[El_Naso]

I think it goes a little beyond grayscale values; each relam has it's own values attached to it: Syrtis, the relam of the wood elves looks like the noble, alturistic, civilized relam while Ignis is savage, vengeful, thirsty for power and Alsius is, well, the third relam. It has snow.

That's what first timers imagine in general terms when they first see the "choose your relam" screen. And they choose wichever relam that matches their expectations of the game.

I think I went a little off topic in the last bit. I think story wise, it's more of a bunch of grays; syrtys is not evil but neither is good (they left their brethren dark elves to die in the desert) and ingis was never bad to begin with but wants revenge. Alsius never plays a part in this war, they are both protecting their lands from the other relams and attempting to gain something for themselves if they can.