The enmity between elves and deep elves is as deep and primeval as the hostility between fire and water. What one must understand is that Good is as ingrained into elves as Evil is into deep elves in nature, in upbringing, and in world view. To turn from this path is impossible….
The nature of the elf/deep elf division has its truth covered in the murk of the deepest prehistory. That difficulty, however, has not stopped scholars like myself from pontification and speculation. Torrum Arcana scholar Wesley Wifts, for example, claims it was simply a matter of evolution which “created the roiling division in world view as well as physical appearance” (234, see also Viorgin Curmen’s chapter on the evolution of elves in his tome “Leap in Form: A Study of Divergence”). Elves became “good” sorts who interacted diplomatically with other races, as this fit their surroundings. The cloistered deep elves, however, grew self-oriented and xenophobic in their separation.
Even the attributes can be seen as natural selection. The pale cast of the deep elf works well for creatures who sees little of the sun. The golden skin of elves works best for those who must blend against trees and endure the light of the sun. The two races, goes the claim, are both tributaries of the same river…. Folklore supports the theory of an original race from which these two cousins sprung. Imperial Scholar Nolis Porstoy points out that the myth of Henkilo, despite blatant master-race propaganda and bias evident in “every over-solemn syllable,” may have a germ of truth to it (56). Careful study has shown definite links in heritage between the two races, separated in the polar opposites by some event so far-flung in the past we may never uncover it, the “Halfling Universal Source Race” theory notwithstanding (Blunderbuck, 241-78)….
Yet for being only skin deep, the differences are immense. Elves align themselves with the causes of good, deep elves to the causes of evil. A change in one race’s world view from one to the other is so enormous that it cannot occur.”Such a severe change would surely result in catatonia and internal and physical damage,” (Shooth, 567). Even a move to the neutral world view is impossible. The pursuit of Good and Evil is forever locked into the hearts of elves and deep elves, respectively….