Eladrin
Made with Hero Forge
In the creation myths of the Seldarine, the first, primal elves were incorporeal nature spirits created by a whimsical, formless god known as Corellon Larethian. As wisps of air and light and joy, they frolicked around him in Arvandor, a wild paradise located on the outer plane of Arborea. The most favored of Corellon's creations he made into gods themselves, nearly as powerful as he, and for a time, it was good.
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It came to pass, however, that an ambitious young goddess named Lolth convinced many elves to embrace a more physical form, becoming much as they appear today, in the hopes that she may more easily control them. This angered Corellon, who felt betrayed by Lolth and the elves at large for abandoning the form of his likeness. A schism grew amongst the gods. Corellon's accusations of betrayal were so relentless that they became a self-fulfilling prophesy, and Llolth finally attempted to kill and usurp him. Corellon, however, was too powerful to be slain. He eventually won the conflict, but the god was full of rage and bitterness. No longer trusting his own creations, be they god or elf, he banished them all from their paradise in Arvandor, never to return until their death.
Scattered across reality, the elves struggled to find a home as wild and good as their lost Arvandor, until, at last, they discovered the Feywild, an endless realm of passion, chaos and natural beauty to rival even Corellon's paradise. It was full of dangers as well, but the elves would risk them; they were desperate for a new place to live.
Arriving in the Feywild in droves, the elves built vast cities of splendor, and spent eons in the land of faerie. They changed the place for all time, and were changed as well, becoming even more fey-like than they were in Arvandor. Many began to identify themselves as something beyond elves, and beyond the old elvish gods who abandoned them. Though this has yet to be confirmed by mortal scholars, "eladrin" is quite possibly a word to unite the first born free from Arvandor.
Feywild Eladrin are like elves, but moreso. One could say they are as different from elves as elves are to mortal humans - more alien, wild, fickle, whimsical, passionate and temperamental... and very often more dangerous.
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Eladrin have spread to many other worlds since their arrival in the Feywild. Some have calmed their passions, becoming the elves known on countless prime worlds. Others have aligned themselves with the faerie courts, the nymphs and dryads of Olympus, or sought refuge in the Outlands, among the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the enchanted woods of Tír na nÓg. Still others have become so chaotically faerie-like that they are a new creature entirely, and a few of these have even dared to return to Arvandor, but while Corellon's rage has subsided, it is rare when he permits a living eladrin to stay.
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The oldest of the eladrin have settled in Arborea, building noble kingdoms in the verdant forests near their ancestral home. These eladrins are slightly less temperamental than their Feywild cousins, and are likely the closest living relatives to the ancient primal elves that once lived in Arvandor as nature spirits. Much like the first elves, Arboean eladrin can assume incorporeal forms of water, wind, light, and fire. A few of these eladrin might indeed be old enough to have lived through the divine schism between Corellon and Lolth, and still remember their time in paradise.
(from Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. II - 1994 - [credits])
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"The eladrins are a cowardly race of sniveling weaklings. They’re untrustworthy and treacherous, and they turn up in the most inconvenient places! Why, a body can’t get two steps in their precious Arborea without their arrogant, conceited shiere knights showin’ up and puttin’ their long noses in your business! Let’s see ’em come on down to Baator. We’ll whip ’em into shape. Teach ’em a thing or two about proper organization. They’d find out the hard way how baatezu’ll run things once we’ve burned Arborea to the ground around their pointed little ears. ’Course, we still got that little tiff with the tanar’ri to settle, but when we get them straightened out, well, just you wait! What?!!! A shiere riding this way? I - I - I’ve got to go. Duty calls, and all that. Wouldn’t want to be missed back in Avernus, after all."
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- Uzamaer the Maw, cornugon captain visiting Sigil
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