Meta:Elf
Retroactive changes
Pathfinder Second Edition made several retroactive changes to elves, both explicit and by omission. Removed and changed content is preserved:
- The following nickname was used primarily in 3.5 works, no longer appears after a single use in The Inner Sea World Guide, and is inaccurate at best with the ancestry's development in subsequent canon works:
| “ | (or Fair Ones as they are sometimes known)1 | ” |
- This section was removed for failing to cite a canon source:
| “ | === Sexual dimorphism ===
There isn't as much sexual dimorphism in elves as in other humanoids. Males tend to be taller and broader, though rarely broader than a human male. They tend to be naturally lean and fit, with inhumanly good metabolisms. Males do not grow facial hair, or indeed much body hair at all, and have at least shoulder-length hair. Female elves are slender and willowy, considered beautiful by most. They are almost as tall as human males, though lighter of frame and weight than most human females. Their faces tend to be austere and beautiful, with high cheekbones and delicate symmetrical features.[citation needed] |
” |
- This section conflicts with newer depictions of elves; it might be preserved as limited to the Aiudeen with additional research:
| “ | === Dress ===
Elves maintain an otherworldly beauty, and whether found in their magnificent wilderness communities or cosmopolitan civilizations are often well-dressed or even glamorous.2 |
” |
- Player Core and Character Guide not only fail to mention these traits, but describe different groups elves in ways that each either require more context for these generalizations or are irreconcilably in conflict:
| “ | Elves love laughing and pulling pranks. They are quite impetuous, always seeking new experiences, sometimes to the detriment of their own well-being. Some believe them to be thoughtless and callous, but this is not the case; they value friendship highly, and make friends easily. These friendships often turn romantic, whether they be with their own kind or with others.3 | ” |
- Heavy is the Crown retconned the drow out of existence, so these sections were removed pending a clearer rewrite or canon resolution:
| “ | === Evolution of the drow ===
While most of their number were spared the turmoil of the Age of Darkness, those that remained on Golarion were not so lucky. These elves, seeking refuge from the horrors of the planet's surface, receded into the depths of the earth, establishing settlements there. Unbeknownst to them, this decision would alter them forever, and not positively. Over time the underground elves developed ember-black skin and sable-white hair and became corrupted by the powerful evils lurking in the darkness. The newly-formed drow, meaning "accursed," ruled the Darklands, gaining dominance over deros, hryngars,4 xulgaths, and worse, becoming one of the most powerful races in the world even if they hid themselves from their above-ground rivals.2 More than just human inheritors posed problems for the elves, as they soon learned of their drow brethren. Beneath the Varisian city of Celwynvian in the Mierani Forest the elves confronted the drow, and fearing them, abandoned the city, collapsing the tunnels beneath is in the process. Many of these elves traveled across Avistan to the ancient kingdom of Kyonin, while others sailed west to the island chains off the Varisian coast, where they raised the Mordant Spire on the edge of the known world.2 |
” |
- Character Guide in particular irreconcilably revises this description to focus on Treerazer rather than sensing compatible civilization, and also describes the elves interacting with Azlant, which was not barbarous:
| “ | In 2632 AR, elves began their return from Sovyrian, somehow sensing that their old human enemies had grown out of their barbaric origins and that the two races could share the world. Many of the elves' ancient holdings were reclaimed, causing tumult with human warlords who did not recognize their claims of ownership on these lands. | ” |
- Newer sources do not mention a lower birth rate or population concerns, nor any focus on populating other worlds; Character Guide in particular recasts both their reasons for leaving and returning:
| “ | The elves knew that they would ultimately have to cede much of the world to humans, given the low elven birth rate, and so the elves turned their attention away from Golarion and focused on exploring the other nearby planets, traveling across vast distances through a series of interplanetary gates (known as elf gates).2 | ” |
- In addition to the drow mention, newer sources do not support suggestions that most elves resemble the Aiudeen, particularly Character Guide, which describes Aiudeen both as the Inner Sea region's most common group and as a physically diverse ethnicity itself. Reasons and manifestations of physical differences are also covered elsewhere in the article:
| “ | Most are physically very similar to the common elves of Kyonin, but some (such as the drow) depart radically from their ancestral stock. | ” |
- For the version of this article prior to these revisions, see revision 384000. -Oznogon (talk) 10:00, 22 January 2024 (UTC)
References
- ↑ . The Inner Sea World Guide, 97. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 . Gazetteer, 5. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ . The Inner Sea World Guide, 25. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ Paizo referred to hryngars as duergar until the publication of Highhelm and the Sky King's Tomb Pathfinder Adventure Path.
Unincorporated sources
- People of the Stars 25 --Fleanetha (talk) 17:48, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
- Heroes of the Streets 8 --Fleanetha (talk) 07:41, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
- Occult Mysteries 8f. --Fleanetha (talk) 16:07, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
- Heroes of the High Court 14 --Fleanetha (talk) 14:37, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
- Heroes from the Fringe: chapter about elves --Fleanetha (talk) 18:03, 26 September 2019 (UTC)