White-skinned Drow

[Dragonbait]

Were the coloration of elves originally supposed to represent the environment they came from? Dark elves came from the black shadows of the underground, the tanned-skinned wild elves lived deep in the forests and have similar coloration to the brown trees, the pale skin of the gray elves who lived high in the snow-covered mountains, and so on? If this was the case at one time, I doubt it still holds true, but I remember hearing that somewhere.

 

[Gez]

IMC, drow don't exist.



But if they did, they would be jet black, so as to be hard to see even with darkvision.

And I'd like to use the concept of a Cheschire Drow -- with a skin so dark that he disappears in the night, and for a while only his toothy grin can still be seen.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Dump the drow. Celebrate the shadow elves (of the Known World/Mystara)!

 

[Desdichado]

But if they did, they would be jet black, so as to be hard to see even with darkvision.

That's always my response to the "if you live in a cave, you tend to have no pigmentation" argument. That's true--unless it's a camouflage adaptation in a world where things can see in pitch black darkness.

And I'd like to use the concept of a Cheschire Drow -- with a skin so dark that he disappears in the night, and for a while only his toothy grin can still be seen.

Awesome imagery there, actually. Pretty cool.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

i love this concept. my campaign doesn't use "drow" per se, but there are dark elves (who aren't dark-skinned but only dark-hearted). originally, i referred to them as drow, but there was no getting away from gary's concept, and i had altered them so significantly that i decided a name change was in order. IMC, all elves are fair-skinned. the dark elves are not subterranean, though for a significant portion of their history they were. they're matriarchal like the drow, and they love bondage, and they're evil as anything. they have light sensitivity. they too have been cursed by the elven gods for atrocities against their brethren and have consorted with demons. their curse is an aversion to the sun and a thirst for blood (there are no template vampires in the game: dark elves are as close as you get). they have their own kingdom, Nod (ya like that? ), which their goddess, Lilith, covered with dark clouds that always remain above it. that's them in a nutshell. what i love about the concept is that they are indistinguishable from other elves by appearance. a successful knowledge (linguistics) check can determine their accent as being dark, and sense alignment can tell you something, but apart from that, you won't know til a knife's in your back. IMO, that makes them way creepier than drow.

 

[nonamazing]

Perhaps the drow aren't dark elves. Maybe the elves are light drow?

 

[Particle_Man]

That would be an interesting campaign. Where the PC's play primitive humans, in a world populated by drow elves and grey dwarves and no other sorts of elves or dwarves.

Suddenly elves and dwarves are scary again.

 

[Elf Witch]

In my new campaign I have both drow and high elves but I renamed them. The drow are called twilight elves and the high elves are dawn elves.

The drow are not evil and no not worship Lloth. Their coloration comes from their ability to blend in to darkness. They worship an aspect of the moon goddess and her gift to them were the dark skin, darkvision and the ability to cast magic.

The dawn elves in my game cannot cast any arcane magic they are psionic by nature and that is their favored class. They are also very rigid in class structure I based thir society on a cross between Japanese fuedlism and Indian class system.

I also have wild elves in my game they are realted to the fey and meeting one can be bad or good depending on their mood. They may want to help you because they are bored and find you intresting or they may eat you because they are hungry.

I have always seen the classic drow as having darkskin because of a punishment of their acts. I don't see it as racist at all. I see it as their skin mirroring their dark and evil hearts.

 

[WarlockLord]

Where are the Mystara Shadow Elves from?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Where are the Mystara Shadow Elves from?

The accessory that detailed the Shadow Elves was released by WotC as a free text download. Currently the entire thing has been collected on the Official Mystara Fansite.

HERE is the Shadow Elf DM's handbook.

HERE is the Shadow Elf Player's handbook.

The fans of the setting have written up some material that has been collected there as well.

A short summary of where the Known World's Shadow Elves are from... they are an offshoot of regular elves. Elves migrated to the Known World many millennia ago. An arcane cataclysm ages ago caused those elves to flee beneath the surface. They were forced to stay there, because a brief ice age covered their former home underneath an ice sheet, and eventually adapted to life there. Thousands years after the cataclysm that cause the ancient ancestors of the Shadow Elves to flee beneath the surface, the small ice sheet had melted, and races migrated all over the continent including some clans of normal surface elves returning to the region...

That is a very brief and very simplified summary. The links above cover it in greater detail.