I'm a bit confused about the core of dark elfishness. Obviously Nature + Magick = Elves Rule, and Deforestation + Tech = Humans Suck. The question is, do dark elves really care about technology or is this just a consequence of their being extreme racial supremacists? What with Arronax smiting Vendigroth and the dark elves terrorising Bates and the Black Mountain Clan, it seems on the surface that they must be technophobes, but I think they only care about the lesser races staying in their place and being useful.
Above all else the dark elves believe in the racial superiority of the elves. The hatred towards technology is a logical extension of that, given the natural affinity elves have for magick. Add to that the fact that they're willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goals and you understand why I picked the "All of the above" option. The first three options are all entwined and not easily separated from each other.
I agree, it was not a very useful poll. But what about a dark-elf technologist? Unpossible? Similarly, do Dark Elves oppose necromancy, since Arronax hated the human on the elven council so much?
A Dark Elf would be extremely traditionalist in his views on elven superiority and would find the very idea of using technology abhorrent. Even "regular" elves are strongly inclined towards magick, so why should a Dark Elf abide by the laws of physics when he can bend them? Heck, the Dark Elves camped outside the Elven Burial Grounds consider the idea of merely investigating the place a scientific rape! As for Dark Elves and necromancy, I'm not sure. Do they even know about the conflict between Kerghan and Arronax, I wonder? After all, the Arronax they claim to worship is Kerghan...
Hypothetically, I guess a sickly dark elf may gravitate toward technology..? After all those afternoons with a fever and a good book, maybe. As for not wanting outsiders rooting around the corpses of your ancestors, that's fair enough, and doesn't need technophobia to justify. I guess the anti-technology stance is tradition while the elven supremacy stance is dogma.
Weren't the Elves the ones forcing the Dwarves to build the gateway that would have brought "Arronax" back?
1) Technology spreads like wildfire in Arcanum because the Black Mountain Clan carelessly allows Gilbert Bates to study their steam engine. 2) Steam powered clear cutters turn the Morbihan forests into the Morbihan plains. 3) The Elves get royally pissed, the Dark Elves especially so. 4) The magickal wards at the Ring of Brodgar are weakened because of the resulting flow of technology and ebb of magick, granting Kerghan the ability to influence the people of Arcanum. 5) Kerghan uses his newfound powers to puppeteer the Dark Elves and K'an Hua, who conveniently worships Arronax and have been perverting the Panarii faith from within ever since Nasrudin's "death". K'an Hua is an old wizard, the only one besides Nasrudin who knows how to banish things to the Void. 6) Even the dwarves thought of Morbihan as a tragedy, and the actions of the BMC foolish. The dwarves were also tired of war and conflict, having just recently resolved the civil war caused by Lorek the Abjurer. It was therefore easy for the Dark Elves to have the BMC banished to the Void, where they are employed as slave labour to create what essentially looks like a big piece of epicyclic gearing, the purpose of which is to completely shatter the wards between Arcanum and the Void. 7) If I recall correctly the BMC foreman you encounter in Kerghan's castle says that an elf couldn't build a machine to save his life, meaning that dwarven (or at least non-elven) craftsmen were essential to Kerghan's plans. 8 ) None of this means that there couldn't be any elven technologists, it would just be incredibly rare lorewise. In fact, an elven inventor would probably be something of a singularity (which reminds me, I really need to finish the game as an elven techie). 9) Muro will doubtlessly provide you with the corrigendum shortly.
Corrigendum. Thanks DE I've learned a new word. I can see how it would be useful in this forum. I also am inspired to be an elven techie, maybe even a Dark Elf techie. Lore-wise, (1) It would be good to know and infiltrate the enemy. (2) The wards need weakening via tech for the Dark Elf agenda. (3) "Arronax" just happens to be in need of technologists. There was never a better time in Arcanum's history to be a Dark Elf techie.
One thing I would change in your utterance, DE, is that Kerghan contacted the Dark Elves before Gilbert Bates even started the recent technological revolution in Arcanum. The wards needed to be weakened for him to do so, but centuries of them not being maintained have proven to be enough for that. Some info to support this statement of mine: Kerghan said himself that it was he who manipulated the Dark Elves into banishing the Black Mountain Clan (ruling out the possibility of the Dark Elves planning to do it before even contacting "Arronax"), while M'in Gorad stated that they were searching for an excuse to banish a clan of dwarves for years before the consequences of sharing the steam engine with the world provided a perfect one. I'm also not sure what's the stance of the Dark Elves on the whole Morbihan situation. They could be outraged simply because they are elves and have a strong bond with nature, but on the other hand their beliefs are significantly different than those of the elves of Qintarra. Two thousand years after the schizm, it's not out of the question that they very well may not believe in elven souls living in trees anymore. That, plus the previously mentioned finally-having-an-excuse factor would be reason enough for them to be actually overjoyed in the end with the destruction of the forest. M'in Gorad, T'val N'or, K'an Hua - they are all more or less practised necromancers. The Dark Elves seem to oppose necromancy as much as living on trees. Another thing is that I don't think it was ever mentioned whether or not the Dark Elves knew Arronax hated Kerghan. Lorewise, they could despise the black necromancy college simply because of it being discovered by a puny little human, but they probably just consider Kerghan a human coward who accidentally discovered something useful. They can even rationalize that he stole the whole idea and work from an elf and that's the actual reason why he was banished, because why the hell not.
Possibly, but the ancient elven burial ground sits in the Morbihan and boasts a party of wretchedly pissed Dark Elves, so I would say that their reaction to the deforestation is at the very least mixed. Happy because it provided them with a good reason to banish the BMC, angry because of the scientific rape on elven holy grounds.
Not all dark elves are aware of their leaders plans. Zan Alurin doesn't seem to know all about what Kan Hua and Min Gorad is doing, and she's their high priest. I think most dark elves simply believe strongly in elven supremacy and scorn technology because it was "invented" by lowly creatures such as dwarves and humans. Black necromancy was perhaps once scorned as well, but my guess is that the elves started to accept the college in time because, what the hell, it's still magic.
