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40d:Elf
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
Template:CreatureInfo Elves are intelligent humanoid creatures who live in forest retreats. They are one of the races playable in Adventure Mode. Their retreats have no buildings, but the trees in the area were named, before 3-d happened. You can just make up names for the trees. They love nature and are ready to defend it, typically with bows. They may invade a fortress which violates their tree-cutting limit.
Elves in Fortress Mode
Elves are a trading race and send small caravans without wagons in spring. They usually bring Thread, cloth, rope, various plants and seeds, wooden items, and some wood. They may also bring some tame animals, often even exotic ones like giant eagles or jaguars, which are good to build up a zoo, arena or defenses. Be aware that these animals may arrive with injuries (or possibly dead) if they were transported through an inhospitable biome.
Elves also bring a lot of tradeables of questionable or no worth to dwarves: armor and clothes that are too large for dwarves to wear, inferior wooden weapons (that could, admittedly, be used for sparring), a spectrum of booze both inferior and superior, inferior value redroot dye, and bows and arrows (which at least can be used for weapon traps, as long as the arrows last).
As their caravans do not include wagons, it is very common for them to bring nothing but bins of cloth, resulting from the way in which caravans load up their goods - they attempt to load all of their bins of cloth onto their pack animals before sending other useful goods, often running out of room entirely. This behavior can be prevented, to a degree, by limiting the profit they receive from your trades and by limiting the rate at which your own wealth increases; once this behavior starts, though, the best way to revert it is by making them unhappy, whether by seizing their goods or by outright slaughtering their merchants.
They are very picky about what they will accept in return: Elves will accept anything except items made out of or decorated with any wood. This includes clear and crystal glass items (due to the pearlash which comes from ash which comes from burning wood). Even offering them something wood-related will make them unhappy, potentially causing them to immediately pack up and leave.
Metal items are acceptable, even when charcoal is used in their production. Items made from silk are acceptable, as are all non-wooden plant-based products such as plump helmets, seeds, and ☼Dwarven syrup biscuits[45]☼. Dairy products, such as milk and cheese, are currently acceptable. You can also transport your goods to the trade depot in a wooden bin, as long as you do not try to sell the bin. In order to sell food and booze, however, your barrels will need to be made of metal. Living animals are acceptable, as long as the cage or trap is not made of wood. They also no longer mind purchasing blood-soaked items.
Although tower-caps are giant mushrooms, they are considered trees by the elves and thus are not acceptable.
Elves are also known to completely ignore "menaces with spikes" decorations when considering the value of your trade goods - such goods should be traded to other races instead.
Elves may send diplomats, independent of their caravans, to warn you when they feel you are cutting down too many trees. Typically, this diplomat will appear out of nowhere, tell you that you are cutting down too many trees, then waltz off. This diplomat may also attempt to negotiate with you and form an agreement on how many trees per year you can cut down.
Living among them
Living with Elves is pretty much the same as living among Humans, but they don't build houses, furniture, or anything else that uses wood. So basically, it's just like living anywhere else, but with guards.
Elven society
The ethics of elven society are substantially divergent from other races; Lying is punishable by exile, the killing of plants is an unthinkable crime, and eating the corpse of one's opponent in battle is socially acceptable, even if the opponent was also an elf (and would otherwise be considered cannibalism). The elven leaders are referred to as druids, not kings.
Elves currently never settle outside their initial elven retreat's forest. If not for this limitation, the world would quickly overflow with elves because they are immortal.
Elves in Adventure Mode
Elven forest retreats are represented by yellow symbols in forests on the world map. They do not have any shops, but they seem to have a great amount of elite marksmen to recruit. The leader and quest giver of a retreat is called the "druid", who can be found wandering the forest floor with the other elves.
Elven characters start with a wooden weapon and a set of basic wooden armor that lacks protection for the torso. This limitation often leads to a quick death. They do have some advantages, however: they're one size larger than dwarves, which makes them hit harder and absorb more damage, though they also have a natural armor penalty which causes them to take slightly more damage than normal. Their main redeeming quality is their speed, being roughly 20% faster than the other playable races.
Those that live among other races may have metal or leather armor fitted for a narrow frame, though elven shopkeepers in human towns will still only sell human equipment. These Elven shopkeepers will also not accept coins, you must trade actual goods with them. Elven adventurers may equip any metal weapons or shields they come across, just like any other.
Elves are at peace with wildlife, which means they won't be attacked by most animals (verify if most or all). In addition, they can talk to the animal-man races (such as snakemen and batmen) and even get the most excitement-seeking ones to join their party.