As a reclusive society of intelligent forest-dwelling races, The Sylvans have traditionally kept to themselves, and considered anything that transpires outside of their domain to not be of their concern. However, after The Second Fall, and the subsequent splintering of the Elven race, The Sylvans have taken a more aggressive stance in protecting their interests.

Prior to the Great Elven Schism, the Sylvans possessed a strange combination of monarchy and representative democracy, but since that time have decided that too much power in one person's hand is to be avoided. In times of peace, the Sylvans are lead by a little seen council of the leaders of each race. However, in times of war, Wardens, usually Elven, are appointed, and given wide discretion to execute rather vague objectives handed down by the council. These Wardens, unlike the slow-moving and bureaucratic council, are as quick to respond to dangers to the forest as a Dark Elven merchant is to swindle and unwitting customer, and as relentless as an agitated Shade Tyrant.

Although the Sylvan forces lack the resilience of The Accursed, and the concentrated strength of the Dark Elves, they more than make up for it with their superior mobility and reconnaissance. Historically, this has been in large part because the Sylvans' domain is rather expansive, and not especially densely populated. As a result, both speed and reconnaissance have been needed to assemble forces with any hope of victory.

The Sylvans greatest weakness is their lack of a true siege engine. The Sylvans never developed a siege engine, since it is not particularly well suited in heavily forested terrain, and also because artillery typically moves very slowly. As a result, they must rely on their speed to counter enemy siege units. To crack open enemy bases, Sylvans sometimes deploy scouts using longer-ranged arrows, but this capability is a pale shadow to the incendiary munitions that a Gremlin Grenadier can launch, or the explosive cannonballs used by the Bone Juggernaut.

Offsetting this inherent disadvantages is a wide array of highly mobile units. The Sylvans possess several units capable of various forms of teleportation, as well as a number of defensive spells. Against their most frequent foe, The Accursed, the Sylvans heavily rely on their speed to make a series of feints and attacks too quickly for the slow Accursed war machine to respond to. When pressed, their superior mobility also allows them to run up on the dread Bone Juggernaut, countering its substantial range advantage

Occasionally, the Sylvans find themselves in small-scale conflict against the Dark Elves, and find their superior reconnaissance allows them to neutralize much of the Dark Elven ambush threat. In addition, the Sylvans defensive spells allow them to counter many of the more dreadful Dark Elven attack spells, such as Agony and Shrapmetal.