Elves..err, Aldryami

From: Nick Effingham <wal_at_eff.u-net.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 16:52:52 +0100


Loreena Johnson writes:

>3)Nick Effingham asked about being linked to a specific tree and what would
>happen to an
>Aldryami if it was destoryed? I did some quick research and it seemed to me
>that the
>elder races book of elder secrets implied that the plant type of the
>Aldryami was more
>of a clan identifier, the longer their "TYPE" of tree lived the longer they
did.
>Dryads were bound to a specific tree but IMHO "ELVES"(god I hate that
>word!!) were
>free to come and go as they please.

 I'll heartily agree that Aldryami are associated to trees, rather than being connected to a specific tree -- this makes more logical sense.  However, elves probabley share qualities with the trees that they are connected to. Martin Crim's table could be expanded to include traits that particular elves share when they are connected to a tree -- although only an Aldryami would be able to tell you the "personality" of a tree. The long lived redwoods may be wise, the smaller trees may be skirmishers or such. The entire elven civilization could be based on, and around, the trees they develop from. Special cases develop in lands with both magical trees, and also the chaos-tainted trees of Hellwood (why did the Hellwood elves turn chaotic -- LoT suggests that the newer generations gradually grew more chaotic, perhaps they stopped associating themselves with the "normal" trees of Rist and connected instead to the chaotic foliage of Hellwood?)  The Cults of the Aldryami would probabley tend towards a particular tree type, the noble and powerful tree-clans would become Gardeners, those connected to trees that tower towards the sky might join Yelmalio or a similar light cult. Smaller, almost shrub like trees, might join Flamal. There would obviously be an interelation between the associated trees and other cults, mainly Aldrya and it's Gardeners.  WOuld there be a social pecking order? A prejudice based upon tree type, rather than age, sex or religion? Although, the trees that the humans expect to be linked to the socially inadequate might actually be the more powerful - -- as I have just written, the smaller trees will worship Flamal, a very important god in the elven pantheon, but to human logic any creature connected with a smaller, possibley weaker, tree would be far less important than their huge, breath-taking brethren.  Other considerations would be breeding. Could one member of a different tree type mate with another -- or perhaps an elf chooses which tree to become associated with upon coming of age, and is linked to that type through a ritual. While a human would almost certainly choose the longer lived tress, in order to get a longer lifespan, an elf would not as in Elder Secrets it says that they are reputed to go to the Afterlife when they hibernate, and therefore would have NO fear of Death.

- -------------------------------------------------
Nick Effingham         E-Mail:wal_at_eff.u-net.com
<None so gaudy, nor as bloody,
as the sword that would,
crash and bash, an' swing with a flash,
and spill thine enemies blood>
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