Originally hailing from another realm far removed from Faerûn in the distant past, the elves have proved to be one of the most successful and diverse races to appear on Abeir-Toril. They have taken to the lands, the seas, and even the skies of Faerûn, colonizing and expanding through the ages. Today, the great elven realms may have retreated from the encroachment of humans and humanoids, but the elven influence in the world is unmistakable and pervasive.
Elves adapt and change dramatically to meld with their surroundings, so through the generations the various tribes of elves have become quite divergent in appearance and outlook. Despite this, all elves retain certain characteristics that set them apart from the other races of the world. Collectively, the elves know themselves as the Tel-quessir (translated into the common tongue, this means, “The People”). They refer to all other beings as the N-Tel-Quess, a less-than-diplomatic elven expression meaning “not-people.”
Elves are graceful, lithe, and beautiful. Regardless of their particular heritage, they are viewed by other races as a highly magical and wondrous people. This awe and respect has an unexpected corollary—many people view elves as haughty and shamelessly introverted as a race. The reasons for this are numerous, including jealousy, envy, and religious hatred. It is the nature of the elf to elicit such reactions from others, for it seems impossible upon first encountering the elves to react with anything resembling disinterest or apathy.
Overview
Many of Faerûn’s inhabitants believe there to be only six different subraces of elves, but there are at least seven. Most common on Faerûn are the moon, sun, and wood elves. The drow are easily the most notorious. Less well known are wild elves and aquatic elves, who dwell in distant, remote, and inhospitable regions that see few human visitors. Beyond these six subraces stands a seventh—the avariels, or winged elves. Driven nearly to extinction in ancient times, the last tribe of avariels is only now rekindling ties with the outside world.
Despite the incredible diversity of the various elven subraces, all elves share a number of characteristics. Perhaps the strongest thing they share is their affinity for magic. The use of magic pervades elven society at every level. The most impressive examples of elven magic are the mythals, powerful fields of magical energy created by the ancient elves to cloak entire cities with protective and useful magical auras. The elves’ natural resistance to enchantment spells is likely due in part to the fact that every moment of their lives is spent immersed in such magical environments.
Elven cities, even without the common magical enhancements that many carry, are beautiful sights indeed. To an elf, a building is little different than a mountain or a tree. They strive to fashion their homes and structures in such a way that they blend completely with their natural surroundings, adding to the natural beauty and purity of the landscape rather than detracting from it. The squat, functional buildings constructed by most humans strike most elves as ridiculous and intrusive.
Elven doors are of particular interest. Traditional elven architecture tries to blend into nature, and as a result external doorways into elven structures are often disguised cleverly in the side of a large tree, as a large stone on the side of a hill, and so on. Elven children quickly become quite well practiced at finding and noticing doors, and this skill follows them into adulthood. Secret doors built by other races often amuse the elves with their crude attempts at disguise.
Unlike other humanoid races, elves don’t truly sleep. An elf needs only to rest and relax in a trance known as a reverie for four hours every day. Most elven “bedrooms” more closely resemble lounges or studies furnished with comfortable couches or divans. The elven reverie has another interesting effect: An elven town never really seems to change in activity level. The length of the reverie allows most elves to enjoy periods of activity approaching 20 hours in a single day. In combination with their incredibly long lifespans, the reverie means that elves can afford to take their time with their projects. If the elves had the humans’ bustling need to complete projects as soon as possible, there would truly be no limit to what they could accomplish.
Although elves are thought of as a peace-loving people, their racial history is filled with bloodshed and terrible wars to rival any other race. Even today, all elves spend their formative years training with the traditional weaponry of their kind. A proper elf should be ready to defend her home with magic and with steel should the need arise. Despite this, elves do not succumb to feral savagery in their training. They view combat and other martial activities as yet another face of the natural world, and no less deserving of their careful attention and respect. As a result, the elves treat combat almost as a masterfully choreographed dance.
Racial History
The elves, despite their long history, are not true natives to Faerûn. They came to Faerûn from the realm of Faerie twenty-five millennia ago, passing through fey crossroads and backroads that have long since been lost. The first elves to arrive were the Sy-tel-quessir (green elves), the Ly-tel-quessir (lythari), and the Aril-tel-quessir (avariel). Of these original three races, only the green elves, now known as the wild elves, survive in any number.
The avariel are nearly extinct now, having fought many terrible wars with the dragons of the ancient world. The lythari have changed so far from their elven roots that they are regarded by most Faerûnian scholars as a separate race from the Tel-quessir.
The second wave of elves to travel to Faerûn included the Ssri-tel-quessir (destined to become the drow). They were the most successful, emerging from the southern jungles of Faerûn and quickly establishing grand empires in their new home. At the same time, the Ar-tel-quessir (sun elves) and the Teu-telquessir (moon elves) arrived to the north. The Alu-tel-quessir (aquatic elves) appeared in the Great Sea not long after. The martial strength and magical prowess of the peoples in this second wave of elven immigrants brought the Time of Dragons to a close.
As the Time of Dragons ended, the First Flowering of the Fair Folk began, and the elves settled into five major civilizations along the west and south of Faerûn. Along the Sword Coast rose Aryvandaar of the sun elves, Illefarn of the green elves, Miyeritar, Shantel Othreier, and Keltormir. To the south, in what is now the Vilhon Reach, rose the three green elf nations of Thearnytaar, Eiellûr, and Syòpiir, while two more realms arose in the forests that once covered the Shaar: Orishaar of the moon elves, and Ilythiir of the dark elves.
These elven nations each grew and expanded and developed in their own ways. Unfortunately, these idyllic times were not to last. Some provocation—the emerging cruelty of Ilythiir, the continued and often violent expansions of Aryvandaar (which had fallen under the control of the Vyshaantar family), or another long-forgotten transgression—sparked the first Crown War. Over the next several hundred years, the elven nations slowly tore themselves apart. Just as one Crown War ended, it seemed that some new affront sparked a new one.
The nations of Ilythiir and Miyeritar saw the worst of the fighting in the early Crown Wars, but as the Fourth Crown War dawned, the dark elves of Ilythiir raised the conflict to a new level. Ages ago, a faction of the Seldarine, led by Corellon’s lover Araushnee, turned on their kin in an attempt to displace the Seldarine. Corellon and his loyal kin defeated Araushnee and the other traitors, and banished them to the Demonweb Pits. Frustrated with their inability to eradicate their enemies, the Ilythiir elves committed an unheard-of crime: They called upon the traitor goddess Araushnee (now known as Lolth) and used the terrible might she granted to completely destroy Miyeritar. The decimated green elves never recovered, fleeing into the deepest forests. Some, hiding even from their own kin, became the wild elves; others merged with like-minded sun or moon elf refugees to become a new subrace, the wood elves.
Shocked and dismayed at the actions of the Ilythiir, the Seldarine intervened. By Corellon’s decree, the Ilythiir elves were cursed, transformed into drow, and banished from the surface world into the Underdark. After this, Corellon insisted that the elven elders come together in a great forest to the east to debate the cause of the divisiveness and strife at a place of decision and judgement. This place became the Elven Court in Cormanthor. After much debate, the Seldarine found that the Vyshaantar, sun elf lords of Aryvandaar, were culpable. The Vyshaantar were destroyed in the fifth and final Crown War that followed this verdict.
In the ten millennia since the last Crown War, many other elven nations have risen and fallen on the island of Evermeet, in the Vale of Evereska, deep in the High Forest, in the great forest of Cormanthor, and in the distant Yuirwood. Although these newer nations all achieved great things in their own time, none of them ever equaled the might and power achieved by those first nations established during the First Flowering. As the humans began to raise their own empires, the elves found it beyond their abilities to check the rash expansion and arrogant power of lands such as Jhaamdath, Coramshan, and Netheril.
Confronted by vigorous human expansion into the ancient forestlands of Faerûn, the second-born realms of the elves once again faced the prospect of endless cycles of warfare. The elves began to talk of retreating from the world of humanity to somewhere they could truly call their own. In 714 DR, the fall of Myth Drannor galvanized the surviving elven realms to action, and elves began to travel westward to Evermeet, abandoning their ancient lands. As more and more elves grew restless and disillusioned with life on the mainland, they heard a mystic call from over the waves to the west to the island of Evermeet. By the Year of Moonfall (1344 DR), the Elven Retreat reached its peak. Persecuted by numerous savage races such as goblinoids and orcs, and equally put off by the invasive and often shortsighted expansion of humans, many elves decided simply to pick up and move. As a result, the elven presence on the mainland fell to the lowest levels since the arrival of the Tel-quessir twenty-five thousand years ago.
Recent events on Evermeet—not least of which was a destructive attack by the drow—have convinced the elves that they cannot just turn their backs on the world and expect to survive.
The Retreat is now over, and elves are slowly beginning to establish a stronger presence in Faerûn as a result. But it is clear that the day of elven empires sprawling over thousands of miles of forests is gone forever.
Comments