SPELLJAMMER® Campaign World

Those elves who travel through wildspace and the phlogiston consider themselves the quintessential breed of elf, for they are the link between elves throughout known space. Because elves do not typically attain higher levels in magic, they are not as apt to construct planar travel devices. Thus, they rely on the Elven Imperial Navy to keep contact between the scattered settlements across the worlds. Paradoxically, it may be for lack of magical power that the elves are currently one of the strongest forces in space.

Some say that these descendants of the nomadic high elves have developed cloaking technology for their ships, allowing them to discreetly observe potential trouble spots. Further, rumor holds that there is a sizable fleet located at the Rock of Bral, hidden within the bowels of the asteroid with the consent of Prince Andru. It is well known that the elves have an embassy located on the Rock, for it is an important location in wildspace. Thus, any elf spelljammers can report directly to the Elven Imperial Navy at the Rock.

The Elven Imperial Navy travels to each of the major elf nations on each planet where elves are known to hold power. They carry news from other elf nations and offer assistance to the various rulers. Fortunately, they recognize each monarch as sovereign in their own nation, so there is little friction between spacebound elves and groundlings.

The assistance they offer is usually in the form of advice as the spelljammers do not like to make their presence known to the average inhabitants of a planet. Occasionally, they will offer something a bit more substantial, but this will generally only be in an emergency. In return for this help, they expect that the beneficiary will provide aid for the lesser elf nations in an area.

Some say that the Elven Imperial Navy also protects the elf homeworld. They claim that they are a naturally occurring race throughout the spheres, united in a common bond with the universe. Others point to the obvious similarities between elves on so many different worlds. These folk claim that the elves sprang from one world to spread across the spheres.

If it were true that the elves did originate from one world, it should come as no surprise that they deny it. Having seen what other races have done to their worlds and how many of these worlds are now obliterated, the elves would naturally want to make sure that none of these races would discover and then destroy the elf homeworld.

Conversely, another theory states that elves only learned to live in harmony with their new worlds through the destruction of their original home. This, the critics claim, is the elven shame, and they hide the planet because they don't wish it known that they weren't always as insufferably perfect as they are now.

It is due to the elves that so much of traveled space is relatively safe for good-aligned folk. The elves drove the orcish races from the known spheres in the Inhuman Wars, crushing their fleets almost entirely. Although the goblinoids have vowed revenge, the elves are not overly worried. If they did it once, they can do it again. This sentiment, of course, occurred prior to the Second Inhuman War.

The events leading up to the destruction of the goblinoid fleets stem from another debate, much like the one which prompted the move of the elves of Toril to Evermeet. This debate, too, took several hundred years from beginning to completion but, once decided, the doom of the goblinoids was sealed. With relentless precision and determination, the elves ensured that the goblin races would pose no threat for some time to come.

Because of their power and dominance of many spheres, the elves have grown arrogant. They have appointed themselves the police force of space and often decide to extend their jurisdiction to planet surfaces. Sometimes, it seems, the spelljamming elves embody all that is worst in the elf race. They use their age as power, claiming experience and wisdom beyond that held by others. They are haughty, hardly deigning to speak to "inferiors." They often interact with other races only when they suspect the other race of wrongdoing or conspiracy. The actions of these spelljamming elves contribute to, or even cause, the negative view of elves that many races hold.

Elven spelljamming ships are organically grown, bred for aesthetic beauty and functionality in wildspace. Thus, they are easily recognizable, as are those stolen from the elven gardens. The rejects are often violently colored monstrosities and are visible for long distances.

Elves from all worlds can be found in space, although it is typically only the grey and high elves (or their equivalents) who travel by spelljamming. Aquatic elves cannot leave their watery homes, and wood elves hate to be parted from their forests for even a short while. Drow cannot abide the light of the stars at such close range. (For that matter, drow can easily travel to other places by extraplanar means and so have no need to endure the brightness of space.)

In the middle of the Second Inhuman Wars, elves are finding that they have been too lax too long. Their inability to change at the same rapid pace as other races is leading to their downfall at goblinoid hands. The elves see their "empire" crumbling around their pointy ears. They have become just another spacefaring race rather than the feared power they had been for so long.

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