Eladrin
All kinds of Elves live in The Feywild, but one subrace — the eladrin — has adopted it as their home. Of all the elves, eladrin are closest in form and ability to the first generation of elves. Some could pass for high elves, but most are distinctly eladrin in appearance: very slender, with hair and skin color determined by the season with which they feel the closest affinity. And their eyes often glimmer with fey magic.
Continued exposure to the Feywild, over a century or more, hastens the onset of Remembrance significantly among most elves. Elves who have spent most of their lives in the Feywild can experience their first other-life memory as early as the age of 200 years. Eladrin aren’t affected this way.
Because of their link to the primal elves, eladrin tend to be haughty around other elves. They’re proud of their heritage and equally proud of their ability to thrive in the Feywild, a land full of threats that would overwhelm and destroy weaker creatures. Some eladrin trade haughtiness for a tender kindness toward their elf cousins, knowing that many elves have never felt the ecstasies of a life amid the fey and of years spent near the ancient shrines and other glories created by the primal elves who first arrived in Faerie. These kinder eladrin take a special pleasure in introducing their realm to others.
Eladrin cities represent the pinnacle of elven architecture. Their soaring towers, arching bridges, and gracefully filigreed homes are a perfect blend of construction, natural elements, and magic-inspired motifs. Streams and waterfalls, gardens and copses, and structures of stone and wood are commingled in ways that are original and yet completely natural-looking.
Eladrin culture is older than any other elven civilization, and it’s also the most decadent. Most elves are impetuous to some extent, but eladrin are known for their fickleness. Many of them change their minds on the spur of the moment without giving reasons. Their system of justice vacillates between capriciously harsh and whimsically mild, depending on the mood of the eladrin passing judgment, and eladrin are more susceptible to flattery than other elves are.
Elves from the Prime Material Plane who have researched eladrin culture blame these traits on the influence of the Feywild. As part of their argument, they point out that eladrin who spend a significant amount of time on the Material Plane — adventurers and scholars, primarily — still demonstrate these attitudes, but to a lesser degree.
Although eladrin have the closest connection to Corellon Larethian because of their ancestry, they are alone among elves in feeling little affinity for Arvandor. Eladrin don’t long to end their cycle of rebirth and rejoin Corellon, but rather to meld with the Feywild when they are reincarnated. They believe that an eladrin who excels in life throughout a series of incarnations can eventually come back as a member of the Seelie or Unseelie court or, in extreme cases, even as an archfey.
Seasonal Creatures
An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin’s mood:- Autumn is the season of peace and goodwill, when summer’s harvest is shared with all.
- Winter is the season of contemplation and dolor, when the vibrant energy of the world slumbers.
- Spring is the season of cheerfulness and celebration, marked by merriment as winter’s sorrow passes.
- Summer is the season of boldness and aggression, a time of unfettered energy.
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter[/h3
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