"Dark" elves, a pseudo-biological explanation.

[Nightfall]

Our Dark elves just live under ground and like having luminence tattoes.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

According to Dragon 150 (with a special on Elven Gods, including "Megwandir", which was supposedly Lolth's name when she was still one of the Seldarine), they were dark-skinned before becoming evil. "...Artistic but decadent elves that dwelled in the south..." I believe it stated.

Also, can't remember what it was, but there was another name given to the race in Drow of the Underdark (Illytheri, I think) druing the introduction.

Myself... Don't have elves, so don't have Drow either... Simple, eh?

Illytheri is almost the correct spelling I think. Interesting that Lolth was called Megwandir in the FR her name while she was still Seldarine was Araushnee and she was the consort of Corellon. Since she was cursed and transformed into a demon its safe to assume that her worshippers were too (someplaces its mentioned that the dark elves were changed by the strange radiation - faerzress - of the Underdark). The original Illytheri were just "dark" skinned not jet black like the drow of today.

-Zarrock

 

[Feanor Starym]

Illytheri is almost the correct spelling I think. Interesting that Lolth was called Megwandir in the FR her name while she was still Seldarine was Araushnee and she was the consort of Corellon. Since she was cursed and transformed into a demon its safe to assume that her worshippers were too (someplaces its mentioned that the dark elves were changed by the strange radiation - faerzress - of the Underdark). The original Illytheri were just "dark" skinned not jet black like the drow of today.

-Zarrock

Illytheri were one of the main Elven kingdoms in ancient Faerun that came into conflict with the Gold Elf kingdom of Aryvandaar. Funnily enough, the Gold Elves were more evil than the dark elves of Illytheri, but Corellon still chose to curse the dark elves rather than the gold elves....

either way, the books that deal with this information are:

Cormanthyr, Empire of Elves (2nd ed supplement, available off WoTC website)
and Elves of Evermeet, a novel that even has Araunshnee's betrayal of Corellon.

Just thought that knowing where this info came from would be useful..

As a side note, according to Cormanthyr, the dark elves already had shadowy/dark skin before they went underground. They were already a distinct sub-race of elves, just like moon elves, gold elves, sylvan elves, and avariel.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Illytheri is almost the correct spelling I think.

Ilythiiri, actually.

Interesting that Lolth was called Megwandir in the FR her name while she was still Seldarine was Araushnee and she was the consort of Corellon.

Was she Megwandir in the Realms? I thought that was only from the article on snow elves in Dragon 176(?).

LightPhoenix: Great post! I might just go with the relatively mundane alternative of having faerzress emit very strong UV. That would encourage the prevalence of the dark-skinned gene, no?

 

[Dogbrain]

I love threads like this.

So, wait. If a "normal" elf spends a lot of time dungeon-crawling does he get that black-blue color? Would a drow be able to blend in with his tree-dwelling cousins after a weekend at the beach?

Doubtful. No matter how much time my boss spends indoors, Professor Debomoy K. Lahiri is not going to look like he's from good German stock.

I think there is a baseline for each Elf race, but some elves will be "paler" (darker) than others.

 

[Dogbrain]

I don't think it's got anything to do with ultraviolets or pigments.

Body paint is the key.

Or they were cursed by the elven gods. Wasn't that the real reason?

Ah, so blackness is a sign of evil. Therefore, all dark-skinned people MUST be inherently evil!!!

 

[Dogbrain]

My explanation for their dark skin is far simpler, and it ties in to their Evil nature, as well: Their constant worship of Lolth and practice of abominable magical experiments in her name, have twisted the race, warping their bodies and minds to such a point that they're only recognizable as Elves by their basic appearance (a testament to the physical purity of the race, even for the twisted Drow).

Yes, remember, folks. Dark skin is a sign of inherent evil. Let's see, so the evil elves are dark-skinned because they are evil. Therefor, dark-skinned HUMANS must be dark-skinned because THEY are evil.


ooh, I'm so naughty.

 

[Dogbrain]

To me it makes more sense for dark elves and other underdark dwelling creatures to be pale, but thats because I work in a cave giving tours, and all the creatures (except for bats) have no pigment from not being exposed to the sun for ages.

Of course, that presumes that "pale" is identical for all possible forms of life. I'm simply positing that the "pale" state of the elf branch of life merely happens to look "black" in the human spectrum of vision.

 

[Dogbrain]

Since the closest real-life model we have to compare to Drow is humans, I'm going to start with a little background about them, then work into some theories.

What if Elves aren't humans and such a close comparison is not valid?

 

[Numion]

Yes, remember, folks. Dark skin is a sign of inherent evil. Let's see, so the evil elves are dark-skinned because they are evil. Therefor, dark-skinned HUMANS must be dark-skinned because THEY are evil.


ooh, I'm so naughty.

We're talking about pitch black skin here. Thats different from going to the solarium. Surely pigments and UV aren't the only reasons that contribute to the color of the skin?

I'm not sure what you're trying to cook up here though.