War equipment (spear vs. sword)
Has any of you ever carried a spear on his back? I figure it is a very clumsy thing to have with you. I think it should be easier to climb a tree with a sword hanging from your belt that a spear fastened to your back! In addition to this, a backstrapped broadsword is in a scabbard and can be drawn easily if needed, while a spear is strapped to the carrier's body - I usually require one full MR to ready it. And BTW, wasn't the Buckler supposed to be carried at your belt? Why should elves keep it on their backs?
My opinion is that common elves never carry melee weapons - spears are too clumsy to carry, and if they are unable to down their foes with arrows before he can engage them in melee they are undone. When groups of plant tenders are forced to fight they are probably equipped with wooden-tipped spears, with which they have some sort of basic training. I imagine they dodge in combat instead of carrying bucklers and armor. However, they are basically missile infantry, and many of them carry no melee weapon even when at war. If they are firing arrows and want to have their melee weapons ready for use, they must stick it into the ground since there is no such thing as a spear scabbard (at least AFAIK), and it looks like a bad idea IMO.
Professional Vronkali warriors are another story. Although their basic weapon is still the bow, they are well trained in melee combat. For the stated reasons of easy access to their weapons when switching mode from missile to melee, these warriors tend to prefer the sword as their main weapon when thay have access to metal weaponry. An axe would be more appropriate to earth-friend cultists, but for some unexplained reasons aldryami do not like axes. However, if the Vronkali are part of an aldryami community that worships Yelmalio instead of HKE as the winter protector, I imagine they tend to use metal-tipped spears as their melee weapons.
This introduces the next subject.
The Winter Sun (Yelmalio vs. High King Elf)
I cannot recollect who it was who stated this, but in a recent Yelmalio debate (the #347 Yelmalio debate on this list, if I remember well) someone stated that the aldryami version of the Frontier Sun had no gifts/geases, from which I suppose he is worshipped as the Sun god rather than a war god by aldryami. I suspect this varies from forest to forest, though. I agree with Alex Ferguson that Vronkal and Yelmalio share the same role, the Winter Protector, but I still believe that there are elven areas where it is Yelmalio that guards over the woods in Winter. Moreover, Yelmalio is a god of Light, whereas Vronkal is not. I see it like the Karrg/Zorak Zoran dualism for trolls. There are clans that have Karrg's sons, and clans that have Death Lords as their war leaders, still all clans are faithful to the Kyger Litor way. So no shame, I believe, if some Vronkali communities replace HKE with Yelmalio.
For an example look at this brief excerpt from a scenario of mine
(currently in the Tradetalk material pool ). All IMO and subject to HG
(heavy gregging).
The Young Pineroots of Thelawood
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Thelawood is a conifer grove in the forest of Rathorela, inhabited by a small Vronkali community who refer to themselves as the Young Pineroots. These elves have moved from Winterwood during the Third Age for unknown reasons, and their settlement is rather recent by Aldryami standards. They have taken with them only parts of the Vronkali culture, so their social structure is slightly different from that of other Vronkali communities. They worship Aldrya mainly through the Dryad of Thelawood, known to non-Aldryami as Nedell Black Alder, whose true name is not spoken in the presence of outsiders. Their High King is Rankatal, who refers to himself as a Vronkal, although he rules only a small number of elves. He is the only one Green Elf who has attained Rune Lord status in the cult of Aldrya in Thelawood, but the local traditios require that he fulfils the position of King rather than military commander.
The war cult that most full-time warriors join is the once-forgotten cult of Yelmalio, reintroduced and led by Rellyan the Sunwarrior. He is a fierce warrior who served in human armies in his youth, and brought this cult with him when he came back to his birthplace. His title gives him the rank of Rune Lord in Thelawood, with the right of responding only to the Elder Sister and to the High King, although he is only an Acolyte in the eyes of the human cult of Yelmalio. In spite of the fact that many elven temples of Yelmalio do not confer any gifts or geases upon their members, the Yelmalions of Thelawood do have gifts and geases, a practice introduced by Rellyan himself, who states he has learned it from "the red men in the far East".
Conifers and Fire
There is one more subject to disscuss. Alex Ferguson describes Mreli
(you wrote Emblymi but I suppose you were talking about Brown Elves) as
Ecological Rivals, but they are not. Conifers and deciduous trees do not
compete, they are complementary. Conifers colonize all environments
where deciduous trees could not survive, and in most cases prepare the
soil for the coming of a deciduous forest. The strong roots of pines are
very effective at breaking hard or frosty terrain, turning rock or
tundra into fertile ground where oaks may live. The most interesting
case, however, is the rebuilding of a burned forest (can you see the
Fire rune association?).
When a wood or grove has been burned to death, the deciduous forest cannot be reborn on the ashes. The first plants that appear on the outcoming desolation are grass parches, ferns and small bushes. The first trees to appear are invariably conifers, even though the climactic ecological community for that area is a deciduous forest. So conifers are the pioneer trees after a fire. There is in fact an American species of pine whose cones do not even open to release seeds if the tree is not set on fire! Once the conifers die, they leave behind enough organic soil to let deciduous trees thrive.
So this is the role of Vronkali in mixed green/brown elves: not only do they protect the brown plants sleeping in winter, but they are the pioneers who rebuild the forest after the Burning Death has striken. When the feared Reforestation starts, it will be the Vronkali who spearhead the invasion of cultivated lands, for it is they who have been appointed as pioneers by Flamal and Aldrya.
As for fire, this is the mythical explanation I give. Vronkali have the task of rebuilding the woods after a fire. They cannot handle fire themselves because they are still aldryami, but they must handle the remains of it. And who is the one in the myth who comes from fire but cannot handle it any longer? Yelmalio! So I suggest the following new aspect of Yelmalio (Hey! One more! This is gonna make me very popular, I bet...). The Frontier sun is also the god of Rebirth after Fire among the Vronkali. Or perhaps, if you like, they actually have one specific deity they worship when accomplishing this task (the shrine is a flat extent of ashes...) and the ignorant humans mistake him for Yelmalio in their inaccurate reports.
Botanics class is over. Comments welcome.
http://www.geco.it/~guccione ------------------------------
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