Re: troll language and elf evolution

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 95 17:30:17 -0500


Fantome
>Does this mean a troll baby, will, if raised outside a troll
>settlement access know darktongue to some degree?
>Notice, that I stated 'know', as opposed to speak as speech
requires >practice for the vocal chords to work properly.
>IMHO, if instinctive the level of Darktongue 'known' should be
quite >limited.

        It is my opinion that troll language is largely instinctive. Trolls are able to learn other languages, obviously, and I imagine that a troll raised by humans would speak only the language of its parents. HOWEVER, if such a troll were then brought to a group of other trolls and listened to them speaking, she would feel something strange, something familiar in their accents. As she listened longer, eventually synapses would connect deep within her soul, and she would begin to be able to participate. It might take days. It might take months, but it would happen, and in a manner unparalleled in human linguistics.

        There are plenty of complex animal "languages", some of which are instinctive (and some of which are learned, just like humans). But Earthly knowledge of linguistics does us little good in this, because there is no animal with an instinctive language with a brain nearly as gigantic as a troll (a honeybee, with a brain a millionth of the troll's, manages to get fairly complex messages across). The brainpower for an instinctive language is certainly far less than that needed to learn a language on the fly, as human infants must do -- after all, once the learning process is done, humans must memorize just as many complex concepts as the instinctive troll must do.

        The major objection to an almost entirely instinctive Darktongue is that it would not be able to react and adapt to changing circumstances. I have two responses to this objection:

  1. Perhaps trolls _cannot_ change and adapt much. If we note that much of the world was ruled by trolls at one time, and their history since then has been practically an unremitting retreat to the high country, one wonders what their future holds.
  2. Genetics and instinct need not be the same on Glorantha as on Earth. Perhaps a better word for "instinct" is "racial consciousness". Perhaps trolls share a language species-wide in a very Jungian collective subconscious sense. No doubt that is why the hot trolls have diverged into a different language -- they have evolved so far apart from ordinary trolls that they now have an independent collective subconscious, as expressed in their language.

ELVES Brown elves derive from yellow elves. Green elves are less closely-related to either of the other two main types.

        The God Learners noted that all the various immobile forms of life in Glorantha (i.e., plants) had a mobile subtype worshiping a vegetative goddess. They decided that all these subtypes were "elves", sensing a parallel between these odd beings and the well-known brown and green elves who were the only such entities known to most Genertelans.

        If you look closely at the life cycles and habits of so-called Red Elves and Black Elves, it's easy to see that they are no more like the Aldryami than are humans. Though there are interesting parallels between the Embyli (yellow elves) and Red Elves, at least in their breeding cycle.

        The Embyli are entirely male in their elf form. For continuation, they mate with dryads. All red elves are male, except for the Olarians. The red elves mate with Olarians for continuation.

Note that a visible trend can be seen amongst the Aldryami:

	Yellow Elves: all male. Mate with dryads.
	Brown Elves: both sexes. Can mate with dryads, and  
sometimes do, but most reproduction seems to be pure elvish (however, it is possible that without occasional revivication of the root stock by dryadic mating, the brown elves might die out).

        Green Elves: both sexes. Rarely mate with dryads, and when this does happen there is never an elvish offspring.


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