'Reasonable boat ride' LOL That's well over 4,000 miles. I'm sure it still happens, though, and with a fair amount of regularity.
In all honesty, I think I would prefer to remain with Systole's original plan and have his elf from the western continent. The distance would be extreme, yes, but the style of elf that he presents and the culture that he assumes for his elf seems vastly different than that presented for LPF. The big question I have is: why are they barbarians if there are elf-gates to the Other World where the flower of elven culture resides? Just doesn't seem likely to me.
On the other hand... perhaps, during the golden age of E'n, the elves discovered that the western continent did not have elves or elf-gates to the Other World and so great heroes of the elven race boarded majestic swan ships and sailed westward to discover why. Then, with tragically poor timing, the Fall of Night and the Years of Darkness came and the mighty expeditions were stranded, cut off and under constant seige from dark forces so that they lost the refined veneer of their culture.
Anyway, just something to think about (though something of this scope should probably be discussed in the social group since many people may not check or read this section of the forums).
EDIT: Just noticed you started a new thread in the social group for this discussion. Reposted there.