Dark Jezter
First Post
Gez said:
Good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. Great description of WOTC forum elf fanboys.
Tell me about different elves
- Thread starter Turanil
- Start date
Good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. Great description of WOTC forum elf fanboys.
Turanil
First Post
I have begun to get a few ideas of my own:
Elves = Styrics (Elenium by David Eddings) + Spirit Folk (Oriental Adventure 1e) + Aborigines of Australia (dreamtime, etc.)
(One funny thing in C&C, is that they have put the Didjeridoo in their equipment list! So, it will even more make sense to base my elves on Australian aborigines.
)
Anyway, any idea I can pick will be used. (Plus other people around may be glad to use this thread as well)
Elves = Styrics (Elenium by David Eddings) + Spirit Folk (Oriental Adventure 1e) + Aborigines of Australia (dreamtime, etc.)
(One funny thing in C&C, is that they have put the Didjeridoo in their equipment list! So, it will even more make sense to base my elves on Australian aborigines.
)Anyway, any idea I can pick will be used. (Plus other people around may be glad to use this thread as well)
Chimera
First Post
My world depends on the time frame used. My earlier games were set 4000-5000 years ahead of the last campaign I ran.
The Elves were initially the Kings of the Great Forest, which covered roughly half of the continent. They were numerically superior to the other forest creatures and saw themselves as rulers of the Great Forest.
High Elves. Most numerous. The Common folk of the Elven people.
Grey Elves. Had set themselves apart early on and evolved a more intellectual approach. They inhabited more fey areas of the Great Forest.
Sylvan(Wild) Elves. These folks had adopted a more nomadic existence within the Great Forest.
Valley Elves (fer sure!). Lived on the northern fringes of the forest, in the glades and dales.
Aquatic Elves. Had moved and adapted to a long freshwater sea to the east of the Great Forest and from there, into the ocean to the south.
Dark Elves (Drow). Had long ago moved into the Underdark and been "lost" to the rest of the Elven people.
Then the Calaseans, powerful natural magic users, invaded this continent, intent on using the fertile Great River basin as (yet another) Plantation area for their slaves, which were primarily Humans and Orcs but encompassed every other race they could get their hands on.
At the time of my last campaign, the Elves had been on the losing end of 1200 years of warfare against the Calaseans. The Great Forest had been reduced to approximately 1/3 of it's former area and the Elves to approximately 20% of their former numbers.
The Elves of this time frame view Humans as tainted and dangerous tools of the Calaseans and will most often kill Humans on sight. They aren't nice to outsiders and there are NO half-elves.
At the time of my previous campaigns, 4000-5000 years in the future, the Calaseans had been defeated and destroyed (about 1200 years after my last campaign time frame). For approximately 2000 years after that, the Elves, realizing just how close they had come to extinction (being reduced to about 8% of their former numbers toward the end of the war) set about finding other places in the world in which to found colonies.
This is why, in the later days, you find Elves scattered over much of the world. Some of these colonies are xenophobic and isolationist, some are more open (and hence, you will find more half-elves in the vicinity).
The Elves were initially the Kings of the Great Forest, which covered roughly half of the continent. They were numerically superior to the other forest creatures and saw themselves as rulers of the Great Forest.
High Elves. Most numerous. The Common folk of the Elven people.
Grey Elves. Had set themselves apart early on and evolved a more intellectual approach. They inhabited more fey areas of the Great Forest.
Sylvan(Wild) Elves. These folks had adopted a more nomadic existence within the Great Forest.
Valley Elves (fer sure!). Lived on the northern fringes of the forest, in the glades and dales.
Aquatic Elves. Had moved and adapted to a long freshwater sea to the east of the Great Forest and from there, into the ocean to the south.
Dark Elves (Drow). Had long ago moved into the Underdark and been "lost" to the rest of the Elven people.
Then the Calaseans, powerful natural magic users, invaded this continent, intent on using the fertile Great River basin as (yet another) Plantation area for their slaves, which were primarily Humans and Orcs but encompassed every other race they could get their hands on.
At the time of my last campaign, the Elves had been on the losing end of 1200 years of warfare against the Calaseans. The Great Forest had been reduced to approximately 1/3 of it's former area and the Elves to approximately 20% of their former numbers.
The Elves of this time frame view Humans as tainted and dangerous tools of the Calaseans and will most often kill Humans on sight. They aren't nice to outsiders and there are NO half-elves.
At the time of my previous campaigns, 4000-5000 years in the future, the Calaseans had been defeated and destroyed (about 1200 years after my last campaign time frame). For approximately 2000 years after that, the Elves, realizing just how close they had come to extinction (being reduced to about 8% of their former numbers toward the end of the war) set about finding other places in the world in which to found colonies.
This is why, in the later days, you find Elves scattered over much of the world. Some of these colonies are xenophobic and isolationist, some are more open (and hence, you will find more half-elves in the vicinity).
Turjan
Explorer
Well, I'm not sure whether my homebrew elves qualify regarding the wording of the question, but anyway, here you go 
.
First thing to put upfront is that they generally encompass the whole elf/dwarf/gnome/halfling slot of standard D&D. Second thing is that they borrow a bit from old mythology and also Tolkien, but in the way they were portrayed in 'The Hobbit': having their dwellings underground and being creatures of twilight. There are basically 5 cultural groups (I take generic names instead of the country names I gave them):
High elves: I have nothing to add to Gez's excellent description! They are nearly extinct, though, because they were almost completely destroyed in a great war, where they wanted to eliminate human presence on the central continent of my campaign. None of the other elf groups helped them. The survivors have one city behind a swamp on the western coast left, brood in their dream of former glory, of revenge and their detestation for all other races, and they terrorize a small group of former wood elven underlings who made the error to believe in the high elves' superiority.
'Wood elves': Think Tolkien's 'King under the Mountain'. They live in underground dwellings in the woods and grow special food plants in mixed plantations under the trees, and these plantations are hardly recognizable as such by untrained human eyes. They fare quite well with their human neighbours because of some time in history where they had to work together in order to achieve a common goal.
'Hill elves': They live under the almost bare hills of the south in small communities that are often connected by underground canals. They hunt and gather plants on the surface during the night. They are in a constant war with the human lands that claim the same area, but this war is highly ritualized by now, as long as it is already going on. On a certain religious holiday, human pilgrims throw lots of alchemist fire and similar burning stuff into putative elven dens. The elves reward them with illusions of screams of death and use the day to burn their 'holiday ceramic' in those pits. Of course, higher human priests know this, but they keep the tradition up, nevertheless.
'Dark elves': They live under the highest mountains in the center of the continent in caves at lakes and an underground stream that has its origin in a high, open but inaccessible lake up in the mountains. They live mostly on fish and fungi and don't have much contact with other races, including elves, except the 'hill elves', who extended their canal system to that mountain lake. The 'dark elves' have a relatively advanced culture and like to breed monsters, including a slave race. They are not evil, just different.
'Fire elves': The live under the snow-capped, fire-spitting volcanoes of the frozen north. They are excellent smiths. For food, they go hunting, fishing or collecting seaweed during the night. They are reclusive, but trade with others for plants and wood.
Again, these are less racial than cultural distinctions. Think of people of different countries. I also have some fey element in those cultures, as elves who want to prolong their life and commit themselves to protecting their family or clan can perform a ritual that turns them to a fey creature. This comes with a price, though, as they will forget their former lives and friends after some while, finally passing over into the shadows.
.First thing to put upfront is that they generally encompass the whole elf/dwarf/gnome/halfling slot of standard D&D. Second thing is that they borrow a bit from old mythology and also Tolkien, but in the way they were portrayed in 'The Hobbit': having their dwellings underground and being creatures of twilight. There are basically 5 cultural groups (I take generic names instead of the country names I gave them):
High elves: I have nothing to add to Gez's excellent description
! They are nearly extinct, though, because they were almost completely destroyed in a great war, where they wanted to eliminate human presence on the central continent of my campaign. None of the other elf groups helped them. The survivors have one city behind a swamp on the western coast left, brood in their dream of former glory, of revenge and their detestation for all other races, and they terrorize a small group of former wood elven underlings who made the error to believe in the high elves' superiority.'Wood elves': Think Tolkien's 'King under the Mountain'. They live in underground dwellings in the woods and grow special food plants in mixed plantations under the trees, and these plantations are hardly recognizable as such by untrained human eyes. They fare quite well with their human neighbours because of some time in history where they had to work together in order to achieve a common goal.
'Hill elves': They live under the almost bare hills of the south in small communities that are often connected by underground canals. They hunt and gather plants on the surface during the night. They are in a constant war with the human lands that claim the same area, but this war is highly ritualized by now, as long as it is already going on. On a certain religious holiday, human pilgrims throw lots of alchemist fire and similar burning stuff into putative elven dens. The elves reward them with illusions of screams of death and use the day to burn their 'holiday ceramic' in those pits. Of course, higher human priests know this, but they keep the tradition up, nevertheless.
'Dark elves': They live under the highest mountains in the center of the continent in caves at lakes and an underground stream that has its origin in a high, open but inaccessible lake up in the mountains. They live mostly on fish and fungi and don't have much contact with other races, including elves, except the 'hill elves', who extended their canal system to that mountain lake. The 'dark elves' have a relatively advanced culture and like to breed monsters, including a slave race. They are not evil, just different.
'Fire elves': The live under the snow-capped, fire-spitting volcanoes of the frozen north. They are excellent smiths. For food, they go hunting, fishing or collecting seaweed during the night. They are reclusive, but trade with others for plants and wood.
Again, these are less racial than cultural distinctions. Think of people of different countries. I also have some fey element in those cultures, as elves who want to prolong their life and commit themselves to protecting their family or clan can perform a ritual that turns them to a fey creature. This comes with a price, though, as they will forget their former lives and friends after some while, finally passing over into the shadows.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Baked Elf
Cut elf into 3" pieces. Place elf in a casserole dish and top with the cream sauce. Top with fresh mushrooms thinly sliced lime, pepper, basil, and rosemary.
Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until tender.
Kebab Elf
Cut elf into pieces and place onto a metal skewer with bell pepper and red onion sections between each section of elf. With a brush, generously apply A-1 sauce to elf pieces. Place skewers over an open flame, preferably a campfire.
Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes rotating halfway every 3 - 5 minutes
Stuffed Elf
Slice down belly of elf from bottom of jaw to groin. Gut the elf and throw away internals. Run gutted elf under water and remove extra blood. In a mixing bowl, mix cornbread cubes, oil, beef stock, celery and onion. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll stuffing and insert along the inside of elf. Close up skin and sew together with cooking twine in a zig-zag pattern.
In a small mixing bowl, mix Jack Daniels and molasses. Set aside.
Place elf in a casserole dish. Make sure elf does not overlap as uneven cooking will occur. With a cooking brush, brush elf with Jack Daniels glaze. Pour extra glaze around the elf in the casserole dish.
Place casserole dish into 275 degree oven for an hour and a half or until tender. Remove casserole dish from oven and prop open elf's mouth. Place apple in mouth for appearance.
Enjoy!
Cut elf into 3" pieces. Place elf in a casserole dish and top with the cream sauce. Top with fresh mushrooms thinly sliced lime, pepper, basil, and rosemary.
Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until tender.
Kebab Elf
Cut elf into pieces and place onto a metal skewer with bell pepper and red onion sections between each section of elf. With a brush, generously apply A-1 sauce to elf pieces. Place skewers over an open flame, preferably a campfire.
Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes rotating halfway every 3 - 5 minutes
Stuffed Elf
Slice down belly of elf from bottom of jaw to groin. Gut the elf and throw away internals. Run gutted elf under water and remove extra blood. In a mixing bowl, mix cornbread cubes, oil, beef stock, celery and onion. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll stuffing and insert along the inside of elf. Close up skin and sew together with cooking twine in a zig-zag pattern.
In a small mixing bowl, mix Jack Daniels and molasses. Set aside.
Place elf in a casserole dish. Make sure elf does not overlap as uneven cooking will occur. With a cooking brush, brush elf with Jack Daniels glaze. Pour extra glaze around the elf in the casserole dish.
Place casserole dish into 275 degree oven for an hour and a half or until tender. Remove casserole dish from oven and prop open elf's mouth. Place apple in mouth for appearance.
Enjoy!
Lord Morte
First Post
In my homebrew the Elves once ruled an ancient and mighty empire, and developed the ways of arcane wizardry. However, one day their king's favourite daughter died tragically and he attempted to use wizardly magic to bring her back (as divine magic and a convenient raise dead spell had not yet been developed), leading to him (and the entire elven race) being punished by the Elven God for blasphemy. The empire crumbled and the elves declined.
The traditional Tolkien-style elves (Ljosálfar) have all retreated from the Prime Material leaving behind the Svartalfar, the Sea Elves, the Sylvan Elves , and the Döckálfar . The Svartalfar are a drow-like race which dwells beneath the Frozen South and which produces master-smiths, the Sea Elves are shapechangers that live in the depths of the ocean and make war with the sahuaguin, and the Sylvan Elves are ethereal beings that live hidden lives deep in the forest (they're the Ghost Elves from Dragon actually). The Dockalfar are Ljosalfar that refused to leave the world and which fell into demon-worship. They were sealed away long ago but are beginning to return, and now count Fey'ri in their number (yes, I know I'm ripping off FR, but it such a cool idea
)
In case you were wondering, my goal was to reduce contact between the elves and the dominant human/dwarf civilisation of the campaign. Hence, all the elves are in someway isolated.
The traditional Tolkien-style elves (Ljosálfar) have all retreated from the Prime Material leaving behind the Svartalfar, the Sea Elves, the Sylvan Elves , and the Döckálfar . The Svartalfar are a drow-like race which dwells beneath the Frozen South and which produces master-smiths, the Sea Elves are shapechangers that live in the depths of the ocean and make war with the sahuaguin, and the Sylvan Elves are ethereal beings that live hidden lives deep in the forest (they're the Ghost Elves from Dragon actually). The Dockalfar are Ljosalfar that refused to leave the world and which fell into demon-worship. They were sealed away long ago but are beginning to return, and now count Fey'ri in their number (yes, I know I'm ripping off FR, but it such a cool idea
)In case you were wondering, my goal was to reduce contact between the elves and the dominant human/dwarf civilisation of the campaign. Hence, all the elves are in someway isolated.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
I had an idle thought once about an elven city.
The elves within would be known by other races as a colony, of sorts, from a distant land. In truth they would have hailed from either another planet (Spelljammer would be the starting point) or another plane, and would be exiles or refugees. Something like the early British pilgrim settlers in North America, leaving behind a world they couldn't come to terms with.
Though not naturally given to living in frigid climes, their city would be carved out of the slopes of a tall and frozen mountain peak. The colony would have chosen to live there out of a sense of spiritual self-flagellation, being determined that their new perfected society would be tempered by struggle and travail. Their religion would have espoused a harsh, puritan philosophy (in keeping with their pilgrim inspirations, I suppose) and commanded of its followers a difficult mixture of separatism and evangelism - remain apart from the world but do whatever is necessary to save it.
As you can probably tell, the elves would have been a neutral but slightly antagonistic power in the world. Their inherent inclination towards the study of magic is a good example - they would have mastery of arcane secrets unknown to and coveted by most non-elven mages, but would make great demands of any prospective student, having a monopolist's perspective on such matters. Only those petitioners willing to promote the elven philosophy, serving as a kind of ambassador to their own peoples, would be accepted - and swift retribution would fall on those revealed to have been paying mere lip-service to the tenets of the religion.
The elves within would be known by other races as a colony, of sorts, from a distant land. In truth they would have hailed from either another planet (Spelljammer would be the starting point) or another plane, and would be exiles or refugees. Something like the early British pilgrim settlers in North America, leaving behind a world they couldn't come to terms with.
Though not naturally given to living in frigid climes, their city would be carved out of the slopes of a tall and frozen mountain peak. The colony would have chosen to live there out of a sense of spiritual self-flagellation, being determined that their new perfected society would be tempered by struggle and travail. Their religion would have espoused a harsh, puritan philosophy (in keeping with their pilgrim inspirations, I suppose) and commanded of its followers a difficult mixture of separatism and evangelism - remain apart from the world but do whatever is necessary to save it.
As you can probably tell, the elves would have been a neutral but slightly antagonistic power in the world. Their inherent inclination towards the study of magic is a good example - they would have mastery of arcane secrets unknown to and coveted by most non-elven mages, but would make great demands of any prospective student, having a monopolist's perspective on such matters. Only those petitioners willing to promote the elven philosophy, serving as a kind of ambassador to their own peoples, would be accepted - and swift retribution would fall on those revealed to have been paying mere lip-service to the tenets of the religion.
Similar Threads
