Blog - Elves

Yes, there will be elves in the world.

Once upon a time, very long ago, an enormous hole opened up in the sky and an a large city fell through it into this world. This was a city of elves and since that fateful moment they have existed on the planet.

I have a couple of rough ideas about who the elves were originally and where they came from but that’s a story for another time.

I should also mention that the introduction of elves into a world isn’t my idea. It’s blatantly stolen from the Elfquest comics. When checking them out I realized the comics are actually available online from the Elfquest website. The events describing the arrival of the elves can be found in the first pages of the first issue and can be viewed from this page (The Original Quest #1).

I used to love the Elfquest comics when I was a kid but never had the opportunity to read them all. I guess I have my weekend sorted now.

Comments

svrtnsse says: 2011/05/14 at 17:58When the elves arrived in the world they were, as a race, tall and graceful beings (humanoid) and also very slender. Life on a new strange planet has altered the race though and for each generation they become a little bit shorter. Elves born in the last few hundred years barely reach to the ears of an average height human. The elves are still slender compared to humans, but elves of recent generations are a lot more muscular than their ancient predecessors. Worth noting is that elves do not die of old age. A consequence of this is that you can roughly determine the age of elves by how tall they are. There are still a few around who were there when the city fell from the hole in the heavens. They stretch upwards to two and a half meters tall. * svrtnsse says:2011/05/22 at 00:20Something that’s been discussed a fair bit is who the elves were. “They appeared in the world when their city fell through a whole in the sky” does not really explain very much. What’s important to note is that the elves have changed a lot since they first arrived. Their magical and otherworldly traits and abilities made them much more receptive/vulnerable to the forces of evolution. With recent generations the species seem to have stabilized somewhat as if starting to fit into the role the world has for them. This is only an evolutionary change though. Those of the original elves that are still around are still as alien as the day they arrived. So, who were they really? The current working theory is that the elves originally were the companions and servants of a great celestial being. Sort of like angels to a god. They were immensely powerful beings in their own right and were able to work great and marvelous wonders in their original world. Those who were there still have those abilities, for better or for worse. What they couldn’t do was pass these abilities on fully to their offspring. Why are the here then? The original world of the elves was invaded by demons and corruption. The great celestial being was destroyed. What led to this is a matter of some speculation, especially among later generations of elves who are curious about their origin and heritage. The refusal of those who were there to speak of the events has led to suspicions that the elves themselves are, at least in part, to blame. The only thing that’s certain is that the elves and their entire great city fell from one world to another. Whether this was involuntary banishment or planned escape is, yet again, a matter of some speculation. Why are they still here? Having seen their original home fall to corruption the sole motivation for the original elves to stick around is to prevent it from happening again. Taking into account the considerable effect evolution has had on the species it may be that the original elves don’t trust their “weak” offspring to be up to the task of protecting the world. It is also considered that certain non-animal living things (plants, mushrooms, aether-beings) have souls. Living things like these all have souls but for the purpose of mating only things sufficiently old and large have souls that can be mated with. It has also been found that certain forests are equipped with souls. I may write more on the particular beings resulting from an elf mating with a forest once I figure out what it would actually be. svrtnsse says:2011/06/02 at 00:37The elves not originating from this world makes them absolute outsiders. There is a feeling, both among elves and non-elves, that they don’t belong here. They are not of this world and they shouldn’t be here. The acceptance of elves varies differently from culture to culture and country to country. In some places elves mingle with humans and others freely and without inhibitions. In other places elves are treated with veiled or open hostility. In some human nations do not even allow elves to settle, trade or own property, effectively removing elven presence in the country completely. Still, no matter how open minded a society is, everyone knows that the elves aren’t originally from here. Their abilities are alien to this world and don’t follow the known and accepted laws of nature and magic. Their long (endless) lives gives them a different attitude to life. This more or less open hostility of the other races towards the elves has resulted in elven communities being very close knit and protective. Elves stick together and they look after each other. It is rare to see an elf alone.
 * svrtnsse says:2011/05/22 at 00:38One very notable thing that separates the original elves from the elves of other generations is the way they breed. The original elves were much like the Asari in that they were able to reproduce with anyone (or anything, provided it has a soul) through mental/emotional connection rather than physical intercourse. Over the ages this has led to the existence of many a peculiar being, for better or for worse.
 * svrtnsse says:2011/05/22 at 08:40Note that in the vast majority of these cases the resulting beings did not lead to new subspieces of half-elf variations.
 * svrtnsse says:2011/06/02 at 02:07In order for one of the original elves to breed with something that something has to have a soul. For this purpose it is considered that animals have souls.