Café de Nuit

I dislike DND three ed, because to tell how it was in the 2 ed.
The elves live longer than all other races, and not have ageing. A when their time during The Prime World ends for them comes the Magic Ship, and takes them into the «Wonderful Farness».
Where exactly is this "Wonderful far not reported, but it seems that this Arborea:-)
And what happens with "old" elves in RL?
Many are inclined to think that after the death of RL can not go on acc. External Plan - otherwise escape from the RL is quite simple.

Considering the rarity of old elves in Ravenloft, escape through death from aging isn't really that simple.

Old elves? C'mon, they used to live under Soth-none of them got old, and now that psychotic werebadger eats them.

I always assumed the equivalent of the 'elven homeland' in Ravenloft was Arak, and later the Sahdow Rift, home of the Shadow Fae.

Sareau wrote:Old elves? C'mon, they used to live under Soth-none of them got old, and now that psychotic werebadger eats them.

Hi, I'm Lovecraftforever.

Did you know Lord Soth is the top cause of death for male elves age 300-800? Its true. And statistics say the rate of Soth related death for juvenile elves age 60-200 is on the rise.

This June, please wear a black ribbon to show your support for the search for a cure for Soth related death.

Lord Soth
The not so silent killer.

Was the whole "elven homeland" thing even part of the Silvanesti elves' culture back on Krynn?

I always thought the whole "sailing into the west" thing was a metaphor for crossing over into the afterlife, like how the ancient egyptians thought people crossed into the afterlife by sailing on wooden barges. So elves still "sail away" in Ravenloft, it's just that no one knows where they "sail away" to. Another way to think about it is that elves ascend when they get old enough, like on Stargate. So there is no physical place elves go to when they get too old.

Lovecraftforever wrote:

Sareau wrote:Old elves? C'mon, they used to live under Soth-none of them got old, and now that psychotic werebadger eats them.

Hi, I'm Lovecraftforever.

Did you know Lord Soth is the top cause of death for male elves age 300-800? Its true. And statistics say the rate of Soth related death for juvenile elves age 60-200 is on the rise.

This June, please wear a black ribbon to show your support for the search for a cure for Soth related death.

Lord Soth
The not so silent killer.

Ha! I love this! Almost as good as HuManBing's real life fear/horror checks thread!

The Tolkienian 'go to the West' may work for some folks, but it has never been to my taste. My assumption is that elves grow old and die much as other humanoid species, only their lifespans are very long in comparison with most other humanoids.

ewancummins wrote:The Tolkienian 'go to the West' may work for some folks, but it has never been to my taste. My assumption is that elves grow old and die much as other humanoid species, only their lifespans are very long in comparison with most other humanoids.

I agree with this. The official 3rd edition version is that elves grow old and die like everyone else, although later. No ship to take them away. They go to the afterlife like everyone. They may decided to call this passing "My spirit travels to a far far away realm" but that doesn't mean it's different from versions like "My spirit travels to Fugue plane to be picked up by my God" which is the FR version.

ewancummins wrote:The Tolkienian 'go to the West' may work for some folks, but it has never been to my taste. My assumption is that elves grow old and die much as other humanoid species, only their lifespans are very long in comparison with most other humanoids.

Okay, no one flame me for this, but I found that was really weak storytelling. I found the elves leaving Middle Earth to be cowardly.

The elves pride themselves as the wisest and fairest in the land. But what is their reaction to a new war?

"We are leaving Middle Earth. Our time has passed."

Translation -

"You guys go fight the evil. We're going to run like a frightened mouse."

No wonder dwarves hate these guys! No balls.

Not to Edition Jerk it up, but that's one of the changes I loved about 4E. Elves, Eladrin and Drow only live up to three hundred years unless they do something to become immortal. Besides being an interesting story point-nothing quite highlights your fall from grace like suddenly having a mortal lifespan-it's a more elegant solution to a mythical long lived race being appropriate for PCs. Sure, you CAN be as immortal as the fairy kings of old...if you do something to impress the Feywild enough.

And, LF, it depends on how you look at the sailing bit. If you take it literally, well, yeah. Personally I like the "we're using a metaphor for death." angle better.

DocBeard wrote:Not to Edition Jerk it up, but that's one of the changes I loved about 4E. Elves, Eladrin and Drow only live up to three hundred years unless they do something to become immortal. Besides being an interesting story point-nothing quite highlights your fall from grace like suddenly having a mortal lifespan-it's a more elegant solution to a mythical long lived race being appropriate for PCs. Sure, you CAN be as immortal as the fairy kings of old...if you do something to impress the Feywild enough.

And, LF, it depends on how you look at the sailing bit. If you take it literally, well, yeah. Personally I like the "we're using a metaphor for death." angle better.

Drow can die of natural causes? Has it ever happened? LOL!

Totally out of curiosity, but has Ravenloft had a native elf population long enough to know their life expectancy?

Because looking at the life expectancy of elves (even using the 300-year benchmark), and looking at when domains with elves were revealed, it seems entirely plausible that the first elf born into Ravenloft could still be alive as of BC 758.

d'Ysmaul wrote:Totally out of curiosity, but has Ravenloft had a native elf population long enough to know their life expectancy?

Because looking at the life expectancy of elves (even using the 300-year benchmark), and looking at when domains with elves were revealed, it seems entirely plausible that the first elf born into Ravenloft could still be alive as of BC 758.

Excellent point.

Barovia becomes the first realm in Ravenloft in 351. The Ravenloft Realm Of Terror boxed set states the Ravenloft campaign begins (as far as player characters are concerned) in the year 735. That's not long compared to most settings.

Also, I was under the impression time and space were meaningless in Ravenloft.