Species?

[kestal]

No description provided.

[kestal]

I suggest no elves; they are too "easy".
A hybrid dwarf/gnome would be fun.
We could just have humans but with relatively large divergence (àla almost hobbit versus human)

[lord-koko]

Why are elves easier than dwarfs ?

[fahriel]

I support the idea of having elementals. Perhaps in a further away area, wilderness-esque (north in continent one) or in uninhabited zones (wild forests, mountains). Maybe too magical though?

[kestal]

The status now is the following (although maybe not everything has been written yet):

There are three "sentient"/humanoid species, the humans, the dwarves and the elves.
The humans are plain classic humans.
The elves are halfway between what would be called wood elves and more elemental/animal beings.
They live in tribes, don't have any of the high part of elves, and I'd like them to have a pretty strong "animal" behaviour.
It would be fun to make some of them have antlers; and they could be slightly green/brown (the elves, not the antlers).
The idea would be that they would (magically) get stronger the more elves there are in their neighborhood.
The dwarves are pretty standard.
They still mainly live underground.
Their society is pretty tight knit and united.
We would like them to sort of have a common religion (that would serve as a sort of philosophy too) that would be deeply set in their culture, and they would consider their governance to be religious too.

I personally think those three species are more than enough?

[kestal]

Also, it would be nice to have cases of elves eating people, and maybe sometimes other elves.

[kestal]

Maybe we should make it that the more energized elves get by being around each other, the more animal/savage they get. So that an isolated elf working in a human settlement would be pretty manageable; but them getting together, their animal instinct would get the upper hand.
This would mix nicely with the concept of an elvish "singularity" where they are super densely packed.

[lord-koko]

I like this idea,
It doesnt allow us to create real elf kingdom/civilisation though.
They would be to unstable.
Or is there a limit ? Does it only affect their food habits ?
What do you mean by elementals fahriel ?
Are they energy beings ?
Less abstract creatures strongly bounded with elements ?
If magic is external, are they creatures of pure magic ?
If it is internal, what are they ?

I could like to have some other species, but i would prefer them to be really limited, to have somewhat a sober universe.
C.F. #6

[kestal]

No elf civilization is OK, and even good imo.

If you see magic as a sort of fourth dimension, and being a magician as being able to feel and act on this fourth dimension (let's call it warp), then the elves would be a species where everyone is equally gifted w.r.t the warp. They all feel it and can all use it, but not consciously, not constructively.
It would be innate and not separable from mere feelings for the elves.

The idea that the closer they are to each other, the more animal they get would indeed mean that there is no big elvish city or kingdom.
But we could still have this "singularity", and the closer to this one gets, the more the elves behave like animal, the less constructed it is.

That could also mean that the size of a typical elvish tribe is sort of the sweet spot between weakened by being too few too far away and being many but not "conscious enough".

[ghost]

Following my proposition for magic.

ELVES

Sources and casters: theses humanoids can easily enter the praeter without any source of power. In fact, they have such a natural strong bond with it that they become themselves sources of power.
Sickness: furthermore, the more they are in a close area, the stronger their bond becomes. Unfortunately, this also awakens their feral instinct and weakens their intellect. However their memory stays untouched, so that they can remember everything if they get back to a smaller group.
They also develop a lust of magical power and thus start using their congeners as sources of power, even if they have to kill each others. Their madness even push them to cannibalism, as they want to imbibe the power.
Groups: the various groups by increasing size:

• Small group: a few elves have no intellectual weakness nor any bond to the warp.
• Tribe: a group of about twenty elves have almost no intellectual weakness but are quite bound to the warp. This is the best balance and most common system present.
• Horde: with more than twenty elves in the vicinity, the feral instinct shows quickly. Thenceforth, they organize themselves like a pack, with a pack leader bringing them to work cooperatively in certain cases.

[kestal]

I think there are good ideas in this comment, but I don't agree with everything:

I like the idea of a sort of "magical lust". I think it could make sense for them to consummate other elves to get more of this power.
One problem with that is that the idea of an "elvish singularity" would be harder to achieve, as any too high concentration would quickly get unstable due to elves eating each others.
On the other hand, you could make them get attracted to magic, hence want to get closer to higher concentration of elves.
But that would quickly get apocalyptic, because once a high enough concentration is reached, all the neighboring elves would be attracted there and get eaten too?
I think there are nice ideas here, but we'll have to be careful how it all works to have something that makes sense.

I'm not so sure about elves being a "source of magic" in themselves; but it could make sense with the warp idea of magic.

As we discussed, I think it would also be interesting to make them not remember when they are too influenced by this "mass magic". Linearly with the impact of magic on them, it would get harder and harder to recall what happened, until full amnesia would be reached.
Both concepts (remember everything, mind prisoner of their instincts; or amnesia) could be interesting imo.

Concerning the nomenclature for groups and sizes: I don't think we need to define specific names for groups. It would just be a continuum.

[ghost]

Yes that magical lust need a deeper development. We could see that as a kind a sin, and like for a human, some can resist it and some can't (as long as they stand in small group). This way some will stay in tribe and some will yield to their pulses and regroup more.
Also I didn't see that lust and feral instinct so anarchical. For me it was a strong behavior but that doesn't mean everyone of them will permanently try to perform cannibalism. Also, in larger group there would be often a pack leader that would maintain a certain order.

And yes amnesia or memory are both interesting.