Creation or Evolution?

[WayneLigon]

I don't think it's a divergence; I'm sure there have been mentions in the past about evolved creatures. Not to say that it would follow the same means or path as evolution in our world. 'Mutation' is often bandied about, the four-armed sahuagin being the first thing that comes to mind, but often it suggests that mutation can be caused by magic as well as other sources.

I haven't had cause to give it a lot of thought for most campaign worlds. Normally, I assume that the gods do things in broad sweeping generalities and the specifics take care of themselves. The goddess of flowers says, 'Let there be flowers' and flowers appear. THere is great variety, viability, flowers are not created where they could not survive (or the place where they are created changes as well to insure their survival), etc. She doesn't - and doesn't have to - think about genetic diversity, cross-pollination and all the millions of other factors involved in creating life: she just wills it and the universe adjusts around her.

What would be cool would be a world where things are obviously made by the gods and have no other means of support otherwise. Leaves turn because the gods so willed it, not because the sap leaves them. Dig up the soil and there is no root system in the totally uniform soil underneath because there is no need for such a thing: plants just 'are'. Farmers are priests, asking the gods to grow crops for them to live on. If it doesn't rain for a year, so what? The gods are not wanting the place to turn into a desert so it doesn't. It would be a very, very strange place, kind of like living on the back lot of a movie you never get to see

 

[S'mon]

Evolution, in that the mortals evolved first and created the gods from their beliefs.

 

[diaglo]

depends on alignment.

lawful beings believe they were created in 7 days.

neutral thru survival of the fittest

chaotic eefa ra mou fa bits.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Divine creation, in most cases. My game worlds don't have million-years-long histories. Although I have conjectured in the past that the proliferation of various elvish subraces in commbination with their long lives might suggest that they are highly susceptible to mutation; if I were to run a more scientifically oriented campaign, I might do something with that idea...

 

[DragonLancer]

For me its a bit of both. I tend ti think that the Powers That Be created life but then like anything it slowly evolves to fit niches and adapt to its environment.

 

[fusangite]

I think that Darwinian evolution and D&D are a poor mix. However, there are many pre-Darwinian ideas about evolution that work just fine. Species' blood becomes polluted with that of others; species bodies change to adapt to their environment under the influence of different temperature or humoral conditions; species are cursed; species are rewarded for valour with new faculties, etc. The idea of the physical nature of a group of creatures changing because of an event or sequence thereof in the real world goes back to the dawn of mythology; there is no need to bring Darwinian natural selection into it. I assume all D&D worlds have some kinds of evolution in them; the question is: which kinds?

Don't go imposing the modern creation vs. evolution debate on D&D worlds. Re-read some mythology and you'll see that for most worldviews this is a false dichotemy.

 

[Maldin]

In my campaign, evolution is the primary force, with rare true creation (although it does happen). The stories of gods creating races is merely deistic propaganda. The present gods are no where even close to the original gods... who had their own propaganda before that. "Keep'em in the dark, and you keep'em yours" is the multiversal "Motto of the Deities". After the Multiverse formed, there were several primary "beings" who helped shaped its present form (see my website for my ultimate Grand Unified Theory of all D&D - "Life, the Multiverse, and Everything"), but since then the "gods/powers" have had only minor effect on the planes and life on them.

The key is that the D&D Multiverse is drenched in magical (and other) energies, and I consider magic to be the ultimate mutagen. Life in a D&D multiverse would evolve and change at a (relatively) blinding speed by RealWorld(tm) standards. Hence noticable changes occur over thousands of years, and not millions of years. In Greyhawk, for example the Lerara have evolved from humans in a mere 1000 years, while races with long lifespans (like dwarves and elves) can remain relatively unchanged for 10's of thousands of years. However, because of magic's powerful mutagenic influence, even those races can speciate into new sub-species under the right conditions.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
=============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Check out the ton of cool Edition-independent stuff on my website, New Spells, Magic Items, Notoriety, Artifacts, Kyuss, secrets of the Twin Cataclysms, the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Dreadwood, the cities of Melkot, Greyhawk and Irongate, a Grand Unified Theory for all of D&D, magic and the Multiverse, and much, much more!!

 

[Kesh]

I use both. I have a fantasy homebrew that's creation-based with some minor evolutionary advancements; and a space-based "sci-fantasy" setting that's all evolution (each race sprung up on a separate world, magic operates by certain universal laws, etc.).

 

[Voadam]

Depends on the creature. Owlbears were made by mages as per old descriptions of them. But I also have real world physical scientific laws as a default backdrop unless otherwise stated or needed to adjudicate in game actions, so evolution is there, although primal chaos and deliberate or accidental creations are plausible theories as well in the world and explain various creatures.

 

[Turjan]

In standard D&D, I also assume some kind of mix. It's not only the stories about the creation of the races by specific gods - which the campaign inhabitants may believe or not - but also the typical "mad wizard creations" that populate the world. On the other hand, I try to make scenarios that roughly make sense so that the question doesn't really come up.