Seasonal Elf Personalities
Here's something I came up with when I ran a college game with some Tolkien fans. They'd previously only ever met the "wise, noble, generous, elder" Aldryami of Earth Season (autumnal), and were startled to meet the same folk in Sea Season (spring), when they're all frivolously playing pranks and dancing in pollen clouds...
Fire Season (summer) gives grimly dedicated elves, marching to warlike or peaceful tasks; Dark and Storm Seasons see them as "last survivors of a harried race", all Celtic-Twilighty beneath the leafless eaves of the wintry forest for so long as they stay awake. Then immature elves (PCs and others) can 'fixate' on one of the seasonal 'moods', being based on one or another of the "Stock Fantasy" archetypes for elves, without distorting the world itself:
| Season |
Stock Fantasy Archetype
|
A Few Literary Examples
|
| Spring |
"Faerie" / "Wood Elves"
|
Jack Vance, Neil Gaiman, etc.
|
| Summer |
"High Elves"
|
Tolkien: The Silmarillion
|
| Autumn |
"Deep Elves"
|
Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
|
| Winter |
"Last of the Elves"
|
C.J. Cherryh (The Dreamstone)
|
Doesn't apply to Yellow or Green elves, mind, to say nothing of the Red, Blue or Black weirdnesses...
I found this made introducing newcomers to Glorantha a bit easier; it
also gave me a good laugh when they saw their known elf contacts changing
personalities through the course of the year.
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