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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Darth Shoju" data-source="post: 3549801" data-attributes="member: 11397">I think that is worth remembering. The elves you have set up in this discussion are a unique extrapolation of a variety of sources in which they appear. I think you've tailored them to suit your theory and as presented are pretty difficult to make viable. You ask how elves can resist the barbaric hordes and remain "elven", and others point out that in the sources your refer to, they are generally militarily capable. You counter by providing examples where they could not resist their opponents; I'd counter that by suggesting that that is because most authors are infatuated with the tragedy of a beautiful and sophisticated civilization (ie. the elves) slowly declining and fading away. That is just the way those authors choose to write their stories and has nothing to do with the viability of the race as they appear in those settings. How would they survive? Diplomacy and military might. Same as any other nation in that kind of context. As far as your own take on elves, I see them as an evolutionary dead-end. If you look at nature, those creatures that are relatively docile (ie. prey) compensate through sheer strength in numbers combined with defensive characteristics (speed, horns , camouflage, etc.). Those creatures that can't reproduce in great numbers either have some other advantage (eg. whales and elephants rely on their size) or they go extinct. But you've presented elves as as a docile race that reproduces slowly and has no useful defensive mechanisms. How on earth would a race like that survive? Well, as far as I can see, they'd have a few options (that are long-shots at best IMO):1) They have something that other nations need, but can't take, so they have to leave them alive. Of course, this could just lead them to a life of slavery.2) They somehow manage to survive to a more modern age where genocide is not tolerated and they are defended by someone more capable to do so (I hope this one doesn't open a political can of worms that goes against the Forum policies).3) They use diplomacy flawlessly to set themselves up in such a web of allegiances and intrigue that they are essentially untouchable.4) They get together and cast some big magic spell that protects them or pacifies the other races or such. Really, in a fantasy world you can justify just about anything with magic (although that is quite the cop-out IMO.</blockquote>

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