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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BlackMoria" data-source="post: 3570377" data-attributes="member: 424">The mindset of elves... ok, then - this is a bone we can gnaw on together.Let's talk Faerun, since you seem to have a passing familarity with the game setting.1. Elves in Faerun can have a very dark side when turned to war.  Proof:  The Crown WarsTherefore, the assumption must follow that elves are very capable of adopting a mindset that allows them in engage in warcraft on an ongoing basis.  And that that mindset is a natural state of mind, not elves emulating humans because the Crown wars were fought before the rise of human empires.  This flies in your assumption that the elves don't have the psyche for war and violence.2.  The Retreat - while no clear cut reasons for the Retreat appear in print, the general consensus is that the elves became wearied of defending themselves against a tide of encroaching humanity.  Assuming long life spans, a majority of elves chose to go to Evermeet and other places (some otherworldly, like the Star Elves).  However, the older elves chose retreat and the younger elves chose to remain, supported by references in various references in sourcebooks and novels.Therefore, the assumption is that Retreat to isolation was because the older elves are tired of strife and the younger elves failed the call to retreat.  It is hinted at in publications that the Retreat was not a final solution for a doomed people but a solution barring a better solution.  And the Retreat is over, since the attack on Evermeet and Evereska has shown that a policy of isolationist was not a solution.  The elves are coming back to claim their own.   So much for doomed, pacifist elves.3.  Those elves that remained built enclaves.  Evereska was guarded by magic enhanced secret routes in which invaders or the curious became hopeless lost.  Other magic defences meant that Evereska didn't have to field a large standing army to watch their borders.  The Phaerimm incident showed the fallacy of putting all your  home defence eggs in one basket, namely, trusting the magic defences to be infallable.Even mythals were constructed to make elven lives easier, to facilitate defence and to aroint hostile magic, putting an attacker at an disadvantage.  Some mythals even forbid entry by certain creatures (supported in publications).  Mythals made elven settlements easily defended and the failure of mythals like Myth Drannor to prevent incursion was largely due to internal threats or corruptions rather than external threats (again, supported in publications).If anything, the Faerun elves had and used powerful magic almost unrivaled by Netheril and Imaskar (high magic destroyed a elven nation and destroyed the Jhannather(sp?) human empire in the Vilhon Reach, elven magic produced the wonders called Mythals and mantle spells, high magic created Evermeet and protected Evereska for millenium).  The Crown wars is proof that the image of elven pacifism, of psyche fragile elves, of peaceful, frolicking, vulnerable elves is absolute nonsense.And the notion of doomed elves.  Rubbish.  The retreat is over and the elves in Faerun are writing a new chapter in the history of Faerun.... and by blood if necessary.</blockquote>

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