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I find this incredibly useful for understanding this, the times one deals with elves, not that they are'nt helpful when speaking of themselfves, but what ever can help to understand the reverie that seems to plague them. I think the more a character understands the elven plight the more we can aknowledge the daily practices they follow.

I mean all elves can't work for santa claus?(I don't mean that as an insult mind you, some of my best friends are elves)

Perhaps wrong but I have always attested the reverie to the reason why some elves cannot get over past hatreds and hurts. One of my characters is very bitter and resentful because she continues to relive the pain that destroyed much of what she knew. I have found it odd that alot of rped elves cannot understand this and have considered that perhaps my take on the subject has been wrong. I tend to find what you have posted to support my beliefs. Thank you Andreas.

A very good article, thankyou Andreas. I hope it helps alot of people understand why some elves are aloft, and some, because of the life they have chosen, may consider reverie a living nightmare.

I look forward to learning more.

S

A most insightful look into the culture and what truely makes an elf.. and not a human with pointy ears.

My compliments.

I'd like to thank you for the info also, Andreas....it's always good to know about such an important part of life that WILL have such a deep impact on a race that would influence RP..... I'm just curious if anyone could give an idea on how to incorporate it into RP and the way reverie works in game mechanics....reverie in the game works the same as sleep so as to regain hitpoints, mana and stamina, but we have different echoes. Not to mention that reverie also is coded almost like sleep as in not being aware of your surroundings, and possibly not even getting tells, I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm sure it works the same as sleep in that regard, too. It would seem to me that reverie would be closer to meditate than sleep, codewise, after reading what you have written in this thread. I'm not sure of how to incorporate what reverie IS in the books as compared to what reverie IS codewise and proper RP around it. I hope others can give some advice on that. Thanks for listening....

thank you Andreas, I've had a similar conversation also with my first elf, although it was the other that explained to me, and I desperately trying to RP up the mistake

Andreas wrote:
As I've said many times before, elves aren't just humans with pointy ears. Their culture and thought processes are completely alien to human norms.

And this one little snippet you put so well, Andreas, is why I think it's only fair that come the new char gen system, elves should have the burden of a kismet requirement the same that dwarves do.

well, I've seen and tried to participate in some fairly nice RP involving this new race of "City Elves," urban Elves that have lived for generations among Humans and in Cities, and have all but forgotten their rites and customs. Elves from the wild will generally show at least some prejudice against these Elves, and the whole concept is fairly interesting, I think.

edit: I am not suggesting at all, of course, that these "City Elves" to be newbies that have no idea about Reverie or other characteristics of the Elves

There is no such subrace as "City" elves.

The main elven subraces in Faerun are Gold (Sun/High), Moon (Silver/Gret - but it's an insult to call the "Grey" elves) and Green (Sylvan). There are also the rare Aquatic and Winged elves. The new 3E system has further broken down Green elves into Wood and Wild elves with the former being a bit more lenient in dealing with civilisation and socialising outside of their own socities.

Even elves who live in human cities form a distinctly elven community. Waterdeep (per the boxed set and some of the Harper novels) has a large elven community within her walls. They have their own temples and their own political structure (still obedient to Waterdhavian law, however). While they may have adapted to living in a city filled with mostly humans, the elves still retain all of their own customs. Just because elves live with humans doesn't make them any less elven.

The majority of elven societal ideals are passed on in the womb from mother to child during Reverie. Then the child spends 80-100 years being raised by the community. Elven children are priceless and the entire community often partakes in the rearing of an elf child. An elf would have to be separated at birth from their community for there to even be the possibility of losing touch with their sense of racial self. Even then, they would probably long to rejoin their race and after meeting other elves might regain some sense (memories imparted through Reverie) of who they really are.

oh i realize that, it's just a slang that I find a good RP idea to use. just as we call people in our society addicted to herbs causing ectasy "druggies", Elves call their race addicted to the convenience and grime of human civilization "City Elves"

Except that there is no such term as "City Elves", in essence, or in slang... or in nature, as Andreas so aptly put it in his last post. Any player that plays an elf that is not elf-like is going to find themselves on the butt-end of other chars' coments about being pointy-eared humans. It is not a complimentary term, and an IC way of saying one needs to OOC study up on their RP.

While I am a proponent of personalizing ones RP, and finding a "hook" in your RP that helps distinguish you as a char, I also realize this MUDs desire to adhere to the Forgotten Realms universe, be it the D&D sourcebooks, at a minimum, or the series of Salvatore novels to supplement them. If it is the intention to make a char that goes against the racial norms for Fearun, I would believe it would take a special app in order to do so, just as it would for a Dwarf char to break their racial norms (There was a thread on this just recently in the Dwarves forum).

There are links all about this website for the Forgotten Realms sourcebooks. At the very least, for the cash strapped, ebay and half.com are chock full of 2nd edition sourcebooks cheap. My wife purchased "The Complete Book of Elves" 2nd edition for about 6 bucks, and it goes into all of the elven culture and mannerisms and all you need to make an elf, an elf.

I realize that, Kregor, I was only pointing out that there is no reason experienced RPers could not portray a City Elf.

Isolrem wrote:I realize that, Kregor, I was only pointing out that there is no reason experienced RPers could not portray a City Elf.

Biggest reason: In order to make that kind of elf, to break the norm of elf behaviour and RP, it would probably take a special RP app to the admins, who would then get to make the call as to whether you could rightly play this "City Elf" who is no longer "elfish" or not.

That's the final reason, to add to the other reasons Andreas and I have outlined in the last few posts.

It's not a matter of experienced or inexperienced. Actually, chances are, an experienced FK player would not go down that path. It takes more experience and good RP to RP an elf correctly, rather than incorrectly.

Put in another way, the same reason you cannot RP that you follow a God from, say, Dragonlance in FK, you should RP the races you play in a manner consistent with the mannerisms of that race as it is portrayed in the Forgotten Realms setting.

There are specific subraces, each with specific attitudes and behaviors and actions around their own kin and other races. And only two of those subraces (moon and wood) are the ones you're allowed to portray in FK without a special app (which has to be approved before you can commence RP otherwise) Players who wish to play an elf should be willing to RP their elves appropriately.

perhaps, one should send such an application
back on subject on reverie, one could even send a app requesting that his elf has "forgotten" or "abadoned" his reverie state, and truely sleeps when resting. To other Elves this "City Elf" would seem as if dead every night when it goes to rest...

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but what would then be the point of playing the elf? S/he is now just a human with the benefits of the racial immunities.

Argentia wrote:I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but what would then be the point of playing the elf? S/he is now just a human with the benefits of the racial immunities.

You answered your own question in the last sentence...

Thanks, Tempus. =P What I was implying was that if you wish the racial benefits of any race, be it dwarf, gnome, and yes elf, then you should be willing to RP the accompanying attributes which apply to all characters of the race.