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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Erik Mona" data-source="post: 2902499" data-attributes="member: 2174">"Elder Elves" is a term introduced into the D&D lexicon by Bruce Cordell, near as I can tell. They are responsible for opening the first rift to the Far Realm. I have always assumed that when Bruce says "Elder Elves" he means "the quasi-mythological race of elves that existed before the drow split off from the elves and they started identifying themselves by subraces."That's my assumption, and is not based on a conversation with Bruce.From reading the leShay (that name is awful, especially with the uncapitalized L at the front of it) entry in the Epic Level Handbook, it appears that those guys aren't really elves, and are sole survivors of a catastrophe that essentially wiped out their ancient version of reality. While that catastrophe is probably worth thowing into the timeline, I don't know that I would equate Elder Elves and leShays.Here's some of my own thinking about the issue:A Brief History of the Multiverse---------------------------------Nothing Exists.The Inner Planes form. Elementals take shape and begin battling each other along law/chaos axis. This is the conflict that eventually becomes the Blood War, but in the earliest days it's warring between elemental forces, because only elemental forces exist at this time. Elemental Princes (Imix, Cryonax, Bwimb, etc.) take form in this era and become major figures in this struggle.As the conflict mutates, the concept of morality develops, opening the good/evil alignment axis. With this development, the Outer Planes come into form/are discovered. Elemental creatures such as genies and the air-focused Empire of Aaqa discover the Material Plane and begin to colonize it.In the oceans of the Material Plane, the aboleth manifest as an entity brushes against the Material Plane. Over the eons to come, the aboleth perfect the art of enslaving other life forms.By the time the elementals reach the Abyss, it is already inhabited by demons (but not tanar'ri), who seem to be made of the "stuff" of the plane itself. The most powerful demonic entity is a being called the Queen of Chaos, who (with her consort Miska the Wolf-Spider, the so called "Prince of Demons") joins the side of Chaos in the great planar war.The gods develop/emerge from Somewhere Else. These beings establish domains in the Outer Planes and begin to create mortal creatures in their image on the worlds of the Material Plane. The aboleth empires decline as the rise of faith and divine magic gives these races a new tool to use against them.Dinosaurs and dragons are the most numerous/powerful mortal beings. By this time, the souls of countless mortal inhabitants of material worlds come to rest on the Outer Plane that most matches their alignment. In the Abyss, they become manes, though some of the most vile become true demons in their own right.Certain servants of the gods rebel and become the devils.The infusion of mortal souls into the Outer Planes is a major paradigm-shifting event that forever changes the multiverse. Old orders crumble and new political/sociological institutions take form.The great Law/Chaos War takes a breather when the Wind Dukes of Aaqa employ the Rod of Seven Parts to vanquish Miska the Wolf-Spider and defeat the Queen of Chaos. The battle lingers on, however, in the form of warring between various evil factions, who continue the struggle primarily along the law/chaos axis. The conflict eventually becomes known as the Blood War.With the Queen of Chaos sundered, servitor demons, the tanar'ri, boil up from the lower Abyssal depths and rebel against their "proto-demon" overlords. One of the greatest of these Abyssal rebels is the mighty demon lord Demogorgon, who takes Miska's title "Prince of Demons" as an insult to the old regime.Mortals like elves, dwarves, and humans arise on the Material world. They replace more primeval races like kuo-toa and lizardfolk and troglodytes, driving these races into the corners of the world. Mind flayers arrive from the future and create the gith from enslaved humans. Their empire extends over several material worlds.The Elder Elves split into subraces. The drow take form as Lolth is cast out of the Seldarine.Today.--Erik Mona</blockquote>

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