There were elves, elves, playing with...

From: Erik Sieurin <BV9521_at_utb.hb.se>
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 13:45:38 +0100


> You made me think about one fact. Elves are the only race without an
> undying ancestry. Dwarfs are still immortal, Dragonewts reincarnate,
> Mistress Trolls do not age, ancestral Men (Brithini) live forever, why
> should all elves have been mortal from the beginning of Glorantha?
I think of Elves as eternally reincarnating through the forces of Ty Kora Tek and Aldrya, and not necessarily with any memories intact. (A Hindu friend once complained over the great fuss Westerners made about people remembering earlier incarnations; you are not supposed to do that.) I think Elves do not worry that much about dying, really - - which does not mean they are suicidal.

> Does the trickster explain mistletoe (a parasitic
> green plant), venus flytraps, and poison ivy (great fun when trolls come to
> call--"Here, have a plateful.")?

The mistletoe spirit is the Elven Air God of course. It grows up in the air, and teaches flight spells and such stuff. It is a parasite, but it keeps awake all winter protecting its host (which is always a decideous (sp?) tree). Think of it as one of them birds which sits pecking on a rhinoceros.

> (What a horrible concept--grinding and
> cooking plants to write on.

Well, they grind and sometimes cook plants to eat. If you have to write something... But then I do not see Elves as being literary guys in any way, and neither are Voralans.

> Maybe elves even have a spirit magic spell that permits
> their spears to root after using them.
Or a spell - Spearstraight/Woordsharp - which simply turns any branch into a straight spear with a sharp tip temporarily. The flexible/mutable spears spoken about earlier are also a good idea.

> (To wit, he grants to brown elf shrines a spell
> called something like Evergreen, or Watchfulness, or "Mainline lots of
> caffeine and mildly screw up the local ecology".)
In my ancient Primal Coffee posts, I maintained that coffee is the secret of Staying Awake all Winter. The product contains Distilled Darkness (it is black, isn't it?) and fortifies the spirit against cold and sleepfulness. Of course, human coffee isn't as strong as elven coffee, except among the Rathori, which learnt about it from their elven friends. The White Bear is an euphemism; of course it was a BLACK bear, the Coffee Bear. When it was killed, Harrek absorbed its blackness and thus its skin grew truly white. Harrek never needs sleep and is constantly itchy and nervous - only slaying someone calms him down temporarily. The Mostali stole the secret from the Elves and created synthi-coffee, which is the reason Iron Dwarves can stay awake for so long.

Chris Lemens:
> Runners don't
> seem to use missile weapons. Why??

As I remember, they use slings and darts. The REAL Runner missile weapons ought to be snares, lassoes etc to entangle the foe.

Someone else (Alex. I think):
> Typically, an elf acts for the collective good of the forest because he
> _wants_ to, his "reward mechanism" being "wired" (xylemed?) that way.
> This is why the aldryami "economy" Works in a way which no human one ever
> would, in which elves do what they please, and exchange goods without
> payment, as what they _feel_ like doing has been subverted by the Needs of
> the Forest in the first place.

Big hearty agree. I, for one, BTW, think nonhumans SHOULD be played, as long as there is a sensible reason for them to be around. I heavily disagree with any "hivemind" suggestion about elves. Trees do not have a "hivemind". The esoterical mycel which connects Voralans is a different matter.

Do I hear the Baron?:
> 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.

A nice idea, and as someone noted the sense is probably related to Elfsense, if not the Actual Thing. This is fairly similar to the "green music" heard by the Indians in Orson Scott Card's Alvin the Maker series.

About Elfsense: Someone else talked about elves feeling the Life in others, and I agree about the general consequences. I would put it this way: Aldryami can feel the Life (or ex-Life) in things with their touch, but in a true Elven Forest - not all forests are, even if they may have Aldryami - the Life is both so strong and of such an easy "wavelength" to note that Elfsense gets kinda ranged. Elves are AT HOME much more than humans can ever be, feeling that they are a part of the place. (In game terms, any bonus for "familiarity" with a place sgould be BIG for elves, especially if we are talking about Elven forests)

The downside of it is that Elves also feel much more estranged outside their familiar environment. We all tend to feel uncomfortable sleeping in a new bed; for Elves it is torture being in a new place. Plants are territorial, much more than animals in a way, since they tend to BECOME their territory. I think Elves are just the same.

In nature, forests are always growing, changing - it will become a little larger, or a little smaller, etc. This is the war Elves are most familiar with. War against men has become a part of this, but I seriously think most humans do not attack the GreatForests left unless they have very special reasons. They know it is stupid. War against the Despoilers - Mostali, Uz, Chaos, Undead - is far more horrible to the Aldryami, and also rare - but know we are entering the Hero Wars, so who knows?

James Frusetta:
> I can't see the Elves
> boo-hooing over the demise of animal-based life... and the exploded bunny
> and Bambi bits are useful for mulch!

One or two, no big deal. But if they CONSTANTLY get killed, it would disturb the balance of the forest. Actually, I think the critters in an elven forest knows how to avoid the traps and/or the traps are set for enemies only - perhaps they can be started by simple spells? And if you have a plant species, you are likely to have a critter or spirit associated with it which can tend it (Giant Venus flytrap pixies, nettle Runners, etc).
Besides, if the manimals see heaps'o bones lying around, they'll be prone to avoid the traps, which kinda reduces their usefulness.

But I think the most important defense of any Elven forest is simply the fact that it IS an Elven forest. According to the Gloranthan Bestiary, such an area "behaves" as a single organism. One way I interpret this is that when there is a common threat to the whole of the forest, all the forest will unite. When you attack the Forest, the Forest will attack you. First, it will be subtle. If you try to sneak up on someone, you will break a twig at the worst possible movement. If trying to attack someone, you will stumble on a vine that just happened to be there. Your provisions will be stolen by squirrels, the amount of wildlife which is poisonous vermin or dangerous predators will be way to high. Wood taken from the forest won't burn without magic, meat from animals will make you sick.

If you have the skill, magic and determination to overcome this trouble, then you will encounter magical plants, elven curses and voralan assassins. Not to mention the most skilled archers you have ever met, boosted with archer-magic, on their hometurf as no one else can be - except perhaps the Mostali.

Frusetta again:
> [And a question -- in the _perfect_
> Aldryami community, wouldn't all the various ecological roles be peformed
> by _plants_? Animals are only necessary because of <instert claimed
> disaster here>. So who cares if they croak?]
I do not think so. Aldryami have nothing more against animals than humans have against plants. They dislike _vermin_ (like humans). The Aldryami view of humans is probably akin to human views of rats - if the rats were bigger and smarter, that is. Note, BTW, that elves are smart - maybe not quick on the uptake, but very perceptive and with almost eidetic memories.

Mushkins:
David Cake:
> Is there any roleplaying game which allows you to play beings
> closely related to fungi? Voralans are a lot more playable than Mi-Go or
> whatever those silly D&D ambulatory mushrooms are called.
> We may be up against the limits of sensible roleplaying here,
> trying to create beings that are both plausibly like humanoid fungi and
> good PC material may just be asking too much.
There are a lot of weird RPG's out there, though. I actually have this fantasy of playing a short campaign wherein everyone is a Voralan. And I consider myself and my usual players quite capable of doing this without resorting to illegal substances. There is quite a difference between "good PC material" and "possible PC material".

More Cake:
> Slime molds probably do lie within Mee Voralas sphere anyway
> (Gloranthans not being overly concerned with modern taxonomical niceties),
> but I don't think Voralans are slime molds, or even close.
Nope. They are mushrooms. Slime molds and such stuff are relatives just like flowers and bushes are relatives of the elves. The Voralans are quite apt at using them. In some earlier posts on Elf vs Elf war, I suggested that some Voralans hire themselves out as hitmen and saboteurs, striking the opponent's forest with nasty plagues.

Note that many mushrooms lives in symbiosis with trees in the RW - that's one of the reasons it is so hard to artificially grow many mushrooms species. In Gloranthan mythical terms I interpret this as some Voralans being tightly bound to some elves - being "root brothers", som to speak. Besides the usual pacts and stuff, I'll add the idea of spells or quests which allow them to obtain permanent Mindlink or something like that - not a mage-familiar-relationship, but one of equal rights and responsibilities.

Alex:
> > I think all red and green elves are sexual only. Probably some are
> > capable of parthenogenesis, though.
>
> What about yellow elves, though? Can't be parthenogenetic, have to really
> Get Lucky to reproduce sexually, but a good candidiate for Budding, me
> thinks. Send in the Clones? Doesn't _that_ put a worrying light on the
> "House" of Erinoru?

Wasn't the House of Erinoru made extinct by some plague or parasite or something like that? I distinctly remember that one of the drawbacks of cloning is that all clones of one being have about the same resistance to diseases - so if a pest turns up that can harm the crops, it will do SERIOUS harm.

Pam Carlsson:
> > plants like wheat and barley were incredibly successful because they had
> manipulated their environment (us!) into ensuring their survival and
> propagation over vast areas of the world (eg the midwestern US).
>
> Indeed. And the same goes for our domestic animals. In fact, modern
> humans could not survive well without our domestic plants and animals.
> Our plants and animals have domesticated us as much as we have
> domesticated them.

Indeed. One reason for hsunchen to dislike other humans is exactly this: they are dependent on others, enslaved by the animals. Back to the Elven thread, this gives a new angle on the Reforestation War ("Aldryami: the Reforestation. When will you Pollinate?"). It aint fought against the humans, it is fought against the malevolent Wheat and Barley pixies who overthrew the "tyrant" Trees and instead brain-washed humans to help them. They also perform a genocidal war against non-grain Aldryami, using their human slaves to kill them en masse. Erh...

Elves as genetic engineers:
I think elves have a lot of plants which are especially grown for a certain purpose: armorbark trees, climbrope vines, venus mantraps, herbs which can be used as medicine right away without any processing. However, I think every elven forest has just a few of these, including some unique species, and the small colonies of elves which live in other areas have to make do with plants encouraged to grow in a certain way, or wood-enchanting spells.

Spells, yes. I have no mythical explanation for these, which is Bad, but maybe you can come up with some.

Enchant Wood
The elven equivalent of Enchant Metal. Each type of wood is a certain spell or ritual. The spell is cast upon a seed when planted, and will affect the whole tree - the longer you wait, the more wood you get out of a single spell. Besides keeping the wood alive after harvested, so that it will heal wounds by itself and remain strong, it also gives the wood special abilities, like:

Oak
"Oak is the potent and stout, war-chieftain of the Browns. His branches are safe from the horrible Storm Gods. His nuts feed the swine of the forest."
Enchanted Oak can be made into pieces of armor which have the same AP and weight as light bronze plate, and formed into blades - swords, daggers, spearpoints - just as bronze.

Ash
"Ash, straight and true, the spear-tree, always trembling but never a coward. Bringer of Death, war-friend of High King Elf." Enchanted Ash, when made into arrows or javelins, have twice the normal range of such weapons.

Pine
"Gnarled Pine, Kin of the High King, War-chieftain of the Greens. Bravest of warriors, warden against winter." Weapons made from Pine damage Trolls and Dwarves as if they were made of Iron, if the damaging part (point, etc) is Pine. Pine is no better for making blades etc than other woods, and is thus mostly used for arrow-points and spear-points.

Body of Bronze
This spell (one-use and generally hard) transforms the body of the user into living bronze. The caster now takes damage as if he was a metal statue (AP instead of HP, etc). He has no need to eat, drink, photosynthesize etc. and is immune to poison etc. He cannot heal wounds by spell or normal healing (living bronze does grow, but only very slowly), but must use Repair. His DEX, Move and all DEX-based skills are reduced to one-third. Prolonged use of this spell (whatever that is) means that when the spell ends, the user does not turn into a living Elf, he becomes a dead bronze statue with the spirit of an Elf trapped inside. Only Divine Intervention can restore him.

Memories of Past Lives
The user can recover a memory of something which happened to him in a past life. Simply, the player might ask one question of the GM which one of his past lives would have been able to answer, and the GM describes it as a vision of some kind. A POW*5 roll gives a clearer vision, as would an Elf Lore roll. If none of the character's past existences would have learned the answer to the question, then there will be no answer.

Mask of the Meaties
This spell is used upon an Elf-seed. The Elf born from the seed will be very similar to a human - only magic or dissection will tell the physical difference. He still behaves like an Elf, though. With a successfull Divine Intervention roll, he will be the spitting image of a known human. A rare one, used to spy upon humans. There are probably equivalents for other species.

Take after Thy Mother
This spell is also cast upon an Elf-seed. The Elf born from the seed will be much more tree-like, more like a minature walking tree than a humanoid. He will have bark which provides SIZ/3 AP on his vitals and 1 AP on his limbs. His STR increases by 50% from what's rolled. His gait and movements will be awkward, halving DEX and Move. He can root himself at will (takes 1+ MR dependent on the soil) and must do so to eat. While rooted, he looks like a funny little tree, not a tree-like elf. This ought to be worth a bonus to Hide. His voice is a mere whisper, sounding through his leaves and twigs, not from his mouth.

Living Lasso
A spirit spell known by runners. It is cast upon a snare, whip or lasso, and reduces STR to tear free from the weapon by 3 per point of spell, as well as increasing the AP of the weapon by 1 per point of spell.

Call Pollen
This spell allows an Elf to call pollen or seeds of one specified species flowing in the wind
within 1 km to somehow turn up at a spot the Elf is touching. This can ensure rare plants gets pollinated or that seeds spread by the wind turn up where they are supposed to be.

"The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea-green boat..." >From "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear

Erik Sieurin
bv9521_at_utb.hb.se
Bodagatan 39, 2 tr
50742 Boras
Sweden
033/141731


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