Nikk Effingham:
>Elves are communual species, the forest is the
>entity that is important, not the individual, the
>Aldryami form one huge living entity.
Scott Haney:
>They have what is just about a hive mind and very
>little individuality and think in terms of the forest
>rather than the trees.
(Can't see the trees for the forest, huh? Heh, heh.)
I don't think this is right. The way you get adventurer elves is that they get to feel a little wanderlust in their early years. This does not seem appropriate for entities with something approaching a communal mind.
I think the question is what motivates elves to act such that humans think they have a communal mind? What humans see is elves acting selflessly in defense of trees. They see elves giving up their separate existences in defense of a bunch of wood. One way to make sense of it is to say that they have a communal mind that requires each elf to act for the good of the whole. Nonetheless, human parents give their lives for their spouses & children; dwarves give their lives for the world machine; trolls will make sacrifices for _real_ children (i.e. not trollkin).
If humans saw the rest of elf society, their view would not be so one sided. What motivates other races? Trolls are motivates by desires like hunger, domination, and procreation. Humans are motivated by security, power, and family. Elves have similar motives. I think elves have a complex structure similar to property ownership. They are responsible for and get the benefit of geographical portions of the forest, and everything that lives in it. They are responsible for its protection and well being. They are defenders, but more often gardeners. The success of their portion of the forest ensures that they have enough to eat. A really successful garden means that other elves respect the gardener. It also means that the gardener can produce a surplus of food and seed, which can be traded, either to outsiders or to up-and-coming elves. Good gardeners will naturally get the deference of other elves in things that really matter, like when and where to plant, which is ritually significant.
Defense of the forest is not something that is really central culturally for elves, any more than defense of the herd, stead, or city is for Praxians, Orlanthi, or Dara Happans. It is a matter of necessity, but not pleasure. This effort is organized communally. The knowledge that an elf will be reincarnated certainly makes elves more willing to die than if their existences burnt up on death. The defense of the forest should always be conducted in the border woods because the central woods is where the really beautiful gardens are. Each elf has responsibility for a portion of the border woods as well as a portion of the central wood. If the elf forest is expanding, this can become a central portion bequeathed to descendants. Elves typically grow trap & weapon plants out in the border woods.
One reason why Babester Gor initiates are so weird for elves is that they are lousy gardeners. They are often willing to trade a central woods plot for a border woods plot. (The actual ratio is probably something like one of a central woods plot for two well placed border plots or four poorly placed ones.)
A hive mind _is_ appropriate for Voralans. In fact, I think Voralans can physically merge. The only reason they reproduce (i.e. split) is to take advantage of separate geographies and because one big Voralan (which would be Mee Vorala before she split herself) is both awkward if you live in a cave with a ceiling and dangerous because of the risk that you one habitat is ruined.
Powered by hypermail