Elves, Dark Elves and Drow

The History of the Elves

After seeing the work Moradin had done on the dwarves, Corellon just had to "have" his own race. Designed to live in the forests Corellon had already created, the elves were very much made in his image, or rather as he saw himself. Slender and elegant yet powerful, wise yet carefree, the elves were perfect creatures to inhabit the forests of Era. 

Corellon's passions were nature and magic. He wanted to instill the same passions into his creations, but something went wrong. Instead of all elves having both equally, some became very in tune with nature while having a slight interest in magic, while the others became intrinsically linked with magic while having next to no interest in nature. While the two kind of elves still to this day cohabit, the difference between the two types of elves have become more pronounced as time has passed, and today, many of them live separately.

When Corellon created the elves, he inadvertently set in motion the events that would create the Sibling Wars and thus influencing the entire history of Era. The elves were so perfect that his twin brother Asmodeus could not help love them just as much. At least at first. That love soon changed to hatred, to jealousy for not being the one who had created such magnificent beings. After all, Asmodeus was the god when it came to magic, hell, he had even taught Corellon how to make the creatures. Luckily, Asmodeus also saw that the elves could be improved upon. After all, they did resemble his weaker and younger brother a bit too much. They should have been made more focused, more ambitious, more powerful, just like Asmodeus.

So Asmodeus created the dark elves. Just as he and Corellon were alike, it made sense that their creatures would be alike. At least on the outside. For where the elves were carefree and easy-going, the dark elves were ambitious and ruthless. While the elves were perfect hunters, the dark elves were the perfect predators. And just as Asmodeus had certain issues with Corellon, the dark elves certainly had some issues with the elves. In order to gain the upper hand, Asmodeus made sure that the dark elf females were just as capable as the males. That way, the race would have more potential, more power. Little did the god realize that his decision would prove the downfall of the race.

For a while though, the two elven races managed to get along. Never very amicable towards each other, there was still some sort of respect. After all, both races excelled at hunting and magic. Just like the twins were very competitive with one another, so became the two races. And for a while, it worked well for them both. Many magical breakthroughs came because of the rivalry between the two races, many legendary feats were performed due to the competition.

But at some point, the contests turned sour, both races would do anything to win, to perform better, and thus the rivalry grew bitter and brutal.

For years it went on like that, but in the year 937, The First Elven War broke out. Prince D'rak of the Dark Elves was brutally murdered while visiting King Elas Moonshadow. The elves claimed innocence and ignorance, but the Dark Elves to it as an act of war, and marshaled their forces. For 4 years, the two elven races waged war on each other, filling the forests of Ular and Nala with blood. This was not a battle for territory or for borders. This was a battle of races, to exterminate the other. After 4 years, right after losing their king in the Battle of Sharks, the dark elves sued for peace, and the elves were only happy to give it to them. The war had taken a told on both sides, and with their very low birthrate, there was no way they could keep up, had they continued.

For more than 45 years, the dark elves worked very hard to make up for their part in the attempted genocide. They had accepted that the elves had nothing to do with Prince D'rak's death, and their new king, Prince D'rak brother, spearheaded a new era of brotherhood between the races.

But it was all a lie.

In 987, Prince D'rak had convinced the Moonshadows to let him host King Elas' 400th year birthday. But, just as the charade that had been ongoing for the last 40 years, it was all part of an elaborate ploy for revenge and retribution. In one swift stroke, the dark elves eliminated the entire elven royal family that had been ruling over the elves since the race was created.

War began anew, and since the dark elves had known this was coming for many years, they were much better prepared. The elves died in great numbers, and many elven cities were completely razed, leaving only scorched earth behind.

For seven years, the elves fought just to survive, and had the war gone on for long, it would surely have been the doom of them. Both Corellon and Asmodeus had taken a very active part in the war, and the devastation to the forests was enormous. However, Corellon alone could not turn the tide of the war.

But Moradin could...

The All-Father simply ordered both of his sons to stop the madness, threatening to rally the other gods and make war on both them and their elven races. That stopped the war, and a peace, also known as The Last Truce, was brokered in 994.

After the war, there was no longer any relations between the two races. Gone was the competition, gone the rivalry. Left was only a desire to expunge the other race from Era.

For years, both elven races nursed that feeling, making alliances with the other races. Then after the Divine Pact was created and the gods had retreated from Era and the dwarves had removed themselves underground, tensions grew and grew, until the inevitable happened.

In 1157, the dark elves, now allied with the humans worshiping Bane, began a much larger campaign, this time not only to eradicate the elves, but to control and rule all of Era. For almost 150 years, the entire Era was at war. There was no place to hide, and no one that could stay out of the war, perhaps except the halflings. Unimaginable horrors were created, and more people than one can imagine died to sword or magic.

At the end, the humans of Bane and the dark elves won and the Ebon Empire was born. The Banites and the dark elves assumed dominion of most of Ular and Nala. All elves were placed in gigantic work-camps or became slaves.

After about 150 years, there was no longer any doubt who had control of the Ebon Empire - the Banites. While a lot of dark elves were perfectly happy with being left alone in their dark woods, there was a significant fraction that believed that they should rule everything, not some mere humans. These dissenters were also extremely disappointed with Asmodeus. He had after all told them to exterminate the elves, but then changed his mind when the war was won. For them, having those that was once their brothers in work-camps was not enough. They wanted them gone. Amongst those of that pushed the hardest for such a radical solution was Tierna K'ral and her sisters. Powerful priests from a noble bloodline, the three sisters finally got enough of trying to get things their way.

In 1443, they led a large fraction of dark elves away from their homes in the dark forests of Era, and below ground. They renounced Asmodeus for being too weak, claimed that the male leadership of the dark elves had failed, that only females could be decisive enough and fled underground, where they founded a matriarchy based on the worship of the Raven Queen, around death.

They are now called drows, an ancient elven word for death.

Playing an Elf

While the average elf doesn't mind most of the other civilized races, he absolutely loathes both the dark elves and the drow. They are to be killed on sight, no questions asked. The horrors inflicted upon his race by those go far beyond any kind of possible redemption. Even mention of those two races can make any normally balanced and merry-going elf turn into a somber and brooding shadow of his former self. The scars left upon the elven race have not yet healed. Far from it. Elves are likewise not fond of worshipers of Bane but the biggest part of the hatred is aimed at the dark elves and the drow.

The Wood Elf is in his mind completely in tune with nature and it's beasts. He feels that nature is one of the, if not the most important thing there is, and he will thus go to great lengths to protect nature, should it be threatened. Most wood elves live in the forests of Era, but some, mostly those who have been rejected or forced out due to circumstances, live their lives amongst the humans, working as scouts and trackers.

The Wood Elves are a fairly recluse people. After being almost totally decimated by the dark elves and later the work-camps of the Ebon Empire, most elven communities exist deep in the woods, far away from the humans and the other races that they do not trust. Those few that for some reason are a part of that world, still feel that distrust, at least to some degree. They most certainly feel sorry for the hardship their race has endured. 

The High Elf's focus is usually magic. While he does have a certain affinity with nature, he is much more likely to live in villages, towns and cities. The High Elves have even fewer communities than the Wood Elves, and they are all closely kept secrets. No non-elf has been allowed to enter a High Elf community for at least 500 years. At least not let to tell about it afterwards. Maybe there are none?

The High Elves suffered the same fate as the Wood Elves, but where the Wood Elves talk about it a lot and feel very sorry for their race, the High Elves have taken another approach. The Sibling War and it's aftermath is simply not mentioned, at least to outsiders. But make no mistake, their hatred for dark elves and drow know no bounds, and in their own circles, the leaders are surely still plotting revenge against their dark-skinned brothers.