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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mallak" data-source="post: 2658479" data-attributes="member: 37105">I promised more on the nature of race relations, and here it is:The Human PerspectiveExcerpts from a talk on human-elven relations as given by Professor Torrick at the recent 3rd Annual Economic Summit held in Ferran, a day's journey inland from Antigrol:[sblock]"When the Helffledt Expedition succeeded in crossing the Great Eastern Ocean, it was a pivotalmoment for all human kind.  For the first time we had made contact with another sentient speicies; a race not unlike our own in stature and temperment.  Not only did these elves subsequently introduce us to two other sentient races, the sub-dwelling dwarves and the ingenious gnomes, they held under their command mystical, arcane forces.  The objects of great power which they could create and wield, while almost common-place amongst the elves, were of great economic potential here on the Mainland, due both to their rarity and their utility.  To recognize the truth of this, one need merely look to the example of the simple freshen charm.  A relatively common household item amongst the elves, the freshen charm was a marvel to those wealthy human families who could afford it.  It freed up countless manhours that would have otherwise been spent washing and cleaning.  It introduced a revolution in hygiene.  In the end, it has become indespensable.Fortunately for the economy of our kingdoms, we humans had something to offer the world: the technological knowhow to extract and work metals, which the elves lacked, the ability to mass produce all sorts of goods, which the dwarves lacked, allowing us to sell at lower prices, and the discipline lacking amongst the gnomes to turn ideas into products and ensure that the entire production process runs smoothly from conception to delivery.  Initially, we were also able to eliminate the gnomish middleman that existed in all dwarven-elvish trade.  After a honeymoon period of only half a decade, human-elven relations began to take a turn for the worse.  Though freshen and preservation charms were nice, the elves refused to trade in any of their more powerful magics.  Human traders were increasingly snubbed by turned up noses at the allegedly inferior quality of their goods.  This, in turn, led to worse trade ratios.  Matters nearly came to a head seven years ago with the Ghatts mining scandal.  It seems the elves were unaware of the manner in which we extracted metals from the earth.  One enterprising young tradesman by the name of William Ghatts thought to sell the process to a certain High Elf Council.  Upon hearing a description of the mining process, the council was reportedly shocked and had every human in their kingdom arrested.  Apparently, our system of mining is some sort of an affront to their earth goddess.  We now understand that the process of the dwarves, which the elves were familiar with, is a much different, more lengthy process of removing minerals from the earth that somehow leaves the earth intact and even encourages the rock to produce other minerals, much like a farmer rotating crops.  We currently have men investigating these methods, but they have made little headway, as the dwarves guard their mining secrets closely.Fortunately for William Ghatts, he had several prominent gnomish friends who were quite familiar with elven law.  A deal was struck allowing all humans in the elvish lands to go free, remanded to the justice of their respective kingdoms on the human Mainland.  Today, all persons ever involved in or even remotely connected to traditional human mining operations have been barred from elvish lands on pain of execution.  When this decision was first decreed, it created a vaccuum in trade between the humans and the elves, into which the gnomish middlemen quickly stepped.  Since that time, various human mining operations have changed their practices to be more "elf friendly," but the new processes are expensive, and they are consistently undersold by the larger mining operations doing business through the gnomish middlemen.  Add to that the stigma and aloofness that remains amongst elves toward humans, and it is a marvel of modern economics that these "elfly" mining operations even manage to stay alive.  They survive largely due to a diehard faction amongst the elves that refuses to use any products that are connected with traditional human mining practices.  Many of those elves continue to trade for dwarven goods, but some of them are disgusted with the gnomes for even handling the tainted human goods, and so refuse to deal with any gnomes as well.  It now appears that some of these groups have taken it upon themselves to see that no tainted goods ever reach elvish shores.  Piratical raiding has been increasing along the major trade routes, and it may be that some of these "pirates" have official sanction.  Unfortunately, the realm of elven politics remains difficult to penetrate, and it is not always clear where one kingdom ends and another begins.Here at home, the price of elvish arcane goods has been rising, leading to increased raiding.  Also, there seem to be some elves who do not wish to see arcane items in human possession.  We believe they are contributing to the raiding.  To top it all off, the gnomes have been increasing their percentage, citing increased security costs.  This has led to increased smuggling.  All this combines for a larger black market, which hurts legitimate trade.In short, the practices of the gnomes and elves are hurting human business.  While the gnomes' actions can be understood from an economic standpoint, many of the elves are engaging in hostile fundamentalism that cannot be allowed to continue.  If their own governments will not put a stop to these pirates, then we, the Mainland Economic Trade Federation, must step in and secure our assets."[/sblock]Next Time:The Elven Perspective</blockquote>

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