My Note On Current Mali'aheral Roleplay

[Esterlen 4499]

So, it's old man Nelecar here to discuss an important issue that does (To my shame) get my blood boiling a bit OOC: The abuse of our racial identity.

It's come to my attention that only the minority of high elves are actually roleplaying high elves as they should be roleplayed. To summarize, see Sporadic's wonderful guide here: http://www.lordofthecraft.net/forum/index.php?/topic/40509-high-elven-rp-guide/

Now, I know what you're thinking. 'I don't want to RP my high elf like that! It's mean and not very nice!' But let's just stop one second and think about it. Yes, this attitude may be mean and not very nice at all. Does that means it doesn't make fun roleplay? Not in the slightest, and thinking like that is just a case of letting one's IRL morals cloud how their characters thinks and acts. We, the mali'aheral lore team have created this racial identity which only we have ended up using. This doesn't feel too great, as you may expect, to spend so much time working on this stuff and have it trampled on by people who want to RP as 'nice' people - but the truth is it's not that black and white. Let's get an example in here.

The Maheral, Dio Astore, is a good example of a balanced (ideal) mali'aheral here: He doesn't allow his emotions to cloud his judgement, he's rational, but he's also cold and detached. He's not fond of the other races at all but recognizes the benefit of working with them and doesn't see the point in drawing bad blood where there's no point in doing so.

My own character, Nelecar, is a good example of a radical mali'aheral. He's openly condescending, racist, xenophobic and thinks the world would be a much better place without the other races. He believes simply being born of two mali'aheral makes him superior to every non-elf, but he's an advocate of non-violence.

And then there's the opposite mali'aheral, the liberal mali'aheral, which is what I describe in this thread. It shouldn't be happening in Haelun'or. Openly protesting against the government and the ideals of the high elves is one thing that can possibly lead to good RP. Staying silent and secretly disagreeing in order to receive free housing in the city is another and one I frankly won't tolerate.

I personally recommend playing a balanced mali'aheral if you're more of a new roleplayer, but if you so desire and if you roleplay it well I won't object to more radicals.

You may believe it's rather vain of me to make this thread but it's not for my own benefit. It's merely that I'm quite disappointed few are roleplaying high elves in Haelun'or how they should be roleplayed. The identity we spent so long working on and fine-tuning.

Just consider it: You don't have to have a 'nice' character to engage in stimulating roleplay.

Sporadic's Added Note:

Now we are in an OOC setting anyway, I like to point some things out:

High Elves are dogmatic. They are not fair. And while it's intuitive for all RPers to have their character use the same common sense that they have, it is detrimental to playing a good High Elf.

Yes, we all come from accepting, liberal societies were personal freedom and tolerance have given us a lot of the perks we take for granted. Of course anyone realizes the High Elves are gravely 'wrong', in a sense, to alienate and turn hostile on so many players. OOCly, we all recognize the society is run in a wrong way.

However, such is our RP. We have decided to accept the difficult challenge of playing a dogmatic society. A slightly tyrannical society, where rules and law come before the need and justice of the individual. Non High Elves do not get a fair treatment. High Elves can't do anything they want and are, in fact, met with constant scrutiny from their peers. There's been many requests for this kind of setting

So, High Elves, wherever you are, I'd like it if you thought hard about your character. Try to consider how he would think, and leave the comfort zone of having him/her adorn the morals that you, the player, obviously have. You will have to accept, OOCly, that your character is dogmatic, conservative, and isn't going to make friends among other races.

Only if you willingly accept HE laws, even though you realize OOCly they're unfair, and are ready to act on them in a way that might feel scary and unfamiliar to you, will you be a working part of Haelun'or society. We try to create good RP within our area, but for that we need good RPers.

Those who don't agree can play a High Elf anywhere else. You may think being deceptive, pretending you're Mali'A though really you're not, is your personal right as it's all RP. However, you are cashing in on our precious resources, which are better spend on the constant monitoring of something very ambitious that has taken us many weeks to put together.

Also OOC: expect Haelun'or to take even rasher actions against intruders soon. High Elves care very little about a dead impure more or less, and it is in fact lawful (meaning no VA) for any High Elf to protect the Hiylun by smiting a disrespecting impure down.

[The Lion 736]

Yes the high elves need some work Mirtok and I literally walked into the restricted library with minimal resistance, copied all the information, snuck in plain sight of two high elves, announced to three other elves (one may have been a guard) and walked out the front gate, all the guard did was say. "Stop, what did you do?!" and didn't even give chase. Its good to note that I am a Dark Elf and Mirtok is a human.

[Esterlen 4499]

That's exactly what I mean: As a dark elf and a human you shouldn't even be allowed on the grounds.

[Sporadic 2844]

Now we are in an OOC setting anyway, I like to point some things out:

High Elves are dogmatic. They are not fair. And while it's intuitive for all RPers to have their character use the same common sense that they have, it is detrimental to playing a good High Elf.

Yes, we all come from accepting, liberal societies were personal freedom and tolerance have given us a lot of the perks we take for granted. Of course anyone realizes the High Elves are gravely 'wrong', in a sense, to alienate and turn hostile on so many players. OOCly, we all recognize the society is run in a wrong way.

However, such is our RP. We have decided to accept the difficult challenge of playing a dogmatic society. A slightly tyrannical society, where rules and law come before the need and justice of the individual. Non High Elves do not get a fair treatment. High Elves can't do anything they want and are, in fact, met with constant scrutiny from their peers. There's been many requests for this kind of setting

So, High Elves, wherever you are, I'd like it if you thought hard about your character. Try to consider how he would think, and leave the comfort zone of having him/her adorn the morals that you, the player, obviously have. You will have to accept, OOCly, that your character is dogmatic, conservative, and isn't going to make friends among other races.

Only if you willingly accept HE laws, even though you realize OOCly they're unfair, and are ready to act on them in a way that might feel scary and unfamiliar to you, will you be a working part of Haelun'or society. We try to create good RP within our area, but for that we need good RPers.

Those who don't agree can play a High Elf anywhere else. You may think being deceptive, pretending you're Mali'A though really you're not, is your personal right as it's all RP. However, you are cashing in on our precious resources, which are better spend on the constant monitoring of something very ambitious that has taken us many weeks to put together.

Also OOC: expect Haelun'or to take even rasher actions against intruders soon. High Elves care very little about a dead impure more or less, and it is in fact lawful (meaning no VA) for any High Elf to protect the Hiylun by smiting a disrespecting impure down.

[Esterlen 4499]

Mind if I quote that in the OP?

[Sporadic 2844]

Have at it.

[Jon Evaglno 202]

Yes, high elves need to be more dogmatic. But, if your character was not raised in this dogmatic community, he/she won't be right off the bat. My character didn't even know he was high elf before he came to Haelun'or. In addition, he was raised by dwarves. In the past, he never paid any mind to race. What I'm doing is slowly letting the ideas of HE superiority creep in. Just because some High Elves aren't dogmatic doesn't mean they can't become dogmatic.

[Esterlen 4499]

To help with that, Jon, keep in mind we're constantly raided and pillaged by dark elves 'protesting our racism' and orcs attacked us once.

[Jon Evaglno 202]

Wait... Why are orcs and dark elves attacking us if most High Elves aren't even racist? Believe me, if my character heard that, he'd be interpreting things the high elves' way by this point.

[Esterlen 4499]

I'm not quite sure but it could certainly stem from the fact that the minority that do RP high elves correctly are in fact the government who represents them.

[Aerinyes 402]

Now we are in an OOC setting anyway, I like to point some things out:

High Elves are dogmatic. They are not fair. And while it's intuitive for all RPers to have their character use the same common sense that they have, it is detrimental to playing a good High Elf.

Yes, we all come from accepting, liberal societies were personal freedom and tolerance have given us a lot of the perks we take for granted. Of course anyone realizes the High Elves are gravely 'wrong', in a sense, to alienate and turn hostile on so many players. OOCly, we all recognize the society is run in a wrong way.

However, such is our RP. We have decided to accept the difficult challenge of playing a dogmatic society. A slightly tyrannical society, where rules and law come before the need and justice of the individual. Non High Elves do not get a fair treatment. High Elves can't do anything they want and are, in fact, met with constant scrutiny from their peers. There's been many requests for this kind of setting

So, High Elves, wherever you are, I'd like it if you thought hard about your character. Try to consider how he would think, and leave the comfort zone of having him/her adorn the morals that you, the player, obviously have. You will have to accept, OOCly, that your character is dogmatic, conservative, and isn't going to make friends among other races.

Only if you willingly accept HE laws, even though you realize OOCly they're unfair, and are ready to act on them in a way that might feel scary and unfamiliar to you, will you be a working part of Haelun'or society. We try to create good RP within our area, but for that we need good RPers.

Those who don't agree can play a High Elf anywhere else. You may think being deceptive, pretending you're Mali'A though really you're not, is your personal right as it's all RP. However, you are cashing in on our precious resources, which are better spend on the constant monitoring of something very ambitious that has taken us many weeks to put together.

Something I'd like to add to this awesome post :)

If you're looking to play a liberal, caring, and accepting elf, you're better off playing a Wood Elf. If you're looking for something slightly more conservative, has a bit of elven superiority, but still a bit accepting, play a Dark Elf. If you want to play a religious zealot in a matriarchal society, go Mori.

Always remember you're playing an elf. Even Wood elves have a detached view of social issues (especially the ones we have in modern times).

Also OOC: expect Haelun'or to take even rasher actions against intruders soon. High Elves care very little about a dead impure more or less, and it is in fact lawful (meaning no VA) for any High Elf to protect the Hiylun by smiting a disrespecting impure down.

By the way you still need a VA to murder (to kill without consent, without due process) a character, even if the city laws allow it. The Mori have this issue as we all had to get VA's to function in the barbaric ways that the city laws call for.

[Sporadic 2844]

Something I'd like to add to this awesome post :)

If you're looking to play a liberal, caring, and accepting elf, you're better off playing a Wood Elf. If you're looking for something slightly more conservative, has a bit of elven superiority, but still a bit accepting, play a Dark Elf. If you want to play a religious zealot in a matriarchal society, go Mori.

Always remember you're playing an elf. Even Wood elves have a detached view of social issues (especially the ones we have in modern times).

By the way you still need a VA to murder (to kill without consent, without due process) a character, even if the city laws allow it. The Mori have this issue as we all had to get VA's to function in the barbaric ways that the city laws call for.

As far as I know, Wood Elves behavior are more loosely defined, and Dark Elves are trying to gain their own rigid identity. But yes, it is true, more liberal elves are definitely going to go for Wood Elves. Their society allows for the most personal freedom.

Also, Mali'A are not villains. This is not about what should and should not be in a VA, but rest assured us High Elves always talk first and slice later. We turn you away, harshly, then threaten a fine, then give it (not even a substantial one), and only if you still need to go Socrates on our beliefs and refuse to pay you will get slaughtered, and even then we prefer RP over PvP.

[Esterlen 4499]

and even then we prefer RP over PvP.

Yep. I much rather RPed executions than clickfests.

Also, Aerinyes: Define 'due process'. 'Due process' for an execution is a council member giving a long formatted speech and then ordering the execution on the spot if needed.

[Jon Evaglno 202]

Can we make devices for execution? That sounds like it'd be interesting. I'd absolutely love to do that.

[Sporadic 2844]

High Elves, in my vision, banish before they execute. I feel any executions that need be done are the exceptions and will be done with a nice axe.