Elven Mental Attributes
The key to understanding the elven mind is comprehending the years an elf must fill. Most races do not (and cannot) understand the perspective hundreds of years of life lend an elf. This incredible lifespan often gives the elf a terrible, driving ambition. Paradoxically, it can also give elves a lackadaisical attitude. Above all, elves are patient. They have years to complete any task, and they don't mind the wait. After all, they have created many ways to wile away time. They find impatience to be an especially amusing vice possessed by the other races. If the need for haste is urgent, however, elves can move faster and more decisively than most of the other races.
Elves tend to be very clever and devious, having had years to practice their skills and hone their minds. Their conversation and their games possess many degrees of subtlety, most of which goes unheeded by non-elves.
Elves delight in paradox and humor, for it is through these attributes that they express themselves most fully. These two qualities allow them to communicate with one another and affords great verbal play as elves try to outwit each other. Although elves are primarily happy folk, they are capable of great emotions of a much darker nature.
An angry elf is a terrible foe. An elf bent on vengeance is even worse. As mentioned, elves have an inexhaustible store of patience. They can wait for years before exacting revenge-after their prey has been lulled into a false sense of security. Or they can hunt their enemies over the years, never faltering or slowing in the pursuit of their quarry.
Occasionally, elves will make a pretense of the hunt and let the person "escape." After the person has taken to flight, the elf is likely to appear at random intervals-a tactic designed to keep fear instilled in the heart of the person. This can make for a life of anxiety for anyone who has earned the wrath of elves, for that person never knows when the elf may strike to claim vengeance. This is one reason that the elves are so feared as foes, for no one wishes to live a paranoid life fearing elven wrath.
Their lifespan gives elves a unique perspective on life than most other races can't share. Elves don't worry about not experiencing enough in their lives; rather, they look for the next new thing to excite their curiosity and enthusiasm.
This lifespan also means that elves develop an attitude and a character that is uniquely their own. No one can tell exactly how their years will affect each individual elf. Typically, elves begin their lives as carefree, fun-loving spirits. As they grow older, most of them become slightly more cautious, yet still retain the warmth and vitality necessary for elves to fully enjoy their lives.
Still, some of them start life with a more serious attitude, believing (despite the advice of their elders) that their time is too short to be spent frittering it away on such foolishness as dancing and singing. As these elves grow older, they often become obsessed with finding a meaning to everything, seeking the fundamental truths of existence. Some few realize that their years are enough for both truth and fun. Most, however, continue on in a somewhat joyless existence, spending their years associating exclusively with sages and elder beings. Eventually, they lock themselves away from true life. In seeking the "truth," they lose the meaning and purpose of that which they value most: their lives.
Most elves, as has been noted, are more interested in living life fully. They can begin several projects within the span of a year, such as writing songs, creating works of art, learning swordplay, and so forth. They think nothing of setting aside each project when something more interesting comes along. After all, with centuries at one's disposal, taking a decade or two on a task is nothing to worry about. If they lose interest in the product in the intervening time, they can always ignite interest by reliving it through the reverie.
Obviously, elves see no need to hurry themselves through anything. If their short-lived friends legitimately need something quickly, elves will rush to fill that need. If left to their own devices, however, elves will take a much longer time than might otherwise be appreciated by a human. Elf lives simply aren't short enough to worry about haste. But elves are far from lazy.
They are almost constantly active during daytime, engaged in some project or another. If they want to spend a day lying on a grassy hillside watching birds or just relaxing, who complains?
Elves do not regard material acquisitions as anything important, instead preferring to cultivate music, art, and poetry that will outlive the years and the treasured possessions of others. Elves do not therefore try to accumulate gold or other treasures, except as a means to acquire the things that they truly treasure. Even the greatest paintings eventually fall to the weathering effects of time, becoming useless and valueless.
On the other hand, elves love to gaze at works of beauty and true craftsmanship. Oddly enough, elves are rather bad portrait artists. Perhaps because they try so hard to capture the inner elf that they haven't mastered the human method of painting, which combines the outer shell with inner beauty. As such, elves have been known to locate masterpieces of human artists, take them to their homes, and then use a secret technique to preserve them through the years. Although this is not a perfect means of preserving these pieces, it does give the art many more years of life.
Elves have developed other magical methods of preserving such works but will not share these with other races; the other races do not have a proper appreciation for the intricacies of art, and thus the preservation would be wasted on them. However, any of these races are free to journey to the elf cities to gaze on the works elves have felt important enough to save from the ravages of time.
Although they place little importance on material possessions, elves do have a clearly defined sense of ownership. Treasured items, such as magic or fine weaponry, sculpture or favored instruments, are definitely the property of their owners. Thievery of such items is highly frowned upon. Most elf thieves take their skills to the cities of humans or to the underground, where they may be put to use by adventuring parties. Elves caught stealing the treasures of other elves are cast away for half a century-preferably to learn proper loyalty to one's race.
Items that aren't important to their owners are usually freely loaned to other elves or to their non-elf friends. As long as the item is available when the original owner needs to use it, there is no problem. Most elves have learned that bickering over small questions of ownership and property are one of the surest ways to lose friends. They do their best to ignore the finer points of ownership and to share the fruits of their labors with others (as well as share the fruits of others' labors).
Elves care very little for structured society, preferring instead to focus on the needs of the individual. There is nothing so important to elves as the feelings and the needs of the individual. This doesn't mean that one individual's needs outweigh those of the rest of the elves. Instead, the majority of elven society and law is geared so that the right of each elf is to become as happy as he or she may need to be. Elves don't interfere in the lives of other elves unless there are other elves who would be harmed by inaction. All elves are believed capable of dealing with their own problems. Although other elves may be curious about a certain elf's choices, they will not intervene in the action. Free will is all-important to the elf mind. Still, there are few atypical elves who are so purely selfish as to reap the love and understanding of their fellows without returning any love. A typical elf in an elf community puts the needs of others before his or hers, recognizing that without these others, life means less.
While elves are strongly individualistic creatures, they also have a strong sense of duty toward their kindred. Just as the human ranger believes in furthering the cause of his people even while avoiding most of them in the wilderness, so too do elves. They know that all their fellows are essential for a balanced life, and so they look out for their people as a whole as well as individually.
Some consider elves to be totally emotional creatures, driven by the whim of the moment. Others see them only as coldly calculating creatures who do nothing without first considering the benefit to themselves. Neither of these is really true. Elves are often seen as distant and self- serving creatures, probably because of their legendary haughtiness. Once one can get past their exterior, they find that elves are a freely emotional, intuitive people.
On the other hand, elves do not let their emotions rule their lives. They have a finely developed logical system and use it daily. Since it is a logic that is based on their long lives and the elven mindset, it can freely incorporate all aspects of elven life. Logic naturally includes feelings. Humans and dwarves cannot seem to grasp that emotion is an important part of one's life, to be cut off only at risk of losing one's personality. Those who live solely by the word of heartless logic ignore fully half of their lives, to their detriment. Or so say the elves.
Although elves fear very little in this world, those things that they do fear they regard with utmost terror. They conceal their fears from the other races, not wishing to appear weak before them. Also, they wish to appear invincible to such petty things as fear, for to do so might expose a weakness to enemies. Elves don't really fear death, but if closeted away from nature, that fear is likely to surround them. When they encounter a spirit-destroying creature (such as a tanar'ri or a wraith), they suffer mortality pangs of the worst kind, fearing as desperately for their lives as any human would.
Elves hate and fear undead. They see them not only as perversions of nature, but also as nearly immortal foes to be dreaded and loathed. Since undead can live even longer than elves, these creatures are a serious threat to the elven way of life. Their plans can span centuries, their machinations of purest evil.
Elves therefore often become hunters of the undead. The elves have set themselves as the natural adversaries of undead. The undead are a blemish on the face of the world, an otherworldly perversion of the life force. Elves, embodying the life force, find the undead far more repugnant than most ordinary people do. (To become an undead elf is, to elves, truly a fate worse than death.) Only good- or neutral-aligned liches may even hope to escape elven hatred, and these are feared.
The elves' ability to hunt the undead is impressive, especially in older elves. Many adventuring elves have gained the experience necessary to fight monsters, and they bring this wealth of knowledge with them when they begin hunting undead. Elves somehow seem able to sense the very foulness in the air when undead are present, and this leads them to their prey.
Although this ability is not easily applied in game terms, the DM should be more lenient in allowing elves to find undead. Undead lairs are such rank holes of un-nature that elf senses are acutely aware of the evil aura left by these foul beasts.
Elves are never necromancers (either mage or priest), except for those who have turned to evil. These elves resemble the drow in attitude and, as such, do not mind the foulness and corruption associated with the undead. The only time an elf associates their name with necromancy is when they study necromancers' tomes for clues about those they seek.
There are no serious troubles between members of separate generations, as is often the case with humans, but the variations in views held between elf generations are huge. Indeed, because of the unique nonaging physiology of elves, one of the few ways to tell between young and old elves is the difference in personality. Of course, this is still not a clearly defining test, for elves have as varied personalities as humans.
The personality of younger elves is characterized by curiosity, a strong streak of individualism, and a willingness to learn. They are just getting used to their long lives. Young elves are often found wandering into places where few would expect an elf to be. These are the elves who make friends with humans and the short-lived races, for they have not yet realized the speed of years for humans.
Older elves, on the other hand, lean toward isolation and quiet enjoyment of the world. Few, if any, elves of more advanced age leave the elf lands, for they have seen enough of the world to last their lifetime. While they don't become entirely inactive, their activities are of a contemplative nature, rather than the more boisterous activities of young elves.
This difference in outlook creates a generational gap, but the older elves do not attempt to restrict the youths. They remember all too well their wilder, younger days and have no wish to repress that which they valued themselves. Because elves are so closely connected to their own pasts, they never wonder at the motives of youth. The reverie helps older elves remember the excitement and passion of youth and the need to be independent and explore the world.
Elves generally do not hate other races. Although they may dislike these races, they still feel a kinship with them as living beings. Humans never understand this, for they have not the time to make a true connection with the life force of the world. Only the true mystics of other races can understand the affinity elves have for all life.
Those races that hate the elves with an all-consuming passion are not worth any such emotion from elves. Irritating as these species may be, the elves regard them with nothing more than strong antipathy. Only those who routinely defile the forest for their own evil ends arouse much anger in elves.
The elves reserve their darkest emotion-hatred-for the drow. The drow have thrown away all that the elves consider sacred and have instead embraced foulness, corruption, and death. They have betrayed the heritage that was theirs by right and forsaken the light of the sun to live with pure evil: Lolth.
Not only do most of the surface elves fail to comprehend this choice, they don't understand how beings created from the blood of a god could descend to the depths of evil as have the drow. They do understand, however, that the drow mean only to destroy them. The drow dreams of world conquest and domination are secondary to their hatred for surface elves. The elves of sunlight know this hatred well and return it in full measure.
With regard to other races, elves have been accused of being haughty, arrogant, and contemptuous. This accusation is not entirely true. While elves do hold themselves apart from the other races, they do not hold them in contempt. (Granted, dwarves do come close.) Most elves, however, don't befriend these other races because of their short lives, not because of any inherent dislike. While the elves believe in living life to its fullest, they don't relish the idea of watching myriad friends grow old and die.
Since elves can live through twenty human generations before leaving for Arvanaith, many see no point in befriending those whom they will only lose immediately. (While dwarves are longer lived, they don't agree well with the elven disposition.) Younger elves are sometimes willing to accept the sure pain of impending death for the joy friendship with these vital beings brings. After a few decades, however, they see that their companions are aging at an absurd rate when compared to elf friends. This is always a shock to the young elves. For the first time, they must come to grips with the concept of mortality and death. This proves more difficult for some than for others, though it comes to almost all finally.
Despite their short lives, each of the other races holds a unique place in the elven heart. Outlined are typical dynamics between elves and humans and demihumans.
