Elves.
A cohesive picture of Elves and Elf society is required. I don't see them as fanatic expansionists, filling their forests with traps and spear flinging bushes. I liked the idea of War Trees. Something that is quiescent and only disrupts the harmony of the woods in time of trouble - somewhat reminiscent of Ents and Treants. In fact, I see Gloranthan Elves as having more in common with Ents than with Tolkien Elves. I also don't see the need for engineered specialty trees. I find them tacky and science fictiony; Ugly waving plants that spit passing rabbits and elves that have been in the sun too long. I think that heat sensing trees is also a somewhat science fictiony, unplantlike idea. That said, I really like the idea that cold blooded Elves must sit in the sun or expend magic points on a block heater spell to get going on a cold morning. In winter, it just becomes too expensive in magic points to make it worth it for deciduous elves.
An Elf can 'encourage' a tree to grow a nice straight spear for him and to politely ask for it to be detached with a gift of magic points and special attention to the tree. Different trees could take longer and provide special effects. e.g. Oak spears (shields, knives) take a long time and have better armour points. A really good spear would require a gift of power to the tree. One reason why this should be a special ritual, is that I believe Elves should neither be clothed nor carry items most of the time. Being androgenous, relatively unsexual, well adapted to their enviroment and members of a particulary harmonious society tends to remove the need for personal effects.
Ritual Enchant Spell: Sprout Weapon
POW Cost: 0
Time to Complete: 1 Month (Knife), 3 Months (Spear)
The weapon is an exceptionally well made wooden weapon
Ritual Enchant Spell: Sprout Tough Weapon
POW Cost: 1
Time to Complete: 1 Month (Knife), 3 Months (Spear)
The weapon will have armour points equal to a metal weapon of that kind
Ritual Enchant Spell: Sprout Sharp Weapon
POW Cost: 1
Time to Complete: 1 Month (Knife), 3 Months (Spear)
The weapon will have +1 damage
If you believe in Elf Bows, they fit into this list.
These weapons all require watering, sunshine and magic point gifts to maintain. I do like the unwrappable spear idea, but that seems more of a jungle vine type thing. I don't believe elves grow or need gardening tools because they can just ask a tree to detatch dead parts or use food song related magics.
In the highly magical areas of forest cores, living metal trees grow with the even rarer metallic elves sometimes tending them but normally highly respected wood elves. These trees can yield truly wonderous items. They require an enormous expenditure of POW and magic points to engender and only a handful can be supported by a very large forest. Such regions are as much part of the hero plane as the material world and often require devoted quests and ritual magics to locate within the wood. (This explains 'The Money Tree' but not how it got where it was.)
There was a comment earlier about the elves needing to ask for fruit. Most trees provide fruit willingly to all comers. The seeds pass through most animals and are sown, with fertiliser, elsewhere. Some RW trees rely almost exlusively on one partner animal to eat their fruit and tailor all aspects, including taste and smell to that animal. I image Elves mark special locations in the forest: 'We are encouraging black berries here. If you have eaten any, please excrete at one of the designated spots'. Alternately, fruit trees of a each kind carry notices of where the proceeds should end up. Elves are highly intelligent and communal. They may just tell each other all these things and never need to write. Their history is well represented by the forest and does not need to be written. e.g. 'Here you can see the fire marks of the troll war'. Their oral tradition is perfect - the guy who did it is still around, not to mention all the trees who saw the whole thing. Conversations with trees are probably a good way to while away a few months. The trees probably pass on gossip as you tend them.
An elf, being a plant itself, can also be tended. In times of war, an elf could encourage gnarled, barky growths providing 2 points of armour. This is effectively armouring enchantment I suppose. Older elves might be expected to naturally get this way. Elves could also encourage long thorns or spiky growths. Warlike clans would almost certainly do these things. The thorns especially would be shed once the war ended. Divine spells would allow quickie versions of these things.
"We penetrated deeper into the woods. The green demons had left us
and their sap coated our axes. Their little blow-darts had taken a few
of us but on the open forest verge we ran them down and hacked them to
pieces. They died slowly, sap dribbling rather than running from the
rents. They made no sound, but feebly tried to bury their extremities
as they died.
"The woods were quiet, absorbing our noise and restless chatter.
The men soon became quiet as well. Suddenly we started, hearing
movement in the trees around us and we raised our shields and waited
for the hail of darts. There was a burst of noise and green demons
began leaping from the trees around us. They wrapped their limbs
around long wooden stakes with ingenious hand and foot holds crafted
into the wood. They impaled a dozen men, their momentum carrying the
shaft through upraised shields. These were not the small, leaf green
creatures of the verge but larger and gnarled in appearance; some as
large as a man and bristling with thorns. They tumbled and dodged on
landing and leapt on men's heads and chests, oblivious to the rents we
opened in their hides, and pressed thorns as long as foot through our
leather armor. More demons were now apparently surrounding us as as
darts began to whistle in from all sides.
"I invoked fiery blade on my weapon, desperately playing to their
fear of Man's forest killing tool. The effect was immediate. The
demons paused and then burst away through the brush, without looking
to each other but more in the mode of a withdrawal than a rout. Their
work was done without any need to confront the spitting flame. The
empty eyes of dead men stared at the forest sky and groans lifted from
the remainder. I angrily struck about me and heard the gnarled hides
of fallen demons crackle and pop as they caught the eager flame.
"The expedition was doomed and the fabled copper tree grove of the
forest core well out of reach. Perhaps it was well enough that we
were turned back then; if there were copper Elves to match their wooded
cousins, not a man would have survived".
Powered by hypermail