Paolo Guccione suggests that elves do a lot with plant fluids and says:
>Note that these are essences flowing out of the plant's own
>body rather than concoctions like the
>ones descried in the Mee Vorala cult write-ups.
Would sap-spitting elves be an example or did you have something else in mind?
Pam Carlson:
>Elves, like humans or any other organism, do what's best for them.
>Even as plants, they are ruthlessly concerned with their own survival
>and reproduction - and usually in the short term. So, if elves are
>independant organisms in the forest, they will modify the forest to best
>suit their needs, and treat it as humans treat their fields.
How does this fit with the fact that elves use food song? I view it as a parallel to peaceful cut. Elves have a concern for the spiritual well-being of the forest, though this is, at least in part, out of self-concern. The other part is religious--Aldrya is the spirit of the forest. I think institutions like territoriality help make the self-concern work for the forest's benefit. It is the invisible hand all over again, perhaps made partly visible (audible?) by the song of Aldrya. I don't think this concern applied to those nasty flesh things that inhabit the forest. Elves exterminate some viciously (aphids, termites, root rot, etc.), tolerate others (deer, which eat plant, but help spread their seeds), and actively encourage others (bees). Humans, dwarves, and trolls usually fall into the first category.
Scott Knowles:
> . . . most aldrymi have that POW to spare,
>having a higher racial max than most other races.
I think most of aldryami spare capacity gets taken up with food song and similar gardening type spells that Aldryami use in daily life. An adventuring elf would need even more because they would have a responsibility to return restless plant spirits to Aldrya. Imagine an elf walking through a logging area. Or a recently harvested field.
On the issue of live wooden weapons and armor, elves might have spirit magic called "nourish" which would enable them to keep plants and plant matter alive while not rooted. The spell would have originated because elves would like to transplant things, often to far away places. Nourish would keep the plant alive in the meantime. They also might have magic called "root" which would enable them to take slips from existing plants. I recall a spell that permits seeds to sprout instantly, so these would be in the same vein.
Scott's lore trees are excellent and explain why Aldryami don't write. Why would a lore tree archive, rather than simply reproduce? A collection of lore seeds seems about the same as an archive seed.
Phillip Hibbs:
>And I heartily agree with whoever suggested that this whole [elf] thread
should
>be condensed and compiled into an article for Tales, or something.
I'm working on it, but would be more than willing to collaborate. One of the reasons I keep chiming in is that I want to see a consensus emerge that doesn't throw anyone's game off too far when people start pretending that it's official.
Loren Miller:
>If anybody is looking for a place to compile the really wonderful,
>recent elf stuff into a pretty publication, I would be more than happy
>to put it up in full color on my web site. [. . . ] Does anybody have a
>"What the Great Tree told me" for the Elves, or a "Dryad's
>Dissertation on Aldrya and Flamal"? That would be the perfect
>cap for such a project.
Cool! (See above.) But I think these two items are the _start_, not the _cap_ of the project. Other things I'd like to see:
-An essay on the song of Aldrya -Material on elf territoriality -The story of the SeedQuest, told from the point of view of each major elfforest
-Discussions of each major elf forest's government and culture -More description of elf gods (like Troll Gods) -Some random stories about elves from elvish and human (and uz and dwarf?)points of view
-Spell descriptions -Plant descriptions -An introductory adventure that teaches people how to play elves -A couple adventures on top of that
I should say that I'm willing to edit and compile anything anyone sends me on any of it.
Chris Lemens
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #334
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