"Dark" elves, a pseudo-biological explanation.

[LoneWolf23]

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.

Was there a point to that other then to annoy me? My point was that the Drow's skin color is likely unnatural in origin, and the result of mystical mutation. There's no need for that kind of talk...

 

[RangerWickett]

Since when do dark elves have pitch black skin? I've always thought it was just a dark, slightly-purple grey color.

Hell, in my world, I've got Elves of all sorts of skin colors. Because I like the idea of underground dark-skinned Elves, I had a large group of dark-skinned Elves go into Exodus underground, but you still see both light and dark skinned Elves on the surface. It's just hereditary. Some Elves happen to have dark skin, others happen to have light, and a few have that nifty golden brown color.

 

[LordVyreth]

What if it was natural selection in a different way? Since drow are known for raiding the surface, the ones who would be harder to spot would be less likely to be found and killed. Thus, the ones with darker skin would be harder to spot in the dark, and lasts long enough to have more kids, and those among his kids with darker skin last long enough to have their own kids, and so on.

 

[Cheiromancer]

The problem with the natural selection arguments (dark skin makes it easier to hide) is that the drow's hair color should also be dark. It is (obviously) not.

The same holds for the "curse of blackness" theory- why would a race of elves be cursed with black skin and silver/white hair? While darkness may be associated with evil, I have never heard of contrasting hair color being associated with evil!

I have a theory of my own, but I need to google some references first...

[edit]

Ok. Look here: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/bluecandidate_021003.html

The man has argyria, caused by drinking colloidal silver. The condition is permanent.

My theory is that the drow are colored the way they are because of minerals in their diet; probably adamantine. The have a mutation which protects them against slow adamantine poisoning by precipitating tiny particles of the stuff in (or under) their skin, making it dark.

Normal melanocytes are killed by the (slightly toxic) adamantine, so the skin of a drow elf has no protection against the sun; they burn easily. No melanin means that their hair is white, too.

Other creatures typically do not live long enough for adamantine poisoning to be a factor (elves are unusually long lived, and so have a longer time to be exposed to it), have a diet which minimizes adamantine exposure, or deal with the issue in another way.

Now suppose that racially drow are also pre-disposed to have dark skins with plentiful melanocytes. It is just that adamantine poisoning kills these melanocytes by the time they are a century old. But their genetic disposition means that drow (or half-drow) born and raised outside of the underdark (and not exposed to adamantine) still have dark skins, but with a different hue than the purplish-grey of their kin. Even in the underdark, young drow would be a more "natural" chocolaty brown or ebony, and not the weird color of mature drow. Though they could be given colloidal suspensions of adamantine to hasten the approach of their mature coloration.

In this theory, drow not exposed to adamantine will have dark hair, and skin that is a different shade from normal drow. They should also be no more sensitive to sunlight than someone whose ancestors are from the tropics.

 

[Kemrain]

LightPhoenix,

I'd love to see your more technical explinations! Please, if you have the time, go into it. I'd be very interested in reading what you have to say...

Blue is the natural pigmentation for eyes? I tought Albinos had pink eyes, because they had no color save for the blood within them.. Interesting. Prolly has something to do with light sensitivity, too. (Blue-Grey eyes + Snow = OOW!)

- Kemrain the Curious.

 

[Goobermunch]

Since when do dark elves have pitch black skin? I've always thought it was just a dark, slightly-purple grey color.

Hell, in my world, I've got Elves of all sorts of skin colors. Because I like the idea of underground dark-skinned Elves, I had a large group of dark-skinned Elves go into Exodus underground, but you still see both light and dark skinned Elves on the surface. It's just hereditary. Some Elves happen to have dark skin, others happen to have light, and a few have that nifty golden brown color.

Or as Alton Brown would say, "GBD."

Golden Brown and delicious.

--G

 

[Ferret]

I though that like other elves just randomly change into a subrace every few months, so they are just another kind of elf

 

[LightPhoenix]

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

Well, if you don't base fictional biology on something realistic, there's really no point, is there? You might as well call it magic and be done with it.

However, the basic biological tenets are the same no matter what species you talk about. That is, environmental and genetic factors cause creatures to evolve. Humans are the closest real life parallel to Elves/Drow that can be made, and so it just makes sense to start there, as opposed to starting with, say, cats.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Blue is the natural pigmentation for eyes? I tought Albinos had pink eyes, because they had no color save for the blood within them.. Interesting. Prolly has something to do with light sensitivity, too. (Blue-Grey eyes + Snow = OOW!)

Sorry, I posted that in haste and excitement. Albinos do indeed have pink irises.

There are two-ish genes that affect non-albino eye color - one affects whether or not you get brown pigment, the other affects what kind or how much - I'm nto sure which.

I say two-ish because in reality eye color is pretty poorly understood. There are probably two sets of pigments you get in some degree. Everyone (except albinos) gets an amount of bluish pigment - a lesser amount probably adds a bit more grey to the eyes. Some people also get a brown-ish pigment, resulting in something between green and dark brown. Personally I'm not sure where green comes from, I'll have to do some reasearch... my interest has been piqued.

 

[LightPhoenix]

The problem with the natural selection arguments (dark skin makes it easier to hide) is that the drow's hair color should also be dark. It is (obviously) not.

Actually, I think the bigger problem with natural selection is that in a dark environment, you don't use your eyes to see. You use stuff like echo-location, vibrations in air/water, scent, and hearing.

I have a theory of my own, but I need to google some references first...

The man has argyria, caused by drinking colloidal silver. The condition is permanent.

My theory is that the drow are colored the way they are because of minerals in their diet; probably adamantine. The have a mutation which protects them against slow adamantine poisoning by precipitating tiny particles of the stuff in (or under) their skin, making it dark.

*snip intelligent theory*

Yeah, the biggest problem with any biological theory about drow is reconciling white hair and dark skin. I like your theory a lot.