Re: Runedarspace-New Sphere

At 11:49 AM 6/5/97 -0400, Static wrote:
>	These dwarves seem much less conserned with racial purity.  I
>wonder if they'd really be open minded enough to give major roles
>(communication, helm piloting, etc.) to non-dwarves.

Dwarven priests are the primary helmsman aboard the ships, and the most of
the helms used are of a fixed SR so level doesn't really matter. In the
past, the dwarves were pounded by enemies who had access to wizardly magic
so one High Thane decided to use magic to get even. And if a non-dwarf is
just as qualified to do the job, then so be it; let that person do it. I
should also note that interracial marriages between dwarves and humans are
frowned upon, but some do happen. However, adoptions of human of half-elven
orphans by dwarven parents are common; the current High Thane has an
adopted human daughter and is seeking to marry her off to one of his human
or half-elven nobles.

[snip]
>I always envisioned the
>militant elves to be the ones who realised that the "win-by-outliving-
>your-enemies" approach wasn't as successful as it seemed, so they took
>up arms to defend "elven interests".  This view also lends itself to
>the "I hate non-elves" type of elves.  Both types should exist since
>the elven races is not a monolithic entity -- despite what the "Let's
>reunite all the elves" type of elves want you to think.

I guess this last statement fits well with what Steve mentioned about there
being two arms of the IEN; the "keep contact with our elven brethren" and
the "defend elven interests with the sword".

> BTW, what do you consider to be the "traditional elven
>view"?  (I really am curious.  I still have a hard time deciding what
>it is.)  The space elves' biggest difference from "traditional [groundling]
>elves" is that space elves have gotten fed up with human -- and humanoid
>-- expansion, and have decided to act instead of waiting for the trouble
>to go away.  (i.e. Space elves are proactive, and groundling elves are
>reactive.)

You've hit the nail on the head! My view of groundling elves is that they
wait around for something to happen("Don't worry about that human wizard
terrorizing the continent. He'll be dead when we're still in our prime. Let
the humans deal with this tyrant so long as he doesn't bother us")

Whereas the space elves go out and end a potential threat before it can
hurt them.

>	I'm not up on the Realms.  What's so different about these "young"
>dwarves from Delzoun?

Delzoun was a dwarven kingdom in the North a few thousand years back. Not
much is left of it now and the space dwarves will be horrified to see the
state of the dwarven decline in the North.

>ps.  This discussion is great! :)  I don't think I've thought this
>much about elves and dwarves in a *long* time...

Aye, its refreshing to discuss what drives the average elf and dwarf in a
SJ campaign.


Toby Mekelburg
toby@????.net	mekelbur@??????.edu
My Realms page at http://www.lava.net/~toby