I think perhaps my idea of elves is a little different from most. I read somewhere that, while elves prefer to live in forests where there are other elves, they are not really very social critters. Since the extent of a market determines the level of specialization, I conclude that most elves do not specialize in anything, but are all purpose forest-tenders. Elves also don't need shelter, so they carry most everything they need with them. What they can't or don't want to carry, they stash in a tree.
So I see elves trundling around with a full quiver, a bow, a broadsword, and a buckler on their backs and a number of tools at their belt. ("Tools?" you say? Gardening tools. Small shears for cutting away diseased stalks, a trowel, etc.) When they need to fight, they put the buckler on an arm, loosen the broadsword, and string the bow. I think most of them don't normally have spears. They only make these when they think they will need them. Question: will having a buckler on your arm make sighting difficult when firing your bow? What about when you are in a bow trance?
A few types will vary. Yelmalio initiates might have a thing for spears. I think they would probably tend to stay near the edge ("frontier") of the forest and have more use than most for spears. Mortally wounded, a Yelmalian elf might stick his spear in the ground, and activate the matrix on it that transfers his spirit into it and causes it to root. Babs initiates will carry a big ol' honkin' axe instead of a broadsword (and normal elves will think them very odd). I think there a an abnormally high number of Babs initiates in the Elder Wilds because of Rist.
So I think Paolo and I agree, anyway. Arf dislikes bows and prefers blowguns. I, too, think it more in character, but, having used both bows and blowguns, know that I'd rather have a bow anyday, except perhaps in the densest of forest, where range and power won't matter as much. On the other hand, if you've got a super-bamboo blowgun, just stick a spearhead in one end and you have a short spear. (Don't laugh. I saw it in a martial arts movie. It must work. (sarc)) Voralans would always use blowguns if they didn't have such good contact poisons. Pixies use blowguns. Runners don't seem to use missile weapons. Why?? If I'm with a group of Yelmalian spear wielders, I think I'd like all the missile support I can get, even from overgrown bushes.
Yelmalio:
One possible explanation for why an elvish cultural hero would have light
powers pre-Dawn is that he specifically quested for them. Light would be
the most important need for a forest in the Darkness, so it would be the
logical thing to look for. Perhaps he stole Wildfire's light powers and
Wildfire razed the forest of Prax in retaliation? This fits with my other
invention of him re-assembling Flamal at the Hell Crack.
I like Paolo's explanation of Yelmalio as the god of rebirth (nay! reseeding!) after fire. If I take what I said above, I'd also say that Yelmalio tried to reseed after Wildfire burned everything, victoriously resulting in the . . . ah, er, um . . . Praxian plains? Hmm. Why didn't a reseeding god go to Prax? Or maybe he did, but discovered that, without Genert, his efforts were for naught. And that gave him the idea of reassembling a god. Yeah. That's it. <Whew!>
Something totally different:
Me:>> if they were dwarves, they would just invent the folding broadsword.
:) )
Arf:>Ha! I LOVE this idea! The patented Swiss - no, Dwarf - army sword!
Speaking of patents, I (being a damn lawyer) went to a seminar last weekend on intellectual property. To show off how overeducated they are, the speakers had to tell us where intellectual property came from. You might find some of this useful in Glorantha. It's all related to guilds. Trademarks came about because guildmasters wanted to be able to identify their work (and that of their journeymen and apprentices). Patents came about (in Venice, specifically) as the method of enforcing each guild's monopoly on producing whatever products it produced. Copyrights came about because the English throne granted a monopoly on printing to the Stationer's Company (a guild) in order to suppress potential treason & heresy. (When the law expired, it granted the monopoly to the author of each work.) All superb reasons that have nothing to do with modern law. I see dwarves enforcing their patents fairly vigorously . . . .
Chris Lemens
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #302
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