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Author Topic: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.  (Read 13921 times)

AusGre

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Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« on: July 06, 2014, 11:56:28 AM »
Hello everyone,

Having returned, I have heard that Sithicus has been opened to the public and that is it is now a playable area, making my wish to create a proper Sithican Elf more readiable. However, I am a bit lost on how I might go about creating a proper elf that would do the race and land proud. I have a few resources that I have been mulling over and my friend is going to get me some books to help, but I am unsure as to how prevalent they are to this server and I would like to ask for some help in this regard, please. I am looking to create a proper high elf of a major house, possibly one with ambitions for more prestigeous positions in the hierarchy of the government.

So, what I would be looking for is something of a mentor to help guide me on creating this proper elf and perhaps some direction where I can find some good resources to these people.

Here are some of the resources I have been using:
http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=18310.0
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Sithicus
http://ravenloftsd.wikispaces.com/Sithicus

But any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
AusGre

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2014, 02:27:22 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

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herkles

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2014, 02:42:11 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?


Theorem Of Neutrality

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2014, 12:50:25 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?

Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2014, 03:20:03 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?

Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.

Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2014, 04:24:13 PM »
Quote
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.

Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.

I'm not that familiar with Dragonlance lore.
This punishment sounds like something befitting of a Darklord. What crime did the elves commit that they are being punished so?

Could they have shown mercy at a pivotal time and chose revenge instead or something?
« Last Edit: July 08, 2014, 01:00:48 AM by monsinyana »
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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2014, 04:32:34 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?

Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.

Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.

So the elves of Sithicus do not do much? they just sit around and be emo and apathitic about the world? no politics, no intrigue? or in other words what do they do?


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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2014, 05:26:28 PM »
They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.

Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.

IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?


Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.

Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.


Serious question. Do they have a suicide problem ?

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2014, 11:04:54 PM »

Quote
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.

Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.

I'm not that familiar with Dragonlance lore.
This punishment sounds like something befitting of a Darklord. What crime did the elves commit that they are being punished so?

Could they have shown mercy at a pivotal time and chose revenge instead or something?
From Ravenloft Gazetteer IV:

Quote
Of Sithicus' distant past, the elves revealed only this: their kingdom began on a distant world in a land ruled by a human knight -- the Black Rose -- who waged a war against the gods, planning to topple them from power. The gods charged the elves with stopping the Rose's hubris, but they failed. Then the gods themselves struck down the Black Rose, casting him into a misty abyss -- our own world, as the elves describe it -- and for their failures, the elves and their kingdom were dragged down to share his fate.

Note that even this brief account is a mere approximation of the false history of Sithicus. Every elf who deigned speak of history offered a differing version of the tale, the details often varying widely.

Bear in mind, this is just what the Sithican elves believe about their presence in the demiplane. The real reason Soth became a darklord is because of his actions towards Kitiara Uth-Matar in the novel Test of the Twins. The elves' presence seems primarily just to have tormented Soth, since he blamed them for his own shortcomings and fall from grace.

Quote
The overall air of the elves who inhabit the Sithican cities is apathetic, almost despondent. They take no joy from their lives and have few entertainments, often preferring simply to spend their free time in silent meditation. Even their music resembles funeral dirges, more fitting of the dour dwarves than the light and joyful elven artistry of my homeland.

Yet the Sithican elves hold to the belief that this is the way their life is supposed to be, the way their forefathers must have lived (if their memories are to be trusted). They firmly believe that no matter what misfortune befalls the kingdom, they will survive like this. Their aristocracy is largely apathetic, no one is assertive, and I sense little likelihood of a leader unifying the various groups of elves in the near future.

The only explanation for this behavior I can suggest is that the elves of Darkon claim to feel a close connection with the land they live on -- as if they are literally a part of nature. Yet, as the Sithicans themselves claim (however impossible it may be to validate), these elves were brought here years ago with the distinct duty of torturing another cursed soul. Sithicus is not their true land, and they subconsciously reject it as the land rejects them. Like so many of the floral specimens I have handled during my travels, the Sithicans are not unlike plants that cannot be transplanted to unfamiliar soil.

While in Har-Thelen, I heard a remarkable tale. For years, the elves tried desperately to escape this "land of spectres." When an opportunity finally arose for them to reclaim their freedom, however, most of the "natives" were struck with the horribly truthful realization that there was nowhere for them to return to. The Sithicans believe wholeheartedly that the world from which they were banished no longer exists. Like the Black Rose himself, it may have been destroyed or drawn into a deeper hell.

Note that their homeworld, Krynn, was not destroyed and is still around, although it was briefly hidden away from the rest of existence due to the actions of Takhisis during the War of Souls.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2014, 11:28:31 PM »
I have one named Elsa songbrook who is only level 4 , shoot me a message in game and we can look down on humans sigh a lot and embrace our "meh" attitudes together. I started in valleki though because its impossible...improbable that you will make it from the city there back to the starting areas.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2014, 04:22:10 PM »
A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2014, 05:57:31 PM »
A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2014, 01:52:36 PM »
A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.

I was wondering about the none elves, I thought I read somewhere that the curse of sithicus is that any mortal who enters the realm is doomed to remain for eternity. Or am I mistaken?

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2014, 06:47:21 PM »
A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.

I was wondering about the none elves, I thought I read somewhere that the curse of sithicus is that any mortal who enters the realm is doomed to remain for eternity. Or am I mistaken?
You're mistaken.

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Dread

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2014, 07:07:25 PM »
The Guilt of Sithicus is something totally different, yes.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #15 on: December 26, 2015, 05:43:41 PM »
Does anyone know what year on the Barovian calendar Sithicus came into existence?
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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #16 on: December 26, 2015, 05:52:25 PM »
According to the timeline in the 3rd Ed. campaign setting guide, it appeared in the Core in the year 720. Whether that is the year it came into existence, I am not sure. Lands can be brought in from other places which makes it hard to guess at.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #17 on: December 26, 2015, 07:34:54 PM »
According to the timeline in the 3rd Ed. campaign setting guide, it appeared in the Core in the year 720. Whether that is the year it came into existence, I am not sure. Lands can be brought in from other places which makes it hard to guess at.
That's when it came into existence. It's the moment Lord Soth left Barovia and went into the Mists in the novel Knight of the Black Rose.

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zodiacspear

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #18 on: December 27, 2015, 01:47:27 AM »
As the Sithicans are written as of now, there is little to no valid reason for a Sithican elf to ever leave their country.  They are too apathetic to bother, or ever even want to be adventurers or travelers.  One has to be creative to fine a very valid reason for Sithican to leave their homeland.

As far as their political stances goes, they are still active. (Though nowhere near to the degree of other human countries.)  They do still engage in political shenanigans and have trade deals with other countries.

The notion that they just sit around and do little is very unrealistic. (as I see it.)  They do still cling to their traditions, even if they have lost all meaning.  They are also passionate about their superiority over all other races, including other elves.  They really are not just the brooding layabouts that many think them as.  What is true, is that they lack any real ambition or drive, they just continue to do so because it is what they've always done.

Though, with Soth gone, (and as the hints left on the loading screens on server imply) is that some of the Sithicans are willing to try to change their lot in life.  Thus why the current ruler goes about and mercilessly puts down budding rebellions.

I have a Sithican elf by the name of Erutáron Xillen, even need questions answered or need help, just shoot me a PM.  :)
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Olywynn

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #19 on: December 27, 2015, 12:46:41 PM »
Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues.  The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer.  Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.

They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.)  They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #20 on: December 27, 2015, 02:12:31 PM »
Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues.  The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer.  Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.

They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.)  They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.

And kender are not halflings.

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modderpunk

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #21 on: December 27, 2015, 03:35:43 PM »

Quote
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.

Azrael is not the darklord but he is the defacto lord of the domain, right? Do the elves (or anyone else) know who is darklord?



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Olywynn

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #22 on: December 27, 2015, 03:53:07 PM »
Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues.  The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer.  Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.

They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.)  They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.

And kender are not halflings.

I meant Darklord simply as a go to term.  I know it's Miss Shadow Lady.

Also, I was nowhere implying Kender are halflings, but do you expect a race of xenophobic elves would even know the distinction, or care to know the distinction, between Kender and Halflings?

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #23 on: December 27, 2015, 04:04:30 PM »
Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues.  The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer.  Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.

They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.)  They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.

And kender are not halflings.

I meant Darklord simply as a go to term.  I know it's Miss Shadow Lady.

Also, I was nowhere implying Kender are halflings, but do you expect a race of xenophobic elves would even know the distinction, or care to know the distinction, between Kender and Halflings?
Halflings don't exist on Krynn, and they are different from Kender, so they'd know the difference. The elves would still be disdainful, but they wouldn't confuse the two.

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Olywynn

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Re: Sithican Elf Help Wanted, Please.
« Reply #24 on: December 27, 2015, 04:14:11 PM »
I can assure you that they'd at least be treated like caliban are in Barovia, or worse.  Kender or not, they look near identical.  That fact alone would make any Sithican wary.