, and keep their positions and lives, because there is no competition, where there SHOULD be AMPLE competition. Allanak is EXTREMELY corrupt, after all. The life of an organized criminal should be dangerous and extremely cut-throat competitive, not lax, lounging in the Gaj, like some shitcloak, waiting and hoping someone will offer to pay protection money, for the garbage in their apartment.
As of now, you can play a city elf for a year or more and have almost no meaningful interaction, with other elves. There are always strings of throw away, for-the-lolz elves that are full retard right from the start, but, they're not even real PCs imo. Please, don't do this, it's extremely harmful, when most players are already ooc predisposed into thinking "elf players, are idiots".
Even one, again, OPTIONAL clan, would give elves some legitimacy and accessibility to the game, if it's done right. A full-blown crime syndicate would, likely, result in a lot of problems, as it's basically a license for elf PCs to gang up and shit all over the floors, safe from betrayal and similar such. A clan with a legitimate front, that it has to maintain, whilst dabbling in other, shady business behind closed doors, is a built-in rein, since even if they have ten max enforcers with super stats, if they get overt and overzealous, it'll bring Templarate wrath down upon the entire tribe, which is, naturally, bad for the tribe and as un-elf-like as can be.
There is no shortage of half-elves and dwarves, because they have plenty of options for all walk of character. There is next to no city elves, who aren't of the disposable, comic-relief or grief variety. The few there are, tend to be forced into extreme isolation, or away from Allanak, since they're going to be hunted until dead, simply for existing. At least until they're powerful enough by code, that the rest of the races have to take them a bit more seriously, or be splattered.
Closing the coded distance, to be competitive with races, like dwarves, takes a lot of time, as I know well. It isn't really practical, but is possible. It isn't a fun way, to run a PC, either way. The most boring aspect of my elf, was the grind it took, to no longer be a lazy players gank away, from having to reroll.
Elves could be an important facet of the game, but I feel it would be impossible to achieve legitimacy without a coded clan, backed and supported by staff, in the same way other clans, for other species operate. That little southern clan, which is almost always empty, has an ASTOUNDING and RIDICULOUS amount of ooc protection that, basically, forces their relevance on the game.
A city elf clan, given a smidgen of that support, could make a broad difference in how enjoyable, and accessible, elvish play can be.
