roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-15 04:56 pm
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-15 04:56 pm
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(Under the Green Moon) ELFS!
One of the things I've been doing in my Under the Green Moon setting is simply writing up random setting elemts as they occur to me. For instance, this is my response to the statement that any fantasy setting MUST have an elf race in there. That notion immediately set of my sarcasm generator.
This is the result: the write-up for elfs in my fantasy setting.
ELFs
ELFs are rare and highly cherished, so much so that some city-states have had an ELF advising them for generations, as much for the prestige as for the erratic usefulness of their advice. Anyone finding a live ELF can likely trade it for a large sum of wealth.
A sleeping ELF appears as a black obelisk of some unknown, hornlike material, around two feet in length, with a small diamondium crystal in the top. This is actually the domicile or protective shell of the ELF; if it is cracked when found, , then it is sadly, dead. Normally, ELFs are found in a quiescent state; to awake one, the obelisk has to be exposed to bright sunlight for some hours, until blue or red hieroglyphs appear inside the surface of the base. Then if spoken to, the elf will appear above the tip in a swirl of light. ELFs have a highly variable appearance. Often they appear as foot-tall humanoids with sparkly wings, and a cheerful, helpful demeanor; they may also appear as floating heads of men or women of many different races. All ELFs though are translucent and intangible. They easily change shape, taking the form and appearance of items and concepts they are discussing. They will originally appear speaking their own dead language, but rapidly learn any language.
All this alone would make an ELF a wonder, but it is their store of knowledge for which they are most valued. An ELF has an immense body of learning, though much of it will be thousands, even tens of thousands of years out of date. Also, while always helpful, many of the answers they give are cryptic, refer to concepts or processes that are long out of fashion, or simply have no translation in modern languages. Because of this, knowing the right questions to ask an ELF is an art in itself, and some scholars have attempted to learn the dead language of the ELFs. Those attempts have met with failure so far, as ELFs politely insist on speaking in the tongue of the inquirer. As a result, nobody has yet learned the meaning of the strange phrase “ik-stur-nl lahy-brer-ee fuhngk-shuh-ner-ee ak-tuh-veyt” that they recite when coming awake.
This is the result: the write-up for elfs in my fantasy setting.
ELFs
ELFs are rare and highly cherished, so much so that some city-states have had an ELF advising them for generations, as much for the prestige as for the erratic usefulness of their advice. Anyone finding a live ELF can likely trade it for a large sum of wealth.
A sleeping ELF appears as a black obelisk of some unknown, hornlike material, around two feet in length, with a small diamondium crystal in the top. This is actually the domicile or protective shell of the ELF; if it is cracked when found, , then it is sadly, dead. Normally, ELFs are found in a quiescent state; to awake one, the obelisk has to be exposed to bright sunlight for some hours, until blue or red hieroglyphs appear inside the surface of the base. Then if spoken to, the elf will appear above the tip in a swirl of light. ELFs have a highly variable appearance. Often they appear as foot-tall humanoids with sparkly wings, and a cheerful, helpful demeanor; they may also appear as floating heads of men or women of many different races. All ELFs though are translucent and intangible. They easily change shape, taking the form and appearance of items and concepts they are discussing. They will originally appear speaking their own dead language, but rapidly learn any language.
All this alone would make an ELF a wonder, but it is their store of knowledge for which they are most valued. An ELF has an immense body of learning, though much of it will be thousands, even tens of thousands of years out of date. Also, while always helpful, many of the answers they give are cryptic, refer to concepts or processes that are long out of fashion, or simply have no translation in modern languages. Because of this, knowing the right questions to ask an ELF is an art in itself, and some scholars have attempted to learn the dead language of the ELFs. Those attempts have met with failure so far, as ELFs politely insist on speaking in the tongue of the inquirer. As a result, nobody has yet learned the meaning of the strange phrase “ik-stur-nl lahy-brer-ee fuhngk-shuh-ner-ee ak-tuh-veyt” that they recite when coming awake.