As I mentioned in a previous post about the elves of planet Ore (the setting for the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign), iron is a very serious danger to the health and well-being of elves (as per the DCC RPG rules, but maybe with bigger, sharper teeth). As is the case with most societies, there are some elves who are "more equal than others." The elven nobility are largely unconcerned about their more pedestrian kinsmen, and are more than happy to let the lot of them (and their sickly, mutated children) go hang. Basically, the thinking of most elven nobles is that, if they can't afford the specialized clothing, filter masks, and treatments needed to avoid the worst effects of iron poisoning, then they shouldn't come to Ore. Ore is for their betters, and they should come, do their menial work, and then get themselves back through the portal to Elfland. Any talk about unequal treatment, or of the callousness of the nobility, is simply whining. After all, if they deserved better, then they should have been born properly.
Unfortunately, many of the lower-born elves left Elfland because they have no prospects there, either. There are no options for them but to toil in their menial trades, to serve the Court, and to go abroad to fight whomever the King sees fit for them to fight. They simply do not matter, and their suffering does not concern the elven nobility ever a little bit. Clearly, this gives rise to some resentment on the part of the lower-born (called lordak-mugh by the nobility, meaning "rust children"--and, yes, that sounds just as bad to a lower-born elf as the most virulently racist epithet one could utter). This resentment, in turn, has sparked a movement among the lower-born elves. This movement is called (in the old language of the Dominionist elves) Morgath'ak-Lugash, or "The Iron Fist."
Morgath'ak-Lugash has been simmering for a long while now. Mainly, it manifested itself in graffiti and acts of vandalism. Younger, lower-class elves have adopted symbols and slogans associated with it to appear consequential to their peers. However, the Iron Fist is no joke. It is led by a secret cabal of leaders, and has a hidden network of members, organized into cells to maintain their anonymity. Some of the leaders are powerful in their own right, but not from the nobility. Some exercise influence through criminal enterprises. Some are high-ranking members of artisans' guilds. Quietly, and so very carefully, the members of this cabal are conspiring against the elven nobility. Soon will come a time when their silence is no more. They will rise, and they will extract a bitter retribution for their suffering. The broad masses of lower-born elves may even support them, if they can provide a solution to the Iron Issue. Here's the thing though. There are rumors of a permanent cure for iron sensitivity.
Should such a cure become broadly available, it would rock the very foundations of elven society on Ore (and perhaps even in Elfland), and upset the existing power structures. The nobility will not stand for that. They have their own league of troubleshooters to deal with Morgath'ak-Lugash, and they are on the hunt for those who would oppose them. There already have been... incidents. A young elf, known to be a member of criminal syndicate, was found recently, his limbs nailed to a tree in a public park. Iron nails, of course. He was gagged tightly to keep his screams from being heard, and his flesh carved with the slogan, "Thus, for all traitors to the King." From the state of his body, it seems as death must have been a very long time coming, and excruciatingly painful. This other organization has no name, at least not one that anyone knows, but it is known; and it is feared.
For those in the know, it has become quite obvious that there will be a confrontation in due time, and it will be bloody. The tinder is laid upon the hearth, and the kindling well-oiled. All it needs is a proper spark, and the fires of revolution will burn hot and spare none. Among the other races, only a few even have an inkling of what is happening among the elves. Even those who know (the Grand Vizier's spymaster is one such) have very little information, and are dismissive of its importance to the security of the realm. Morgath'ak-Lugash is no more than a collection of petty rabble, elvish trash who will get properly sorted out should they have the temerity to do more than gripe their wine shops and paint a few, pathetic slogans in the public squares. They are no real threat, of course, though they may cause some trouble for the elven nobility. Even so, reason the Grand Vizier's advisors, anything that keeps those high-born pricks busy and out of the affairs of men can only be a good thing. Right? So, they do not worry.
There are unfortunate facts about fire, though, that they should remember. Fire doesn't reason. Fire doesn't respect boundaries. Fire has no conscience. Fire simply burns. Left to its own devices, a well-laid fire that escapes its containment will burn everything in its path.
Showing posts with label iron infection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iron infection. Show all posts
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Spires of the Elven Lords
Iron is poison. Iron is inescapable. Iron kills.
Since their coming to Ore, the elven people have fought a losing battle, to escape the effects of Ore's poisonous, iron-rich environment. Or, if not escape it (for this thing truly is not possible in the long term), to delay the onset of iron poisoning. There are several ways to do this, but today I will speak only of the first: The elven enclaves.
Elven culture on Ore has attempted, wherever possible, to find new ways to seal the elven people away from the outside environment, and from the the poison that saps their vitality, warps their magic, and corrodes their very souls. The most notable places where this has occurred are the Spires of Ur-Hadad. Though Man conquered the elves in His rebellion, lo these many years ago, the elves never surrendered their Spires. They still stand, a testament and a monument to elven persistence in their quixotic fight against the inevitable. In the end, there is only metal. Ore's very core spins malignantly beneath their feet, and its arteries pump iron rich magma. There is no escape, no surcease, only the long, bitter struggle against the inevitable. Then, there is death, or there is madness, or there is the choice to "sail into the West," a cryptic reference to Elfland that no elf has ever explained to outsiders. All we know is that sometimes elves return to elfland, and they don't come back.
The Spires were built to combat the iron threat, and consist of what, for lack of a better description, are the bones of ancient creatures. Though their arts are not now practiced (and are forbidden by decree), the ancient elves of the Dominion were masters of technomancy, and could create life through processes now forbidden (though it is rumored that some elven factions still follow this path). They "bred" homes, aether ships, fortresses, fell constructs bred for battle, and all manner of other things. These creatures were grown from a single seed and developed over time into the mature works of elven master artisans of this craft. Over what amounted to many generations of the lives of Men, five elven Spires grew from such seeds, rising thousands of feet into the skies above Ur-Hadad, each unique and yet the same as the others.
In appearance, the Spires look like the bleached, blue-white bones of great creatures (actually a complex diamond-like substance), shining unsullied by time under the sun and moons of Ore. Their surfaces are near-impregnable, with few windows or portals, and these well guarded. The rise, with insectile grace, into the sky, sharp points skewering the clouds layers above, disappearing from sight, far, far above. They look just a little bit like gigantic vines and fronds, laden with buds and studded with thorns, climbing toward eternity.
No non-elven person has ever entered the Spires. In fact, not even every elf has done so. They are sealed off to most, and guarded jealously against unauthorized entry. Cloistered within are the elite of elven society, whose faces are masked in strange helms and concealing armors and robes, and whose voices emerge, strange and discordant, like a chorus of angels, from the places where their mouths must be. No living human has ever seen the faces of the elven nobility, at least not in life.
Each Spire has a name Anuch-Dar (the Collective Mind), Morgath-Ka'ak (the Bloody Hand), Morgath-Gur (the Sinister Hand), Morgath-Noriel (the Adroit Hand), and Anuch-Ur (the Singular Mind). No one is quite sure what these names mean, and the elves aren't inclined to answer questions about them. In fact, the Spires are not spoken of in the hearing of non-elves, and even those elves who walk among Men refuse any attempt to discuss them, going so far as to fight duels to avoid doing so. As a result, we have little to go on but rumors. Here are a few.
None of these rumors has been substantiated, but neither have they been disproved. And there are many more than these, each wilder than the last, each speaking to the greatest hopes and deepest fears of the Men of Ore, and each underlining the great rift that still exists between the two races.
In their enclaves, the elves are safe, and keep themselves pure from the taint of iron, for a time.
Outside of the enclaves, Men gaze suspiciously upon the Spires, pondering their threat and their promise, at the same time filled with dread and with avarice.
Outside the Spires, there also are elves. They are not the elite of elven society. They do not share in its bounty. They are not privy to its secrets. Their lives are too short, and too many of them are corrupted by iron. Their misery grows, generation by generation, as they are warped and corroded from within. They, too, gaze at the Spires. And their hatred grows a little each day, like the shoots of a thorn bush rising from blackened ground, growing from sentiment, to philosophy, to vocation. Their hatred is spreading and becoming organized, and it has a name: Morgath'ak-Lugash, the Iron Fist.
Since their coming to Ore, the elven people have fought a losing battle, to escape the effects of Ore's poisonous, iron-rich environment. Or, if not escape it (for this thing truly is not possible in the long term), to delay the onset of iron poisoning. There are several ways to do this, but today I will speak only of the first: The elven enclaves.
Elven culture on Ore has attempted, wherever possible, to find new ways to seal the elven people away from the outside environment, and from the the poison that saps their vitality, warps their magic, and corrodes their very souls. The most notable places where this has occurred are the Spires of Ur-Hadad. Though Man conquered the elves in His rebellion, lo these many years ago, the elves never surrendered their Spires. They still stand, a testament and a monument to elven persistence in their quixotic fight against the inevitable. In the end, there is only metal. Ore's very core spins malignantly beneath their feet, and its arteries pump iron rich magma. There is no escape, no surcease, only the long, bitter struggle against the inevitable. Then, there is death, or there is madness, or there is the choice to "sail into the West," a cryptic reference to Elfland that no elf has ever explained to outsiders. All we know is that sometimes elves return to elfland, and they don't come back.
The Spires were built to combat the iron threat, and consist of what, for lack of a better description, are the bones of ancient creatures. Though their arts are not now practiced (and are forbidden by decree), the ancient elves of the Dominion were masters of technomancy, and could create life through processes now forbidden (though it is rumored that some elven factions still follow this path). They "bred" homes, aether ships, fortresses, fell constructs bred for battle, and all manner of other things. These creatures were grown from a single seed and developed over time into the mature works of elven master artisans of this craft. Over what amounted to many generations of the lives of Men, five elven Spires grew from such seeds, rising thousands of feet into the skies above Ur-Hadad, each unique and yet the same as the others.
In appearance, the Spires look like the bleached, blue-white bones of great creatures (actually a complex diamond-like substance), shining unsullied by time under the sun and moons of Ore. Their surfaces are near-impregnable, with few windows or portals, and these well guarded. The rise, with insectile grace, into the sky, sharp points skewering the clouds layers above, disappearing from sight, far, far above. They look just a little bit like gigantic vines and fronds, laden with buds and studded with thorns, climbing toward eternity.
No non-elven person has ever entered the Spires. In fact, not even every elf has done so. They are sealed off to most, and guarded jealously against unauthorized entry. Cloistered within are the elite of elven society, whose faces are masked in strange helms and concealing armors and robes, and whose voices emerge, strange and discordant, like a chorus of angels, from the places where their mouths must be. No living human has ever seen the faces of the elven nobility, at least not in life.
Each Spire has a name Anuch-Dar (the Collective Mind), Morgath-Ka'ak (the Bloody Hand), Morgath-Gur (the Sinister Hand), Morgath-Noriel (the Adroit Hand), and Anuch-Ur (the Singular Mind). No one is quite sure what these names mean, and the elves aren't inclined to answer questions about them. In fact, the Spires are not spoken of in the hearing of non-elves, and even those elves who walk among Men refuse any attempt to discuss them, going so far as to fight duels to avoid doing so. As a result, we have little to go on but rumors. Here are a few.
- The elves are preparing an army to reconquer Ore.
- The elves are using their arcane knowledge to build a bridge to the the moons.
- The elven females are the true rulers, and use the Spires to keep their breeding stock of pure-blooded mates in harem.
- The Spires descend miles into the depths of Ore, and are just the tips of a far vaster structure that spans the entire world.
- The Spires are great ships, and could leave the surface of Ore to climb among the moons and stars.
- The creatures living in the Spires are not elves at all, but demonic creatures, and wear their concealing raiment to hide their true natures.
- The elves are attempting to cross-breed with Men, and the Spires are full of vast slave pens, technomantic laboratories, and mad elves bent on fiendish experiments, lusting after human women.
- The Spires are great libraries of lost knowledge, jealously guarded by powerful elven mages.
- The Spires are portals to other planes, where the elves still rule great empires of cruelty and despair.
None of these rumors has been substantiated, but neither have they been disproved. And there are many more than these, each wilder than the last, each speaking to the greatest hopes and deepest fears of the Men of Ore, and each underlining the great rift that still exists between the two races.
In their enclaves, the elves are safe, and keep themselves pure from the taint of iron, for a time.
Outside of the enclaves, Men gaze suspiciously upon the Spires, pondering their threat and their promise, at the same time filled with dread and with avarice.
Outside the Spires, there also are elves. They are not the elite of elven society. They do not share in its bounty. They are not privy to its secrets. Their lives are too short, and too many of them are corrupted by iron. Their misery grows, generation by generation, as they are warped and corroded from within. They, too, gaze at the Spires. And their hatred grows a little each day, like the shoots of a thorn bush rising from blackened ground, growing from sentiment, to philosophy, to vocation. Their hatred is spreading and becoming organized, and it has a name: Morgath'ak-Lugash, the Iron Fist.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Of Elves and Iron
I'm working on a new adventure, and it concerns the early history of the world of Ore, where the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign takes place. In it, I explore the early attempts by elves to colonize Ore, their struggles against the Old Ones and their reptiloid kindred, and (most importantly for this post), their ongoing battle against the effects of iron on the elvish metabolism.
The Dungeon Crawl Classics take on this issue goes like this:
No, for your information, I'm not talking about that terrible song by Styx. Seriously, that song sucked and was weird and preachy and totally sucked. I'm not gonna link it. Did I mention how much it sucked? Because it did. Anyway...
Medscape Reference suggests that, "The toxicity of heavy metals depends on a number of factors. Specific symptomatology varies according to the metal in question, the total dose absorbed, and whether the exposure was acute or chronic" (Adal, A., et al., 2013).
A quick read-through of a FAQs document on heavy metal poisoning written by the Oregon Public Health Division Office of Environmental Public Health lists symptoms. They include some of the following:
Headaches
Weakness
Fatigue
Muscle and Joint Pain
Constipation
However, more specific information about the various metals suggests we could add these effects to the list:
Diseases of the organs, brittle bones, permanent nervous system damage, manifesting as, "mental retardation, brain damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak," or other acute and chronic effects like, "abdominal pain, convulsions, hypertension, kidney dysfunction, loss of appetite, fatigue, and sleeplessness... hallucinations, headache, numbness, arthritis, and vertigo" (http://www.lef.org/protocols/health_concerns/heavy_metal_detoxification_03.htm#symptoms)
Clearly, if elves have to deal with this kind of shit, iron exposure is an ongoing nightmare for the lot of them, and would force them to avoid or to find adaptations for situations that would result in iron exposure. With that context, let's consider what the elves of Ore would have to deal with and how they might adapt.
In most cases, since we're talking about a fantasy RPG, "acute iron exposure" would result from getting various pieces of cutlery shoved into one's body, or being cleaved with an axe or polearm, or being shot with a bow/crossbow arrow/bolt with an iron or steel head. The vector for infection is a sudden, massive increase in the level of exposure.
While some of the fantasy literature about elves and the fae in general suggests that iron weapons are deadly to them, DCCRPG doesn't model that mechanically. Getting your Elf taken out with a one-hit from a glancing dagger strike probably would result in a pretty shitty game for the elven character. So, they don't model that. If I were to do something to account for what acute exposure might do, I think perhaps a damage bonus is warranted. Elves hit with weapons of iron or steel take 1 HP more damage than non-elves. Alternately, they might have to pass a Fort save versus poison to avoid damage (make it DC 5, maybe). So, acute iron exposure is dealt with pretty easily. However, my real concern is chronic exposure and its effects.
As some of the symptoms above suggest, chronic exposure affects the mind and body in some painful, dangerous, and frightening ways. Add to this the fact that elves use magic, and you have an interesting recipe for delusional, psychotic magic users. So, yeah, fun stuff. I imagine that chronic effects of iron on elves would include everything from lost Stamina, to additional corruption tables for elven characters, to magical casting penalties for iron-infected characters, among other things. I'm not exactly sure how this would play out in mechanical terms, but I'd tend toward a table of results that would crop up when the Elf in question has been too long among Men, too long on Ore. How would we model this?
The easiest way to model progressive iron infection would be to link it to experience. Just as characters often get perquisites for going up in level (e.g., increased hit dice, high deed die, etc.), the elven character might also have an "iron effects" chart, by level. So, as the Elf gets more powerful in game terms, he or she would also be dealing with the slow degradation of body and mind, and the corruption of his or her magic. This is a simple and elegant answer, and it could actually make playing an elven character more interesting. As it stands, the Elf in DCC is not that much different than any other race. Yes, they have the racial abilities, certainly, but actually playing an Elf doesn't require much difference in how the character approaches the game. If it were inevitable that an Elf would be affected by iron over time, and that those effects would be consequential, it opens up a whole different way of running that character. It also would result in research, quests, equipment, an so forth designed specifically to deal with those effects.
Simply, if iron exposure could totally fuck you up, then you'd be pretty concerned with how to avoid it in the first place, or to ameliorate the effects once it happens.
So, what do elves have to do to adjust to life on Ore? A few things spring to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty of others.
In any case, when iron infection becomes a constant fear, the elven culture is forced to make a variety of adaptations to account for it. This constant concern manifests itself in weird ways, resulting in an elven culture that is very different from the cultures of the other fantasy races. To extend a point I made in my prior post about the elves of Ore, we also have groups of elves who become corrupted by iron, by acute exposure or by birth defect. These mutants are additional complications for elven culture. I suggested that orcs, for one example, actually are elves who have been mutated by iron, driven mad, and made dangerous. I can see how that constant threat would affect elves' approaches to reproduction, create a constant concern about "purity," would increase elven secrecy about the nature of these problems, and so forth. Again, this would tend to make elves even more insular and suspicious of outsiders. It would also, of course, result in making them seem weirder and less trustworthy to the outsiders they spurn. This cycle would certainly result in strong intercultural tensions between elves and the other races. This fact, on top of the prior Imperial history of the elves of Ore, would create a lot of potential problems, conflicts, and so forth with men, dwarves, halflings, etc., and the potential for prejudice, violence, and even civil/race wars based on these differences.
I'm a little scared about where all of this thinking might lead, but am nonetheless fascinated by how much richer would be the world in which such complications occur. I these elves a lot more than vanilla elves, but I worry about what it means for the world of Ore. If, for example, the Grand Vizier were to foment anti-elven hatred, to require that elves be registered with the state, to liven only in designated elven compounds, etc., all of a sudden we're in the kind of dangerous territory that humans have been in before. It never ends well, but it does make for an incredibly interesting story.
Still, when the fantasy races are conceived through lens of prior human thinking about Race as a concept, then you find yourself confronting all sorts of real life horror, up to and including genocide. Thinking about racial issues as they apply to Appendix N fiction (and the RPGs that follow from it) really concerns me, as I've said before, but I worry more about NOT thinking enough about it. It's become a bit of a focus lately, simply because I'm working on an adventure that forces me to confront what might happen if the elves really were different, and what might result because of that difference.
Adal, A., et al. (2013). Heavy metal toxicity. Medscape Reference. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814960-overview
Oregon Public Health Division Office of Environmental Public Health. (2011). Heavy metals and your health: Frequently asked questions about testing, treatment and prevention. Oregon Health Authority. http://public.health.oregon.gov/HealthyEnvironments/HealthyNeighborhoods/HealthyHomes/LeadPoisoning/MedicalProvidersLaboratories/Documents/HeavyMetals.pdf
The Effects of Iron on Elven Characters
The Dungeon Crawl Classics take on this issue goes like this:
Elves are extremely sensitive to the touch of iron. Direct contact over prolonged periods causes a burning sensation, and exposure at close distances makes them uncomfortable. An elf may not wear iron armor or bear the touch of iron weapons for extended periods. Prolonged contact with iron causes 1 hp of damage per day of direct contact. (DCC Core Rules, p. 57)At first glance this seems like something that could be annoying to the elven character, but not actively dangerous. Iron is a bit like poison ivy. It's nasty stuff, and it can cause a person some pain, but it's really not that bad. Mechanically, the in-game effects are about nil, unless you do to equivalent of stuffing your pants with iron nails (or poison ivy for that matter). It's not likely that an elven character is going to put him or herself into a position where iron contact is constant, so my guess is that the intention is to make it more likely that elven characters have to quest for non-ferrous armor and weapons, don't just get to pick up the armor they find, and more or less find self-protection via increase to armor class a bit harder than, say, a wizard. That's all well and good, but it lacks a certain something. I'd like to address that lack in this post.
Heavy Metal Poisoning in Real Life
No, for your information, I'm not talking about that terrible song by Styx. Seriously, that song sucked and was weird and preachy and totally sucked. I'm not gonna link it. Did I mention how much it sucked? Because it did. Anyway...
Medscape Reference suggests that, "The toxicity of heavy metals depends on a number of factors. Specific symptomatology varies according to the metal in question, the total dose absorbed, and whether the exposure was acute or chronic" (Adal, A., et al., 2013).
A quick read-through of a FAQs document on heavy metal poisoning written by the Oregon Public Health Division Office of Environmental Public Health lists symptoms. They include some of the following:
Headaches
Weakness
Fatigue
Muscle and Joint Pain
Constipation
However, more specific information about the various metals suggests we could add these effects to the list:
Diseases of the organs, brittle bones, permanent nervous system damage, manifesting as, "mental retardation, brain damage, cerebral palsy, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak," or other acute and chronic effects like, "abdominal pain, convulsions, hypertension, kidney dysfunction, loss of appetite, fatigue, and sleeplessness... hallucinations, headache, numbness, arthritis, and vertigo" (http://www.lef.org/protocols/health_concerns/heavy_metal_detoxification_03.htm#symptoms)
Clearly, if elves have to deal with this kind of shit, iron exposure is an ongoing nightmare for the lot of them, and would force them to avoid or to find adaptations for situations that would result in iron exposure. With that context, let's consider what the elves of Ore would have to deal with and how they might adapt.
Iron Exposure: Acute and Chronic
In most cases, since we're talking about a fantasy RPG, "acute iron exposure" would result from getting various pieces of cutlery shoved into one's body, or being cleaved with an axe or polearm, or being shot with a bow/crossbow arrow/bolt with an iron or steel head. The vector for infection is a sudden, massive increase in the level of exposure.
While some of the fantasy literature about elves and the fae in general suggests that iron weapons are deadly to them, DCCRPG doesn't model that mechanically. Getting your Elf taken out with a one-hit from a glancing dagger strike probably would result in a pretty shitty game for the elven character. So, they don't model that. If I were to do something to account for what acute exposure might do, I think perhaps a damage bonus is warranted. Elves hit with weapons of iron or steel take 1 HP more damage than non-elves. Alternately, they might have to pass a Fort save versus poison to avoid damage (make it DC 5, maybe). So, acute iron exposure is dealt with pretty easily. However, my real concern is chronic exposure and its effects.
As some of the symptoms above suggest, chronic exposure affects the mind and body in some painful, dangerous, and frightening ways. Add to this the fact that elves use magic, and you have an interesting recipe for delusional, psychotic magic users. So, yeah, fun stuff. I imagine that chronic effects of iron on elves would include everything from lost Stamina, to additional corruption tables for elven characters, to magical casting penalties for iron-infected characters, among other things. I'm not exactly sure how this would play out in mechanical terms, but I'd tend toward a table of results that would crop up when the Elf in question has been too long among Men, too long on Ore. How would we model this?
Modeling the Effects of Iron Infection
The easiest way to model progressive iron infection would be to link it to experience. Just as characters often get perquisites for going up in level (e.g., increased hit dice, high deed die, etc.), the elven character might also have an "iron effects" chart, by level. So, as the Elf gets more powerful in game terms, he or she would also be dealing with the slow degradation of body and mind, and the corruption of his or her magic. This is a simple and elegant answer, and it could actually make playing an elven character more interesting. As it stands, the Elf in DCC is not that much different than any other race. Yes, they have the racial abilities, certainly, but actually playing an Elf doesn't require much difference in how the character approaches the game. If it were inevitable that an Elf would be affected by iron over time, and that those effects would be consequential, it opens up a whole different way of running that character. It also would result in research, quests, equipment, an so forth designed specifically to deal with those effects.
Simply, if iron exposure could totally fuck you up, then you'd be pretty concerned with how to avoid it in the first place, or to ameliorate the effects once it happens.
It's Tough Out Here for an Elf
So, what do elves have to do to adjust to life on Ore? A few things spring to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty of others.
- Elves tend to congregate together in enclaves where iron exposure can be limited. This results in neighborhoods built from particular materials, development of a variety of rituals and procedures for cleansing, dressing, eating, and other everyday activities that will seem weird to non-elves.
- Elves tend to be quite vigilant towards potential vectors of infection. They find ways to seal themselves and their homes off from those vectors.
- Elves also tend to be quite vigilant toward other elves, and alert for their manifestation of the symptoms of iron poisoning. An infected Elf is dangerous in a purely practical sense, but he or she is also part of what makes the other people of Ore afraid of the elven race. They have a reputation for madness and for sudden, catastrophic violence.
- There is a whole area of arcane study concerned with iron exposure and its effects on spell casting. Iron makes magic work differently. The elves of Ore have had to make changes to their approaches. This also serves to make the elves of Elfland treat them differently, further alienating them. They aren't natural to the world of Ore, but they also are different from "real" elves. They exist somewhere in between the two worlds, lending to their sense of outsider status, to their feelings of alienation. It also makes them appreciate their expatriate brethren even more, and to be incredibly protective of each other.
- There is a whole area of healing/medicine concerned with iron exposure and its effects on elven biology. This area of study is guarded from outsiders, and elves have been known to assassinate any non-Elf who tries to pry into these mysteries.
- There is a thriving industry in quackery, holistic approaches to healing from iron exposure, and other quasi-medical scams. Because iron is so dangerous, and infection so inevitable, some elves will believe nearly anything in order to cope with their fears, even if the cures offered are ineffective or even worse than iron infection itself.
- Elven artisans are becoming more and more concerned with, and adept at, crafting devices to limit their exposure to iron (e.g., filter masks, special garments, etc.). This tends to make them look even more otherworldly, and sets them apart from the other races even further. Given the history of the elves as I've written it before, this means that they are even further excluded, and that others' views of them as dangerous outsiders is exacerbated.
- Non-elves know that infected elves are potentially dangerous. The more powerful the Elf, the more likely he or she is to be a problem. As a result, there is strong anti-Elf sentiment in some quarters, and even some political impetus to exclude elves from Ur-Hadad entirely.
- Elves often return to Elfland in order to seek respite from the effects of iron infection, and to attempt healing of some sort. Some never return. They elves don't talk about this to outsiders. Elves who talk about it to outsiders usually disappear without trace.
In any case, when iron infection becomes a constant fear, the elven culture is forced to make a variety of adaptations to account for it. This constant concern manifests itself in weird ways, resulting in an elven culture that is very different from the cultures of the other fantasy races. To extend a point I made in my prior post about the elves of Ore, we also have groups of elves who become corrupted by iron, by acute exposure or by birth defect. These mutants are additional complications for elven culture. I suggested that orcs, for one example, actually are elves who have been mutated by iron, driven mad, and made dangerous. I can see how that constant threat would affect elves' approaches to reproduction, create a constant concern about "purity," would increase elven secrecy about the nature of these problems, and so forth. Again, this would tend to make elves even more insular and suspicious of outsiders. It would also, of course, result in making them seem weirder and less trustworthy to the outsiders they spurn. This cycle would certainly result in strong intercultural tensions between elves and the other races. This fact, on top of the prior Imperial history of the elves of Ore, would create a lot of potential problems, conflicts, and so forth with men, dwarves, halflings, etc., and the potential for prejudice, violence, and even civil/race wars based on these differences.
I'm a little scared about where all of this thinking might lead, but am nonetheless fascinated by how much richer would be the world in which such complications occur. I these elves a lot more than vanilla elves, but I worry about what it means for the world of Ore. If, for example, the Grand Vizier were to foment anti-elven hatred, to require that elves be registered with the state, to liven only in designated elven compounds, etc., all of a sudden we're in the kind of dangerous territory that humans have been in before. It never ends well, but it does make for an incredibly interesting story.
Still, when the fantasy races are conceived through lens of prior human thinking about Race as a concept, then you find yourself confronting all sorts of real life horror, up to and including genocide. Thinking about racial issues as they apply to Appendix N fiction (and the RPGs that follow from it) really concerns me, as I've said before, but I worry more about NOT thinking enough about it. It's become a bit of a focus lately, simply because I'm working on an adventure that forces me to confront what might happen if the elves really were different, and what might result because of that difference.
References
Adal, A., et al. (2013). Heavy metal toxicity. Medscape Reference. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814960-overview
Oregon Public Health Division Office of Environmental Public Health. (2011). Heavy metals and your health: Frequently asked questions about testing, treatment and prevention. Oregon Health Authority. http://public.health.oregon.gov/HealthyEnvironments/HealthyNeighborhoods/HealthyHomes/LeadPoisoning/MedicalProvidersLaboratories/Documents/HeavyMetals.pdf
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