Idea for the origin of elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls etc. in Dungeon Fantasy

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by trooper6

And what motivates them to leave their natural habitat to join a mercenary group that delves into dungeons to kill things and get loot? Or meddle with the affairs of men? Or whathaveyou.

For dwarves and gnomes that would be easy, they are greedy and love treasure. For elves, it may be that they have a spirit of adventure or maybe they want to find magic or artifacts of nature that were stolen. These were created or descended from faeries but they are mortal and also individuals so they have personal reasons for adventuring.

Goblin-kin would adventure mainly because they love conflict and brutality. Goblins and kobolds would be on the trickery end while hobgoblins would be on the brute violence end. Goblins would be curious about magic as well as they seem to learn some spells in myths. Orcs being derived from Tolkien are more interested in war and violence but they also think very highly of themselves and will attempt to delve into dungeons to gain wealth and power. The same can be said of hobgoblins.

Ogres would venture into dungeons to not only steal treasure but also to east the inhabitants of the dungeon to sate their endless hunger. Trolls being somewhat magically gifted would also be interested in magic that could be found there. At least the troll wives would.

Halflings would be the least likely to enter dungeons because they tend to enjoy staying in the home and in domestic environments. Some few would enjoy adventuring though.

[b-dog]

Shadow elves were created of descended from faeries but they split from their goodly brother elves. Instead of loving the beauty of nature they enjoyed the cruelty and violence of it. This is why they enjoy predatory creatures like spiders, scorpions, panthers, wolves and the like. They were sentenced to live underground with the goblin-kin, ogres and trolls but they often come out on moonless nights to wage war againts both seelie faeries and humanity. Their lairs underground reflect the dark beauty of nature. They often live in natural caverns with beautiful mineral and gem deposits and often gardens of fungi. Unlike the dwarves and gnomes, they prefer ther natural beauty of caves. They will however craft many weapons and armor from the ores but will protect the natural aspects of their caverns as much as possible.

The dark dwarves followed their obsession with precious earths to a degree where they turned into extremely greedy and selfish beings. They became corrupted and now are no longer accepted among uncorrupted dwarves. Their skin is corpse white and their hair is jet. They build great traps to keep out any from taking their treasures and also to entertain theselves with the suffering of those who fall into them. They are neutral with shadow elves but do not trust them and the shadow elves feel the same. They will join an adventuring group for the thrill of violence and the accumulation of treasure.