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Alien Character Mindsets: Elves should be pretty conservative about almost everything.
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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8687861" data-attributes="member: 6915329"><p>Late to the game, so someone's probably written this, but that's mostly from Mordenkainen's.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Elves have something of a class system, but they're rarely written as having interclass strife or bigotry (unless that's mentioned in a novel or something), which suggests that the classes are seen as equal, especially since they're also Good.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That's really only one view on chaos, though. You can have a chaotic society built on individual freedoms. While you disagree with the US Government being CG (with good reason!), it is at least <em>supposed </em>to be--there are <em>supposed </em>to be limitations on what the government can do (as opposed to limitations on what the people can do), and each individual is <em>supposed </em>to be equal and free and have full say in what the government does. An elven society might <em>actually </em>manage to achieve these things. It's a fantasy world, after all!</p><p></p><p>I would go so far as to say that, without a society, the elves would be Unaligned, not chaotic <em>or </em>good.</p><p></p><p></p><p>They might not. </p><p></p><p>Or their art might be like sand mandalas, made to be beautiful, to be viewed once, and then destroyed.</p><p></p><p>(Art is for creating, not for preserving)</p><p></p><p>Or it could be that they make their surroundings beautiful, with lovely architecture and design (since they have to live here and all; might as well make it look nice), but don't actually do art in the way that others think. There might not be a single painting or sculpture in an elven city, but the buildings themselves make others weep from the beauty.</p><p></p><p>Or they could create ever-changing, magical artwork that responds to the changing seasons or to the movements of the stars or even to the thoughts and emotions of elves who are nearby.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]253142[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>(People in a fantasy world are unlikely to ever do memes the way we do them, as they don't have fast-enough communication available to everyone.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]253145[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The second-to-last paragraph is what's important here for an elf (who, not being an evil undead perversion doesn't likely view a short-lived being as meaningless). A tree isn't just a tree. It's an entire microcosm of the universe. An elf could easily spend decades studying every nook and cranny of the tree and its history, and the way each animal that has lived in that tree has shaped it, and how the tree has shaped their lives in return.</p><p></p><p></p><p>But don't forget, to an elf--or indeed, to probably every race in a fantasy world--<em>every </em>order is a custom order.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8687861, member: 6915329"] Late to the game, so someone's probably written this, but that's mostly from Mordenkainen's. Elves have something of a class system, but they're rarely written as having interclass strife or bigotry (unless that's mentioned in a novel or something), which suggests that the classes are seen as equal, especially since they're also Good. That's really only one view on chaos, though. You can have a chaotic society built on individual freedoms. While you disagree with the US Government being CG (with good reason!), it is at least [I]supposed [/I]to be--there are [I]supposed [/I]to be limitations on what the government can do (as opposed to limitations on what the people can do), and each individual is [I]supposed [/I]to be equal and free and have full say in what the government does. An elven society might [I]actually [/I]manage to achieve these things. It's a fantasy world, after all! I would go so far as to say that, without a society, the elves would be Unaligned, not chaotic [I]or [/I]good. They might not. Or their art might be like sand mandalas, made to be beautiful, to be viewed once, and then destroyed. (Art is for creating, not for preserving) Or it could be that they make their surroundings beautiful, with lovely architecture and design (since they have to live here and all; might as well make it look nice), but don't actually do art in the way that others think. There might not be a single painting or sculpture in an elven city, but the buildings themselves make others weep from the beauty. Or they could create ever-changing, magical artwork that responds to the changing seasons or to the movements of the stars or even to the thoughts and emotions of elves who are nearby. [ATTACH type="full"]253142[/ATTACH] (People in a fantasy world are unlikely to ever do memes the way we do them, as they don't have fast-enough communication available to everyone.) [ATTACH type="full"]253145[/ATTACH] The second-to-last paragraph is what's important here for an elf (who, not being an evil undead perversion doesn't likely view a short-lived being as meaningless). A tree isn't just a tree. It's an entire microcosm of the universe. An elf could easily spend decades studying every nook and cranny of the tree and its history, and the way each animal that has lived in that tree has shaped it, and how the tree has shaped their lives in return. But don't forget, to an elf--or indeed, to probably every race in a fantasy world--[I]every [/I]order is a custom order. [/QUOTE]
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