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Dave Arneson's Mountain/Hunter Elves
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One of the interesting things from the correspondence between Knightfall and Dave Arneson from 2002 is the mention of Mountain or Hunter Elves of Blackmoor:

Dave Arneson, 2002 Wrote:The Elves are HUNTER Elves. Much more concerned with the 'Balance' and not reluctant to intervene in affairs to set them 'right'. They like to pretend that they are aloof from such things. The later is my take on them BTW.

In the excerpt above, Dave talks about elves from the D&D movie, however the link to Blackmoor becomes apparent in the next segment:

Dave Arneson, 2002 Wrote:[These] Elves bear more resemblance to Blackmoor's Mountain Elves (West of the Duchy of Tehnn). They are basically a blending of High Elves and Wild Elves. More Emphasis on the 'Wild' when dealing with humans and 'High" when dealing with each other. They try to maintain a 'Low' magical profile to keep the mages comfortable. Otherwise there would be open war.

Could this be a reference to the Westryn Elves or an entirely new group? My first assumption is that he is talking about the Westryn, although these elves live both to the West and East of the Duchy of Ten. The Westryn of the Eaves and Wilds of Ten are however described as more Wild than the Westryn of the Westwoods, so even here there is distinction.

I used to think that the split between the two elf clans of Blackmoor was an invention from the ZGG line. However, DA4 also speaks of the elves within the Duchy of Ten having trouble with the 'blight" of their woods. This means there are concepts here that clearly predate the d20 Blackmoor line.

The Westryn have been described in different ways, but I always pictured them as Wild Elves. No descriptions connect them to Mountains however.

Thoughts?

-Havard
Currently Running: The Blackmoor Vales Saga
Currently Playing: Daniel S. Debelfry in the Throne of Star's Campaign
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