[Blissey]

Elves: The Empire's Listening Devices ... and Mersales, too.

Status: COMPLETE. 5/14/2020

Do Elves know Common despite being born on Mersales?

Let's go with some do and some don't. Somehow elves have knowledge of common in Mersales but many choose not to learn it because when are they ever gonna use it?

Clearly known only to Elves (and Doriads, maybe), what kind of political/ruling/governmental system is implemented actively and most commonly on Mersales? Monarchy? Oligarchy? Theocracy? Elder system somewhat akin to Egwyn?

A bunch of old, old elves rule Mersales, and they're very set in their ways. It's like an Elder system, only all the Elders are in on it, and there's only one 'tribe'. When elves leave Mersales, sometimes it's due to wanderlust, sometimes it's due to Mersales society being so rigid.

2. If Elves aren't stratified into separate tribes, does this mean most Elves -- if not all Elves -- know each other in some way?

2) There are a lot of elves so maybe not. No one knows how big Mersales is, after all; it could be just as large as Gold for all we know.

In the March 2015 thread you said no one knows how big Mersales is, but you compared it to the northern mountainous region of Sigrogana, just behind Cellsvich, in size.

It's about that size horizontally speaking. But who knows how big it is vertically?

1. Can Doriads spawn on Mersales? If so, what happens to them? Are they treated any differently than Elves?

2. Is there any specific age of adulthood for Elves?

3. How does timelessness work for Elves? Do they choose when to stop aging, or can they choose how old to appear at will?

4. How strictly is time kept track of in Mersales?

1) Doriads cannot spawn on Mersales.

2) I'd say they enter adulthood slightly (5-6 years) after a human would.

3) They reach adulthood and then they stop aging entirely. It's not a willed or controlled ability.

4) They probably can't tell you the hour and minute, since they don't have access to Asago Corporation's lnet technology, but they keep track of days.

*If a non-elf person somehow, by unknown ways of the Gods, ended up on Mersales, how would the Elven government react? Would they consider it a threat to national security and instantly kill them, or...?

1) In this extremely hypothetical and almost impossible situation, they would probably put the person on a small boat with some fresh water and bread, put them on the sea and say 'good luck'.

-Would an elf have a general idea of where Mersales was, from when they had left?

-What would be the closest inhabited continent to Mersales?

-Do elves have any general views on vampires?

EDIT: -Do elves from Mersales have their own language? or did they somehow speak common in Mersales?

One more that I'll throw out, but don't expect much of.

-Can we understand just what makes them seemingly ageless yet?

1) Probably not, it's not like elves have a good sense of direction when they live in Mersales for their entire life. Plus there's that rumor that Mersales moves around, so...
2) Who knows? Probably Sigrogana, since it's the largest continent.
3) Elves don't have any special views on vampires, since like every other non-elf race, they're not present in Mersales. Elves that leave Mersales may have an opinion, of course, but it's not unusual for them to not know what one is until leaving Mersales.
4) If they're like the other mortal races, it's probably an aspect of their patron deity. Assuming that the elves have one. They may just have always been that way.

1) Can Elves in Mersales tell when trouble is brewing in the outside world, at all? I was mainly wondering if they'd be able to pick up on powerful magics or whatnot, giving elves with wanderlust an excuse to take off to investiate "for the greater good" and all.

1) Probably not.

-Can elves become vampires without a real issue? I mean, the ears aren't in the racial menu...

Yes.

...elves existed in the world prior to the Enlightenment?

...elves, at least, have existed since before the Enlightenment.

Is Lichdom a thing in Mersales? How about dark magic?

How present is religion in Mersales, and if more than 'not at all', what flavor is it generally?

When did Mersales come to be, and how aware are its citizens of the events of Heaven's Contention?

F) No. No.
G) You are expected to live your life a certain way in Mersales, so in a way, it could be seen as religious. The only thing they really worship there is that big old tree, though.
H) A long, long time ago. They probably aren't.

Also, you did mention That Big Tree on Mersales. I'll try not to ask for specifics, but a bit of lore would be appreciated for the religious elves that may exist in the meta-canon. What can you tell us about That Big Tree? Any practices? Anything at all you may have already drafted up/come up with?

There's a big, magic, sacred tree on Mersales. It never wilts or loses its leaves. It's special to the elves. That's about it.

Did Elves on/from Mersales know about Iahsus/ever saw Iahsus in the sky? If so, what kind of interpretation did they take of Iahsus, and if they have ever witnessed a Black Eclipse (which, I'm sure many old Elves have), what would their take on it be?

1) Yes.
2) They consider it an unnatural, malevolent entity of unknown origin.

5)What kind of healing magic(s) did elves use? We know they did alchemy, but the description for the skill notes both alchemy and a unknown form of magic.

A mixture of magic and alchemy, most likely.

What is life on Mersales like on an average day?

Since Mersales is meant to be a paradise, would it be safe to say/assume that it is much like a utopia -- controlled and heavily regulated to maintain the peace?


Why do Elves not know who their patron God is? What could have caused them to forget? Or did they simply not know to begin with? (This is assuming that the Big Tree isn't directly their patron god).

Since Elves need to keep the secrets of Mersales safe, and since we as players do not have access to those details or secrets, is there a system in place (perhaps a magical spell, curse, etc.) that protects Mersales from Elven secret-spillers? An example would be an Elf who was kicked out of Mersales, but they have all these secrets (supposedly). Would an Elf begin to forget those crucial details over time, or would they simply be so loyal to Mersales that they would hold those secrets no matter what?

1) I mean, that varies from elf to elf. Generally peaceful and slow.
2) In a sense, though it's more because Mersales is not tainted by certain concepts that generally lead to chaos in the outside world. IE, money and excess property, Mersales generally operates on a basis of need.
3) They are not aware of it, if it exists.
4) They would likely forget over time, and some of them are too complex to really remember without a working reference.