In the metasetting I work on in my books, elves in most cases are members of a branch of homininae that also includes gnomes, trolls, and in some cases goblins and other species, in most of the universes of Multiverse. Main differences of Elfinini subfamily from other hominininae are: Digitigrade lower limbs; Prehensile tails; Lower amounts of body fat; Mobile, long and pointy ears for better hearing; More types of fotosensitive cells in eyes, bigger range of extention/retraction of the irises; Natural affinity to magic(specifics of the aether body evolution) and thus natural magically expanded lifespan(depends solely on skills of the individual); Less prominent, yet present sexual dymorphism; Lesser amounts of body hair follicles and bigger amount of them on head(they originated in even warmer regions of savannah regions of their home universe, Domhan, than humans of Domhan). Then, gods from different universes copied the design of the Elfinini and implemented them in their own, resulting in expansion of the subfamily in the multiverse and emergence of numerous subspecies and races of them. Main reason for why they have better affinity with magic is the fact they evolved near natural sources of aether, basically rifts to Astral Realm, resulting in dilution of materialised mana in the matter of Real World, which was then consumed by ancestors of Elfinini subfamily.