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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Corvidae" data-source="post: 3548682" data-attributes="member: 29891">Since Kae'yoss gave such a great view, I thought I might share my own ideas, then you can draw from both.How do elves learn to fight.Elven childhood (all 100 years of it) is filled with learning.  Young elves try their hand at a variety of arts, crafts, and endeavors.  Every elf will have a smattering of skills gained from such training.  However, the training that the elves hold in the highest regard is the arts of war such as strategy, sword play, reconaissance, archery, and (surprisingly) engineering.The elves train their young by teaching basic steps or basic tips, but never going into elaborate detail.  Each young elf must decide  for themself what to do with what they have been taught.  Because of this, even though each elf will know the same "kata" they will all use the moves of the "kata" differently in battle.   Young elves often hone their fighting skills against elves from other bands.  This is done in sets of ritualized duels and contests known collectively as "the dance of blades"  The weapons are dulled for the duels so that no elf is killed (although it has been known to happen, it is happily a rare occurance).  The dance of blades consist of battles in sword play, reconaissance, archery and engineering.  The sword play duels are matches called out by one member of a band to a member of the opposite band.  It may be refused but rarely is done so (gaining experiance is what the dance of blades is all about).  The duels often consist of a single blow.  The elves face each other parrying each strike until one sees and oppurtunity and ends the duel. The next battle is about archery.  The archers rather than place a target and try to hit it will attempt to perform outrageous feats of archery such as trying to strike the stem of a single cherry picked out on the tree.   They will also test their skills with speed of archery by having a leaf thrown in the air and firing at a tree or stump as many times as they can before it touches ground.  The battle of reconaissance requires no weapons, it is about the bands of elves trying to steal something important to the other band.  In order to do this, certain things must be known, where the item is located, how it is guarded, when would be the time to strike, how to strike, etc.  This prepares elves for times when they must find the enemies plans, or take something in order to demoralize the enemy (a  battle standard, trophies of war, etc.)The battle of engineering is not engineering as most races look at it.  The bands of elves try to make a certain patch of forest as defensible and confusing as possible.  They use magical traps, and natural barriers predominately.  Time permitting, they will try to coax nature into the use that they want (helping brambles spread into a wall of thorns, or a funnel for enemies.  The other band must try to make it through this gauntlet of nature without being struck by dulled arrows (they may fire back with their own).  The "attackers" can continue on even if hit, but the "defenders" must leave the area.  The win goes to the band that hit the most attackers and lost the least defenders (although it is considered a failure if the ratio of attackers hit to defenders hit is not at least 4 to 1)These duels and battles are the main form of entertainment for about 25 years of the elves childhood (about from the age 50 to 75) when they become less important than learning art or music.  However, all elves retain the lessons taught, and all elves are capable of defending their homes when the need arises.Ok, that was a lot more longwinded than I thought it would be, let me know if you want me to continue.Corvidae</blockquote>

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