What are Shadow Elves??
Per Tore Stokke
shadow elves. Now we have playes Ad&d for well... almost 9 years now
but we haven't a foggiest idea what they are. The campain setting
doesn't say, and they are not in the monster appendix for Karameilos.
We though hey could be Drows, but they doesn't fit the description.
Do any1 know what they are??. Is TSR going to release an add-on to
the world that describes these??.
It is somewhat important cause they caused the gnomes to flee their
home country ( or was it the halflings) so they are an important race
PLease respond if anyone knows...
Per Tore Stokke
Trondheim College of Engineering
pe...@edb.tih.no
Donald S Miller
Shadow elves are a race from the regular (non-advanced) D&D world (Mystara?).
They are sort of like Drow in AD&D. They're a full supplement called
GAZ13: The Shadow Elves (did I get the number right?)
but it might be difficult to find nowadays.
Donald Miller
Oeystein Halseth Lund
: Shadow elves are a race from the regular (non-advanced) D&D world (Mystara?).
at you, but I can't state this point enough.) Even the people who
wrote the later supplements for Mystara seem to have missed this point
entirely. Most of the shadow elves want nothing to do with the surface
world anyway - they're quite comfortable below the ground, thankyou.
It's only their (male-dominated) military and political elite who want to
conquer the surface to escape the power of the (female-dominated)
religious hierarchy.
And the drow were driven underground as a result of a near-genocidal
war they brought on themselves by their evil - the shadow-elves had
bad luck with engineers meddling beyond their understanding. You see,
they're refugees from the nuclear catastrophy that blew up the land
above their caverns- and they've been down there for the better part
of 2000 years. The majority don't WANT to return to the surface now -
they ARE home already.
The people writing Wrath of the Immortals missed this entirely, of
course.
The point being - drow are evil for the sake of evil, so players
have someeone to beat up on with no compunctions. The shadow elves are
basically just like regular elves, but some are being manipulated by
ambitious leaders for their own end.
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<This .sig closed for repairs>
Berg Oswell
: Shadow elves are a race from the regular (non-advanced) D&D world (Mystara?).
: They are sort of like Drow in AD&D. They're a full supplement called
: GAZ13: The Shadow Elves (did I get the number right?)
: but it might be difficult to find nowadays.
They are almost nothing like drow. The only thing Shadow Elves
have in common with Drow is that both live underground.
Donald S Miller
briefly what Shadow Elves were like. That doesn't mean I should be flamed to
death for it! Well, that's the last time I respond to a question, I'll just
watch and read from now on.
Donald Miller
Oeystein Halseth Lund
: Sheesh! Sorry for saying the wrong thing... I was just trying to introduce
: Donald Miller
I'm sorry you feel that way - since I'm probably one of those who
shouted the loudest at you about this. It was not intended as a flame
of you specifically, even if it may have looked like that from your
point of wiev. It's just that I'm fed up with the mistreatment of the
poor shadowelves from TSR latecomers to Mystara, who also fell into
the drow = shadowelves trap. My point being, shadowelves are
reasonable beings - drow are cardboard-cutout targets for PC's.
Michael Jay Wood
in this thread, I can certainly understand the misconcerption of confusing
AD&D dark elves with D&D shadow elves.
Based upon my limited knowledge of the races I detect the following
similarities:
1. They both dwell underground.
2. They both have a matriarchal society, or at the very least a
matriarchal religion and religious leaders.
3. They are both perceived as being evil. I did not say they
were, rather that most people would perceive them that
way based upon their actions towards the halflings.
(To my vague and out-of-date knowledge there aren't any
gnomes in D&D)
4. They are both referred to using terms that usually reserved
for less than wholesome things, dark and shadow.
Mike Wood
West Tennessee
David W. Knott
> 3. They are both perceived as being evil. I did not say they
> were, rather that most people would perceive them that
> way based upon their actions towards the halflings.
> (To my vague and out-of-date knowledge there aren't any
> gnomes in D&D)
rather than player characters. However, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia made them
playable as a slight variation of Halflings.
As to the Shadow Elves, their main quarrel seems to have been with the Elves
of Alfheim, who refused to share Alfheim with them. Other peoples are
hostile to the Shadow Elves only to the extent that they prefer Alfheim
Elves. If the Shadow Elves ever caused problems for Gnomes or Halflings,
that is news to me.
Berg Oswell
The reason the surface elves refused to share Alfheim with the shadow
elves, is that the shadow elf population exceeds that of the current Alfheim
population...
David W. Knott
> The reason the surface elves refused to share Alfheim with the shadow
>elves, is that the shadow elf population exceeds that of the current Alfheim
>population...
the underground that they would have had great difficulty surviving on the
surface. So for the Shadow Elves to move into Alfheim was unreasonable on
at least two counts. Of course, the Alfheim Elves did not help matters any
by threatening to kill them. So, as a result of gross diplomatic blunders
on both sides, the two Elven races were separated.
David W. Knott
eventually became a war.