![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessDid I mention that I had more world building for this fic than actual fic? Or maybe I just have a thing for elves
Material goods:
Are pointless. At least from an elven point of view. It is likely it stems from elven magical senses and their longevity. No matter how special a shiny shiny possession is, if it’s not magical, it doesn’t look very shiny to elven eyes. No matter how wonderful the new toy is , if it rots/corrodes/breaks after 5 centuries or so it’s still going to be outlived by its elven owner. Maybe it’s because of these or just some quality of the elven psyche, but possessions mean very little to elves.
This doesn’t mean they don’t value the aesthetic - far from it. Elves admire and revere beauty - they can live for thousands of years and want - no, DEMAND, that their surroundings be beautiful; they just don’t feel a need to own it. They would be just as happy seeing a beautiful statue in a town square or museum as they would actually owning it - beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and if they can behold it they don‘t need to own it
The love of the aesthetic also translates to a bewildering idea of a value - an elf is far more interested in a beautiful wooden carving than a crude golden one. A wonderfully cut piece of quartz is worth more to them than an imperfectly cut diamond.
On top of this, elves rarely feel any desire for more than they need. A house need only be of sufficient size to live comfortably, food need only be in sufficient quality to keep them alive. A gem may be a beautiful adornment, but if it may adorn another better they will freely give it just to see it on them. Longevity means possessions are fleeting. Elven privacy means they care little about making a display for others. Elven magical senses mean that non magic items simply do not hold massive appeal. This can make any trading with the elves extremely confusing for inexperienced merchants.
Space:
Elves generally suffer from a low level claustrophobia and a kind of agoraphobia. They don’t like feeling penned in and they don’t like crowds. This generally links in to the elven ideal of isolation and privacy, but extends also to their surroundings. Elven buildings tend to have large, screened windows and very large, but enclosed rooms. Most elves spend some of their time in the wilderness (even if just a holiday) because the empty openness of it is extremely soothing to them.
Practicality
Elves have strong opinions regarding laws, morality, ethics and honour. They think they’re ridiculous, at least the degree that other races hold to them.
Elves don’t play by rules and have little time for principles. They do what has to be done, what will be the most beneficial for them/their nation/their people and if that means lying, cheating stealing, murdering - well, they’ll do it.
That doesn’t mean elven society is horrendously chaotic and evil, if nothing else elven isolationism and anti-materialism means there is little drive to do evil. But aside from that, elven longevity means they tend to think in the long term. An elf won’t lie whenever it’s convenient simply because in the long term that creates far more difficulties - the same with many other antisocial criminal acts.
But when morality/ethics etc reaches a philosophical level elves are lost. A human or dwarf may lie because it is wrong to lie. An elf refrains from lying because it is IMPRACTICAL to do so. And if it ever becomes more practical to lie than not? Then they lie. An elven promise is only reliable for as long as it is in the elf’s best interest to keep it.
In general this means elves are not trustworthy (though other races may not be aware of it, since elven practicality means elves are careful to create a FACADE of trustworthiness if nothing else) and highly ruthless. Elves feel no shame and little guilt or embarrassment (partly evolving from their isolationism - they care little for what other think) meaning they have few emotional brakes on their behaviour. They feel compassion, but practicality and long term benefit far outweigh it. They will happily consider acts that would make other races blanche and be bemused that anyone would protest.
(One example from history: several children from various bloodlines had been marked by the Daemon King of Pakasha as ideal sacrifices to empower one of his Greater Daemons, giving it untold power of the families’ legacies. The children were all under 10. The humans of Akendora planned the arduous task of trying to protect these children from kidnappers. The elves of Sasashkya and Narisatya dispatched assassins and had all the children killed within the month. They were amazed that anyone would protest - what is the fate of 10 children against the untold thousands who would die before the Daemon King’s armies?)
Elves do find the honour codes of other races comical - and highly useful to exploit. No elf would ever say “death before dishonour” the very idea is ludicrous to them. The concept of a “fair fight” is utterly lost to them - certainly the idea of their being places where you shouldn’t hit the enemy seem quite quite ridiculous. They are willing to exploit the honour of other races though - and more than one elf has carried an assassin’s blade under the flag of parlay or surrender, or has yielded only to draw a hidden weapon when their captor’s back is turned.
Elves and Dwarfs:
Humans are often under the impression that Elves and Dwarfs hate each other. Elves and Dwarfs generally avoid each other and early human history reports of many fierce and vicious wars between the two races. The truth is more complicated. Elves and Dwarfs do not hate each other - they simply do not understand each other. Dwarfs are materialistic, highly social, egalitarian, highly honourable, boisterous people with little appreciation for subtlety or deviousness. Elves are ascetic, isolationist, arrogant, callously pragmatic, reserved people who value restraint, caution and nuance highly. They avoid each other because any encounter is dogged by confusion, misunderstanding and unintended insults. After many stupid wars (acknowledged by both sides as such) both races agreed to adopt an unofficial policy of considering the other to be Batshit Insane and to be avoided where possible. This lead to the first ever recorded diplomats as both races trained experts in the other’s culture to act as translators. Humans are more than a little bemused to see large groups of elves and dwarfs, all speaking the same language, but all pretending that they can’t understand each other until their cultural translators have changed what is said into something that can be understood and isn’t a mortal insult.
Humans benefited greatly from these early conflicts as when they first came into contact with the Elves and Dwarfs the reaction was one of relief - humans may be odd but they’re not as insane as the Elves/Dwarfs.
Material goods:
Are pointless. At least from an elven point of view. It is likely it stems from elven magical senses and their longevity. No matter how special a shiny shiny possession is, if it’s not magical, it doesn’t look very shiny to elven eyes. No matter how wonderful the new toy is , if it rots/corrodes/breaks after 5 centuries or so it’s still going to be outlived by its elven owner. Maybe it’s because of these or just some quality of the elven psyche, but possessions mean very little to elves.
This doesn’t mean they don’t value the aesthetic - far from it. Elves admire and revere beauty - they can live for thousands of years and want - no, DEMAND, that their surroundings be beautiful; they just don’t feel a need to own it. They would be just as happy seeing a beautiful statue in a town square or museum as they would actually owning it - beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and if they can behold it they don‘t need to own it
The love of the aesthetic also translates to a bewildering idea of a value - an elf is far more interested in a beautiful wooden carving than a crude golden one. A wonderfully cut piece of quartz is worth more to them than an imperfectly cut diamond.
On top of this, elves rarely feel any desire for more than they need. A house need only be of sufficient size to live comfortably, food need only be in sufficient quality to keep them alive. A gem may be a beautiful adornment, but if it may adorn another better they will freely give it just to see it on them. Longevity means possessions are fleeting. Elven privacy means they care little about making a display for others. Elven magical senses mean that non magic items simply do not hold massive appeal. This can make any trading with the elves extremely confusing for inexperienced merchants.
Space:
Elves generally suffer from a low level claustrophobia and a kind of agoraphobia. They don’t like feeling penned in and they don’t like crowds. This generally links in to the elven ideal of isolation and privacy, but extends also to their surroundings. Elven buildings tend to have large, screened windows and very large, but enclosed rooms. Most elves spend some of their time in the wilderness (even if just a holiday) because the empty openness of it is extremely soothing to them.
Practicality
Elves have strong opinions regarding laws, morality, ethics and honour. They think they’re ridiculous, at least the degree that other races hold to them.
Elves don’t play by rules and have little time for principles. They do what has to be done, what will be the most beneficial for them/their nation/their people and if that means lying, cheating stealing, murdering - well, they’ll do it.
That doesn’t mean elven society is horrendously chaotic and evil, if nothing else elven isolationism and anti-materialism means there is little drive to do evil. But aside from that, elven longevity means they tend to think in the long term. An elf won’t lie whenever it’s convenient simply because in the long term that creates far more difficulties - the same with many other antisocial criminal acts.
But when morality/ethics etc reaches a philosophical level elves are lost. A human or dwarf may lie because it is wrong to lie. An elf refrains from lying because it is IMPRACTICAL to do so. And if it ever becomes more practical to lie than not? Then they lie. An elven promise is only reliable for as long as it is in the elf’s best interest to keep it.
In general this means elves are not trustworthy (though other races may not be aware of it, since elven practicality means elves are careful to create a FACADE of trustworthiness if nothing else) and highly ruthless. Elves feel no shame and little guilt or embarrassment (partly evolving from their isolationism - they care little for what other think) meaning they have few emotional brakes on their behaviour. They feel compassion, but practicality and long term benefit far outweigh it. They will happily consider acts that would make other races blanche and be bemused that anyone would protest.
(One example from history: several children from various bloodlines had been marked by the Daemon King of Pakasha as ideal sacrifices to empower one of his Greater Daemons, giving it untold power of the families’ legacies. The children were all under 10. The humans of Akendora planned the arduous task of trying to protect these children from kidnappers. The elves of Sasashkya and Narisatya dispatched assassins and had all the children killed within the month. They were amazed that anyone would protest - what is the fate of 10 children against the untold thousands who would die before the Daemon King’s armies?)
Elves do find the honour codes of other races comical - and highly useful to exploit. No elf would ever say “death before dishonour” the very idea is ludicrous to them. The concept of a “fair fight” is utterly lost to them - certainly the idea of their being places where you shouldn’t hit the enemy seem quite quite ridiculous. They are willing to exploit the honour of other races though - and more than one elf has carried an assassin’s blade under the flag of parlay or surrender, or has yielded only to draw a hidden weapon when their captor’s back is turned.
Elves and Dwarfs:
Humans are often under the impression that Elves and Dwarfs hate each other. Elves and Dwarfs generally avoid each other and early human history reports of many fierce and vicious wars between the two races. The truth is more complicated. Elves and Dwarfs do not hate each other - they simply do not understand each other. Dwarfs are materialistic, highly social, egalitarian, highly honourable, boisterous people with little appreciation for subtlety or deviousness. Elves are ascetic, isolationist, arrogant, callously pragmatic, reserved people who value restraint, caution and nuance highly. They avoid each other because any encounter is dogged by confusion, misunderstanding and unintended insults. After many stupid wars (acknowledged by both sides as such) both races agreed to adopt an unofficial policy of considering the other to be Batshit Insane and to be avoided where possible. This lead to the first ever recorded diplomats as both races trained experts in the other’s culture to act as translators. Humans are more than a little bemused to see large groups of elves and dwarfs, all speaking the same language, but all pretending that they can’t understand each other until their cultural translators have changed what is said into something that can be understood and isn’t a mortal insult.
Humans benefited greatly from these early conflicts as when they first came into contact with the Elves and Dwarfs the reaction was one of relief - humans may be odd but they’re not as insane as the Elves/Dwarfs.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-11 11:11 pm (UTC)(This is the point where I look at my little wiki for a setting I've spent years on but never had good ideas for fic in, and sigh wistfully.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-16 01:10 am (UTC)I've got a few of them myself *extra siugh* it seems like such a waste