Elves

The elves, also called plant men or Aldryami, are some of the inhuman people found in Glorantha. They worship the goddess Aldrya, who may be the mother of Cenala by the Rider god Hyalor. They also deal with nature spirits.

Ride Like the Wind[]

Elves are one of the ancestral foes you can pick during clan creation.

The Honeybee spirit helps in dealings with elves. Similarly, the Iron Gear treasure helps you deal with both elves and trolls.

Lore[]

Your clan circle has the following to say about elves:

"It is difficult to say whether the entities the elves worship are big spirits, or bigger gods."
"Elves encased Elmal in the murder tree. 'Wood burns,' he said, lighting an arrow."
"Elves attacked some of our clans during the exodus."
"Elves are weird and might not know the true value of the goods they carry."
"Elves hate the cropland because they see it as taming a green and wild world that belongs to them."

Events[]

Elves appear in these Ride Like the Wind events:

In Battle[]

In this era, elves still field conventional raids. They fight on foot with bow and arrow, and terrify their foes with their eerie shrilling.

Their favored options are ritual and skirmish, meaning that you may want to consider closing as quickly as possible—especially since their unique ritual, Spores, can incapacitate half your warriors with what appears to be magically enhanced hay fever.

On the other hand, elves never berserk attack, charge, or put aside a reserve. And they won't accept a parley request.

They can badly damage your food supply by raiding during crop season, which they do especially often if they are your ancestral foe.

You cannot raid them as a matter of course, though it can be possible during events.

The Sawing Sword treasure helps you in battle against elves and the Branch Burning Banner decreases the magnitude of any potential defeats when defending against them.

They have just one Heroic Combat event. See Heroic Combat: Elves for details.

Lights Going Out[]

Elves have suffered a lot during the Chaos Age and sightings have become so rare that some even question their existence. Still, rare sightings do happen.

Cenala can be found on the far east of the map.

Unlike in Ride Like the Wind, Elves will never raid you in Lights Going Out. All of the previous elves-related treasures from Ride Like the Wind are unavailable in Lights Going Out.

Through a game of Lights Going Out, you may hear the following report from one of your noble hunters:

“	A hunting party recently returned empty-handed. They said that three plant people had scared away the deer they were stalking. Hunting is bad enough these days that I don't know why they had to make up a story—everyone knows the elves all died off when the world got too cold.	”
— Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out

If you explore further afield, your explorers may have different variations of the following encounter, depending on your clan's historical relationship with Cenala:

“	We have returned from exploring the east. While there we encountered the rustling ghosts of dead elves. <<They recognized us as elf-friends, due to our ancient connection to a great spirit called Cenala. They praised us, saying/Though hostile at first, <Explorer> convinced them> that our explorations would slow the growth of Chaos. They showed us where to find petrified wood and bow resin worth <Number> cows/They came at us, shrieking, to drag us to their dead plant hell. They called us foes of Cenala. This was the name of a false demigoddess our Rider ancestors opposed long ago. Their insubstantial blows aged me and struck my explorers with a withering lassitude. This was rough. You must let me lead another expedition, so that I might redeem myself in the eyes of the clan. Exploration girds the world against Chaos>.	”
— Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out

Lore[]

Your clan ring has the following to say about elves:

"It's really strange to see trees move like people."
"Elf worship will benefit our Earth temple."
"Ernalda is grandmother to the elves."
"When Ernalda died, the plant folk, who depended on earth to live, withered where they stood."
"Pine elves? Didn't they all die when their trees sickened?"
"It is sad to see the elves fall before Chaos."
"They must not pollute [our clan's] land!"
"Respect the offspring of Aldrya the Green."
"The King of Berenstead does not bow down to elves."
"Like many other plants, the elves no longer grow here."