ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/frp/warhammer/character/RoleplayingElves.txt.Z/RoleplayingElves.txt

Internet Message Format | 1994-01-12 | 8KB

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 01:00:34 -0600
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From: Clay Luther <[e-mail]>
Subject: So You Want To Be An Elf?
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So You Want To Be An Elf?
Player Hints by Clay Luther

Elves in WFRP are the most powerful race a player can choose to play.
Unfortunately, too few players realize what it means to role-play an alien
species and too often fall into playing their elf character as nothing more than
a superman. True, compared to men, elves are super, but they are not men.

Where Did Elves Come From?

Elves are a humanoid race, related to, be distinctly different from, Men. Elven
civilization predates that of Man by more than 5000 years. It was spawned and
nurtured by the Old Slann. Six-thousand years before the Birth of the Empire,
the Old Slann created for and moved the Elves to an island continent in the
Great Western Ocean. The Old Slann closely oversaw the nascent Elven Kingdoms,
guiding and teaching the young race much of their philosophy, science, and
magick. Under the omnipresent watch of the Old Slann, the Elves built gleaming
symbiotic cities in which science, nature, and magick played equal and
harmonious parts in the lives of the people.

When the Cataclysm destroyed the Old Slann civilization and Chaos exploded into
the Universe, the Elves remained relatively safe in their kingdoms at the center
of the world. The winds and currents of the ocean, combined with the remnants of
the Old Slann barrier magicks, swept the worst of the Chaos storms away from
them, leaving the Elves largely, but not completely, untainted. The Old Slann
retracted to their cities in the Far West, leaving the Elves, for the first
time, alone.

We should not discount the influence the Old Slann had over the development of
Elven civilization and attitudes. Most certainly, the Old Slann created the
Elves (and other pre-Chaos races) from the primitive Ancestors that inhabited
the world before they arrived. By careful design, using arcane science and
magick, the Old Slann grew the Elves from the Ancestors, carefully shaping the
race for their own inscrutable purposes. Elven civilization, science, and magick
are rooted firmly in the arcana of the Old Slann, a fact that Elves never forget
but rarely acknowledge.

What's An Elf Like?

Of the humanoid races created by the Old Slann, the Elves were first among
equals. For almost two-thousand years, the Old Slann formed and shaped the
Elves. They gave the Elves superior physical and mental characteristics and
taught them superior skills and arcane knowledge.

Elves hold beauty and pleasure as the pinnacles of civilization. Civilization
exists, so say the Elves, to foster and preserve not only the people, but the
beautiful creations of the people. The great explorer, Sir Hermann Gunterbold,
wrote about the Elven city Galerideleli calling it a "bizarre yet beautiful
collection of towers, bridges, and spires which seemed to hold no purpose other
than someone must have thought they looked good. Beneath these frivolities of
architecture grew forests of groomed gardens and parades of statuary. Artwork
adorns every wall; even the windows are oddly shaped and colored so that the
entire city glitters and sparkles day and night. The city itself contains a
seemingly endless abundance of restaurants, museums, theaters, and playgrounds.
I never saw anyone do work for I never saw any work that needed to be done."

Unlike Men, Elves are not driven by greed or jealousy, but by the unceasing
desire to avoid boredom. Elves live communally and share the responsibility of
raising and entertaining community children. Ownership of property is unheard
of, though Elves recognize and honor the "creatorship" of objects and individual
Elves take great and unashamed pride in their creations. Those elves that
express the "low emotions" of greed or avarice in public are censured and, if
their behavior continues unmended, banished from the community. Greed, anger,
and jealousy bring only pain and turmoil into Elven society and are not
tolerated. Elves will avoid any subject, occupation, or occasion that they think
is painful, boring, or ugly to themselves or anyone else.

Elves revere many gods, but not in the same way that the other, lesser developed
races do. Remembering their Old Slann traditions, Elves know how to manipulate
their gods and seem to understand the true nature of these beings. Of the Elven
Gods, we know a few explicitly: Liadriel, Foremost of Elven Gods and God of Song
of Wine; Meneloth, a benign Chaos God of Pleasure; Adamnan-Na-Brionha, Lord of
Dance; Karnos, Lord of the Beasts.

Elves revere Nature and the patterns and beauty it represents. Elves take
delight in all aspects of Nature and find excitement and beauty equally well in
birth, growth, sex, hunting, feeding, and death. Elves seek to mold their lives
to the patterns of Nature, and Elven philosophers fondly use natural metaphors
in their musings. Of all the humanoids fostered by the Old Slann, the Elves
possess the keenest understanding of Nature and its creatures and spirits.

Elves hold the other "lesser" races in paternal contempt. If the Elves possess a
single obvious vice, it is decadent Pride. Most Elves see the younger races as
too clumsy, ugly, stupid, and corrupt to bother with, while other Elves, just as
prejudiced, think they have a duty to teach these "primitives" the glory of
Elven life (just as, they argue, the Old Slann taught the Elves long ago). These
liberals, however, are greatly outnumbered by the insular conservatives and have
little effect on policies of Elven nations.

Elves do not fear and loathe Chaos like the younger races. Using their Old
Slannish magicks, they have tried to appease and distract the Chaos beings
that they abhor while at the same time they have contacted and dealt with the
Chaos beings they find pleasurable (such as Meneloth). They despise the Chaos
powers of pure Chaos, Evil, or Law, for these things destroy or restrict the
individual's freedom, or, in the case of pure Chaos, represent the malignant
forces of change.

Things To Remember When You Play Your Elf

Elves are Good.They hold natural order, peace, and beauty in high regard. They
love to learn. They have a strong sense of duty. They dislike cruelty, crime,
violence, and dishonesty.

Elves do not hold the gods in the same high regard as other races. They
recognize the gods as sources of great power, but not as omniscient or
uncontrollable forces.

Elves avoid situations and emotions which will lead inevitably to unpleasant
situations. Elves disdain "dirty" work. Elves prize comfort and pleasure, and by
extension, wealth.

Elves generally dislike Mannish and Dwarfish cultures, morals, and living
conditions. This makes them seem insufferably arrogant to those people.

Elves wish to avoid boredom more than anything else. For this reason, many Elves
are attracted to dangerous activities.

Elves are incredibly long-lived and they possess the oldest continuous culture
in the world. No race can rival their libraries, skills, or magicks. Elves have
seen, or at least heard about, almost anything. It's no wonder their bored.

Elves are dying from the world; they are the lightning rod for the worst attacks
by Chaos.

--
Clay Luther                              [e-mail]
Macintosh Software Engineer              Kodak Health Imaging Systems

Brion Gysin's All-Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story:  Some trillions of years ago,
a sloppy, dirty giant flicked grease from his fingers.  One of those gobs of
grease is our universe on its way to the floor.  Splat. - WSB