Help me to visualize a Gurgach (wild elven) village

[RavenSinger]

Okay, I understand wood elves and high elves pretty well. And there are many examples written and drawn up in various literatures for these elven varients. But wild elves? Maybe I just haven't read enough.

The reason I ask is I am needing to come up with a village of "Hill Elves". The terrain is large hill to low moutain with patches of forest here and there. Would they live under the trees? In the trees? Shallow underground (ala Hobbit)? Would the houses be spread out or concentrated? How would their magical nature manifest? These are all questions swimming around, and I am just not coming up with much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
--RavenSinger

 

[d12]

If you know anything at all about Native American tribes just use some of that stuff. Wild elves could live in long houses like the Iriquoi or they maight have portable tents made of animal hides. Magically I see them being very druid-centered - so they'd have lots of animal companions to scout for them and look for intruders and enemies.

 

[Micar Sin]

Well, it also depends on whether they are going to be nomadic, semi-settled (IE they spend different parts of the year at different camps) or settled. If they are settled and have a druidic tradition, I can see them living in homes made up of plants that have been coaxed to grow just so...

 

[d12]

Or homes carved into the rock of the hills - like the Pueblo!

Another idea for magic is to have one of the tribal leaders have a magical item that can summon a powerful "nature spirit" or maybe a 16HD Gargantuan Tiger?

 

[RavenSinger]

Thanks

This group of elves is not Gurgach per se, but that is the closest thing I can come up with. They are sort of half way between wood elf and gurgach. (i.e. like a wood elf that is slightly less civilized, and does not live in the woods). The village units are not nomadic necessarily, but in a pinch they could bundle up very quickly and move out without too much problem.

I'm liking the Native American idea. I think I'll do a little research on the area that I am modelling my campaign after, and see how the Native Americans lived.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep em coming if there are any more ideas.

--RavenSinger

 

[chatdemon]

First off, I'll cite my sources here. I've done some fairly extensive work on the Grugach in the past, using various 1e and 2e products (Unearthed Arcana and the Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium Appendix to name the major ones) as well as thorough mining of the Greytalk list archive. I recommend those sources to anyone serious about developing Grugach in their game.

First off, Grugach tend to be semi-nomadic, having seasonal 'villages' in various parts of their territory. This helps keep from overhunting any one area, and allows the elves to access the best of all seasonal benefits or features. The downside though is that the villages never really grow into permanent settlements.

Typical Grugach homes involve a 3 or 4 foot deep pit dug into ground, and covered with a thatch type dome or vaulted roof of branches, leaves, shrubberies (hush you, no wisecracks!) and possibly animal skins. Camoflage is essential for the survival of small bands of primitive folk dwelling in the great forests of a fantasy world, and this manner of housing is great for providing concealment. I believe one reference mentioned that a party could walk right through a Grugach village, and not even realize it, if the elves chose to hide.

More long lasting structures may include things like shrines or medicine huts, which might be built simliarly to other Grugach homes, but with the walls of the pit reinforced with wood or stone, and with sturdier roofs.

I'll try and dig up some of the more detailed posts I made to the greytalk list on this subject and repost them here, but until then, you can access the Greytalk archive via the Canonfire! website.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Sitting in a meeting yesterday and just started to think about this, even did some sketches.

I see mud dwellings, small domed round, attached to each other, stacked to each other. Built on the sides of hills and trees.

 

[MooseHB]

Check Back Friday...

Just a thought, and not a plug, though I am excited to see what's in store...

Friday when the Time Machine opens, you may get some additional ideas from the Eloi. It looks like they have some funky dwellings designed to repel the Morlocks, undoubtedly, but the terrain looks uneven there and certainly the cliffhouses as I've seen in previews could apply to the trunks of large trees in the patches of forest in the hills, or to the hillsides themselves, like some sort of ramshackle Kivas.

Again, just a thought.

Moose

 

[Darklone]

Hmm

Since I loved to play wildelves since decades... I always used them similar to Native Americans as already mentioned. Usually combined with some druidic abilities like woodland stride and stuff.

I usually didn't give them tents or something else, they just used small caves, overhanging trees, a dry space between two large rocks... If a wildelf family set up camp, it's a matter of a minute. They just sit down and make themselves comfortable, dragging a few branches somewhere,...

Fire. Well. I often had them eat raw meat.

 

[Crothian]

I think the plains indians are the way to go. THey were semi nomatic following the herds of buffola. They could back up everything in a few hours and be on their way. Everything they had folded up and was easily trasported being pulled by dogs and horses. THey had little waste and many of their items had multiple uses. Weapons that can function equally as tools and that could help in the hunt and in the defense of the tribe.