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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8680625" data-attributes="member: 59082">Obviously an idea with a lot of thought put into it, and I appreciate the intention behind it. My view kind of riffs off something [USER=6796468]@Steampunkette[/USER] said--that Pride exists because of oppression. Although not being LGBTQ, I'm coming from a different angle - more of a &quot;worldbuilding perspective.&quot;My impression is that your idea is &quot;too human&quot; - or rather, too much a product of our own world. Instead of thinking how to apply something that is very much the product of our own history and culture into what could be a rather alien, fantasy culture, I would think in terms of how an elvish race that embodied such gender and sexual diversity would naturally and organically evolve. Now there can, of course, be oppression involved, whether in the past of elvish history or from outside sources. But if not, if this is just how elves are, and without any history of oppression, then I would take a different approach. This gives you an opportunity to think big, even idealistically: In your mind, how would a culture and species look that has always embodied such diversity? Would it need a flag at all, or would it just &quot;be&quot;? Meaning, you can take the basic approach of envisioning a culture as (you think) it &quot;should&quot; be - and not in reaction to anything else, not involving oppression, just a natural and organic expression.For instance, the Revelry could be a very uninhibited expression and ritual of sexuality and romance unencumbered by our own hang-ups and notions. In that sense, I'll diverge from Steampunkette a bit here (even though I get their point about over-sexualizing LGBTQ people): Maybe elves don't have the embedded sexual hang-ups that we do, which are largely derived from religious roots and taboos?In the end, it all depends upon what you want to accomplish. It is your world and your elves! My main point is to pull away a bit from our world, and think in terms of how such a culture would evolve within the context of your setting, and how elvish tradition and culture and history would look in your world. As I said, it is an opportunity to, in a sense, envision a &quot;better world&quot; than our own.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 8680625, member: 59082"] Obviously an idea with a lot of thought put into it, and I appreciate the intention behind it. My view kind of riffs off something [USER=6796468]@Steampunkette[/USER] said--that Pride exists because of oppression. Although not being LGBTQ, I'm coming from a different angle - more of a "worldbuilding perspective." My impression is that your idea is "too human" - or rather, too much a product of our own world. Instead of thinking how to apply something that is very much the product of our own history and culture into what could be a rather alien, fantasy culture, I would think in terms of how an elvish race that embodied such gender and sexual diversity would naturally and organically evolve. Now there [I]can, [/I]of course, be oppression involved, whether in the past of elvish history or from outside sources. But if not, if this is just how elves are, and without any history of oppression, then I would take a different approach. This gives you an opportunity to think big, even idealistically: In your mind, how would a culture and species look that has always embodied such diversity? Would it need a flag at all, or would it just "be"? Meaning, you can take the basic approach of envisioning a culture as (you think) it "should" be - and not in reaction to anything else, not involving oppression, just a natural and organic expression. For instance, the Revelry could be a very uninhibited expression and ritual of sexuality and romance unencumbered by our own hang-ups and notions. In that sense, I'll diverge from Steampunkette a bit here (even though I get their point about over-sexualizing LGBTQ people): Maybe elves don't have the embedded sexual hang-ups that we do, which are largely derived from religious roots and taboos? In the end, it all depends upon what you want to accomplish. It is [I]your [/I]world and [I]your [/I]elves! My main point is to pull away a bit from our world, and think in terms of how such a culture would evolve within the context of your setting, and how elvish tradition and culture and history would look in your world. As I said, it is an opportunity to, in a sense, envision a "better world" than our own. [/QUOTE]

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