The World of Avlis

*** DISCLAIMER *** Avlis works exactly the way Orleron says it works. Period. But it's good to compare and contrast Avlis with the "average" D&D world, to help us better understand Avlis. Naturally I'm running on my ideas of what "average" elves are like, which might be very different from your ideas.

So just how tree-huggin are our poiny-eared friends? Are they Green-Peace/Ralph Nader/Vegan extremists? Do they eat meat? Would they cut down trees to improve the health of a forest? Would they approve of hunting?

RL: Nature is an ugly, nasty, amoral thing.

"The amount of suffering in the natural world at any given moment is beyond any decent contemplation." -- Gould? Dawkins?

Unless Avlis really does have an idealized Disney version of nature, any sensible friend of the environment must relise that human norms and morals simply don't apply in nature. There's nothing more natural than grabbing you dinner and eating it live. So what does caring for the environment really mean? Is it just preservation of the status quo? Stasis is most unnatural.

from the Deities info:

Pelar
Alignment: NG
Worshippers Alignment: Any good
Area of Control: Hunting & Rangers

Pelar doesn?t attract many clerics, for his nature unlike Dru?El or O?Ma requires one to be in touch with the forest. So most of his priesthood would be druids or rangers.

His respect and love for animals are as high as O?Ma or Dru?El, but he also knows that some ways the best way to care for the animals is to remove the old and sick from the herd. For him the balance of killing animals, comes from knowing that by doing it, the others will be more healthy because of it. Pelar feels much the same way about evil people and creatures. They are something to be removed from the herd so that others may be stronger for it.

Thought not widely worshipped in M'chek, Pelar worshippers make up probably 20% of those in Le'Or T'Nanshi

Greymorn wrote:
RL: Nature is an ugly, nasty, amoral thing.

I know two elves that are extremely ugly, nasty and amoral.
They love the forest but see it mainly as their rightful hunting ground.
They may have respect for some animals but thats mainly only because they are hard to kill and therefore worthy prey.
They love trees and green leafy things but if anyone threatens them they will chop them into little pieces with great delight.
They kind of worhsip Pelar but in a pretty twisted way that few of his other followers would probably appreciate.


Basically you can rp an elf however you want to. Thats the whole point. Even a chaotic good society will have a dark underside and will need those willing to do things others woudln't dream of.

In addition, I am sure that many Verosa followers are elven and they just love destruction so they can't be hippies really can they?

Tree-hugging elves? No, I think you got it slightly wrong. The tree-huggers are druids.

Elves come in all shapes and sizes (well females come in a size 2 with bodies of sin, but you get the idea). There are many subraces of elves available including Drangonari, Drow, Sereg and several others (if you start on a different world and manage to find a portal to Avlis). I have seen elves with skin the color of red, green, black, cream, etc. The gods like wonderful variety.