Eladrin in Eberron Musings - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Eladrin in Eberron Musings

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Madfox11
Jul 23, 2010 10:16:02
At the moment I am playing an eladrin, raised by members of House Phiarlann. One of the reasons I decided upon the character being adapted was that I did not had to spend that much time on eladrin culture and history. Now that the character is reaching the levels he can enter the Mournlands, and that the DM has gotten the group involved with the Word Bearers, I am getting more curious.

- How much is known by the elves of Aeranal and the eladrin about the history of the elves and the connection between the eladrin and the elves? Do they feel kinship? Are the elves somewhat bitter about the connection? Do the eladrin consider the existence of the elves a bit shameful?

- Do the eladrin have any kind of spiritual religion? Would it be ancestor worship? I suspect that since eladrin tend to resemble the Sidhe of Celtic mythology, they do not worship gods, instead serving powerful fey-like beings.

- How old are the eladrin spires? How much information would be found in them about Khorvaire? They are at least as old as the giants. What did they do during the Dhakaani Empire? Did they take an active interest in that empire? Would their cities contain knowledge on the goblins even the dar have forgotten? Or would the eladrin have not cared? It certainly would give the PCs a good reason to travel to any of the Spires: acquiring lore forgotten on the rest of the continent.

- Come to think of it, might it be an idea that the eladrin are the reason why there are no ruins of giants on Khorvaire. What if they openly lived on the continent during that era and their presence kept the giants out? The got involved in an active war with the giants for obvious reasons, and just before the giants were more or less defeated, decided enough was enough and left Eberron completely, opening the way for the goblins.

- How do the goblins feel about the eladrin? Their reaction to the spire seems logical, but I doubt they would react differently if a human city would appear in their middle all of a sudden. The goblins think of the Valenar elves as their ancient enemies, and strangely enough for Eberron, seem to extend it to all elves even though the ECG goes out of its way to explain the elves of Khorvair have merged almost fully with local culture and have little to do with Aeranal and the Valenar.

Note that obviously I can answer these questions for my self, especially those that directly involve my own character, but I am curious what others think. There is after all, precious little information on eladrin ;)
#2
AvonRekaes
Jul 24, 2010 0:59:35 I think for some of your questions, you can have your cake and eat it too. Each Feyspire is a city unto itself, with its own power players and factions. For any given spire, you can have at least one important NPCs that aligns itself with whatever story you want to tell.

Some of them might have traveled out into Dhakaan to study its people, maybe drawn to the raw vibrancy of their violent culture, seeing it full of life and savage beauty. There may well be caches of ancient Dhakaani lore or artifacts inside Feyspires, brought back to be showcased in museums or private collections. The Feyspires themselves likely remained veiled the entire time, though, so there'd be only snippets of stories about them amongst the Dhakaani, but no solid evidence of them.

As for religion, you could develop several types of religions to scatter amongst the Feyspires. Maybe some of them worship Ariellani, Fey Goddess of Summer, that's just a cultural interpretation of Dol Arah, Sovereign of Sun. Maybe others revere Titania specifically, as a fey-ancestor/lord and Queen of Summer.

One thing, though, is that I think the Eladrin fighting the Giants goes against what's presented. I think the Eladrin got their behinds handed to them every time they encountered the Giants. First with the feyspire the Giants sacked to take slaves and makes elves and drow out of, and then with the Fading Dream feyspire. (Plus, I think it's canon that the Fading Dream feyspire was the only one that planned on taking vengeance for the first feyspire's fall.) Eladrin weren't powerful enough to stand against Dragon-Magic wielding Giants, so I doubt they would have been able to keep Giants off Khorvaire if the Giants really wanted it.
#3
Madfox11
Jul 26, 2010 2:59:05
One thing, though, is that I think the Eladrin fighting the Giants goes against what's presented. I think the Eladrin got their behinds handed to them every time they encountered the Giants. First with the feyspire the Giants sacked to take slaves and makes elves and drow out of, and then with the Fading Dream feyspire. (Plus, I think it's canon that the Fading Dream feyspire was the only one that planned on taking vengeance for the first feyspire's fall.) Eladrin weren't powerful enough to stand against Dragon-Magic wielding Giants, so I doubt they would have been able to keep Giants off Khorvaire if the Giants really wanted it.

The eladrin defeated by the giants was one spire that appeared in the middle of the kingdom of giants, most likely facing combined opposition. The second defeat was apparently a spire assaulting the giants across the ocean. On the other hand, defending a continent against a couple of explorers and colonists is a lot easier. There are historians for example, who feel that the only reason the Europeans came to dominate North America due to the diseases they spread, otherwise history would likely have gone quite differently. So while I agree that the eladrin likely would have had little chance if the giants truely wanted to conquer the continent (although we do not know the might of combined eladrin), that does not automatically mean the eladrin did not kept the explorers, scouts and potential colonists away.
#4
Hellcow
Jul 26, 2010 8:44:56
How old are the eladrin spires? How much information would be found in them about Khorvaire? They are at least as old as the giants. What did they do during the Dhakaani Empire? Did they take an active interest in that empire?

Per existing material - and I'm including the upcoming Fading Dream novel here - following the loss of Shae Tirias and the defeat of Taer Doresh, the remaining citadels cloaked themselves in magic and did their best to avoid all contact with Eberron, viewing it as a dangerous place. There are exceptions to this; Pylas Pyrial has been more open, and Shae Loralyndar has maintain ties through the Greensingers. But the point of the addition of the Feyspires in 4E is that they've left almost no mark on history because they have intentionally hidden themselves from the outside world. They are like Shangri-La and Brigadoon - places known only from stories and faerie tales, where an isolated knight or explorer stumbles across the hidden city.

So if you follow that principle, no, as cultures they never took an active interest in any of the cultures of Khorvaire. However, this doesn't rule out individuals leaving the Feyspires and playing a role in the world. There could be a tale of a fey knight who aided the Dhakaani in a vital battle and clashed with a daelkyr. Conversely, it could be that a legendary Dhakaani champion was whisked away long ago in an Avalon situation and now lies in enchanted slumber in Shae Joridal; if he could be woken from this sleep, he might be able to save the Feyspire from the Ghaal'dar... and provide a new uniting force for the Heirs of Dhakaan.

So the primary question is what you want them to have. By canon, it's easy to say that there's been no contact whatsover with other cultures and they know nothing. But if you WANT those secrets of the Daelkyr War, they were around then, so you could certainly hide them in a feyspire.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Madfox11 Jul 23, 2010 10:16:02	At the moment I am playing an eladrin, raised by members of House Phiarlann. One of the reasons I decided upon the character being adapted was that I did not had to spend that much time on eladrin culture and history. Now that the character is reaching the levels he can enter the Mournlands, and that the DM has gotten the group involved with the Word Bearers, I am getting more curious. - How much is known by the elves of Aeranal and the eladrin about the history of the elves and the connection between the eladrin and the elves? Do they feel kinship? Are the elves somewhat bitter about the connection? Do the eladrin consider the existence of the elves a bit shameful? - Do the eladrin have any kind of spiritual religion? Would it be ancestor worship? I suspect that since eladrin tend to resemble the Sidhe of Celtic mythology, they do not worship gods, instead serving powerful fey-like beings. - How old are the eladrin spires? How much information would be found in them about Khorvaire? They are at least as old as the giants. What did they do during the Dhakaani Empire? Did they take an active interest in that empire? Would their cities contain knowledge on the goblins even the dar have forgotten? Or would the eladrin have not cared? It certainly would give the PCs a good reason to travel to any of the Spires: acquiring lore forgotten on the rest of the continent. - Come to think of it, might it be an idea that the eladrin are the reason why there are no ruins of giants on Khorvaire. What if they openly lived on the continent during that era and their presence kept the giants out? The got involved in an active war with the giants for obvious reasons, and just before the giants were more or less defeated, decided enough was enough and left Eberron completely, opening the way for the goblins. - How do the goblins feel about the eladrin? Their reaction to the spire seems logical, but I doubt they would react differently if a human city would appear in their middle all of a sudden. The goblins think of the Valenar elves as their ancient enemies, and strangely enough for Eberron, seem to extend it to all elves even though the ECG goes out of its way to explain the elves of Khorvair have merged almost fully with local culture and have little to do with Aeranal and the Valenar. Note that obviously I can answer these questions for my self, especially those that directly involve my own character, but I am curious what others think. There is after all, precious little information on eladrin ;)
#2 AvonRekaes Jul 24, 2010 0:59:35	I think for some of your questions, you can have your cake and eat it too. Each Feyspire is a city unto itself, with its own power players and factions. For any given spire, you can have at least one important NPCs that aligns itself with whatever story you want to tell. Some of them might have traveled out into Dhakaan to study its people, maybe drawn to the raw vibrancy of their violent culture, seeing it full of life and savage beauty. There may well be caches of ancient Dhakaani lore or artifacts inside Feyspires, brought back to be showcased in museums or private collections. The Feyspires themselves likely remained veiled the entire time, though, so there'd be only snippets of stories about them amongst the Dhakaani, but no solid evidence of them. As for religion, you could develop several types of religions to scatter amongst the Feyspires. Maybe some of them worship Ariellani, Fey Goddess of Summer, that's just a cultural interpretation of Dol Arah, Sovereign of Sun. Maybe others revere Titania specifically, as a fey-ancestor/lord and Queen of Summer. One thing, though, is that I think the Eladrin fighting the Giants goes against what's presented. I think the Eladrin got their behinds handed to them every time they encountered the Giants. First with the feyspire the Giants sacked to take slaves and makes elves and drow out of, and then with the Fading Dream feyspire. (Plus, I think it's canon that the Fading Dream feyspire was the only one that planned on taking vengeance for the first feyspire's fall.) Eladrin weren't powerful enough to stand against Dragon-Magic wielding Giants, so I doubt they would have been able to keep Giants off Khorvaire if the Giants really wanted it.
#3 Madfox11 Jul 26, 2010 2:59:05	One thing, though, is that I think the Eladrin fighting the Giants goes against what's presented. I think the Eladrin got their behinds handed to them every time they encountered the Giants. First with the feyspire the Giants sacked to take slaves and makes elves and drow out of, and then with the Fading Dream feyspire. (Plus, I think it's canon that the Fading Dream feyspire was the only one that planned on taking vengeance for the first feyspire's fall.) Eladrin weren't powerful enough to stand against Dragon-Magic wielding Giants, so I doubt they would have been able to keep Giants off Khorvaire if the Giants really wanted it. The eladrin defeated by the giants was one spire that appeared in the middle of the kingdom of giants, most likely facing combined opposition. The second defeat was apparently a spire assaulting the giants across the ocean. On the other hand, defending a continent against a couple of explorers and colonists is a lot easier. There are historians for example, who feel that the only reason the Europeans came to dominate North America due to the diseases they spread, otherwise history would likely have gone quite differently. So while I agree that the eladrin likely would have had little chance if the giants truely wanted to conquer the continent (although we do not know the might of combined eladrin), that does not automatically mean the eladrin did not kept the explorers, scouts and potential colonists away.
#4 Hellcow Jul 26, 2010 8:44:56	How old are the eladrin spires? How much information would be found in them about Khorvaire? They are at least as old as the giants. What did they do during the Dhakaani Empire? Did they take an active interest in that empire? Per existing material - and I'm including the upcoming Fading Dream novel here - following the loss of Shae Tirias and the defeat of Taer Doresh, the remaining citadels cloaked themselves in magic and did their best to avoid all contact with Eberron, viewing it as a dangerous place. There are exceptions to this; Pylas Pyrial has been more open, and Shae Loralyndar has maintain ties through the Greensingers. But the point of the addition of the Feyspires in 4E is that they've left almost no mark on history because they have intentionally hidden themselves from the outside world. They are like Shangri-La and Brigadoon - places known only from stories and faerie tales, where an isolated knight or explorer stumbles across the hidden city. So if you follow that principle, no, as cultures they never took an active interest in any of the cultures of Khorvaire. However, this doesn't rule out individuals leaving the Feyspires and playing a role in the world. There could be a tale of a fey knight who aided the Dhakaani in a vital battle and clashed with a daelkyr. Conversely, it could be that a legendary Dhakaani champion was whisked away long ago in an Avalon situation and now lies in enchanted slumber in Shae Joridal; if he could be woken from this sleep, he might be able to save the Feyspire from the Ghaal'dar... and provide a new uniting force for the Heirs of Dhakaan. So the primary question is what you want them to have. By canon, it's easy to say that there's been no contact whatsover with other cultures and they know nothing. But if you WANT those secrets of the Daelkyr War, they were around then, so you could certainly hide them in a feyspire.