|
|
| Home | FAQ | History | Houses | Jobs | Logs | Maps | Who's Who | MUSHes | Tolkien |
|
Lothlorien Diplomatic Corps - Gowythden An'Egelidh While Lorien's policy as a whole is to avoid foreign contact as much as possible, the Wood also has a small, though vibrant, diplomatic organization known as the Gowythden An'Egelidh, or Diplomatic Corps of Lothlorien, in cases where such contact is absolutely unavoidable. The Corps conducts its activities mainly from home, but there are limited opportunities for its members to be posted abroad, and also to travel on an occasional diplomatic mission. These activities include (but are not limited to) gathering information, handling border confrontations, and generally keeping Lorien involved, albeit subtly, in the affairs of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth. Internally, the Gowythden An'Egelidh is divided into Ranks. Questions on Foreign Policy - Joining the Corps - Members of the Corps There are four ranks within the Corps, each with varying duties and privileges. Minister Ambassadors Diplomats Aides The policies towards outsiders which are followed by the Diplomatic Corps are set by the Lord, Lady and Council of Lorien, and are described in detail in the following questions. What's our general attitude to strangers? With the exception of other elves, our general attitude towards strangers would be to be somewhat aloof and mysterious. We are a shy, guarded folk who want little to do with the outside world. Lorien is our haven, one of the few places left in Middle Earth still filled with the beauty of the world in its younger days, and free of the evil which plagues much of the rest of the world in these troubled times. How should I react to foreign elves? Elves everywhere are our friends, and we take great pleasure in those times when we get to see our distant kin. Foreign elves are welcome in Lorien, even if rarely seen here. Note: The Galadhrim Guard will normally stop visiting elves at the border and inquire as to their business before letting them in (or out) of Lorien. This is not to be rude; they're just doing their jobs of keeping tabs of all who pass our borders. Indeed, this is as much for the safety of our guests as anything -- more than once has the guard been the first to realize something was remiss when a guest left our borders for a foray into the dangerous lands beyond, and not returned when they planned! Besides, a guard's life on the border is a lonely one, and getting the latest gossip from Imladris or Amon Thranduil breaks the tedium :-) What do we think of those sea-faring Mithlond elves? The Mithlondrim are something of a special case. We would be just as happy to see them as any other elf we'd encounter, but the simple fact is that Mithlond is too far west for most of us to have any real knowledge about it. For the Silvan elves in particular, about all we would tend to know about Mithlondrim is that there are tales of elves which live far to the west, at the edge of the great sea. The Noldor are the only elves for which Mithlond would likely have any hard reality. For the rest of us, it's a place known only by repute, if that. Cool at best. Although we are not hostile to humans (unless they are demonstrably evil), it is true that we have little real interest in them. Their lives are short and squalid, filled with battles and strife and petty concerns, and they are largely beneath us. Many of us have lived longer than any current human kingdom has even been around! We recognize that the world is changing, that the time of the elves is waning, and the time of Men is coming. This undoubtedly is a cause of some sadness within us. As far as interacting with humans go: they should find us to be mysterious, enigmatic folk. We are full of a deeper wisdom than they shall ever have, and knowledge far beyond theirs - knowledge which to them makes us seem to be magical, powerful, and not a little bit frightening at times. We are cautious in our dealings with them, and give little away. We do not particuarly trust them. When we do speak with them, our words are truthful, yet often ambiguous, and may well not mean what the humans think they do. Under almost no circumstances would we let humans into Lorien - we'd stop them gently but firmly at the borders. Can I tell Dunedain from other humans? The Dunedain are the descendants of one branch of Men which has always been somewhat higher and more noble than the rest of men. Indeed, some people believe that there might be a trace of Elvish blood in their lineage, though this is probably untrue. At any rate, we do recognize Dunedain as a superior sort of Man, and are more friendly to them than other humans. Dunedain are permitted in Lorien, though we'd keep a close eye on them. To get back to the main question though: the answer is no, we would not automatically recognize a Dunedan from any other human. We might begin to suspect it from their manner and bearing, but until you get some firm reason to realize a human is Dunedain, you'd be just as distrustful of them as any other human. Most Dunedain actually can speak passable Sindarin, and few other humans know more than a couple of words in any elven tongue, so this is often a good hint. There's another point what you should be aware of when dealing with Dunedain: the Dark One would be all too glad to crush them out of existence, and they often do not reveal their true heritage to others. Even if you know what they are, don't betray that knowledge to non-Dunedain/non-Elves. How should I react to dwarves? Dwarves! Pfah! Although dwarves are not evil, and not truly our enemies, the fact is that we really do not care for them at all. They are short, ugly, crude, and obnoxious. We believe that they are greedy, deceitful, even downright treacherous, and can certainly not be trusted. It was their greed in digging for mithril which loosed the Balrog of Moria. They were responsible for the sack of Doriath (a once beautiful elf home) in a past era, and our memories are long. They failed to come to our aid on past occasions when we sorely needed them in the fight against evil. We will not deal with them unless we absolutely have to, and under no circumstances will we let them into the Golden Wood. Of course, a lot of this is nonsense - the dwarves have had their own problems, and are actually a stalwart, honorable folk. But that is not how we elves feel - especially not us Galadhrim! To an enlightened, non-prejudiced player, such prejudice seems foolish and illogical, and it is all too tempting not to RP it. But that is wrong - as an elf, you have grown up with these beliefs, and some of the things we don't like them for really did happen (although the evil Melkor or his disciple Sauron probably had more to do with instrumenting these than the dwarves - but we don't know that). We are prejudiced against dwarves. It is not logical. It is not "reasonable". But it's how we feel. One of the great signs of the true power of the Dark One's work is in the sundering of folks who should have been fast friends. How should I react to hobbits? Hobbits? What are those? Although not totally unknown to us, the halflings are a breed which we have not seen for ages, and indeed many of us probably don't realize they still exist. Like the elves of Mithlond, they live too far west to be anyone we'd normally ever interact with. If by some strange chance you were to encounter a hobbit, you'd probably find it an amusing, curious, but ultimately very dull creature. You'd not be hostile, and might find them charming in a quaint sort of way. They'd probably find you much the same as the average human would: mysterious, a little scary, and a little awe-inspiring. We are the fairies in their fairy stories. If we knew a creature was one of the Istari (for instance, Gandalf), we'd be very respectful, somewhat wary, and perhaps a bit awed. We know they have even more power and knowledge than we, but we really don't know the depths of their knowledge or their power. The Istari usually roam the world in the guise of men - usually appearing to be fairly old (but hale) men, often with long flowing beards and bushy eyebrows. As such, we would not necessarily recognize one as anything other than a human, and unless given reason to suspect otherwise, we'd treat them as humans. Remember: just because you can do a +who or +finger and see that their species is "Istari" does not mean you ICly know this. If you aren't sure if you should know if a character is an Istari or not, page the player and ask how you should respond to them. Can I be an "atypical" Galadhrim? - Friendly to dwarves, humans, etc? You can vary somewhat in your attitudes, for example, your attitudes towards dwarves might range from outright hatred to mere minor disdain or even total disinterest. We do not require (or desire) that characters be absolutely identical. However, you should stick to the general guidelines given in this FAQ and the rest of the Lorien help information. The whole purpose of the game is for you to roleplay a character which fits within the theme as defined by Tolkien's books, not to redefine the theme to suit your own personal ideas. After you've been here a while, you'll have a better idea when it's reasonable to push the bounds, but if you are a new player (or new to Lorien) you should not push it. A common error for players is to be too friendly with outsiders. An all too commonly heard refrain when dealing with new players is "Well, I think my character would realize that <blah blah> and that I'd be more enlightened and would really be a lot nicer to <blah blah>...". Besides being non-thematic, this is usually ultimately less fun to roleplay anyways - getting into a heated argument with one of those obnoxious, stubborn dwarves can be a blast! Besides, they're expecting you to act this way, just as they're going out of their way to display their IC attitudes. Should I tell characters I meet I'm Galadhrim? Unless you were meeting other elves, you should try to reveal as little about yourself as possibly. We're supposed to be mysterious and secretive and somewhat xenophobic. This is particularly true if you are travelling beyond the borders of Lorien. Joining the Corps
|