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Okay, there has been a thread going on in the Rifts forum about 'Dark Elves' and yadda yadda blah blah blah ad-nausium ad-infinitum.
*sigh*
Question is, does anyone actualy play elves?

How WOULD dark Elves aclimate to space? They'd be great spacers as long as they didn't have to deal with direct light from near-primaries (that's 'stars' that have planets, for those of you who haven't read any sci-fi or science journals in the last 30 years).
How would you portray the Star Elf kingdoms; Lothlorian in space? Rocket powered trees? Or would you have them more akin to the Eldar from WH40K?
Are there more than one species of Elf in your campiagn? I'm not talking wood / high / dark Elves (which are the same species, just differing ethnicities?) Or are people just sticking with the palladium Elf and maybe the uber-mega damage Star Elf (Asgardian; whatever ).
Do you stick with the standard 1000 yr. life span, or are they near immortals that only die by violence, disease and by willful "going into the west"?
Are there 'lost tribes' of Elves that wander the megaverse, staying just at the rim of the younger races, watching, waiting...plotting?

And please, no R.A. Salvatore bashing / stroking. I have read & heard enough from both camps to want to vommit, thank you.

I'm one of the few that has serious problems with the UWW. If magic is too commonplace, it stops being magical. There is no mystery in something everyone can do. I feel the same way about the UWW as I did about Tolkeen...namely, where the hell did all THAT come from?!?

There are a lot of long-lived races in the 3 Galaxies, but the Star Elves should out do them all. In my game, they are highly isolationist, and spend most of their time doing mysterious, Tolkein-like elf things that no one else could possibly understand. They know just about everything. They don't get involved with the affairs the the rest of the galaxy becasue...well, it's not really their problem.

The Star Elves (in my interpretation) have been around since the War against Sauron...errr... the Dominators. Thus, their technology is so advanced that it just seems like magic. Star Elves are the Vorlons of the 3 Galaxies.

If that makes any sense to you.

Braden, GMPhD wrote:
The Star Elves (in my interpretation) have been around since the War against Sauron...errr... the Dominators. Thus, their technology is so advanced that it just seems like magic. Star Elves are the Vorlons of the 3 Galaxies.

If that makes any sense to you.

Dude, I could kiss you (in a manly fashion of course)!
You just made my day; a LotR joke, and a reference to my favorite space jellyfish/snail/angel people.
I pretty much have the Star Elves like you stated; mysterious, and not really all that common. Normal Elves (if you can call 'em that) make up the vast majority of the UWW population. I've also just recently introduced (through an alien artifact) the existance of a third race of Elves (not WH40K Eldar, which also have been sneaking in the background), which predate the Asgardian decended SE's. This third race of Elf kind is much closer to their Faerie kin than any of the others thus far described, but were of flesh and blood, and did have a form of techno / bio-wizardry much like Vorlon tech, but very little actualy related to war-making.
From what the PC's can gather, these 'wanderers' were content to just cruise the cosmic ley-lines, at peace with the void...until the comming of the Demon Stars.
One of the PC's relived the boarding of one of the city-ships by object reading the artifact...and saw first hand what happens to those attacked by the black-ships.
As to the where abouts of any of these elder Elf-kin...that's for later games.

Braden, GMPhD wrote:I'm one of the few that has serious problems with the UWW. If magic is too commonplace, it stops being magical. There is no mystery in something everyone can do. I feel the same way about the UWW as I did about Tolkeen...namely, where the hell did all THAT come from?!?

it's still magical, but just not mysterious. it dosn't have to be a mystery

i have worked on my own brand of space magic, and the star elves have it, and what it entitles really branches from normal magic..


(think Macrospace propulsion ( ie growing beyond the bounds of normal space so that Large distances are REALLY small.. )

Now for fun sub-topic:
Elves in space would NOT go for the rocket powered, cold-riveted, cosmo-submarines that Dwarves & Human techno-magi have built (at least according to CJ Carella & crew).
So what form do these eldritch beings' vessels take?
Animal form like the Kittani?
Redwoods with rockets in the roots?
Ivory and crystal filligred works of art?

I would think something similar to the Ships of Jurai, Unnatural works of Art with all sorts of things in it. .. If you need a visual, just think of those Jurai Police ships.

see them having 'living tree ships' somewhat similar to Jurai from Tenchi Muyo!

i picture them like the minbari ships from babylon 5

WH40K Eldar craft.

Dark wrote:WH40K Eldar craft.

Heh, I was figuring something like a Juhrai & Eldar (WH40K) ship combined...lots of 'mother of pearl' & crystal effects along with other organic seeming aspects...definately trees and plants inside the ship

Tree-Huggers....innnnn....spaaaccceeee!

A little twist to the "Space Elf" thing;
Is archery in space viable?
Common sense would didctate "NO!", so that being the case...
What would space fairing elves use in a bows place, seeing as Pistols and such are so...de'classe...so "HUMAN"

DhAkael wrote:A little twist to the "Space Elf" thing;
Is archery in space viable?
Common sense would didctate "NO!", so that being the case...
What would space fairing elves use in a bows place, seeing as Pistols and such are so...de'classe...so "HUMAN"

with proper form, you could use bows in Zero-G.
and its atmosphere independant.

a better question would be : Why bother?

As for TW bows, yes, they will use them IMO, especially
in the early stage of the UWW (and before).

Later however, they will probably abandon it for
handguns - after all a sidearm needs to be small,
short ranged and to be able to fired one-handed.

Bows do not excel in these areas, and pistols
can be adorned too... (I hope thought that
elves will not manufacture gold-plated Glocks...
But flintlock-style HI impulse laser guns are OK.)

On the other hand, it is entirely possible to
use them for ceremonial purposes, as well as
TW or high-tech (like built-in CG generator plus
MD arrows) main weapons for PA or specforces.

Adios
KLM

KLM wrote:
On the other hand, it is entirely possible to
use them for ceremonial purposes, as well as
TW or high-tech (like built-in CG generator plus
MD arrows) main weapons for PA or specforces.

Adios
KLM

Now that's a wrinkle / concept I didn't think of.
Damn nifty

Take a look (Goggle or webcrawler to find it) at RF Online.
DAMN nifty take on Futuristic Elven species (forgot the name of the race though), plus the smaller ones could be space gonmes / halflings.
Pretty looking on-line game anyway you look at it

Well I have only done one character not created the whole race but I modified the basic Elf and created the Dark Elves via Manhunter but again as I said it was a once chara thing and I haven't expanded on it.... yet

Hi there!

DhAkael wrote:

KLM wrote:
On the other hand, it is entirely possible to
use them for ceremonial purposes, as well as
TW or high-tech (like built-in CG generator plus
MD arrows) main weapons for PA or specforces.

Adios
KLM

Now that's a wrinkle / concept I didn't think of.
Damn nifty

I have to tell, that it is not my idea. There are two Hungarian
sf writers (under the names Harrison Fawcett and Anthony Sheenard)
, who initiated the "Mysterious Universe" and in that
setting there is a Stellar Republic of Turan, and they are
using plasma bows.

The concept incorporates a singularity in it, so when one
shoots an arrow, it passes the miniature black hole, and comes
out with 0,25 c and as plasma with a hundred million degrees
Celsius - it usually results in one shot one kill, plus has the
tendency to fry all nearby electronics.
Oh, and on the yearly bowman's contest they shoot at satellites,
from the range of 50 or more kilometers.

"Oh Lord, saves us from Hungarian arrows"

Too bad, that it is only in Hungarian...

Adios
KLM

Elves in the Warlock marines; West-Point REMF's or the baddest commando's in the tri-galactic cluster?

Having NEVER read ANYTHING from that miniatures company in England...

I don't see actual elves going outside the atmosphere. I like that the UWW elves went planet hopping by going rift jumping.

As for what their actual space vehicles looking like, I see nature inspired designs, but not necessarily true organic creations. Even elves create metallic weapons, armours, and such.

mattling wrote:I figure they don't actually go through space most of the time. They just use the Webway-- I mean, ahh, magic to get there.

I would run Star Elves as being very similar to the Eldar, being one of the oldest spacefaring races, but they aren't in danger of extinction. So in that, very important respect, they are quite different.

But yea, lots of things that are "grown", but they aren't actually made of wood. Wood spaceships are lame.

Warlock Marines are a totally different bag of worms, I really don't like the fact that the Warlock Marines of the United Worlds of Warlock don't actually use magic. I generally just say "You want to be a Warlock Marine, play as a Battle Magus OCC and take a lot of space skills".

Been there, done that.
Warlock Marines are basicly Combat Magi with military training (real military training that is). Think Starship Troopers (the novel) except with magic

Actually, I'm wondering if the United Worlds of Warlock aren't just that: united. Imagine all the member worlds strung together in a massive network of permanate rifts...and I can get up on the Smithy, have breakfast on Gadrin's World, and go to work on Alfheim, all without so much as putting on a coat.

Read the Hyperion Series by Dan Simmons for a more in-depth setup.

Therefore, the navy would only be needed for defening against other space fleets, and going to planets not currently hooked up to the grid.

Good idea, and since the UWW captured the know-how of Piramids (as well as they have at least one Atlantean colony), it is feasible.

Only question is, that is there a constant level of magic in the
3 galaxies? I guess not - the Seljuk are one extreme example
for "too high" levels of magic, and several species are mentioned
to be able to gain magical knowledge - just that they do not have
mystical traditions, indicating "low magic enviroment" for their
homeworld.

Therefore this grid partly open for "commercial" use, partly
strictly "Goverment only".

And of course from the Magestar, a rift can be opened to anywhere,
and the appropriate amount of ships, marines et cetera will come
en masse.

So, I guess there is an 24/7 active information network, and a
partially used portal network.
--------------------

As for the Star Elven: My guess is that most elven, who are living
were living in the time they encountered the Warlocks (ie. the human
part of the early UWW), and never even imagined starships.
After that, this has changed, of course, but mostly the younger
Star Elves are "Elfing", I mean manning their fleets, and even these
new generations are reluctant to leave the surface.
Those few, who does however, are following the elvish tradition,
to make a point in whatever they do.
Also in the Warlock Marines and Navy, they (ie.: the Star Elfes)
tend to be in the more stylish positions: fighter and scout pilots,
Spec Forces, etc.
While they do not perform too bad in great battles, they more
like to wear down the enemy with hit-and-fade actions, where
their ( supposedly ) superior quality cannot be countered by
superior quantity.

Adios
KLM

Didn't one of the Phase world books talk about the Elves having some sort of Crystal based ships?



Daniel Stoker

Think of it this way: all the worlds of the UWW would, in effect, be one planet.

Troops and supplies could be instantaneously teleported from one world to another. The entire Warlock Navy could take a rift to any other world in the UWW... making sense as to why their fleet is so small, and yet no one has wiped them off the galactic map.

The last few posts are examples of what made me join in to the forums
Intelligent exchange of creative ideas, and polite debate.
Thank you people, and keep it comming...

Braden, GMPhD wrote:Think of it this way: all the worlds of the UWW would, in effect, be one planet.

Troops and supplies could be instantaneously teleported from one world to another. The entire Warlock Navy could take a rift to any other world in the UWW... making sense as to why their fleet is so small, and yet no one has wiped them off the galactic map.

Their fleet is not that small.

On the other hand, some ships have to be stationed at planets, for
tactical reasons, others must patrol the spacelanes, but still, I would
guess within an hour at any point of the UWW an intruder can expect
about a hundred iron ships to fall into his back.

Adios
KLM

The UWW has the smallest fleet when compared to the other major Power Blocs such as the CCW and the TGE.

Marcethus wrote:The UWW has the smallest fleet when compared to the other major Power Blocs such as the CCW and the TGE.

Really?

The CCW (7 trillion being)
Has "thousands" of Warshield cruisers.
They have 8 task forces, peacetime they are composed
of 1-2 Battleships (Protector), and 1-4 Carriers (Packmaster).
Wartime they have 4 or five times this number, so it is
safe to assume, that they have about 50-60 Battleships
and 80-100 carriers.

The TGE (6 trillion):
Unknown number of Smashers, probably thousands, too.
23 Doombringers. No other data.

UWW (500 billion):
They begun with 4000 Dwarven Iron ships, 3137 still in service.
The text suggests, that they had not built a single one of these
craft since the forming of the UWW.

So, we have the hard facts, that the Warlock Navy has the rough
equal in cruisers, than the other two blocks, with less than one tenth
of population. Plus a few experimental battleships, and at least one
Magestar.
And the fact, that noone lived to tell, that there are other capital
ships does not mean, that there aren't any. (Not that they need
them).

Plus I would not try to hit an Asteroid Eater with a puny,
lone Doombringer...

Adios
KLM

KLM wrote:

I would not try to hit an Asteroid Eater with a puny,
lone Doombringer...

Adios
KLM

You'll just PO the dwarves

And then get recycled.

Adios
KLM

Actually, canon states that the UWW is anything BUT "United."

After all, an Uber-Evil, Aquisitive, Slaving race in the system right next to a system containing an Uber-Good, Non-Materialistic, Do-Gooder race and living in the same Governing System and being "united"?

I don't think so...

The UWW is a Confederation, which means that disparate and opposing cultures can live side by side in peace despite being mutually antagonistic. They are voluntary members in the system, and mutually supportive...against outside threats anyway.

Borast wrote:Actually, canon states that the UWW is anything BUT "United."

After all, an Uber-Evil, Aquisitive, Slaving race in the system right next to a system containing an Uber-Good, Non-Materialistic, Do-Gooder race and living in the same Governing System and being "united"?

???? Who is the Uber-Evil and who is the Uber-Good????

Adios
KLM

Hmmm...Uber good & Uber evil....
The Elves and Space Elves would have to be considered Uber selfish.
They're not bad or good, they just see to the affairs of their own species (and sub-species) first and foremost, THEN they'll help & assist others within the UWW. That is if you play them Like Eldar, Dragonlance or Tolkien elves that is .
It's all up to the individual GM.
As has been stated.
Ad nauseum.
And no..I do not support "canon". I find it shows a distinct lack of flexibility on the part of players and GM's... if the book material suits you & your group, excellent! Stay the course, but if someone wants the elves to be friendly and NICE to the short lived / younger races, let 'em and stop spouting off like rules-lawyering fan-boy trekkies!
-pant pant-
End rant. Thank you, and have a nice day!