Steve Lieb admits to being an Aldryamiphile [watch for splinters] and comes up with some interesting ideas about the interchange of information on an empathic level between the Elves and their ecosystem.
This strikes me as a sort of "body language" but perhaps transmitted through scent or some other medium. Nearby Elves know a tree's been cut because they can feel the vibrations of the impact of the axe, see the surrounding forest shake in an unnatural way and even perhaps smell the cut trunk. Is this the basis of "Elf Sense" ?
Non-verbal communication for humans (and probably Trolls) depends a lot on their posture and facial expression. For Elves the main element of non-verbal communication may be something imperceptable to humans. Two Elves might be having a Mexican stand-of and appear not to be taking any notice of each other to an observing human.
This makes it fairly hard to roleplay. An Elf fresh out of the woods wouldn't have a clue about human body language and would appear introverted and withdrawn. Humans interacting with the Elf would find him incredibly strange: He could sit quietly without moving for hours, out-psyching even the most determined Yinkini in a staring contest. Take the Elf into a city and it'd be hell to him. Things in it's natural environment move slowly or not at all. Anything that moves fast is a potential threat.
He goes on to say: "For them individuals are important, but not as important as the system. In this they are a curious analogue to the mostali - - where the dwarves work for the World Machine, elves are the agents of fertility and growth. The mammalian life of Glorantha is treated as an integral part of the system, but similarly must be kept from throwng the system out of balance."
I always think of Mostali as either Leornard Nimoy or Arthur C. Clarke: They only really exhibit curiosity and logic in their maintainence of the World Machine. On the other hand, I never get the impression that Elves are concerned with any sort of balance. They say "We were here first and all animal life depends on us (ultimately) to survive. So, animal life is a burden on the forest - If it puts a foot out of line, TWANG it with the bow."
<Leave the bit on individualism for the mo while I think about it>
Steve: "In the former vein, there is a great deal of competition between elves of different ecosystems, expecially adjacent ones. In some cases it is a guerilla campaign of expansion that has lasted centuries."
It'd be interesting to explore what forms these confrontations take. As Elves and Trees are generally able to wait for longer than us mere mammals it could be a contest of who can get their seeds furthest into the other's woods, who can grow fastest and shade the other. Being a bit facetious it could even come down to a Dryad commanding a pair of Beavers from their lodge (no sniggering!) in her grove to go and give an opponent's trunk a good gnaw. The confrontation needn't be that overt to human eyes, but to the Green and Brown Elves it would look like the first day of the advance at Ypres (Gettysburg for those Americans that think WWI begain in 1917).
Anyway, enough about the leafy bunch for now. Moving on to David Dunhams comment about my suggestion that perhaps the intelligent fish in the Zola Fel weren't actually fish but RIver Dolphins. He mentions Brighteye the Catfish. Funnily enough, it was Brighteye the "Conservative Old Priest" in a wet suit and Sa'ar "Ye old Soothe Sayer" in a wet suit that made me start thinking of alternatives and how these creatures actually behaved.
Anyway, why can't Cetaceans have whiskers? Why do you think the scientific name for Rorquals, Grey Whales and Right Whales is Mysticetes (moustached whales)?
Ash
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #438
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