Re: Evolution? I would say the answer is a very firm and clear "it depends". Evolution can happen in a fantasy world, but doesn't have to -- creationism is a staple of the genre, after all. Evolution can also happen much more rapidly in fantasy than in reality. So it's mostly about what the author thinks is best for the story.
Re: Evolution? I'm more or less thinking along the same lines as Corvus here, it depends on the fantasy story, though I'm not to sure if creationism is so typical. I always thought most of the stories didn't really touch the subject.
Re: Evolution? evolution is not the oposite of creationism.
it is just mutation over time of critters
this can be used in fantasy if there is a lot of back ground magic in the area, changing the critters
Just because something evolved from something else doesn't mean to say that the original something else wasn't created from scratch.
Anyway, I agree, the subject does not tend to be brought up much. Things are created, true, but usually thats as far as most authors tell us. There is a lot of "and the gods created the world and blah blah blah..." but then the story starts some millenia later.
I think it can be used, just about anything can be used, it all depend on the story, like has been said.
--- Reading: Mistborn
Writing: Eriadhin
"Life is like a book, except it takes longer to get to the climax."
Re: Evolution? I guess I've always assumed that -- except in those worlds where the gods and their creations are explicitly described -- evolution occurred on fantasy worlds in a similar way as it did on Earth. This belief has been encouraged by a handfull of writers who use similar traits in the critters on their planets. Weber's six-legged tree cats and other friends spring immediately to mind, though I know I've read other variations by other authors as well. ...Of course, they've all slipped my mind now that I'm trying to think of them!
-- YAR!