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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prime_Evil" data-source="post: 1805333" data-attributes="member: 11984">I'm currently working on a new campaign setting and have been giving a fair bit of thought to how I want to depict the various non-human races. For the elves, I wanted to get away from the noble elves of Tolkien and his imitators  -- but I still wanted my elves to feel 'authentic'. I didn't want to completely redefine the whole concept of the elves in D&D tradition -- just to kink it a little bit for my own purposes.  In the end, I decided to base my own interpretation of the elves upon Poul Anderson's 'The Broken Sword' and 'Three Hearts and Three Lions'. Poul Anderson based his elves upon the same sources as Tolkien -- Norse mythology and Germanic folklore. But whereas Tolkien drew upon the Eddas and sagas to create a world whose purpose was intended to support his own Christian values, Anderson abandoned himself to the  moral tenor of the medieval Norse sagas. His elves more capricious than those of Tolkien, capable of great vindictiveness when crossed. (Incidentally, I should point out that Anderson's novels were written before the publication of Lord of the Rings).Poul Anderson's depiction of the elves impressed Michael Moorcock, who borrowed elements from it for the Melnibonean's of his Elric series and the Eldren of his other Eternal Champion novels. In my campaign, most NPC elves are of Chaotic Neutral alignment. My elves are quite manipulative, weilding humans as pawns in their own complicated political intrigues. Like Tolkien's elves, they are physically beautiful, but are quite bloodthirsty and possess a passion for debauchery that is missing from their namesakes on Middle Earth. The Elves are basically amoral, believing themselves to be above mortal standards of good and evil. Although they aren't quite as sinister as the drow, they are a long way from the dignified elves of most D&D campaigns. They definitely have a more 'earthy' feel to them. In my campaign setting, Elven civilisation is slightly more technologically advanced than the neighbouring human realms, but has grown somewhat decadent. The elves play complex games of political dominance amongst themselves to alleviate the boredom of immortality. Most of the elven realms are isolationist, fearing contamination by outside cultural influences.  The closest thing that I can think of in D&D terms are the elves of the Birthright campaign setting.</blockquote>

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