I strongly recommend to each and every member of the list that they read the
"Hel's Crucible Duology" by Dennis L. McKiernan.

The elves in McKiernan's lands are very similar to a more enlightened and less
harried version of the Sidhe in BR. They are immortal, they live in peace with
nature, and they fight fiercely to protect their lands.

There are a few things that I have seen no other author touch upon in any book
concerning immortal creatures that can die.

Consider this: You are immortal. You will never, ever, die of old age. You
will never, ever die of disease. You will live forever, until some day, by
accident or design, you are killed. Death for elves of Mithgar (and to
extension, in my mind, the Sidhe of Cerilia) is always painful and violent.
Death is never peaceful.

We have debated what immortality would be like, but as far as the debate ever
got, it should have been rephrased that we debated what immortality would be
like FOR US. McKeirnan's elves in Mithgar take a more sensible and thought out
approach. They are forever young, each day is a new day, each day they are,
essentially, at the beginning of their lives. Forever. When an elf dies,
forever is over. Imagine the sheer quantity of pain that could bring.
Role-play in your mind the prospect of having forever before, of being forever
young, and then seeing the life of your soul-mate snuffed out painfully,
brutishly, and violently. What pain would you go through? Now, forever is
without love.

McKienan has another little nifty that he threw into Mithgar that I have
adopted IMC. Called the Death Rede, this poem or song is psychically or
magically transmitted to the one other elf that you loved most, be it a parent,
lover, or child. It is the last song that describes what you feel your life
meant, all your hopes and aspirations, all your dreams, all your happiness, and
all your sorrow summed into a few words and stanzas and emotions. Perhaps the
final gift to give to the one you loved before you pass on.

I have one further thought. The elves are godless, and the concept of an
afterlife is often being taken to the bosom of your god. Do the elves of
Cerilia, then, have an afterlife, do they believe in one? To the elf, what
exists after death? Further life or nothing? I imagine that the answer
depends from elf to elf, but I have made it IMC to be the latter. At least,
that is the accepted view of the situation according to elven society.

With these elements in my game, I have been able to understand the hatred that
drives the murderous elements of the Ghallie Sidhe, driven by the insane need
for revenge, consumed by irrational racial hatred. I cannot condone it, but I
can understand it. Imagine for yourself losing the forever of some 300 close
friends and family, and I think that you too will be able to understand the
emotion of hatred that is the perceived norm of the Ghallie Sidhe.

Tim Nutting