Elves respect the forest and the forest respects them. They do not waste plants on human-like trifles like clothing or writing. Plants do not waste Elves by mulching them arbitrarily when the soil is poor. They do not warp healthy plants to eternally grow beer mugs or some other use. This is why I advocate special magical rituals that politely request plants to divert some of their energies to growing something of special importance to the Elves and the forest too.
To my way of thinking, the Elves serve the forest more than vice-versa which implies the Elves are more likely to be engineered NOT the trees. Some myths of Elvish origins place them entirely as a somewhat artificial or deliberate forest creation.
> Erik Sieurin, on Elves enchanting wood
> Spells, yes. I have no mythical explanation for these, which is Bad,
> but maybe you can come up with some.
I think that enchanting and rituals are a good game mechanic to
capture a slow process whereby an Elf and tree cooperate to grow
something useful to the forest
> Enchant Wood: Oak, Ash, Pine
I like these but I still think the tree, whether enchanted from a seed
or not, must willingly give parts of itself and be recompensed with
magic points or POW and special attention. It would be terrible
if the carefully grown tree was then murdered outright and dissected
to provide goods for the Elves.
> Body of Bronze
I can't mythically explain this spell. I don't like the idea
of conversion between basically very different things. This is why I like
the idea of pure metal trees and possibly elves. Wood doesn't grow
metal - it is simpler and more elegant to have living metal trees.
> Mask of the Meaties
I suppose a desperate forest might try this one.
> Philip Hibbs, on metal elves and trees
> What a scary thought! This is the first mention I've ever seen of them -
> did you just make it up? It makes sense to me.
I just made it up, but I was thinking about the Elf use of metal.
To fit in their Mythos or Worldspin it would have to be living metal
trees. All living trees engender Elves and dryads, thus...
This actually fits into the picture of metal are the bones of gods
too and not just tree and plant gods. Plants recycle organic material
to provide nutrients for themselves. Why shouldn't magical metal plants
partake of the remains of gods to build themselves. This might imply
something about the nature of areas where metal trees may grow. This would
also imply gem trees fertillized with God blood and bone.
I must confess to largely ignoring Elder Secrets, but I thought the take on Elves put there was too close to Tolkien (society wise) and not very interesting. To summarise, I don't think it really absorbed the fundamental fact that Elves are plants, IAG (In All Gloranthas).
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #325
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