>This is the easier part to imagine--how in the world do Aldryami
>societies deal with the
>presence of Strangler Fig Elves, for example? Or Bittersweet Vine
>Runners? Both are
>ultimately deadly to their tree-hosts.
They fight. If it's not "elf Fights elf and Dryad chokes runner"
then the warfare
is ecological in character, with promotion of parasites and blights to defend
one's territory and expand it at the same time.
If an oak elf came across a strangler fig on his oak tree then he would cast food song (or similar magic) to get rid of it. Obviously the strangler fig elves don't want that so they promote some form of acorn blight or catch and kill any squirrel they find to keep down the population of oak elves.
--Peter Metcalfe
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