* This is 'TGL Lore' NOT Greyhawk Canon!
Note from Oronir:
I have always thought that Greyhawk has a very Tolkienesque feel to it. It just has more involved gods and entities, weirder monsters, priests and more magic users. Elves in Greyhawk are too DnD-like in my opinion and should be slightly more Tolkienesque .
Too often I see people play an elf as if it is a human with Low-light-vision rather than another species and that just makes me wonder, why bother. So, I will create several articles about the elves of Greyhawk as I see them. Get from it what you will.
What? You do not call these lands 'The Flanaess'
We find ourselves on the world of Oerth, where a large continent takes our attention. It is not the only continent, but it is the one we focus on today.
The Oeridians call the whole continent, even the far western part still left unconquered, as Oerik. The Eastern part of this continent, the lands east of the Crystalmist Mountains, was coined by them as ‘The Flanaess’ after the humans that first claimed its lands, the Flannae. That name stuck with any other human cultures that come into these Eastern lands.
But the elves have named this eastern part of the continent Calenor, The Green Land, for millenniums. It is the first evidence of the human-centric view of the world to expect everyone to call it the Flanaess. Do the Elves have another name for Oerth? Well, yes they do - Dórnothilian or Lands under the moons.
What? They are all the same?
It is also a misconception that the elves are divided in sub-ancestries, each with their own specific physical and mental characteristics. This is another example of a human-centric way of explaining the world around them. Non-elven cultures started to call the elves by different names, seeing them as different from each other but the fact is, they have practically no differences at all.
The Elves of Highfolk, in the Vesve Forest, who historically opened their doors first to other cultures, were called The High Elves by humans. A name not used by the elves themselves however, but elves that show the same friendly and welcoming personality towards other cultures as the elves of Highfolk were named from then on as High elves.
Elves that get more involved in the world in general, allow non-elves to live among them, mostly travel to other places, or live amongst you are called High Elves by others. The reality is that there is no real difference in their physiology with any other elf.
Confusion happened when shorter lived people meet an elder elf and find out that such a High Elf is older than 500 years. It doesn't make sense to them and feels quite impossible. Human cultures started calling these elves The Grey Elves, due to their hair turning silvery grey and their eyes to have an ancient look. It is true that Elves older than 500 tend to act and live differently, but that does not make them different. It just makes them very old and in some rare cases an elf can be a 1000 years old. Somewhere between 500-1000 years old elves are unable to reproduce anymore and some frailness can be noticeable. They tend to focus more on academic pursuits, magic and mysteries or focus on high level crafting to such levels of perfection that it defies the impossible.
When travellers enter the deeper parts of ancient woods, they might encounter elves that have settlements and a way of life that is focussed on a unison with nature. Though they are numerous in number, they are more reclusive and seldom seen, living in the ancient hearts of the primordial forests which is why other ancestries call them Sylvan Elves. But even these elves, are no different from any other elf. They only live differently, and the unique elf from these settlements who reaches the age of 500 also called a Grey Elf by other cultures.
Elves, as a culture, are generally good or neutral in attitude. Evil thoughts do not cloud their minds but, on very rare occasions there is an elf who cares not about others. One that will do whatever is needed to pursue and reach their own personal goals. They do not necessarily look any different but history has shown that most carry a physical taint of sorts that has corrupted their view on the world. These elves are called Dark elves by other cultures and even the elves themselves have a name for these anomalies - Mornedhel (dark elf). Contrary to the believes of others, these elves do not prefer the dark, do not necessarily live in caves nor are necessarily dark skinned. There are myths, spread by the humans to make sense of the world. These elves could walk amongst the other elves and none would be the wiser.
There is one 'type' of elves however that is very different to the other elves, even physically being shorter, these are The Grugach or, as humans call them - Wild Elves. They are different from the Sylvan elves in that they live in perfect unison with the wild and closely with the animals around them. They are barely dressed in warmer regions and only wear what is needed to survive in other climates. They live solely nomadic, have a more primitive lifestyle and are not numerous. It is rare to encounter them at all for not only are there few around, they shun contact with any other culture, preferring the solace of the deepest forests and the companionship of wild animals.
The Grugach, however, are not seen as those that must be shunned by the other elves, but rather respected, for they have held somewhat true to the way their ancient ancestors lived. Not only that but they are the most often gifted, out of all the elves with the Fey spark – known as Faegildin. (See here for more information).
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Next article will be about facts about of the elves such as age, physical, personality, etc.