Kill dem elves

From: James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_wam.umd.edu>
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 20:23:59 -0400 (EDT)


Carolyn Kone (?) wrote:
> Now I'm really confused...Does it contradict some published/unpublished
> source to assume there *are* elves in the Troll Woods? My original
> motivation for putting elves in the Troll Woods was that it wasn't *always*
> the Troll Woods. 

Well... I'd argue the trolls have been there since the Dawn, since _Trollpak_ seems to show that the troll Shadowlands were once more powerful then they are now (in the First and Third ages, at least.) So any Elven population holding on for 17 centuries is perhaps improbable. (Elves might have migrated in later, for some reason.)

> I wasn't trying to imply that trolls hate trees, but that they love them, > and would love to gobble them all up
The troll communities that _Trollpak_ seems to describe are not set in the middle of blasted wastes, where everything edible within a night's walk has been nibbled down to the bedrock (e.g., the Redstone Caverns in _Trollpak_. Plenty of plants there).

Why? 'Coz the _big_ trolls say "Don't eat this." The right to chop down trees is probably controlled by the troll leaders, who preserve the forest for their own reasons. Not just economic reasons as previously noted -- a wise troll always eats someone else's food, because then he has a full belly _and_ the food he already had. Keep those trees for times of _real_ crisis. I'll be the forest growth dramatically shrunk during the Gbaji Wars when the trolls were hemmed in; then grew afterwards when the trolls were raking in tribute and didn't need to eat their own trees.

And of course, the troll leaders want to make sure the trees are there for _them_ to eat. So they keep the crummy trollkin from nibbling on them.

> against the Aldryami, who might stand a fair chance against the Uz in > all-out warfare.(no?)
Nah. Surrounded by trolls; vastly outnumbered, at least during the First and Third ages; lacking the protection of an Elf forest; without any significant protectors; the Elves are doomed.

If I was a Kitori Troll that hated Elves, I'm not stymied by their "Hide in the Tree Tops" strategy. My long-term response:
* Chop down any tree the Elves put a "building" in.

Now, in an elf forest I won't necessarily win because the elves have large numbers of troops, forest allies and formidable magical defenses to even things up. But this isn't an Elf Forest (it's the _Troll_ Woods), so the Elves are at a major disadvantage. I won't win in a season or a year, but after 1600 years?

> Rather than having the Uz slaughtering Aldryami all night, and the > remaining Aldryami slaughtering Uz all day Or the remaining Aldryami descending from the trees and being repelled and slaughtered by the Human Kitori. (Which may have been one of the motivations for the trolls and humans to cooperate in the first place: kill elves.)

You argue that trolls and elves will put aside their ancient hatreds if evenly matched (a claim that the history of Glorantha does not seem to support, note). But they're not evenly matched. The trolls basically are getting all their defensive advantages plus a fair number of offensive ones while the elves have little going for them. Natch, the elves can kiss their leafy butts goodbye. (Ho, ho, ho).

I could see limited Elf-Troll cooperation like you describe in the Elder Wilds (when they're not locked in mortal combat) or Jrustela, may in lesser lands, but outnumbered in the middle of a troll heartland the elves are baked, roasted, fried, stewed, boiled and broiled. Mmmm-mmmm.


End of Glorantha Digest V4 #442


WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

Powered by hypermail