> The Aldryami example is fair, but I was considering it from a human
> standpoint - I severely doubt that elves eat elves, although they do
> eat other parts of Aldrya (which I have always taken to mean berries,
> seeds, nuts, leaves, etc, not sentient bits), so would humans (barring
> Lhankor Mhy and God-Learners) really consider Aldryami cannibals?
>
I believe that the elves (certainly those most closely attuned to the song of aldrya) consider all their diet cannibalism. Aldrayami don't have a strong sense of self, and find it difficult to differentiate between an elf and a non-aware plant. I see elf-sense as being an awareness of the sensations experienced by other parts of the forest, stronger as you go deeper into the woods. Thus to an elf, eating vegetation is not only cannibalism, but empathically self-devouring.
Having said this, to aldrayami this is normal, a manifestation of the cycles of life. Only the rootless, cut off from the song and the cycle would consider this unusual, or wrong, and search for alternatives.
This is getting a bit esoteric though - perhaps time to move it to the GD?
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson The Stableyard - Internet Solutions gjr_at_... http://www.thestableyard.net
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