What They Don't Tell You About The Elvish Empire - D&D 

I was skeptical of your d&d videos at first because I thought "oh great just another series of lore videos." But Rhexx, I have found that you make some of the most nuanced, thoroughly researched and detailed videos on DND lore available. your videos are legitimately useful for me as a dungeon master and for my players for the purposes of role-playing. Your insight into elven culture and the emphasis they place on the afterlife is so crucial and I never even knew.

Man, historical events in D&D sound more interesting than any current modules and campaigns in 5e.

Thruoght the whole Elven history: **Sad Drow noises**

Ahg, imagine trying to flirt with an elf but they just can't stop staring at the damn broccoli in your teeth. Embarrassing 🤦🏻‍♀️

Surface Elves: A filthy traitor drow dares intrude on our home!? Die! "Androgynous" drow: *[flips up their skirt]* Surface Elves: Oh, I see. Call it off everyone, we're good!

Ironic that an anti-magic field would make them vulnerable to being charmed, because charm effects wouldn't be possible anyways!

I wonder how elves reacted when Karsus Avatar maide a blackout on the weave

I'm so happy you covered Eilistraee. She is one of my favorite goddesses in the whole D&D pantheon. I hope at some point you talk about the different gods and eventually get to go more in depth with her.

I'm sure it might get there but with all the elven lore, kind of wondering how it affects half-elves. Can they see the weave, do they have reverie so on and so forth.

So if elves have suck a high dependence on the weave how did the 100 years the broken weave effect them. Especially newly born elves. I would think that it would effect there reverie.

This whole thing with the Elves' anatomy made me interested in how Half-Elves work, or more accurately, how different they are from both their human and elven parent. Is there a video on them in the planning?

... *Anti-magic bomb* ... *Magical Power Outage* Everyone: ... ... ... Literally every Elf: oh LAAAWWWDD!!!

I've been watching your stuff for sometime now and binging all the D&D content for the last couple of days. I never had the chance to play D&D with friends, just read a ton of the books and played some of the PC games. There's something nostalgic about hearing you tell all this lore, like my inner child has finally found that place that I always wanted to be. Y con amigos con quien disfrutarlo tambien! I watched your most recent Elvish video and thinking that I consumed all the content, feeling kinda empty and guilty I headed over to Patreon but was suddenly distracted and then afterwards came back to RU-vid and refreshed the tab. It brought me right back here to my surprise and elation to yet another video just uploaded! Mr.Rhexx, mad love I am now officially your 80th patreon supporter. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to that I truly enjoy. Be well!

15:27 Metal in your armor blocks spell casting? I thought that the spell check penalty came from the armor's mobility limitation (which also limits dexterity) for the *somatic component* of the spell, thus the chance for having spell failure, because the caster didn't move their body correctly during casting. I recall that still spell (casting a spell without somatic component) allowed casters to cast without armor penalty when casting arcane magic (for some reason divine magic ignores armor check penalty).

You forgot about the spelljamming elven fleets, the most successful elven empire since they span across the multi-verse.

These D&d class lessons are the best part of my day

I constantly come back to your videos to inform the underlying lore of my campaigns, allowing me to focus on the complexity of the "now" for the characters' stories, and providing a much more complete experience for my players. This series is an INCREDIBLE tool, and I can't qualify their value to me and my tables. Thank you.

I hope we get to learn about the Shadar Kai soon! There are some major changes from pre 5e, to recently, and it's all a bit confusing.

"note taking intensifies"

Legend speaks that they reunite at the yearly *Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade* to mock us, humans.

incredible how Elfs love their connections yet they all killed each other... so we're not so different...

I've never played D&D and I've always wanted to make a drider PC, but it'd be tricky to make a PC out of an evil elf that's tranformed into a monster. I've fantasized how I could make a plausible backstory for a neutral good one. Maybe she was a powerful sorceress / wizard, but failed her trial to become one of Lolth's priestesses by refusing to kill her kind-hearted but weak brother and was cursed to wonder as a drider in the underdark until she helps out a group of adventurers. Perhaps she makes a silk rope to get them out of a pit or drops from the ceiling onto an enemy that was about to kill someone. She could polymorph herself to enter town without creating a panic or serve as a mount for smaller party members while in the wilderness. I picture her making silk scarves for everyone or patching clothing with her spinnerets. Basically, a very sweet person who was raised in a harsh culture and forced into a monstrous form, but never lost her empathy. Kind of sounds like an interesting backup character to show up and replace a PC that dies while in the underdark.

That's odd, how do the elves rely so much on the weave when the Feylords seem to do things irregardless of the weave's limitations.

No wonder Hugo Weaving is Elrond and Agent Smith. He can see the weave's code. Are elves = agents? This is all head canon to me.

Elves: the only group of people who damn an ENTIRE RACE but still are seen as lovely people

One thing I was curious about. In the Player's Handbook, it talks about the various skin colors common in elves. I can't help but notice that, well, I never see this in even the official art. I guess it is somewhat explained by that fact that elves, in general, are often imagined having skin similar to ours. But it still seems odd that, in the sourcebook, elves seem to be described with a ton of different possible skin colors, yet I hardly ever see any of these more exotic colors.

Elves rock! Also nice mtg art pieces lol.

So in truth they actually have told "you" all about the elven empires, people just don't own or read those books. So thank you for consolidating and explaining the information to those unaware or uninitiated with the Faerun lore. My personal favorite Elfs are that of Dark Sun. Now they are some interesting peoples.

Love your content man discovered you about yesterday and I've gone through more than half your dnd videos already

I'm planning on playing a drow in our current campaign and I always enjoy learning the history of a race with MrRhexx before playing them. Thanks!

Elves enjoy refined hobbies such as archery, high magic, and "Crown" wars against the Green Elves. I bet Corellon is responsible for all this elfin self-loathing and chaotic infighting.

4:20 worshipers of Eilistrae go to the elven afterlife like other races of elves. The goddess has a small realm of control both in the same place as Lolth and other underdark gods, as well as a primary domain in the realm of the elven gods. The secondary realm is so Eilistrae still has a connection to her underdark followers.

That was a change I never liked was that from Tolkien's Dark Elves... They were just the elves who didn't know life under the two great trees in Valinor.... "Dark" held no description whatsoever in regards to Good/Evil.... That is far more interesting to me...

This is more about Elves than their empires.

Androgynous is not dated, is a perfect word to describe someone who looks male-like and differentiate it from the usual feminine look adopted through all of the same specie. You don't worry.

I never found the 'pseudoscience' of the 'gland' to be a sufficient explanation for elven resistance to sleep and charm. I get that it is in the published material, but I never felt a need to try to find a way to include all published material as gospel just because it was published. I think it is a bit unneeded, if not lazy , to try and relegate the difference of elves any other race to a single magical gland. I've always explained their resistance to sleep and charm magic to my players as coming from elven reverie itself. With so much self-knowledge and self-awareness - an 'illusion' in the form of a spell telling them 'you are tired' or 'you see this thing over there' would just be less successful, because the knowledge and awareness they have is so deep that 'faking' these things with a spell is something they almost instantly notice.

I am flabbergasted that people actually downvote your videos. It is obvious that you invest so much time exhuming this lore for us. Thank you.

And omg I cant wait for your videos of the other races like halflings, kenders, and halforcs, I love your d&d videos and cant get enuf

Your narrative is like a whole episode of a sped up adventure.Beautiful use of pictures.You might have been a bard in another life time.

I love your explanation of Elvish dark vision here & a lot of this is a learned skill based on a adaptive ability. You really put things people haven't really heard about.

Gods after the crown wars: I LEFT YOU ALONE FOR FIVE MINUTES!

when are you going more in depth on the drow? you keep toutching on them and then moving off to explain the surface elves alone.

Given that the elves started as formless shifters, like Corellon, being born androgynous (in 5e) basically means an elf can change their sex at will. Thus this is seen, in elven culture, as a direct blessing of Corellon. Hence, you're the coolest if you can do that in most elven societies. Except the Drow, because the Matriarchy does not like some lowly little weak male suddenly deciding he wants to be a big swoll female and become a rival matriarch instead of a servant. Shit like that could upend all of Drow society, because the men start getting ideas that they can be in charge and Lloth will have none of that shit. Thus the baby boy/girl suddenly changing their sex to become a baby girl/boy (or anything inbetween) gets to be spider food, unless they can be hidden long enough to escape Drow society. I mean, in D&D you can pretty much change your sex at will once you can cast Alter Self (2nd level arcane spell), so I don't see it being such a big deal among arcane magic users. More like an odd quirk, unless you happen to be among elves who realize what a big freaking deal being blessed by their grumpy creator is. Like "this person almost got to say in heaven, they must have been so goddamn elf in their last life!". The elfiest of elves? Elviest? Most elven? Most elvish? Let's just go with "born to do something important". :P

ive just realised you sound like the guy from arrested development, the funny jealous older brother. great video as always.

do, what they don't tell you about Tieflings

I listened to one video, and immediately knew i needed to subscribe.

The term "androgynous" is definitely not outdated. It means either "to have an indiscernible appearance in regards to physical characteristics related to sex" or "having the appearance of being of both sexes simultaneously." It definitely does not mean hermaphrodite however, which is a genetic disorder that results in a person have more than 2 sex chromosomes and can alter one's appearance in regards to sex-related characteristics.

Hi, I really enjoy your videos! Though, a question on elves and the anti-magi field. You said they would go crazy in an anti magic field, so what happened to the Elves when magic disappeared due to the the 12th level spell being cast (Karsus' Avatar), there must have been a lot of mad elves and a bunch of stories there. I imagine, that they can't cast high level spells anymore either, but why? How does this affect their relationship with the humans? Did the Elves try to get their magic back?

here i was thinking i understand the elves connected minds, but than you said it's like the warmth of a loved one's hug, so i guess i dont know nothing

Who could have thought that Elves ALSO had a giant empire? Is it any race who hasn't had one, amiright?

I wonder how the elves of the Underdark would have survived during the Time of Troubles. No Arcane or Divine magic, no dark vision. It's astounding that such a chaotic place did not plummet into total anarchy.

As a human, at least I hope I'm human, I can't understand how an Elf can stand being constantly bombarded by other Elven thoughts or emotions or how anyone can just read your thoughts like an open book. What if I had a really bad secret I needed to keep? What if, and I know it's weird for an elf to do this but, I was trying to become a Lich? How am I supposed to hide that thought/memory from others?

I loved the thought of that thought at the end there would be a plot to a whole storyline.

I love your videos. They're great to fall asleep to, great to listen to when I'm writing, and so intricate. Thank you, sir.

"Community Thought-Hug" Brilliant

Minor correction, but important one: Drow society is based first on class and second on gender. It just so happens that all the highest positions are exclusively for females. That being the priestess of Lolth. But this does not mean that any man has to obey any woman in drow society. The Archmage of menzeborranzan for example is not likely to bow and obey the female drow shopkeeper or guard. Nor is a noble born male warrior likely to obey a shopkeeper either. Drow society is stratified by caste first and gender second, but whenever someone is within the same caste the female always ranks above the male.

As a DM, these videos are super useful, entertaining, and inspiring. I'm tweaking the Forgotten Realms Crown of Horns campaign for my players and these videos are helping flesh out the back story involving Lolth and drows. I can't wait to reveal some of this to my players

Do elf souls always become the same kind of elf? Like, if a moon elf dies, can they be a sun elf in their next life?

Earlier editions, elves had low light vision, only drows had darkvision

These lore drops are amazing! Thank you so much! 💕

yo dude you have no idea how much youve inspired me to play dnd and how much your videos have made me want to DM a campaign! youve also made me love dragons, especially pseudodragons. thank you so much!

Why you're on elves (though it wouldn't technically count as high magic) I would love one on their towns villages and camp from the different sub races, their pets and mounts like the elven cat or the dog( cant remember the spelling) koshie, their elegant artful weapons and weapon styles like bladesinging

These videos on elves are fucking amazing bc I was literally trying to do research on dark elves and kept getting confused but this lays it all out so neatly I love it

9:50 "Why were you late for elf practice?"

So the green elf's where just gitting kicked in the teeth over and over

Oh man, I'd love to learn more of Eladrin. I feel like I don't know anything about them even though its my characters race😂

waiting for the shadar-kai differeces love your videos btw

This is perfect. I was looking for a god/goddess for my good Drow cultist to worship. Basically she's a life cleric with a criminal background.

Nothing better then watching your vids at 2 am while laying in bed on a cold almost christmas night, I'm gonna be sad when you leave yt man

Thank you Mr Rhexx for all the info you bring us:D

High Magic, YEEEES!

When you started speaking about elves in a way sharing their thoughts, my first impression was "So they are like Protoss from Starcraft"

Dark Elves aka green elves made a treaty with dragon and formed Ilythiri. The avariel didn't just survive as Vagabond some went north to Great Glacier . They helped first moon Elves and Sun elves survive . They destroyed themselves in Feywild and had to leave .

So with these last 2 videos on the elvish races, my question is how did the sea elves come to be? They have always been my favorite & I've always wondered their origins.

fyi, Androgynous is an accepted term when it's used in a technical sense, rather than a slur. It's often an adjective used to describe non-binary people, and as long as it fits it's usually taken well enough. So nah, you were right to use it there fam. Edit: I noticed your further lore notes. The term there would be intersex.

4:00 - Except for YOU, Drizzt. Even among the good drow pantheon they'd rather leave you for a human deity...

I know its too popular but i want to hear tiefling lore, cant wait

Do you think you'll make a WTDTY for vampires at some point?

Elves have always been immune to sleep and charm. Once Upon a Time they were immune to lycanthropy

Woo! More high magic!!! Edit: ok, I guess that's the next video XD

I appreciate all your videos and hope the best for you!!

Thanks for your videos, man. It's added way more depth to my campaigns

I would *LOVE* to see you do a video on Tabaxis!

Sorry to say, but I believe that the picture used at 7:07 is actually a picture from Warhammer (by Games Workshop). The Elf in the forefront is Tyrion, and the Elf standing to his left in robes should be his twin brother Teclis.

About the Crown Wars, the dark elves made a lot of madness (making ALL other elves go against them)... But people who mention the Wars don't explain much about how SUN elves started this, made almost the same level of chaos of drow, and lots of them insist to keep a frail memory of ALL this part of history! Aryvandaar was no joke as an Empire, and Malkizid kept his covered influence pretty well.

So, how crazy did the elves went during Krasus' Folly, or the Spellplague?

Really loving this series!

were elves around when Karsus cast his spell. If so what was is like for them

With all these elf lore videos coming down the pipe, it would be cool to get one on Drizzt, and elves like him, since the seem to break the mold for all of elf society.

I do enjoy this, I never got into D&D as a kid, but got hooked on Warhammer instead, but the Drow has fascinated me for a long time.

how could the wild elves forget anything about their culture/magic/etc if they have memories of their past lives during the trance

I’m curious where Sea Elves fall under the lore of Elven societies, religious practices, and the perspectives they have on surfacers and their “cousin” elves, or land elves, or whatever they call other elves?

Probably unoriginal head cannon, Lulth devours the souls of all drow who come to her in death. The spirits of new drow are the spittle from her messy feasting. The reincarnation is sort of preserved, but really really twisted

If possible can u give an estimate time for your next video? I don't play dnd but these videos are so well done and informative. It's like mini stories I can't get enough of.

I wonder if Mercer thought about this stuff, and that's why they need the Luxon Beacon (dodecahedron) to be reborn as well as Dunamancy having something to do with high magic?

A simple request. Dwarves or Orcs. They are common, but such ancient races with lots of lore. If you already did either, I some how missed it, but these would be my favorite to hear more about from you!

I would appreciate it a lot if you can release video on wood elves. I enjoy all your content.

Came for the Elvish lore, stood for the Elvish anatomy lessons.

@MrRhexx Gotta say I have been watching your videos a while and I love the content you've been putting out, sorry I haven't subscribed till now but I do plan to keep watching your channel. Keep up the Lore content and the information and such on the Lore of Skyrim and D&D loving it.

Going to incorporate some of these ideas