How do elves build there cities?

[dead]

I was wondering if any elf experts or creative folk could help me.

You see, I'm a little confused as to what the *generic-D&D* elf city looks like. In the Dragonlance novels, elf cities are pretty much buildings made of stone but are very elegant and have a lot of spires. A similar model occurs with FR's Myth Drannor. However, I've often heard people suggest that elves don't build such cities at all. Instead, they either build dwellings up in the very trees themselves (kinda like the village of Solace in DL) or they "bioengineer" there dwellings out of living trees.

This brings me to another question. If you take the model of an elf city from DL (Silvanost and Qualinost) and from FR (Myth Drannor), how did the elves build these stone structures? Did they build them with stone blocks (somehow I can't see a bunch of elven brick-layers sweating in the heat) or did they "shape" it with magic?

If anyone could help clear up my confusion I would greatly appreciate it as I have to develop an elven city for my campaign very soon.

Thanks.

P.S. Even if you don't know what the *generic-D&D* elf city looks like, please tell me what the elf cities look like in your game.

 

[Whisper72]

Well... even qualinost (IIRC) was built from crystal rather then brick/stone, and it is described in one of the original novels as being 'grown', i.e. shaped using magic.

In my campaign worlds, elven cities would be in the trees, somewhat as described in R.E. Feist's books for the elven realm, for movies think of the village in the trees in one of the robin hood movies, or the villages of the little critters (can't think of the name right now) in Star Wars, but then gracefully built...

Hope that helps you some...

 

[kolikeos]

...or the villages of the little critters (can't think of the name right now) in Star Wars, but then gracefully built...

ewocs? (i think this is how you spell it) that is exactly the way elven cities look in my game. i remember reading a description of an elven city in the dmg, it was very alike.

 

[Gez]

Ewok. With a 'K'.

Trivia: Ewoks were initially supposed to be wookies, but Lucas wanted to use a Wookie since the first movie, and then they wouldn't be a surprise for the characters in the third.

So he split the race in two, the Wookies and the Ewoks. Ewok is a wordplay on wookie.

 

[Thanee]

Elves build their cities in a way, that it does not harm nature, usually merged into natural features (often wood).

Also, they tend to decorate them in a very artistic way, tending towards round flowing lines and patterns.

Elves, being highly magical creatures, often bind powerful spells to protect their cities in a subtle way (something like Antipathy would fit well).

Bye
Thanee

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

I think that by this point in the evolution of fantasy games and D&D in general, the generic elven city has been split into precisely the two ideas you mentioned - tree cities or traditional cities. This is mostly, in my humble opinion, because people have differing views of what role elves play in any given campaign. Some campaigns/DMs go with both roads - FR has high elves for the tree homes and the moon elves for the more regular cities. Even Lord of the Rings showed the differences between Elron and Galadriel's homelands. It just depends on the role you want the elves to fit or the idea you have for them - tree houses for a more nature oriented elf or the cities for more magic oriented elves.

As for how the elves built the stone cities, I'd tend to say it was primarily magical in nature. Elves are generally considered more frail and not up to the heavy lifting and manual labor of moving giant stones. That isn't to say they would cast a spell to form a building though. I wouldn't doubt that some elf has created some higher level spells to help or perhaps even an epic level spell to create part or even a whole city.

 

[Whisper72]

* hey, nice avatar there, amazing dingo! *

Well... for building / how to, I always assume that the 'magical races' will have NPC artificers, kinda like magewrights in Eberron, or think the Treesingers in the 'Wheel of Time', who somehow (don't care about the real mechanics, all happens 'off camera' anyhoo) channel magical energies to shape the stone / crystal / wood into the needed shapes. This means that buildings will be seamless and all manner of artistic / aesthetically pleasing forms and shapes will be crafted, fusing the materials together etc....

 

[Tinner]

Frank Lloyd Wright was an elf ...

Or, at least some of his buildings would work as elven structures IMO.
Check out Falling Water.
Kinda reminds me of Rivendell.

 

[William Ronald]

Tolkien's elves used both cities and tree cities. Possibly, an elven city might resemble a human traditional city but with more trees and foilage than most medieval human cities.

There are some other possibilities which you can take from different sources. For example, on Babylon 5, many of the Minbari cities wre shown to have many crystalline structures. This might be an approach to take for something a little different. Another possibility is to make a city like Venice, consisting of several small islands. This might be a good possibility for an elven city that is a trade center.

In some cases, a city might be hidden with illusions. Add in an antipathy spell, and an elven city may be hidden from its neighbors.

 

[HeathcliffeSlocumb]

I usually have both of the types mentioned above: Ewok village (only less primative, more "artsy") and the Rivendell-like cities/towns. I view the Ewok village as more appropriate for the wood/wild elves, and Rivendell for the High elves.