If I get anything wrong I’m counting on ECR correcting me.
IC – all spoken by Dirt. Just saving time and convenience by not using the “”.
How to summarise ‘Dark Elves’. Think of a dwarven society and exasperate it due to a low generational turn over. Although you would be hard pressed to get a surface elf to admit it, humans and other races are a large sanity check on their nature. Dark elves don’t have this check and it shows.
For start, it would be best to refer to them as ‘Svartalfven’. In part to avoid confusion with all the ‘elf’ we’re going to be throwing about in conversation, and it’s good practice for if you decide to go meet them. They consider themselves to be the only ‘true’ bloodline of the elf race. All of the others are considered to be ‘half-elfs’ in polite society, or just more commonly as half-breeds.
To understand a Svartalfven, you have to look at the history and psychological make up of them as a race. Their biggest social flaw is their long natural lifespan. The average Svartalfven only tends to care about one thing, himself. It is the core of their being, to retain as much power and wealth to keep themselves alive as long possible and to hell with anybody else. Because of this nature they tend to work thru the usual humanoid cycle of so called civilisation. However, unlike most Humanoid races Svartalfven live long enough that a large enough quantity of them have been through the cycle several times.
The Cycle we should all know; Anarchy of total individual freedom leading up to tribalism when the weakest need to band together for survival against the strongest. The world would be a better place if everybody just copied my people and just stayed at this stage.
Tribalism onto warlords as the strongest battle for control followed by the decline into feudalism. The path to feudalism eventually leads into a central monarchy of a first amongst equals followed swiftly into the standard Svartalfven Tyranny that we all know and love when one of the houses decides to become more equal than the rest. Eventually the rest of the Svartalfven will have had enough, or enough of the new generation would have been born for a rebellion to arise and we’re back to stage one of anarchy all over again.
Remember what I said earlier about being a long lived race?
Because enough of the Svartalfven have lived though the cycles and they know what is coming they jostle for position as the next change is expected. Those on top try to keep the status quo for as long as possible, whilst those below manoeuvre for advantage and to hasten the next path on the cycle.
On top of this add to the mix a family history tree when the odds are you actually knew and fought alongside your great grandparents when they were in their prime. You have ancestors who’s feats and names you can’t just consign to a musty tomb even if it’s expedient to do so, because your own name is intricately entwined with their actions. A Svartalfven is literally bound by the actions of his ancestors, and you can be damn sure that he will be proud of these, or at least spin events that way.
Around here there are two main communities, and a selection of outcasts who have thrown in with the Humans. Don’t expect the outcasts to be of much help as they have burnt their bridges when they left home. The Northern community I can’t provide much information on, I suspect that Aburon over there can say more on it.
The southern community is made up of four main houses. One of which is acknowledge (belatedly) as the defacto monarch. It’s currently consolidating its power and entering the final stage of tyranny. The other three are currently in the midst of internal politics of deciding to either plunge into revolution or maintain the status quo for longer. If you want to make contact sooner would be better than later as things tend to move fast at this stage of the game.
Hope this helps.
OOC – if you wish I can always have dirt say this in his form of Svartalfven
