Eladrin

The eladrin, or elder elves, are a subspecies of elves indigenous to and found exclusively within the Feywild. While other subspecies of elves are distinguished by the events that changed them after migrating to the Material Plane, the eladrin have remained within the Feywild and are one of the few prolific mortal races to permanently reside in the Fair Realm. After eons experiencing the ever-changing queer magics of the Feywild, eladrin have become even more intrinsically connected to fey magic and arcane powers than their mortal fore-bearers, and resemble the original elves more than any other subspecies.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Eladrin display all the classic traits of the elven people to their fullest. They are exceptionally slender, with brilliant eyes and graceful movement. Unlike other elves, or indeed other mortals, the eladrin have developed the ability to change their appearance based on their emotions. Eladrin typically come in four morphs, spring, summer, fall, and winter. These morphs reflect the emotions of the eladrin at any given moment. Because their appearance is based on their emotions, each eladrin can remain in a certain morph for different spaces of time, with some changing seasons only every few years and others going through each within the course of a week.

Genetics and Reproduction

Unlike the elves of the Material Plane, eladrin are not impeded by a lack of fey spirits while they live in the Feywild. As a result, eladrin do not suffer from the same difficulty conceiving as their Material Plane counterparts. The gestation period of an eladrin is slightly shorter than other elves, clocking in at about four to four and a half years.
However, like all elves, eladrin have fewer eggs than other mortals, limiting the overall number of children they can bear. Eladrin typically bear no more than five children over the course of their exceptionally long lives, with most of their children being born during their first few centuries. This results in a unique social order among eladrin where young eladrin whom have recently reached sexual maturity are often the ones settling down to raise a family, while older eladrin who's children have all reached adulthood, are the ones acting as the ones that go out to provide for their families. As a result, most eladrin family groups have at least three generations living as a single unit and all working together in harmony.

Growth Rate & Stages

An eladrin's appearance reflects their emotional state. There are four distinct morphs: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Some eladrin displaying characteristics of two morphs at once if their emotional state is particularly fraught.

1. Spring eladrin are characterized as joyful, beguiling, tricksy, and full of laughter. Their skin ranges from a bright yellow to a youthful green and their hair is often short, wild, and colorful as if drawing inspiration from fresh blossoms.
2. Summer eladrin are filled with passion, often strong anger, disgust or even fear. Their wrathful feelings transform them into tempestuous warriors eager to vent their fury. Their skin glows a warm orange or red-gold and their eyes shine a brilliant, haunting blue like a clear sky or a bright grey like a summer storm.
3. Autumn eladrin appear when overcome by feelings of goodwill, generosity, and gentle kindness. Their hair grows russet red or golden yellow and their skin transforms to a light birch or deep brown. They tolerate little violence while in this form and move to quickly settle disputes.
4. Winter eladrin show signs of distress or sorrow. This season regularly appears when an eladrin experiences grief or loss or even just melancholy. Their skin grows pale blue or white as fallen snow and their hair falls in long grey locks. Even embrace feels cold to the touch. Many eladrin undergoing homesickness for their beloved Feywild show their winter colors.

Ecology and Habitats

The Feywild is a truly unique habitat for any creature to reside within. Eladrin can be found across the Plane, in both the Feydawn and Feydusk regions of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Some reside in the wondrous and exotic settlements of the Feywild in towers made of crystal or huts cut from giant mushrooms. Others live a nomadic lifestyle, in tribes of between five to six family groups that follow the bizarre wildlife of the Fair Realm as they migrate from Feydawn to Feydusk.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Eladrin, like most elves, are omnivorous and typically prefer their food unseasoned and/or only slightly cooked. They can absorb all the needed nutrients for their lifestyles from consuming undercooked or raw foods and often can go many days without eating—so long as they are surrounded by the magic or the Feywild. Many eladrin travelers to other realms find themselves constantly famished thanks to the alien atmospheres of the other planes.

Biological Cycle

Like the Feywild in which they reside, eladrin are unique in how little they change over the decades. After reaching sexual maturity, the appearance of each seasonal morph of an eladrin barely changes over the decades giving them a timeless appearance. Older eladrin might have more aged features like light wrinkles or clouded eyes, but neither seems to impede their fey grace or magical athleticism.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Eladrin can be found throughout the Feywild living in large settlements ruled by the Seelie or Unseelie Courts, or wandering the exotic landscapes in small tribal groups. Regardless, eladrin are almost always found in family groups consisting of three generations—children, parents, and grandparents. Typically, the parents provide for their children and are relatively sedentary while the grandparents go out into the Feywild to make a living or to find food to provide for their family. Eladrin are able to do this thanks to their long lifespans and the fact that eladrin typically bear children in the first two centuries of their lives and remain physically fit well into their third through fifth centuries.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Eladrin are found throughout the Feywild but are rarely seen outside of it. However, within the Feywild, eladrin can be found in a range of habitats, from governed magical settlements to nomadic tribes wandering the exotic forests of the plane. They are most comfortable in the forested or jungle regions of the plane but can be found in bother the Feydusk and Feydawn regions and show no decisive preference for either of the Courts.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Eladrin have remarkable sensory abilities thanks to their fey heritage. They are fully proficient in Perception and can see in darkness up to 60 ft. Not even sleep impedes an eladrin's perception abilities, as they require only four hours of sleep per day in order to remain rested. This helps them stay alert in the ever-changing realm of the Feywild.

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

Regardless of what aspect they express, eladrin are famed lovers of beauty and work hard to surround themselves and their homes with lovely things. Eladrin try to possess any objects they find striking such as paintings, statues, glittering jewels, or even unique flowers. When they encounter beings of comely features or luminous spirits, they endeavor to stay close to these creatures or even abduct them, using magical charms and incantations.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Eladrin culture is older than any other elven civilization and it is also the most decadent. Most elves are impetuous to some extent but eladrin are famed for their ficklenes. Many of them change their minds on the spur of the moment and hate giving reasons for it. Their systems of justice vacillates between capriciously harsh and whimsically mild, depending on the mood of the eladrin in charge and their proximity to either of Courts of the Feywild and their ever-changing traditions. All of this appears to be a result of the continued influence of the Feywild on the eladrin, to the point where eladrin often consider themselves more fey than elf or see no difference between fey and elf.

History

All elves are believed to have been created, not by the gods of the Heavenly Council, but by the fey themselves. They were called the Eladrin, and were once the embodiment of the Feywild and lived among their gods as their children. Upon the Bridging of the Planes during the Dawn Era, some eladrin journeyed to the Material Plane and established themselves as another one of the Elder Races. Those that remained remained the eladrin and those that ventured forth were called elves.
Over time, the eladrin came to proliferate the Feywild and today are one of the Plane's most ubiquitous species. They appear in both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts and serve them as faithfully as any of the beings created by one Court or the other. 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 fey magic. Streams and waterfalls, gardens and copses, and structures of stone and wood are commingled in ways that are original and yet completely natural looking.
Those that live in the wilds between fey settlements express their culture through, song, dance, and oral tradition, carefully practicing these arts until they rival their semi-civilized brethren in their beauty and grace. Rural eladrin are often brought into urban eladrin courts to show these refined rustic works of art and in turn, urban eladrin venture in the dangerous wilds of the Fey in order to provide innovated tools and technologies to their nomadic cousins in an exchange of ideas and, more importantly, artistic expression.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Among those elves that remained in the Feywild to become eladrin, the divergence of the various subspecies of elves is of little import, for all of those that left are considered to have been foolish and more interested in material wealth than the idyllic spiritual life the eladrin continue to lead within the Feywild. Because of their link to the first elves, eladrin tend to be haunty around other elves. They are proud of their traditions and equally proud of their ability to survive in the Feywild, a land full of threats that would overwhelm and destroy weaker creatures. Some eladrin trade haughtiness for a tender kindness or pity towards their elf cousins, knowing that many elves have never felt the ecsatsis of life amid the fey and of years spent near the ancient shrines of their people. These kinder eladrin take a special pleasure in introducing their realm to others.

by Eric Belisle

Genetic Descendants

• Elf

Origin/Ancestry

Fey

Lifespan

400-600 years

Average Height

1.62-1.8 m. (5'4"-6'0" ft.)

Average Weight

45-66 kg. (100-145 lbs)

Average Physique

Eladrin have all the hallmarks of an elven physique: slender bodies, graceful limbs, and enduring features.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The coloration and appearance of an eladrin is dictated largely on their feelings.

by Eric Belisle

by Eric Belisle

by Eric Belisle