Page 36 - Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes

CHAPTER 2:

ELVES

HE MOST ANCIENT TALES SPEAK OF ELVES mutability and infinite grace, Corellon was a god like
as the children of the god Corellon. Unlike no other- able to take the form of a chuckling stream,
many similar myths involving other races, a teasing breeze, an incandescent beam, a cavorting
these tales are true. Elves are all descended fiame, or a crackling bolt of lightning. On nothing more
from a deity, and their origin Jed to a trag- than a whim, Corellon's body could become a school of
edy that shapes their culture to this day. fish, a swarm of bees, or a flock of birds. When consort-
The gulf between the elves and Corellon, ing with other gods, Corellon often adopted their ap-
and the split between Corellon and Lolth, arose from pearances- male, female, or something else- but just as
the same transgression. That one incident set all the often kept their company in the form of a rose blossom
many races of elves on their present paths, determined or a delicate doe.
their unique life cycle, and triggered an unflagging Corellon's flamboyant, mercurial personality showed
hatred between the drow and the elves of the Material through no matter which form the entity took. Corellon
Plane. No other event has had such momentous impact loved wholeheartedly, broke oaths without reservation,
on elven history as the one that began it all. and took pleasure from every encounter with the other
divine beings of the multiverse.
A R ACE DIVIDED Most of the gods accepted Corellon's mutability
and passionate behavior, but these traits infuriated
O NCE WE FOLLOWED IN CORELLON'S FOOTSTEPS, BUT
Gruumsh, the greatest of the ore gods. Gruumsh's
we strayed from that path. For our whole existence, we pay wrath was almost universally respected, even among
the divine powers, but Corellon blithely took no heed of
penance for a misstep. It is just? Mayhap not, but when is
him. Perhaps it was this seeming hauteur that enabled
love just? Is loss and longing a matterforjudges to decide?
Gruumsh to get close enough to wound Corellon, ignit-
The heart knows what the soul wants. ing the legendary conflict that cost Gruumsh one of his
- Amlaruil Moonflower, Last Queen of Evermeet eyes. Depending on who does the telling, the battle was
a clash of titans fought across many planes and worlds,
or it was little more than an annoyance to Corellon. But
Long before elves existed, Corellon danced from world
the legends all agree that the first elves emerged from
to world and plane to plane. A being of consummate
the blood that Corellon shed.

CHAPTER 2 I ELVES