Snow Elves Vs. High Elves

[Adran 10]

I do not believe the evolutionary aspects of real-world sciences apply to this world. All things are made of magic, so such details would not be necessary if your goal is to explain these mutations.

Erm not very many... Elves infertility would make the amount of generations at best 3 to 4

     Well...I thought I was done here...but if either of those statements is true (and they both look reasonable to me), everything I've written so far in this thread is...wrong. Four generations is not by a long shot enough for any changes to occur, so any differences between snow elves and high elves would either be impossible or be brought about by magic. I guess I'll make a list of possibilities?

1. Snow elves are no different physically from high elves at all.

2. The snow elves bathed in golden pools that were...colder? I dunno.

3. Sometime after the high elves became a thing, the snow elves found some way to change their bodies magically to better fit a snowy environment.

4. Sometime after the high elves became a thing, someone or something cursed/blessed a group of high elves for some reason and made them better suited for a cold environment.

5. An extra fifty+ generations occurred somehow without anyone noticing...no.

     So I guess this thread is no longer over. I'm not quite sure yet where to go from here, but I really want to make snow elf lore consistent and playable, and compromises on this sort of thing will just make it more confusing. Please tell me if you have other ideas/thoughts to contribute.

[hellfiazz 878]

Snow Elves are no different from High Elves other than very small superficial differences. Nothing more to it.

[Adran 10]

Snow Elves are no different from High Elves other than very small superficial differences. Nothing more to it.

Yes, I get that, but my question now is: how did they acquire those differences? I don't need a definite answer; maybe nobody knows IC. I was just asking if anyone had any new ideas/thoughts that hadn't already been stated. My OCD is on overdrive and I have to come up with a reasonable explanation. Also: another question for the Lore Team: if I were to begin piecing together a lot of ideas for snow elf lore, would it be better to bombard you with a lot of different threads separated based on topic or just make one megathread? I want to know where to put my idea of iatrocryomancy. Or, option C: should I just shut up and let the snelves die because everyone hates them?

[TavernLich 324]

I think you are overthinking the simplicity of snow elves, Adran, like Hellfiaz has said, Snow Elves are practically the same as High Elves with little difference other than those that help make Snow Elves be like Snow Elves. They are a culture, not a race as repeated so many times. They don't have special race powers and such because they are a culture with a religion/ traditions centered around a giant pickle/ cucumber and snow.

If I were to make a culture, let's say, about fire worshiping dwarves, they would not be immune to fire and have a beard made of Fire, no. They would be exactly the same as your regular dwarf but one who has certain traits and characteristics that would be centered around them worshipping fire, nothing more.

[Adran 10]

I think you are overthinking the simplicity of snow elves, Adran, like Hellfiaz has said, Snow Elves are practically the same as High Elves with little difference other than those that help make Snow Elves be like Snow Elves. They are a culture, not a race as repeated so many times. They don't have special race powers and such because they are a culture with a religion/ traditions centered around a giant pickle/ cucumber and snow.

If I were to make a culture, let's say, about fire worshiping dwarves, they would not be immune to fire and have a beard made of Fire, no. They would be exactly the same as your regular dwarf but one who has certain traits and characteristics that would be centered around them worshipping fire, nothing more.

Look! I get that they're not a race! I honestly don't care whether the snow elves are physically different from the other high elves. But I want to know for sure. And since all the replies I'm getting are contradictory, I'm asking for clarification. Some people are telling me they're exactly the same; some people are telling me they're slightly different. And I need to know which one is true. Also, you are overstating my point here. I don't want the snow elves to have "hair made of ice" and "an immunity to the cold." And if they have even tiny differences, there has to be some explanation for them. I hear what you're saying, I've heard it a hundred times now, but it's not helpful. I want to hear from people who actually have something new to contribute here and I don't want to have to keep posting here to clarify myself.

[Jistuma 1995]

     Well...I thought I was done here...but if either of those statements is true (and they both look reasonable to me), everything I've written so far in this thread is...wrong. Four generations is not by a long shot enough for any changes to occur, so any differences between snow elves and high elves would either be impossible or be brought about by magic. I guess I'll make a list of possibilities?

1. Snow elves are no different physically from high elves at all.

2. The snow elves bathed in golden pools that were...colder? I dunno.

3. Sometime after the high elves became a thing, the snow elves found some way to change their bodies magically to better fit a snowy environment.

4. Sometime after the high elves became a thing, someone or something cursed/blessed a group of high elves for some reason and made them better suited for a cold environment.

5. An extra fifty+ generations occurred somehow without anyone noticing...no.

     So I guess this thread is no longer over. I'm not quite sure yet where to go from here, but I really want to make snow elf lore consistent and playable, and compromises on this sort of thing will just make it more confusing. Please tell me if you have other ideas/thoughts to contribute.

Don't go so far, things don't have to make perfect sense, they just have to make sense. The idea that some high elves started living in the cold and adapted slightly to it is perfectly alright. The point that elves are infertile and as such there wouldn't be many generations only means they could not have changed a lot, but slightly is alright. For whoever said 3-4 generations, if elves had their first child at age 100 (50 years after becoming an "adult"), and they appeared at year 800 (This dates is NOT true, just an example), then they would be by the 6th or 7th generation right now. Considering I have no idea when the snow elves actually appeared in the lore that was written, then it could be more, or it could be less.

 

Consider also that there could be elves that had a better affinity with snow, and maybe that was why they started living in cold lands. These things can happen naturally, and if those elves got together and made a village/town/what have you, then the next generations would be even better adapted.

 

Also, if you really want magic to be mixed, there was always the lore of them having fallen in water filled with Thanhium and then they got colder. I don't advise you go through this route.

[Adran 10]

Don't go so far, things don't have to make perfect sense, they just have to make sense. The idea that some high elves started living in the cold and adapted slightly to it is perfectly alright. The point that elves are infertile and as such there wouldn't be many generations only means they could not have changed a lot, but slightly is alright. For whoever said 3-4 generations, if elves had their first child at age 100 (50 years after becoming an "adult"), and they appeared at year 800 (This dates is NOT true, just an example), then they would be by the 6th or 7th generation right now. Considering I have no idea when the snow elves actually appeared in the lore that was written, then it could be more, or it could be less.

 

Consider also that there could be elves that had a better affinity with snow, and maybe that was why they started living in cold lands. These things can happen naturally, and if those elves got together and made a village/town/what have you, then the next generations would be even better adapted.

 

Also, if you really want magic to be mixed, there was always the lore of them having fallen in water filled with Thanhium and then they got colder. I don't advise you go through this route.

Thank you for responding; this is very helpful. The idea that they accidentally adapted and then moved or that they have actually had more generations than I thought and then changed slightly makes sense enough for me (although I'm sure the snow elves may have their own stories about their origin). Now it all makes sufficient sense for me. I appreciate you all taking the time to read through my confused scribbles and help me understand what's going on. I at least have no more questions to ask and I can finally rp my snow elf accurately. So...thanks!

[TavernLich 324]

(Quotes don't work) @If you really want to find an answer that is really quite tough, because on the grounds of what you just said, some say this and others say that. But what I simply stated was that you recognize they are a culture. If you have questions avout Snelves, remember they are a culture, because they are a culture they don't recieve anything special they are just the same as High Elves with a few distinctions, but, again, they are a culture so they are in no way shape or form different from High Elves. If you want a precise answer on what they are, like I stated above, that is going to be quite hard, I suggest you ask LMs and veteran snelves and find an answer throug that.

[ShameJax 1391]

What we have always used is this:

High elves go on an expedition somewhere.

They fall in a pit of thaunhium.

After being infused with it it melts and they wake up.

Now I am currently busy with studies, so I can answer your questions about us at another point in time. (EX A week or so.)

 

Just a note, thaunhium converts heat into mana, just to give some insight. 

 

EDIT: All further questions about snelves I would like it to be messaged to me, even though I am now the "Fallen Snelf" I can still answer these questions.

[Jistuma 1995]

This was basicly a thread asking questions about the snow elves, and they are pretty much gone now.

 

Moved to denied.