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  1. #1
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    The Hunters of Men 1.0

    Here's the first draft of the chapter having to do with the gheallie Sidhe in my Secrets of the Sidhe document. Weird stuff going on with the formatting to get this into a PDF, so I didn't bother with the cover pages or anything. It's just the text with some graphics I thought appropriate.

    Comments welcome,
    Gary
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  2. #2
    Looks like fun, seems to have some tense issues though. Is Gheallie Sidhe plural or singular?
    Also might want to consider separating the elven realms by area (Anuire, Brechtur etc), so you can put Tuarhievel and the Sielwode first as those are most likely to be the elven domains of the most importance in a BR game.

    Also with Rhoubhe, might want to mention that most elves think he's gone too far, and that his "embodiment" of the Gheallie Sidhe has come at the expense of traditional elven freedom. There's that little note on the end of his 2nd ed cardstock thingy that mentioned his alignment was shifting (or already shifted) away from Chaotic which made him an unfit Elven Ruler.

    Despite my comments and criticisms I do like the document and think it's a great 1.0
    -AxeMurder |-}

  3. #3
    Did a speed read only, it seems to be an excellent piece, I look forward to sitting down sometime next week and delving into it fully.

    Thank you for making it available.
    The better part of valor is discretion

  4. #4
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    At 07:58 PM 2/29/2008, AxeMurder wrote:

    >Is Gheallie Sidhe plural or singular?

    Heh. It`d have to be singular wouldn`t it? The gheallie Sidhe is
    "The Hunt of the Elves" so it`s the hunt that`s singular.... My
    fantasy Celtic is as rusty as my Klingon, though. "The Hunt" though
    seems pretty apt, so it`s just the gheallie Sidhe as a
    concept/movement and something like "warriors of the gheallie Sidhe"
    or "knights of the..." etc. to describe members.

    >Also might want to consider separating the elven realms by area
    >(Anuire, Brechtur etc), so you can put Tuarhievel and the Sielwode
    >first as those are most likely to be the elven domains of the most
    >importance in a BR game.

    There are only 9 elven nations and 5 regions of Cerilia, so from an
    organization standpoint I don`t know if that`d help much, but it
    occurs to me that breaking it up like you suggest would make it
    possible to have some additional descriptions for certain other
    Cerilian nations. For instance, if the chapter gets expanded it
    might make sense to break it up more and have a write up for the
    gheallie Sidhe`s activities in, say, Dhoesone, which has a half-elven
    regent who is the brother of Tuarhievel`s king. Treucht might seem
    appropriate too. There are a few others. A paragraph or two
    introduction for each region might be in order in a 2.0 draft. We`ll
    see if I get up the gumption to double this one chapter in size....

    >Also with Rhoubhe, might want to mention that most elves think he`s
    >gone too far, and that his "embodiment" of the Gheallie Sidhe has
    >come at the expense of traditional elven freedom.

    Good point. Should have thought of that myself.... I already know
    how to work it in.

    rugor wrote:

    >Did a speed read only, it seems to be an excellent piece, I look
    >forward to sitting down sometime next week and delving into it fully.
    >
    >Thank you for making it available.

    OK, looking forward to your input.

    Gary

  5. #5
    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
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    In covering other areas, consider also the threat of a war between Taline and Tuarhievel which was averted by the return of Torial.

  6. #6
    A brilliant little essay. Nice work!

  7. #7
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    Here`s some text I`m sticking in between the introduction and the
    descriptions of each elven nation`s gheallie Sidhe.


    History of the Hunt

    Though its modern incarnation is as an anti-human organization, the
    roots of the gheallie Sidhe go back to before the first human ever
    set foot upon Cerilia. The Hunt of the Elves really began thousands
    of years ago as an early form of paramilitary organization dedicated
    to ridding elven lands of goblins, kobolds and orogs and projecting
    elven power within and beyond the forests. In Cerilia`s pre-history,
    very few Cerilian races were organized in anything more than a tribal
    or clan level. Despite their relatively few numbers, a constant
    state of war existed on the continent. War parties and raids were
    commonplace as the various races encountered one another. As small
    tribal bands grew and the various races began to create
    civilizations, this process grew into a system of small insular
    village networks, townships and eventual city/states. As the first
    of the humanoid or demi-human races upon the continent, the Sidhe
    were ahead of other races in terms of cultural progress, organization
    and military development.

    In its earliest form elven military units were little more than war
    parties they fought against, but with one important difference. The
    elven incorporated methods of hunters and scouts more completely into
    their efforts. As hunters, the Sidhe view themselves taking on the
    role of the predator in the natural order. Where other races sought
    to burn, pillage and loot, the elves found little material amongst
    early humanoids that they needed or wanted. Instead they fought for
    territory, glory and security. The Hunt was, therefore, dedicated to
    destroying or subjugating non-elves, protecting elven territory and
    culling the ranks of enemy races into manageable levels.

    In many ways, the gheallie Sidhe has maintained its roots in the
    ancient elven war party. To this day the difference between the
    Sidhelien words for "war" and "hunt" is vague, and as concepts they
    remain linked. The difference in most elves` minds is a matter of
    scale. War is simply hunting at a national level. One hunts humans
    as a nation just as one would hunt a vicious animal near one`s home,
    or rid a region of a harmful infestation of animals when their
    population has grown so large that thrown off the balance of the
    natural environment. For most elves, the conflict with humanity is
    viewed as a matter of balancing humanity properly. Given the number
    of humans, it`s clear that that will require extensive hunting.

    Of course, not all elves are hunters. It is possible for elves in
    some of Cerilia`s more isolated realms live their entire lives
    without even seeing, let alone hunting or killing a human. Even in
    more open-minded elven realms, however, the role of the gheallie
    Sidhe is understood to be professional. One might be made
    uncomfortable by the need for such an occupation, but very few argue
    that it need not exist at all. In most elven realms the gheallie
    Sidhe have evolved into a sort of voluntary public service
    organization, and their work is viewed as being for benefit of the
    community as a whole.

  8. #8
    >Also with Rhoubhe, might want to mention that most elves think he`s
    >gone too far, and that his "embodiment" of the Gheallie Sidhe has
    >come at the expense of traditional elven freedom.

    Good point. Should have thought of that myself.... I already know
    how to work it in.
    Don't forget the whole 'corrupted by Azrai' angle. The elves got seriously freaked out by just how far they went under big A's banner-that's half the reason some of the more open minded elf realms became open minded in the first place, and the isolationist realms stopped activly making war on the humans. "Oh snap, we're acting like goblins."

    I don't know if I agree with how you're angling the hunt of elves, but the idea of it evolving into a sort of police force is an interesting one. Are you trying to seperate it from the persecution of humans in the more forward thinking elf realms? For example, the GS serving as civil servants and a way to organize the militia in Thuraevel instead of, "Let's russle us up some monkies to hang!"?

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