Elves and Ill Bethisad (was Re: elves and jinn (...))

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 17:46:25 -0700,
Costentin Cornomorus <elemtilas@...> wrote:

> Also, I am curious. Why do you call your Elves
> "Elves" if they are normal humans?
John Cowan already gave a hint of an answer:

] IIRC, the English found them living in the forests on the Welsh
Marches,
] and identified them with the _ylfe_ (pl. of _aelf_) of their folk
] beliefs.  That they were generally tall, thin, pale, and had a higher
] level of civilization than the Saxons didn't hurt either.

Let me elaborate.  They are the descendants of an ancient civilization
that existed in the British Isles prior to the coming of the Celts.
The Germanic traditions of Elves (OE _ylfe_) are a distorted memory
of past contacts with that civilization, and the Germanic people
as well as the Celts attributed magical powers to them.
The Anglo-Saxons, upon arriving on the British scene, identified
them with the _ylfe_.

] They used to be part of IB, and I wish they were again.

I feel reluctant to re-introduce them to Ill Bethisad because

(1) I think they put a strain on that world's framework;

(2) I experienced miscellaneous communication problems
    when taking part in Ill Bethisad;

(3) in my opinion, Ill Bethisad has moved into a direction
    I don't prefer.

I have gone through that hassle *twice*, and it ended in
frustration on both sides both times.  Costentin/Padraic seems
to have disliked my "Elves" from the start, though Andrew
welcomed them to Ill Bethisad and John liked them too.
But as Padraic is the one where all the threads run together,
I found it is not worth the trouble.  Let me point out that
Andrew hasn't been happy about the way the Ill Bethisad
project was moving either, and he is the one who started
it all with his superb Brithenig language.  Andrew and I
came up with the idea of starting Ill Bethisad all over
again, a project that later received the name "Dragon & Star"
after the heraldic devices of Kemr and the Elves.
However, Dragon & Star has seen little work by either Andrew
or me so far.

Greetings,

Jörg.

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