Topic: Xa-Ar: Elven Genealogy

[dutch206]

I want to explore the idea of a Xa-ar Campaign, even though I am a little uncomfortable with the power level.  I am thinking of running a party of Jaimani Elves just to annoy all the people on this board who hate elves. 

That brings me to an interesting problem.  I want to do the "descendant of the lost prince" thing, so I dug into the history section of the module.  The child of the Mah-Ilari prince and the Urulani Noblewoman was born 11,338 years before the start date of the campaign.

The problem:  how do you figure out elven genealogy?  A human 'generation' is about thirty years, but what is the 'generation' of an immortal race?

Even if you use a conservative figure like one generation=500 years, that adds up to twenty-two and two-thirds generations.  That would mean that our fictional "descendant of the lost prince" would be related to almost all of Urulan in one way or another! (And probably half of the elves in Lethys and the Remiriath as well). 

[RandalThor]

Because of their immortal status you could just as easily say that there is NO general generation. Sometime they may go a full millenia or more between having children, but then have another only 300 years later. This gives you more flexibility in deciding the number of generations that have occured (which could/would be different for each elven family).

[Elrik]

It may be easier to just fill out the Family tree and let that express itself. Date the births and marriages and I think you will find what you are looking for. Since you will have to make up most of it.

As for a Lost Prince, all you have to do is give them a medallion of the Royal Family, or give them one of the hammers and have it work. That would be a pretty loud statement.

I have a lost princess in my game, and the noble that "rescued" her from the Orphanage has her heirlooms. They don't know what they are, nor does she. I gave her a special medallion that only works for the Royal Family. She also has strange racial memories and can sing songs in a variant of Erlini that only the oldest elves may recognize if they heard it.

I have had players ask me to create some sort of long tree of history in the past and I found it bogged the game down. At one time I may create a structure of parents, siblings, grand parents, aunts and uncles their children and up to great grand parents and the like. At that point you can have over 50 people to develop, at least in name. I now lack the stamina and attention span to build something that complex. I love a great multilayered and often complex story, but have no desire to spend that much time on the family.

Let me know how it works for you!

E

[dutch206]

After doing some research in the Nomikos library this evening, I have discovered that one of the passings of the comet Sa'Kain unleashed a wasting sickness which only affected elves.  It pretty much decimated the Elven race.  That takes care of the 'hordes of distant relatives' things rather effectively.  Add to that the Syrkakar massacre of the Lu'Nak Erlini, and you can whittle away more distant relatives.

In fact, if I did my math correctly, there are only about a thousand Erlin Elves left alive in Xa-Ar.  Maybe this won't be so hard after all....

[metallion]

Generation is not a meaningful concept to Elves as Terry has described them.  Between eternal young and their general detachment from linear timebinding, there is no reason for an elf to think of their relationship to their sibling differently from their relationship to their parent -- let alone their relationship between their neighbor and their relationship to their neighbor's parent.

Elven geneology therefore becomes somewhat arbitrary.  The child of the Mah-Ilari prince and Urulani noble could have been born 11,325 years ago; but could have been born last week just as easily.    If born 11,325 years ago, that child could have wed another Elf 11,300 years ago -- or could have just as easily procreated a mere 50 years ago, giving you the character.

[Witchking20k]

I wonder if there is a stigma amongst elves concerning old vs new blood.....even though a pure lineage would indicate pur blood, perhaps the time of birht and subsequent world they are brought up in maybe create a bit of a prejudice or stereotype

[dutch206]

This isn't getting any easier, is it?

[Elrik]

Actually dutch... what is your thinking behind the Geology quest?

[Walt]

I wonder if there is a stigma amongst elves concerning old vs new blood.....even though a pure lineage would indicate pur blood, perhaps the time of birht and subsequent world they are brought up in maybe create a bit of a prejudice or stereotype

I think it?s most important to try to grab the immense dimensions of the elvish kind. If you don?t want to get into the fully high fantasy, nice elves in green woods way, at least the GM should try to get a feeling for an immortal race.
I think there will be strong feelings and even prejudice, but I think it will be more on different ways of thinking and observing the universe.

[dutch206]

Actually dutch... what is your thinking behind the Geology quest?

Um, you mean Genealogy (The study of Ancestry), not Geology (Earth Sciences), right?  A gology campaign would be pretty boring, IMO. (DUDE! This rock is so totally pre-Cambrian.  Score!)

It is one of the suggested character backgrounds in the Xa-Ar module that your character be descended from the union of a lost Mah-Ilari prince and a noblewoman from Urulan.  (This event happened early in the second era and is given a firm date in the timeline.  1540, IIRC.)

I've just been trying to imagine how hard it would be to keep eleven millenia of family history straight.  My real-life family has been in America since 1597, and I can't even keep all of that straight.

[Elrik]

That is what happens when you help your son with history and don't pay attention  to spell check... But I will say, Genealogy can be all you have to find a lost tower/keep/cave...

A Human Generation is 30 years because we normal have kids by that point. As metallion states there is no reason for an elf to think that way. They can have kids till someone sticks them with a sword or they grow weary. So there is no reasonable way to track it.

It is one of the suggested character backgrounds in the Xa-Ar module that your character be descended from the union of a lost Mah-Ilari prince and a noblewoman from Urulan.  (This event happened early in the second era and is given a firm date in the timeline.  1540, IIRC.)

If he is willing to warm the sheets with this women then why isn't he willing to do it with another?

At the same time, use that awe to your advantage. Finding a name or possible link to a family member or lost Prince should be like trying to find the one specially marked golden needle that is somewhere on earth.

BUT you are gaming. Make a prince, give him some things that are hard to question that only work for him or his siblings but not his mother or father. It has to work for one of them to make sense.

Make it clear that researching his lineage is near impossible. Time is hard to express to people, perhaps they have to just go with it.

I've just been trying to imagine how hard it would be to keep eleven millenia of family history straight.  My real-life family has been in America since 1597, and I can't even keep all of that straight

In our World, there is almost always a paper trail. Sure there are huge tracks of history that are hard to track. Most nations keep some sort of paper trail when people are involved. Just look at the Domesday book. It is simply the most famous of all the inventories done.

In Europe, Royal families tracked each others lineage as closely as their own, so if something went wrong they had other resourced to compare to... if that particular court was willing to share of course.

1539?1541: Sirdia-Mah?s elder son Kelis travels to Urulan. [There he has an affair with the Loar-Elf Lady Celtira Mentaka and she becomes pregnant, but does not tell him. Kelis leaves before the pregnancy is obvious and is killed on the return journey, never having learned of Celtira?s condition; she later bears a son. The boy, his descendants, and Valaan are the only remaining heirs of the Mah-ilari royal family.]

Some of the descendants leave Urulan and end up in Remiraith, the lands that become known as Tanara or even Emer. I would bet there are still blood lines in Urulan. So at that point, your family line would be traced through Urulan, which suffered a civilization setback. I would guess they shared information with Remiraith which has a large Family tree filled with question marks. In truth you only have to go back 4 breeding sets of parents. Presume 2 sets of children each and you are pretty safe. Truth of heritage would be some of the lost items.

LUNCH!