Gray elves in Greyhawk?

[Kae'Yoss]

Whats so Gray about Gray Elves in Greyhawk? And what's so Grey about that Hawk, anyway?

Or should they be Gary Elves, instead? Maybe Garyhawk? Geryhawk?


Grey? Gray? (I prefer Grey, myself.)

Well, the Grey/Gray spelling difference is because of the underlying message:

GreyHawk is supposed to be Great Britain (hence the BE spelling), and Gray Elves the arrogant American (-> AE spelling) tourists who come to Grey Britain, uh, I mean GreatHawk, uh, ENGLAND, and annoy the natives.

And those languages other than common represent Cockney Rhyming Slang, which is there to annoy the American Elves, who could take rangs in Knowledge (Local) and Innuendo to get the rhyming references.

 

[Mycanid]

You totally need to check out the gnarly Valley Elves, dude!

Got that right. Valley Elves were vicious enemies.

As for the Grey Elves ... I don't know. Somehow I always associated the term with the color of old, ancient, faded buildings and empires from long ago. When the elves were more powerful and or prominent than the present. The grey color is the image of a dying culture of great minds that have gone within themselves - rather like the feeling of an early winter I suppose. There is a sadness to it.

Anyway ... just my two cents.

Oh yes - generally "grey" is the British spelling and "gray" is the American spelling, but whether for the reasons Kae Yoss indicated I honestly cannot say.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

See Grey in the Hawk by Nitescreed:

https://sorcerers.net/community/threads/greyhawk.32236/

The original link got a 404 error. Link fixed.

 

[grodog]

A less-ad-intrusive link might be: http://www.geocities.ws/jsage_1974/Greathawk.htm

Allan.

 

[Thomas Bowman]

Is a Grey Elf ever young? Why is it grey? Do other elves turn into grey elves when they get old?

 

[Schmoe]

I have a new favorite phrase:

"pop-up toaster villainy"

 

[Jhaelen]

Is a Grey Elf ever young? Why is it grey? Do other elves turn into grey elves when they get old?

To the contrary, they're named after 'Dorian Gray' because they never appear to get any older.

 

[Yaarel]

Shakespeare mentions fairies dressed in white, green, gray, and black. Namely, colors of lush vegetation during the moonlit night. The fairy of Shakespeare are strictly nocturnal childlike nature spirits.

white = high elf (moon elf)
green = wood elf (wild elf)
gray = gray elf (sun elf)
black = black elf / dark elf

 

[Umbran]

You totally need to check out the gnarly Valley Elves, dude!

North of Geoff, South of Ket
By the River Javan, wet
Living with the stubby gnomes
The Valley Elves do make their homes.

http://www.tyrinth.com/gateway/writersguild/ELFSONG.TXT