[Urbis] Tuvareen - when stealing babies just isn't enough

[Jürgen Hubert]

Another region of Urbis in serious need of development is Tuvareen. I've got the basic hook of this realm - the elven inhabitants steal human babies so that they can breed with them once they become adults and counteract their mysterious loss of fertility. I also have some vague idea that this loss of fertility is the result of some sort of drow plot.

But I need more ideas for this place. More factions, more details about history, more details on the settlements. Since this is supposed to be brainstorming, please don't hesitate to throw anything at me that comes to mind, no matter how preposterous!

[Tybalt]

The Forgotten Realms had a community, can't remember the name but it was a human/elvish mix. I think that this might be perhaps common on the outskirts of this land, that there might very well be elves, humans, halfelves as the base community.

So there might very well be blends of elvish and human culture, towns with a blend of both kinds of architecture and their own unique flavour.

[Queenfange]

Hey, nice to see you again! So, I can think of a few quick things...

The elves who do this would probably be CE (or perhaps CN), an unusual alignment for typical elves. Still, I think it fits- kidnapping children, even out of desperation, is a very not-good act, especially when combined with using illusion magic on them and slaying those who pose any threat.

I rather would imagine them as thinking they are in touch with nature, but being tied to a sort of corrupted version of it. As their reproductive capacities are dying out, they see the dark, the pain, and the extinction that is present in the environment. This could lead to a fascination with insects who are despised for the very nature (as opposed to these elves, despised for their actions), but are amazingly successful in surviving and breeding. Trust in traditions, spring fertility rites, and so on would either be enhanced sharply ("We would not have this problem if we had simply followed our traditions and rituals as we should have in the first place") or be nearly eliminated- why bother having romantic dances on the Spring Equinox when that evening's dalliances will produce no offspring, and a shadow of looming doom seems to be suffocating all of Turaveen?

Since Urbis is around Industrial Revolution technology, would any medical professionals be interested in researching this phenomena? Do the elves themselves have any magical or mechanical means by which they have tried to fix this? What is the actual cause of their infertility- some sort of pollution, or is it truly a divine curse?

Could elves reproduce with certain sorts of fey? Just wondering.

[Jürgen Hubert]

The Forgotten Realms had a community, can't remember the name but it was a human/elvish mix. I think that this might be perhaps common on the outskirts of this land, that there might very well be elves, humans, halfelves as the base community.

Aglarond, I believe - the kingdom that the Simbul rules.

So there might very well be blends of elvish and human culture, towns with a blend of both kinds of architecture and their own unique flavour.

This doesn't really apply here, since the elves don't want to have any contact with pure-blooded humans other than for breeding purposes.

But this discussion has given me a new idea for a group - see here for details.

[Jürgen Hubert]

D&D 4E has given me a new idea on how to make Tuvareen much more interesting. First, read my entry for the eladrin. Then take a look at the revised entry for Tuvareen:

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The Great Forest of Turaveen is fairly isolated from the rest of the world, which suited its elven inhabitants and eladrin rulers just fine, as they wanted to have no truck with outsiders.

However, fifty years ago the compact between the king of Tuvareen and the powers of Faerie was broken when the king refused to marry his daughter to a powerful Fair Folk entity called the Horned Man. In retaliation, the right of the Tuvareen noble houses to invoke the Blessing of the Stars - the rite which creates new eladrin from elven newborn - was revoked, and the Horned Man cursed all female eladrin with barrenness. All attempts to recreate the Compact have been rejected.

In a desperate attempt to stop the death of their bloodlines, some eladrin houses have started the controversial practice of stealing babies from human communities in nearby regions. These are raised in isolated communities in the forest, where the humans are kept in awe of the elves with powerful illusions. Once the humans grow up, the eladrin choose the most attractive and robust humans as breeding stock'"which the conditioned humans view as a high honor, though they remember nothing of the conception thanks to powerful mind magics. The resulting Half-Elves are taken by the eladrin and raised as full members of the house. Older humans, or those who begin to suspect too much, vanish from the human villages and are never seen again. The humans believe that they 'go to live with the elves', but in reality, they all are killed.

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I think this works much better. Here the child-stealing isn't done and supported by the whole of elven society - but by some elven noble houses who have resorted to such desperate measures to prevent their extinction. This makes all this much more understandable and tragic, without making this activity any less wrong.

And it makes for some interesting social dynamics - I'd say the "common" elves are unlikely to take it well if their eladrin rulers are gradually replaced by half-elves...

[Tybalt]

Generally this is a good idea--I'd suggest going with it as well. So how would the other elves see such acts?

[Jürgen Hubert]

Generally this is a good idea--I'd suggest going with it as well. So how would the other elves see such acts?

They don't like it, to put it mildly. Some have sought the support of another elven nation, while others have decided that they can run the country without the eladrin altogether. And some have even decided to throw in their lot with the drow.

I've expanded the Tuvareen entry significantly today, and added lots of detail on the factions. Also take a look at the new entry for the drow to see why cooperating with them might seem tempting.