Elves (for Evening Bell)

[hengest]

On this thread, I posted this idea as a tossoff and I kind of like it.

Jul 28, 2021 16:41:51 GMT -5 hengest said:

1) "I can't think of anything cool."

Think of something you don't want to see in a game and then invert it and riff from there.  Sick of long-lived elves?  Power them up magically but make them especially prone to death.  30 is a ripe old age.  Why is this so?  Run from there.

Maybe these are the Elves I want for my slowly-forming MIY world.

Do they just age quickly and die early?  Or are they somehow especially prone to dying by accident?

I think the first option.  They mature early and last a good ten-twenty years under ideal conditions.  A 40-year-old Elf is wizened.  

Why is it so? There should be an explanation, at least for my purposes.

I am working on material elsewhere that promotes generation of new spaces with at least one "landscape factor," maybe two.  The first I call world-type, which is about kind of meaning and myth at low levels of WT value, and is about intellectual and material manipulation at higher levels. And the second is Character, which is roughly wholesomeness or negative-wholesomeness down to existential horror.

Since these factors are disrupted in certain places in the world, that can have something to do with these Elves.  

Suppose the Elves were Tolkienian (not AD&Dan, but really Tolkienian: they don't die within the world unless slain or very sad).  They are tied to the life of the world.  

So if aspects of the nature of the world is somehow disrupted, that may affect their tie to it and their aging.  Other races, not so closely tied to the world, are not so obviously affected.

Perhaps within relatively recent history Elven longevity has undergone a crisis.  They formerly lived without aging, now they mature quickly, reproduce, age, and die.  Their cultures, naturally, have been shattered, as they used to rely largely on living memory, and many of these "library Elves" have died unexpectedly in the last 120 years.

They "burn too brightly" now and cannot control the expenditure of their vitality. The result is a short lifespan with increased magical power and a general tendency to die. 

The Elves who adventure tend to be those who have not married or have no desire to marry. There is just the beginning of an Elven cultural understanding of how to live for such a short time.  

[hengest]

Elf characters begin at age 16+1d6. They are physically mature and able to be classed characters at this time.

There are still remaining older Elves who have somehow avoided the "plague" of sudden death, but they are unlikely to be adventurers.

If an Elf takes damage that reduces him to 1 HP, even if healed, there is a 10% chance he will die in his sleep after the battle. Elves that die leave little in the way of bodily remains. They appear simply to shrivel into nothing and leave a small amount of fine dust behind. They can never be raised or resurrected. 

The above chance of premature death is modified by the WT value of the elf's surroundings.  For each 1 point downward, the chance is reduced to 5% and then to 0%. For each one point upward, the chance is increased by 5%.  

[hengest]

Many Elves now look like ruffians who should not be accepted in proper towns and villages.  Some behave as ruffians, some do not.  Very few are true carriers of the developed Elven culture.

All, however, have certain base abilities that aid them in survival and make them useful companions.

Basic Elf-magic (all Elves, all three of these)

Compass - unerring sense of direction. Elves conceive of cardinal directions as absolute "quadrants" some twelve degrees off from what you would expect given magnetic north.  They make little use of speaker-relative directions such as left and right and often have to translate from their own terms to describe locations.  This ability is always functioning.

Create Food and Drink - once every other day, for two people. Requires at least some crumbs to work on.  The food is real.  Two people can be sustained in this way for some time, although even Elves will eventually get sick of the food. Is not sufficient to sustain extremely hard work but moderate travel is doable for some time.

Charming Speech - once a day, regardless of actual personality, an Elf can speak to one person or party in an extremely charming manner.  The magic is not in any particular effect--it is not mind control--but in their perception of the Elf. He or she seems totally like "one of them," appropriate to the situation.  The charm is not "hoity-toity" or condescending.  Guards may still arrest the Elf if they feel compelled, but if they do so, will feel they are arresting someone who is like them, understands them, and is generally right-acting.


(give humans detect character)

Uncommon Elf-Magic (20% of Elves have one of these, rolled not chosen)

Detect WT - this ability is always available, but can be forgotten about (may need to be "attended to" consciously).  This gives no knowledge of the mechanical WT system but does give a basic sense of the values.  Places with a very low value may be felt to be somehow sacred or even unapproachable, places with a relatively high value may be felt to be empty, lifeless, desolate.  With just a little attention, change in the middle values can also be sensed.


Speak with Animals - once a day, can speak with animals. This ability does NOT allow converse with humanoids who use an unknown language.  It does allow conversation with an animal for a time.  Many animals have a different set of concerns, so regular use of the ability helps Elves to keep in practice in speaking to the animal in a way that allows extraction of useful information.  For example, squirrels are known to have heavy interest in availability of various places for nesting, so questions framed in this way are more likely to get meaningful replies.  Using this ability does not guarantee that the Elf will correctly interpret all the animal's speech (i.e. it will be understood but may be misinterpreted in humanoid terms: the squirrel says there is poor nesting in a certain direction, but this does not mean a treeless settlement. There may have been a forest fire, etc.)  Use requires practice and subtlety, especially with wilder creatures.  Domestic animals may be a little easier.

Elven Sleep - the Elf can lay hands on a willing recipient and allow that person to function (in effect) without sleep for several days.  Some periods of low activity are still required (fighting day and night is not possible).  But keeping watch all night without falling asleep is very doable.  The ability can be used 1d3 times a week.

Rare Elf-magic (half of the 20% above have one of these abilities, rolled not chosen)

Woodwalk - In a wooded area, the Elf can reliably find his or her way to the center or edge of the wood and really cannot get lost in a wooded area.  A good degree of untrained tracking also possible within the area.  Foraging possible to a degree that seems beyond amazing even to Men with woodcraft.  The ability is magical and cannot be taught or shared, even with other Elves.  Ability always functions but does not transfer at all to other terrain types.

Farsight - Two types (coinflip), time and space.  The ability to scry a ways backward in time in one place or to look abroad some miles as if from above.  Details of exactly what is on the ground are spotty.  Looking into the future is possible but the result is not guaranteed to be understood or to be accurate.  Once a week.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Aug 14, 2021 20:24:38 GMT -5 hengest said:

Many Elves now look like ruffians who should not be accepted in proper towns and villages.  Some behave as ruffians, some do not.  Very few are true carriers of the developed Elven culture.

All, however, have certain base abilities that aid them in survival and make them useful companions.

Basic Elf-magic (all Elves, all three of these)

Compass - unerring sense of direction. Elves conceive of cardinal directions as absolute "quadrants" some twelve degrees off from what you would expect given magnetic north.  They make little use of speaker-relative directions such as left and right and often have to translate from their own terms to describe locations.  This ability is always functioning.

Create Food and Drink - once every other day, for two people. Requires at least some crumbs to work on.  The food is real.  Two people can be sustained in this way for some time, although even Elves will eventually get sick of the food. Is not sufficient to sustain extremely hard work but moderate travel is doable for some time.

Charming Speech - once a day, regardless of actual personality, an Elf can speak to one person or party in an extremely charming manner.  The magic is not in any particular effect--it is not mind control--but in their perception of the Elf. He or she seems totally like "one of them," appropriate to the situation.  The charm is not "hoity-toity" or condescending.  Guards may still arrest the Elf if they feel compelled, but if they do so, will feel they are arresting someone who is like them, understands them, and is generally right-acting.

(give humans detect character)

Uncommon Elf-Magic (20% of Elves have one of these, rolled not chosen)

Detect WT - this ability is always available, but can be forgotten about (may need to be "attended to" consciously).  This gives no knowledge of the mechanical WT system but does give a basic sense of the values.  Places with a very low value may be felt to be somehow sacred or even unapproachable, places with a relatively high value may be felt to be empty, lifeless, desolate.  With just a little attention, change in the middle values can also be sensed.


Speak with Animals - once a day, can speak with animals. This ability does NOT allow converse with humanoids who use an unknown language.  It does allow conversation with an animal for a time.  Many animals have a different set of concerns, so regular use of the ability helps Elves to keep in practice in speaking to the animal in a way that allows extraction of useful information.  For example, squirrels are known to have heavy interest in availability of various places for nesting, so questions framed in this way are more likely to get meaningful replies.  Using this ability does not guarantee that the Elf will correctly interpret all the animal's speech (i.e. it will be understood but may be misinterpreted in humanoid terms: the squirrel says there is poor nesting in a certain direction, but this does not mean a treeless settlement. There may have been a forest fire, etc.)  Use requires practice and subtlety, especially with wilder creatures.  Domestic animals may be a little easier.

Elven Sleep - the Elf can lay hands on a willing recipient and allow that person to function (in effect) without sleep for several days.  Some periods of low activity are still required (fighting day and night is not possible).  But keeping watch all night without falling asleep is very doable.  The ability can be used 1d3 times a week.

Rare Elf-magic (half of the 20% above have one of these abilities, rolled not chosen)

Woodwalk - In a wooded area, the Elf can reliably find his or her way to the center or edge of the wood and really cannot get lost in a wooded area.  A good degree of untrained tracking also possible within the area.  Foraging possible to a degree that seems beyond amazing even to Men with woodcraft.  The ability is magical and cannot be taught or shared, even with other Elves.  Ability always functions but does not transfer at all to other terrain types.

Farsight - Two types (coinflip), time and space.  The ability to scry a ways backward in time in one place or to look abroad some miles as if from above.  Details of exactly what is on the ground are spotty.  Looking into the future is possible but the result is not guaranteed to be understood or to be accurate.  Once a week.

Have an Exalt, this is awesome!  WT??

[hengest]

The Perilous Dreamer WT is "world-type" value as described here. ruinsofmurkhill.proboards.com/thread/4157/world-types-incorporating-fairy-tales

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Aug 14, 2021 21:01:47 GMT -5 hengest said:

The Perilous Dreamer WT is "world-type" value as described here. ruinsofmurkhill.proboards.com/thread/4157/world-types-incorporating-fairy-tales

Thanks, I was not making the connection.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Your Elves are fascinating to me!