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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7161560" data-attributes="member: 58172">Thousands, maybe millions and millions of Elves, all of them alive and at Epic levels, where do they all go?One explanation might come from Norse traditions.There the Norse Elves, the Alfar know via prescience, that the entire universe is about to be destroyed. This future event is also known as the Ragna·rǫk, literally the ‘reckoning (against) the rulers’, where the ruling nature spirits of the cosmos are found unworthy and are put to death, or more accurately, are permitted to die.The destruction of existence itself threatens the Alfar as well. By their own advisory intellect, they are currently making plans to survive the destruction of existence. The Alfar are sky nature spirits who inhabit the highest clouds, and associate with the solar corona, the aura of light around the sun. But they ascend even higher to the highest levels of the heavens, and even to a level outside the heavens, outside universe. There they build structures that can continue to exist, even when all else ceases to exist. One such place is called, Gim·lé, literally ‘Gem shelter’, apparently a remote outpost made out of gemmy crystal, that can withstand the extinction of existence. (Perhaps, it is within an artifical demiplane.) The other Alfa structures seem to help dampen and mitigate the destruction of heavens. For example, the sun and moon will come to an end, but before they completely disintegrate, a newborn sun and moon will be able to spring from them. The Alfar themselves, however, will gather at places like Gim·lé to hunker down in safety as existence itself unravels.When the Alfar gather in the places that they are preparing, they will also bring with them a select group of other nature spirits, including Humans, who the Alfar foreknow will be able to survive in a new ecology of compassion.So, the Elves allow their Elven children a 100 years of ‘play’ with Humans as their playmates (or among the less worthy sometimes their playthings). After that they are considered moreorless to have ‘graduated’ to Epic life and serious business. A few Epic Elves remain in the Material Plane, but these are ‘babysitters’ whose responsibility is to look after the interests of Elves, albeit according to their Elven laissez-faire parenting style.Elves mature at the same speed as Humans. So the mind and body of a Norse Elf is comparable to the mind and body of Human. They respond with similar emotions and ambitions. Yet, from the longterm perspective of the Elves, this 100 years of exploration is considered a carefree time of innocence, in contrast to the cataclysm that awaits all things. [MENTION=6888204]snickersnax[/MENTION]You are right about 1e listing level caps for Nonhuman races. But these limitations were mostly rejected by the D&D community. Personally, I have never seen them in force in a 1e campaign, even among otherwise 1e rulelawyers. But even if so, if I remember correctly, the 1e Elf can gain Unlimited levels in Druid. Druid magic of nature itself, involving lifeforce and physical elements is easily applicable to the trope of magically saving the universe from cosmic self-annihilation. The 1e PH Druid class itself had a maximal level, but supplements found ways for Druids to go beyond to higher levels. In any case, racial level limits are a less desirable solution.An in-game explanation seems plausible. The Elves simply see the creatures of the universe as doomed and a lost-cause. So those that reach Epic ‘adulthood’ dont bother to interfere with them. Instead, they focus on saving those who they can.</blockquote>

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