"Before the deserts filled the world, in a now when the wasteland ruins were bright and new, the elves lived high in the sky,” Utaa sings in reverence, her eyes lifted toward the burning sun. “These elves, the stories tell us, were small and frail - not Athasian elves at all!”
"Before the deserts filled the world, in a now when the wasteland ruins were bright and new, the elves lived high in the sky,” Utaa sings in reverence, her eyes lifted toward the burning sun. “These elves, the stories tell us, were small and frail - not Athasian elves at all!”
Maybe this refers to the Green Age elves been similar to (faerun) elves, only 5 and a half foot tall and not able to run all day. Imagine what the 7" elves with endurances in running better than muls would think of other elves. Compared to Athasian elves the others would seem pampered and spoiled.
And talking of the elves living high in the sky, maybe they originally lived in the trees?
Maybe this refers to the Green Age elves been similar to (faerun) elves, only 5 and a half foot tall and not able to run all day. Imagine what the 7" elves with endurances in running better than muls would think of other elves. Compared to Athasian elves the others would seem pampered and spoiled.
And talking of the elves living high in the sky, maybe they originally lived in the trees?
Yes, that much makes sense. If you look at the elves of Sylvandretta, they are similar in appearance to elves of other worlds (if a bit inbred) and live in tree-dwellings.
...and soma exaggeration thrown in for effect.
Mmmm, soma. Half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon...
The description of the Elven Psyche in Elves of Athas is the way Elves were always like. Lost in the Now, fickle, skeptical, cunning. But in the early Green Age, they had Chieftains and cities, and culture. Maybe they had a lifespan more like typical elves.
During the late Green Age in the Time of Magic, the Elves also were able to control Preserving energies as well. Not as good as humans, but maybe regarding their natures, magic was more common among the people then with humans.
During the Cleansing Wars, I would conjecture that the maybe in a few battles the Elves won decisively, and maybe the Elves were great allies for other armies in The Wars, but as a people, they were not able to defend their forests and homes because their very natures were not allowing them to organize as a people. (Bad morale unless they were berzerking) So with every defeat, the Elves scattered again and again until they were fleeing into areas that couldn't support riding animals, and even then the armies of Albeorn chased and chased. Until eventually the only ones left of The People, were the Elves that you and I are familiar with.
I think Athasian elves are prone to trance-like states and their ability to run is tied to that and not an evolutional change.
Historically speaking, my guess is that the modern-day Athasian elves are a result of natural selection, both from a physical as well as psychological perspective - those elves that remained in their tree-cities, trying to fight off Albeorn were killed, and the only survivors were those that could outrun the Champion's armies (and subsequent massive wild fires, I'd imagine) as they razed elven cities to the ground. Survivors then set up camp somewhere else, are eventually attacked, and again only the fastest survive.
I think Athasian Elves were always taller then typical D&D elves.
I agree with this approach. I'm also of the mind to agree with those past threads that discussed a possibility that the elves of the Green Age were skilled sailors.
*snip* ... I think Athasian elves are prone to trance-like states and their ability to run is tied to that and not an evolutional change.
What you described is, in fact, an evolutionary change - not necessarily a big one, but it still constitutes one. Prior to the CW you probably had a large percentage of the elven population that were taller than a human, better runners, etc...but in times of peace "mankind" is able to overcome many natural disadvantages through the use of technology - and on Athas they had magic and psionics to boot. So although that may have been the norm, there still would have been elves that were short, or not great runners, or preferred to ride kanks rather than run, etc.
Once the CW hit, however, all this changed - a 2-millenia-long war of genocide would work like an accelerated case of Natural Selection; as you suggested, if the elves had eventually moved into areas where riding animals couldn't tread then those elves that weren't as good of runners, or who relied on animals more than the others, would have been 'weeded out' of the elven gene pool. The CW was just, overall, so ferocious that the usual differentiations between natural selection in the "human world" and that of nature would have been blurred - technology and rational thinking just can't compete with irrational mobs of armed soldiers try to wipe out your entire race, so over the millenia you'd have seen great shifts in "racial builds" that would dwarf that experienced by mankind on Earth. This is likely the same reason why Athasian dwarves are so unique - for whatever reason the 'dwarven focus' and lack of hair proved to be a beneficial survival trait during the CW, and so was quickly bred into the racial build as those without those particular traits were killed off en masse.
The way I see it, if you got a Jura-dai from Free Year 15 and a Pre Cleansing war Elven Princess, you would still recognize them as the same species, and they could even have babies. In Free Year 15 the Jura-dai (physically powerful and fast) is the norm and the princess type (magic weilding and long lived) is few and far between and in the Green Age it was the opposite. I imagine if the Athasian condition reverted back to the Green Age, the current stock of running elves could easily revert.
The hairless Dwarves are another matter entirely.
Has there been any development about Green Age Elven Sailors? I like that idea.
Conceding the point about the evolutional change... to a degree. But the way I envision it it is more of a demographic shift then an actual change of the species.
The way I see it, if you got a Jura-dai from Free Year 15 and a Pre Cleansing war Elven Princess, you would still recognize them as the same species, and they could even have babies. In Free Year 15 the Jura-dai (physically powerful and fast) is the norm and the princess type (magic weilding and long lived) is few and far between and in the Green Age it was the opposite. I imagine if the Athasian condition reverted back to the Green Age, the current stock of running elves could easily revert.
Ah, okay...I'm not saying that they changed species, I'm talking evolution in the same way you are - say, like the difference between nordic individuals and east asians, or different breeds of dog. I guess that's a more appropriate way to look at it - modern-day Athasian elves are a different breed of elf from those that lived in the Green Age.
That would be "microevolution", that is, simple adaptation to the surroundings, as opposed to "macroevolution" which is the concept that something can change species/kind. I can see that the Elves, like other races and creatures on Athas, have had significant changes from "microevolution", while the Pristine Tower is a force of "macroevolution" -- radically altering something or someone into something else.
Yay for prefixes!
Now...back to work!
me runs away
Yay for halflings!!!:P
me runs away
Traitor!
Out run this!!
