>I've been thinking about Aldryami a lot lately. Hopefully some of these
>ideas make them playable, if still very strange.
What is Elf? And Why you wants existence of Aldryami in your own Glorantha?
Vegitables have far less similarity to Humans than UZ (Troll Pack and Dra
Reso: Darkness)
but more familiarity than Dragonewt.
In RW Myth (Without Oxford Trollkin Professor Influence) Both Scandinavian and Celtic currents came here, and such as spiecies of Sieh, Alf, Leprechaun, etc...
"In mainly Teutonic and Norse folklore, the elves were originally the spirits of the dead who brought fertility. Later they became supernatural beings, shaped as humans, who are either very beautiful (elves of light) or extremely ugly (dark / black elves). They were worshipped in trees, mountains and waterfalls. The Danish elves are beautiful creatures, but they have hollow backs. The Celtic elves are the size of humans. The belief in elves, or supernatural and invisible beings, is almost universal. Apparently, there has been no primitive tribe or race that has not believed at one time or another that the world was inhabited by invisible beings. Especially on the British Isles the belief was very profound. In stories from the 8th and 9th century there are many references to elves, or fairies as they are called there. The king of the elves, Oberon, and his wife Titania appear in some very important works of medieval literature, such as Huon de Bordeaux and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream"
>1. I asked a while back why elves would be cannibals rather than eat
>water, earth, and light, like other plants. (No, not air. Elves don't
>recognize air as a separate element from sky/light; rain is a manifestation
>of water; lightning is a manifestation of fire.) The reason has to do with
>their survival in the Darkness. When the Sky was Dark, the Earth was
Stony,
>and the Water Burned, they ate their siblings' dormant, vacant bodies.
You daughter of Great Tree eat matter of Uleria (Love) but if your mind is
useless and hollow,
Body of Goddess(Christ) is mere Food (Bread) of Holy Communion(: Church of
Forest)
>2. Elves recognize six elements: Water, Earth, and Sky/Light and
>Darkness, Stone, and Fire.
IMHO, some cultures intentionally avoids systematic world view to see as "Godlearnish", and if we start from Green Age, Stone is Spike, Darkness is Underworld. Hunger, Grower, Maker, Taker, each have their own realms in each of elements, Maybe Dara Happanized Elves? see only Erenbaya (Tree of World & Life? Kabbarah?) and Enemies as "Others",IMHO.
>3. Chalaneron is a blue elf (associated with Eron), Vronkal is a green
>elf (the "Vronkali", after all), and High King Elf is a white elf,
>associated with Halamalao. That would account for historical associations
>between elves and Yelmalio/whatever worshippers in some areas. White elves
>are related to cacti. High King Elf's title is a double entendre. It
>derives from (a) the fact that the cactus forests were high up on the slop
>of the spike and (b) the recognition of his as the leader of elves in
>Genertela during the darkness due to his unrelenting heroism after the
>destruction of the spike. Vronkal is a different guy, a green elf. I
>suspect he is still alive and living in the winterwood, which is the
>remnants of the great Greenwood that used to stretch all the way to Dara
>Happa.
cacti are dicotyledones
"Rune Lord (Godlearnish Sound!)" of Aldryan Cult? What is Rune Lord in HW
Glorantha?
If you want RQ#3 elements to HW, How do you think about it?
>4. A key concept for elves is "Unity". A good source for what the
>elves mean is the Unity concept presented in the Julian May Pliocene Saga,
>Intervention, and the Millieu Trilogy books.
I don't know both...
>5. The Aldryami are internally divided over the traditions they
received from the Darkness. During the Darkness, most of their gods and
>heroes were in Genertela. High King Elf and Vronkal set the traditions for
the Genertelan Aldryami. The dryads set the traditions for the Pamaltelan
>Alydrami. It turned out that the Pamaltelan traditions were superior in
staying power. The norther version has seven members on the ruling council.
>The southern version has seventeen. I think the northern seven started as
seventeen, but the seventeen eventually became the Unity Council, on which
>there were eventually ten sports reserved for non-elves. Errinorou was the
High King Elf reincarnated. He tried to impose northern ways. He did not
>go over too well with the Dryads.
I think you intentionally ignored "official" information about Errinoru,
Errinoru and Embyll
may have more similar identity than your idea. (Of course, Errinoru was
famous Voyager and Errinoru and Lynelsian Circle is "Heart of Jungle" in
more literally sense.)
I think yellow elf ancestor Embyll has also some mythos who avoiding Elvish
Wife and prefer to marry Dryad Woman. Green, Brown and Yellow symmetrically
have connection about Dryads.
>6. Even Genertelan elves are divided over their attitude to
Osentalka/Nysalor. Generally, there are four possible attitudes:
>a. Who?
>b. Big mistake to try to balance Oblivion and Potential.
>c. Mistake in execution in attempting to balance Grower and
>Oblivion, leading to the dwarves and trolls balancing Taker and Oblivion in
Gbaji.
>d. It was right and he was right. We still honor him.
Generally speaking, attitude (a) is dominant in Central Genertela, or they
may
see it as not unimportant events for Total Aldryami.
>7. Elves have six seasons and a six day sacred time. The six seasons
>are named for the elements and are composed of six weeks of eight days
each.
>The names of the seasons are ordered differently in the Genertlan and
>Pamaltelan traditions, resulting in different ceremonies being performed
>during those seasons, which results in different weather and different
>reactions to the weather in the two regions. The first three are the same
>in north and south: Sea, Earth, and Light, which mimics the order of their
>creation in Aldryami myth. In the South, it continues Darkness, Stone,
>Fire, which continues the mythic progression. In the north, the ordering
>continues Fire Stone, Darnkness, which correlates to some human calendars.
>The southern version is more effective magically. The northrn version may
>have been introduced during the Nysaloran era.
Maybe they are more mass psychological entities and don't require Calendar for their own Woods as their parts.
Here is Ian Thomson's advocation:
"So what does this tell us about elven psychology? Two things, mainly. The
first stems from the fact that regular elves perceive the world primarily
through their Elfsense. If they go somewhere with less plant life, the Song
will be attenuated and the elf will become somewhat deprived of normal
sensory input. No elf in their right mind leaves the Forest without the
Forest itself asking it to, and preferably only then if accompanied by a
huge band of his or her fellows. This means that all the elves seen outside
their Forests are not in their right minds. They might be monomaniacal
fanatics, prepared (or forced) to suffer terrible privations for the good of
the Forest (similar the Krjalki elves of Hellwood, embracing Chaos in order
to fight it), or even actually be quite mad. However there are also a small
percentage of elves that find life in the Forest too restricting, their
madness is one of dissatisfaction and a desire for difference. Like humans
who explore or climb mountains, they simply must venture into the wide
world, just because "it is there". Some of these embrace the elf culture
nonetheless and become traders, messengers and ambassadors, others are the
'rootless elves', the homeless wanderers (in short, the adventurer type).
These seem like wild eccentrics to the vast majority of elves who live in
the Forests and never wish to leave them. Occasionally, the isolation the
Rootless Elf feels becomes too much and they become Renegade, turning their
back on the Forest completely, and wantonly sating their own base desires.
These are twisted individuals indeed."
>8. Bebester the Taker has lots of interesting aspects. When presented
>as an image, she is usually a beautiful dryad carrying an axe. This is a
>very contradictory image for an Aldryami. She is the spirit of death and
>war. She possesses the powers of fire, stone, and darkness. She is the
>Aldryami trickster in the same sense that Zorak Zoran is the Uz trickster.
>(See http://members.aol.com/pmichaels/glorantha/uztrick.html, a truly
>excellent exploration by Peter Michaels.) Although adult Aldryami
recognize
>her place in the world, she makes young and rootless elves very nervous.
Connection between Barbester Gor and Elfin Bebester may be also Godlearnish. I should suggest about Current Gloranthan Demihumans without non-gregging Godlearnish System is under hard playability.
>9. Sanarana is another interesting one. When presented as an image,
>she is usually not presented as plant matter of any sort (like a tree, an
>elf or a dryad); she is usually presented as an animals that eats animals
>(like a hag or a spider). She usually carries a blooming staff. She is
the
>spirit of rebirth and renewal.
Elven Lightbringer?
>10. Because all elves are reincarnations of spirits that had previous
>lives, and because of the strange mechanics of elfin reproduction, family
>lines are pretty unimportant. "Aldrya is the mother of us all."
>Discovering who you were in a past life is a way to heroic powers. Kinship
>among aldryami is primarily measured by being part of the same forest. The
>size comparison among humans would be the Orlanthi or Praxian tribe or the
>Dara Happan city. Relations below the level of the forest are much less
>important than sub-tribal relations among humans. Sprouting near one
>another is one aspect of kinship, as is having the same parents.
Reincarnation is maybe most Greg Stafford's main matter of concern (even without mentioning such as Belintar, Rufelza, TakenEgi, Only Old One, Eastern Samsara, Chal Mythology etc... Long Live GS!)
>11. Aldryami are animists. They tend to use integration with their own
>spirits, but may trap enemies in fetishes.
Who is White Lady? (elvish Horned Man: who is He in Hero Wars Glorantha?)I think she is a daughter of Aldrya Mureli (I like synmetrical World, High King Elf: Aldryan Rune Lord is Vronkali, and Hrelar Amali is Animist Center for Worshipper of King of Seed and Hsunchens, as KOS mentioned)
>12. The various Hill of Gold stories have grains of truth about how
>Zazakzor/Zasara ate Halamalao. The mythically correct sequence is for
>Zazakzor to each Halamalao, then Gata, then Eron, then Falamal, thus
>reversing creation. I think that, prior to each, there is a story about
how
>Zazakzor took a part of the element combined it with an opposite portion of
>his nature, and made (not grew) the Taker's elements. The Taker's elements
>face off against the Grower's elements. Thus, you get Enorakka facing
>Halamalao at the site of his death. (I just made up Enorakka, in case you
>are wondering, but the parallel is obvious.)
Zorak Zoran and Inora? I like Death God of Elfland as Humakt (in Elder Secrets of Glorantha, A Sword of Aldryami appeared in one scenario)
>13. If Zazakzor the Taker ate Falamal the Grower, the digestive
>consequences (to put it obliquely) must have been the Taker as Bebester and
>the Grower as Sanarana. I get an Athena-like image of Bebester springing
>full grown from Zazakzor's, er, guts, sorta like in Alien. Sanarana would
>arise from Zazakzor's dead remains.
>14. Genert is the Gardener. Elves hold him as the proto-typical elf-fried
(to put the Tolkienesque shine on it). I cannot figure out how he fits into
>the devolution of the Grower-Taker Seed. Did he arise during the moment
when Grower and Taker were balanced? During the late stages of working out
>the Grower concept (say, along with the non-forest plants, such as the
grain
goddesses)? Nothing seems to be obvious about it.
I think you should extend your idea to Faramal, "Uleria", "Malia", "Humakt", "Arroin".
Finally, here is Greg Stafford's Official about White Elf: (Question from BRIAN KONDALSKI. Answer copyright ゥ2000 by Issaries, Inc. This page may be freely linked to, and one copy may be printed for personal use, but any other reproduction by photographic, electronic, or other methods of retrieval, is prohibited.)
White Elves (Halamali): White elves were the first children of Flamal, nurtured by the pure light of Halamalao, the Aldryami sun god. The White Elves were related to the magical trees that grew in the highest forests covering the slope of the Spike in the Godtime. When the Spike exploded, the immortal forests were destroyed so that no white elves remain in Glorantha today. White elves are still in the God Plane. They are the celestial trees, from whence they are worshiped by the elves today.
(Latest revision: 21 jan 2000, new)
Alex Ferguson:
>Terra Incognita:
>> >Archexarch (God Realm Governor?) and Leader of Exarch (Mundane Province)
>> >are all Dragon Mystics?
>To an extent/sort of. The exarchs and archexarchs can only attain
>such positions by 'fitting in to' the imperial religion, but they
>play a role very different from the guys who sit around monasteries
>all day, drawing mandalas a grain of sand at a time, and talking
>in profound-sounding self-contradictory aphora. You might say this
>is because they're sacrificing their own mystical progress for the
>good of the well-being of the corporate empire; you might say it was
>because they have minimal actual Darudans powers or knowledge (or
>interest) in the first place. Both may well be true to some degree
and I suspect official pronouncements of Kralorela will be constructively
>vague on to what extent. (Of course in a sense, both can be true
>simultaneously.)
About Sand Drawing, Tibetan and Navajo parallel of RW only strike my head.
>> I think it was Yanoor's Capital which was flooded in ShangHsa's
>> reign due to his abuses. Metsyla's capital lies between Genertela
>> and Vormain AFAIK.
>Yup, pretty much. If the myths are any indication (and being
>Glorantha, they ought to be), it has to be somewhere under Kahar's
>Sea of Fog. (I don't know of Kralori (or maybe even Vorumai)
>archeologists go on expeditions seeking 'the lost city of Metsyla',
>but the idea does tickle me rather.)
IMHO, Harrek the Berserk (and his "FETCH"? Rathor the White) and Argrath the Dragon accompanied with some of Archeologist and Treasure Hunters for Civilised Lunar Dilettantes for Homeward Ocean Expedition as Champollion and Napoleon: If you have not eye for object, how to protect yourself from briber and swindler? KoS mentioned about he and his wolfpirate minions raiding Jrustelan Ruin and City of Wonder, how to exchange to woman, wine, gamble money for Canino Town? Lhankor Mhy Archeologist Temertain and Estal Donji for Jrustelan Scripture vanished to City of Wonder...
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