Jon Irenicus subrace (SPOILERS)
Kagain
Member Posts: 12
Hello everyone, let's get straignt to business, since i do not think, that Joneleth Irenicus needs some introductions here.
1. As we all know, Baldur's Gate allows us to play as an "Elf" race, without selecting any subtype of it (Moon Elf by default?). And I question myself: which type of Elf was Jon Irenicus? Obviously, he is non-Drow, but I cant truly guess: Suldanessellar is said to be an "Elven city", nothing more specific, but on my mind, it fits Forest Elves more, yet I doubt, that Jon is Forest one (Sun/Moon Elf, perhaps?)
2.His name. I know, what it means, but I can't find any D&D Elven dictionary with actual statements about word "Irenicus", and I saw only a few matching name suffixes for name Joneleth. From which source it is exactly taken?
Just his concept is very inspiring, i would like to make something similar, but not exactly same for a character, lol.
1. As we all know, Baldur's Gate allows us to play as an "Elf" race, without selecting any subtype of it (Moon Elf by default?). And I question myself: which type of Elf was Jon Irenicus? Obviously, he is non-Drow, but I cant truly guess: Suldanessellar is said to be an "Elven city", nothing more specific, but on my mind, it fits Forest Elves more, yet I doubt, that Jon is Forest one (Sun/Moon Elf, perhaps?)
2.His name. I know, what it means, but I can't find any D&D Elven dictionary with actual statements about word "Irenicus", and I saw only a few matching name suffixes for name Joneleth. From which source it is exactly taken?
Just his concept is very inspiring, i would like to make something similar, but not exactly same for a character, lol.
Post edited by Dee on
2
Comments
"The high elves were the first people to master arcane magic, and many spells used today originated with elf wizards of old. They benefit ago, and nearly every high elf knows something of magic. High elves tend to be guarded and aloof, more serious and focused than their woodland kin."
As for the name, I guess the developers took a name of a 12th century monk called John Irenicus who was condemned by the Eastern Orthodox Church as a heretic:
1166 A council met under the presidency of the emperor Manuel Comnenus to address the interpretation of John 14.28: “My father is greater than I.” Demetrius of Lampe, a Roman (Byzantine) diplomat recently returned from the West, raised the issue to the emperor’s attention. Demetrius ridiculed the way the verse was interpreted there: Christ was inferior to his father in his humanity, but equal in his divinity. The emperor thought the Western interpretation made good sense. Eventually, he called a council to settle the matter. The council met on March 2. The following anathemas were directed against Constantine the Bulgarian, formerly Metropolitan of Corfu, and John Irenicus, by a synod in 1166. They are included in the Synodicon of Orthodoxy (see year 842).
(38) Constantine the Bulgarian, who says that “My father is greater than I” refers only to Christ's human nature, taken in abstraction; whereas the Fathers use such an abstraction only to explain statements implying servitude or ignorance, and explain the statement "My father is greater than I" in various ways, one of which is that the statement refers to the fact that Christ's human nature retained its properties in the hypostatic union;
(39) those who agree with Constantine of Bulgaria;
(40) John Irenicus, who held the same view.
http://www.geocities.ws/Heartland/Pines/7224/History/chrono12.htm
- The Patron God of Suldanessellar is Rillifane Rallathil, the patron god of the Green, or Wild, Elves, but he's also in charge of protecting Elven settlements, so that's not an automatic tell.
- Athkatla and its surrounding regions to the west of the forest of Tethyr are situated along a route running south along the Sword Coast called the Trade Way. Though Green Elves do live in the forest, the elves that live just east of this route, like those living in Suldanessellar, are the Elmanesse, which are a tribe formed when elves fled the fall of Myth Drannor and settled in Tethir.
- Myth Drannor, or Cormanthor is generally occupied by Moon Elves.
- Jon Irenicus is likely to be a Moon Elf. If the map is wonky, and it's much further east, he may be a Green Elf. It's unlikely that he is a Sun Elf, since Sun Elf architecture is supposed to be super grandiose even compared to regular elves, and the vast majority live in Evermeet.
I always thought they chose to resemble Icarus... as his demise came through trying to ascend to Godhood (ie too close to power/ too close to the sun).
The historical source you mention is interesting though @bengoshi
In BG:EE it was corrected into Jon Irenicus.
Given his hairless and more or less skinless head it's no wonder that he amputated his ears as well. Long ears tend to get in the way of brain surgery and the oul transfering business after all. Even his sister appears to have trimmed ears.
Also illustrations of Ellesime show her having copper skin, which is typical of wood elves. So it is definitely a wood elf city, and so would it's inhabitants be.
Why is Irenicus so beat up?
Despite their reduced constitution, elves actually have a lot going for them, physically. They regenerate scar tissue, they age very slowly, they're highly resistant to a lot of different diseases, basically a bunch of required secondary superpowers for living to 500+.
Irenicus lost all those things, and despite being very young for an elf, as a result he is getting old, growing senile, and his body isn't handling injuries very well, including self-inflicted from experimentation.
Also the man is clearly into S&M.
Moon elves (aka silver elves) and Sun Elves (aka gold elves or high elves) are primarily found in the north-west of Faerun, like the Western Heartlands, the Dalelands, Evereska, Silvermoon and the High Forest. They are primarily decendants of the elves that inhabited the old elven nations like Illefarn and Myth Drannor so they will be found primarily in those areas. Moon elves also had a small nation in the eastern parts of the High Forest called Eaerlann which they shared with wood elves.
Wild elves (aka green elves) are primarily found in the warmer places of the south of Faerun, primarily south of Calimshan or east of the Lake of Steam. So you would expect to find them in Chult, Chessenta, the Shaar, and the forests of the east like Chondalwood and the Forest of Amtar. Wild elves have a darker skin tone, much like humans in tropical and sub-tropical areas in the real world.
Wild elves are also unique in that they are reclusive to the point of avoiding even other elven racial groups, so very unlikely to be found in Amn/Tethyr.
Wood elves (aka copper elves), known for their copper skin tone (like queen Ellesime has), aren't types that enjoy civilization so they tend to congregate in secluded woods and small settlements like Suldanesselar (pop. 5000 according to Lands of Intrigue). They are spread a bit wider than moon or sun elves, and overlap somewhat in the north-west. They are primarily found in Tethyr (primarily the Wealdath where Suldanesselar is), but also other woods to the north and east, there are wood elves in the High Forest going into the north, as far as into Icewind Dale, and wood elf settlements in the woods of the western heartlands (like the Dalelands) and further east going as far as the woods of the Great Dale (in Dunwood and the Forest of Lethyr).
More fun facts about wood elves is that they are the most common form of elf found on Faerun, but because they tend to be more reclusive and less likely to drift towards civilization most players are more familiar with moon elves. Wood elves are also the only elves that are native to Faerun, the other elven sub-races came to Faerun from another world. And wood elves are the ones who originally taught magic to the humans of Netheril (though they did regret that decision).
I had to look up a bunch of books for this information (like Lands of Intrigue, Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves, Races of Faerun and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting), but all in all I am glad I did. I'm now 100% positive that Suldanesselar is a wood elf settlement, I only found mention of wood elves being settled there.
I did not find any mention of Silvanus being the patron of Suldanesselar, or any mention of the tree of life so those two things were likely plot devices invented for Baldur's Gate 2. Anyway, Silvanus is part of the Seldarine (the elven pantheon) so all elves revere him without particular regard for sub races.
I could go on, but this post is waaay long already.
For the subrace, wikipedia could be wrong but:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suldanessellar?_ga=1.233356638.1371097605.1454964761
"Located within the nation of Tethyr, the city is populated entirely by wild elves. "
I know Tethyr usually hosts Wood Elves but apparently Suldanesselar would be an exception.