Elves - who raises the children?

[Penryn]

Over the past month give or take a little bit upon the mud I have seen many wonderful role playing groups and situations. Been able to rp with numerous great role players and with other elven characters and other types of players.. but something sorta has been on my mind for elves..

I have met about 20 to 30 elves so far on the mud is a large number considering they are most rare of all races..
There is about 20 to 1 for Dwarves, halflings, gnomes per elf in the world
humans are something close to 10,000 per single elf in the world
even drow are said to outnumber their 'fair' skinned cousins 2 or 3 to 1
Only group that should be less is perhaps half-elves but unlike elves they dont hide away out of sight..

Everyone has the right to role play characters of rac ethey wish to so numbers in the end dont really matter that much, Except..

Of the 20 to 30 elves I have met there is about 1/2 to 2/3 of them are born then raised by humans... I have heard it joked of icly but passed it off... Most elves would never let a child be raised by humans.. Elves have a family style for the entire community, specially ones of the Syl'Tel'Quessir. The reverie contects the children even within the womb they are taught and learn of elven ways and customs. Elves can almost reach out to one another withi nthe reverie. Elven magics and high magics can seek out and find their lost child I am certain as well..

I just find it really strange that somehow over 1/2 of all elves it seems are born and raised by a race that normally has little contact with them...

they are supposed to be a mystery and a rarity even a blessing for the other mortals to see the longlived race...

I just ask folks to take this into consideration..

jeffery
rper of penryn

[Rhelian]

At the same time, you can't dictate other people's RP. And you can't say "There are already several people who play elves raised by humans..please choose another background for the character you chose to play for fun". What I've seen other people say many times on these forums is that the player characters are exceptions - they are adventurers, and are not really the typical "norm" of each race, and as such you'll find little odities and idosyncracies that make them unique and fun to play for the player. Sometimes this leads to RP or storylines that some others don't think are right - I've been in that situation myself - and from personal experience I've found just letting things slide is much more fun for me than worrying over it. If an RP is too far fetched, it's usually asked to stop.

So that's what I personally do in these situations: 1) Keep in mind that the characters I meet are exceptional examples, and 2) Let RP I find questionable wash over me and concentrate on my own.
And if the RP gets too irksome for me, I just stay away from it. Better all round.

[Andreas]

Pointy-eared human syndrome.

Yes, it IS very odd for so many elves to be hob-nobbing with the general public. Even more unusual is to find so many of them being raised by humans for the reasons previously stated.

I'll reiterate: Elven gestation (length of pregancy) is TWO YEARS!!

During that time, the mother imparts a lot of information to her unborn child through Reverie: language skills, racial history, racial pride, etc. While many of these things won't come into play until the elf gets older (i.e. baby isn't born singing opera, still has to have the physical development) ALL elves should have a basic connection that is instilled in them from the womb. This connection is strengthened in those elves that are raised in an elven community because they all join together in Reverie.

Elves treasure children. They have an extremely low birth rate and each child is prized, coddled and loved not only by their family but by their entire community. A lost child would be desperately searched for and, if not found, mourned deeply (elves traditionally mourn for 20 years).

Again, please take some time and consideration into roleplaying an elf. I have numerous resources on Forgotten Realms elves and if anyone needs anything (history, location of communites etc.) please let me know and I'll do my best to help

[Stayne]

Having an elven charecter myself who is raised by humans, I am deeply offended by the remarks made here. I spent alot of time researching elvish behaviour (having NO prior knowledge of it) and despite a wealth of information, I found that I could not justify myself playing an elf rasied amongst 'the people' with the charecteristics elves had.
To this end, I made my elf one that was raised by humans. This way, while I had the memories of being in the womb, the majority of what I knew was different to elves, and my charecter could explore, through RP their elven heritage.
My background was that humans, in their ever increasing expansions and vie for power over other humans, oft destroy the homes and people of the lands they pass through. My charetcer has no family to guide her, just the memories from her mother, which, while help her understand, are not enough to really guide her (IMHO)

I will not discourage anyone from taking this route. A journey of exploration through RP can be quite fullfuilling and rewarding. At the same time I also DONOT expect everyones RP to be perfect. This mud is supposed to be PG rating as wished by Sharni. This means that young people through to oldies (like me;) are more than welcomed. I do not expect people who have yet to have had the FR experience (wether through age, or through simply not discovering it) to know all there is to know abut elves. Many come here and want to play this much loved race because they have known them from other sources, of which Tolkien is probably the most famous, though his elves are vastly different to FR's.
There are many who probably play elves as "pointy eared humans" and we cannot simply shun them because of it. If you are an experienced Rp'er then I encourgae you to lead by example, perhaps even going so far as to correct a persons RP through IC actions and teachings, for isn't it the way of elves to learn from each other as their lives progress?

Players can take a long time to learn, Andreas's resources are quite good, and there are many links from this website that are also fantastic, but information such as this takes time to read, learn and infuse into RP.
At the same time, Rhelian made a very important point. If someone wants to play an elf for fun, then we cannot discourage that, for we are all, in the end, here to have fun

The only other thing to note based off Penryn's comments is peoples backgrounds. Many, including myself use their background, their charecters history, to explain charecter traits. This is done simply because many of us don't know where traits come from, and even if we did, have a hard time remembering how to put them into our RP. Being able to think about where the charecter has come from, enables us to stay IC a bit better.

Just my humble thoughts
-Stayne
"Who cares if their ears are pointed or not, they all bleed the same! "

[Tempus]

I'd just like to make a few observations :

• PCs, as adventurers, are generally exceptions to almost every rule. It is my personal opinion that minorities such as elves raised by humans would be over-represented in the adventuring classes.
• PCs do not a world's population make. Of the PCs and NPC elves you must count in order to calculate a proportion raised by humans, consider that even then only a miniscule percentage of the actual population is represented explicitly.
• Sometimes it's better to concentrate on your own roleplay than to decide to fix everyone elses. Firstly it is more fulfilling, and secondly others might aspire to be better if they are led by example rather than pushed by chastisement.
• However wrong you think someone else RP is, as long as it is within general boundaries for their race and class it is their free choice to RP that way.
• The primary objective of this game is to have fun.