You may have read more into my post than I meant (and possibly Nikk's as well). I said that they have JUST ABOUT a hive mind. I do not think that elves are of a single mind, but they pretty much behave that way on the whole. In fact, I agree that
& 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).
Close to my thoughts, but not quite. I think that elves constantly `hear the song of the forest.' They have a sense that no other species has that lets them `hear' and understand the Great Song of Aldrya. I disagree that elves have a sense of ownership of property. Rather, they think of themselves as belonging to Aldrya (and thus to the forest). There is certainly room for individuality within elvish society, but this takes second place to what the Song requires of them. They all have a single dedication to this that unifies them in a way that most other races cannot understand.
About a year ago (or more...Loren was still our capable list maintainer), I proposed that the reason some elves become `rootless' was that they are essentially deaf to the Song. They can't hear it. They don't understand it. And thus they don't really fit in with the rest of the elves. (Actually, this might apply only to renegade elves rather than rootless.) This is why they leave elf society and moreover why they tend to behave in distinctly non-elfy ways.
In all fairness, the idea was met with just about no enthusiasm. :)
& 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.
This is a cool thought!
Baron von Moosehsunchen (in his longest post to date)
Scott Haney scotty_at_olivia.cedar-rapids.ia.us $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at which time it will be worth absolutely nothing. - -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"
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