Yes, but to get there you first need to seek out the Mass Transit Elves and the Ticket Vendor Elves. And beware of the Customs Elves, they can be real dicks.
It’s all good until you get to the TSA elves. I hear Be’end Ovr Un Spr’eadem is a particularly feared chief and he’s very thorough with his inspection process of outsiders.
I have seen him, Syr. He lives within the Arctic circle, and wears huge shaded goggles and a covering that’s like a merging of a parka and his old Las Vegas act suit, spangles and huge white collar and all. His voice is a husk of what it used to be, and he’s got to be pushing 90. So I don’t see how he can help you –
Nope. Now we go into a 48-page arc about the new type of elfy elves of elfishness that came with the latest expansion. Because you can’t ever have enough elf breeds. Elves are the RPG equivalent of cowbell.
There will probably be a shift in focus on one of the other factions. It’s going to take time to journey wherever the winter elves are most likely to be. Might as well shift the action to the Savage Races, Altruists, or Sepia World.
Be that as it may, I’m pretty sure we’d be better off not wasting time on the umpteenth elven ethnicity, especially one that’s been entirely removed from the conflict so far. It feels like a wrong choice to pull on that irrelevant thread now that things are so shaken up in every existing story line.
Nah, it’s just the new distance filter for low end machines. See they’re looking to expand into the console market and need ways to optimize performance. Not rendering high poly-count models after a certain distance is one trick. They just haven’t gotten the DEPTH OF OVER FIELD implemented to blur everything out so you don’t notice while sitting at couch distances.
I always wondered about fantasy genres, on why every other race has one generic race (orcs, trolls, dwarves, humans), but elves have these different types of elves (wood elves, sky elves, winter elves; dark elves, etc).
I suppose there are different types of orcs and trolls in some specific fantasy series, but generally, elves tend to be the ones with their own different types.
Well, it usually boils down to Elves being an “ancient” race, with enough millenia to spread into several subraces, often with vastly differing world views.
Warcraft has lots of Troll tribes, because they’re one of the oldest races as well – actually, they’re the progenitors of Elves.
And from the Writer’s perspective, Elves are among the human-like races, and while e.g. Dwarves have a strong identity (alcoholic mountain-dwellers) the Elves are more generic per se, “long-living long-ears”, and offer more room for diverging “tribes” – which the Writer has to fill, sometimes just out of convention ;)
Warcraft Trolls come in different races as well. There’s the Jungle Trolls, which are the most common – the Gurubashi, Amani, Zandalari, and the Darkspear being prominent tribes. Then there’s the Drakkari, which are Ice Trolls, and the Farraki, the Sand Trolls.
Elves really only come in two flavors: purple and pink. There’s the original Night Elves that also come in Highborne and Nightborne cultures (but not races) and then the High Elves that evolved from them because of arcane energy, with Blood Elves just being addicted/affected to fel energy.
Not to mention Green Orcs and Brown Orcs. And Alternate-Reality Brown Orcs. Dark Iron, Wildhammer, or Bronzebeard Dwarves. Bison-faced or cow-faced Tauren.
WoW actually has a lot of variations of races. Which is either good story-telling or lazy programming.
you forgot your yak-faced Taur’he from Pandaria. also, even amongst the dwarven progenitors, the Earthen, we’ve got several types: the Earthen, the Frostborne, and the Stormdwarves. And let us not even get started on human progenitors, the vrykul. A lot of the changes can be attributed either to the mutating energies of the Well of Eternity (trolls to elves, and pretty much all subspecies of elves from thence), or to the mutating Old God affliction, the Curse of the Flesh (earthen/dwarves, mechagnomes/gnomes, vrykul/humans, gilgoblins/goblins. Only the trolls, the taur’he, and the aqir species lines can be attributed to natural genetic drift owing to geographic separation. (after all, ten thousand years is a long time. and still no one is prepared.)
It’s a D&D thing. In 2nd edition, Elves were “Better Than You(TM)” and whenever a new race was needed, mechanically, the writers made up a new variety of elf that sort of fit the specific combo of abilities.
I’m gonna guess they will meet Byron 2.0 among the Winter Elves. We already have Payet 2.0, and he’s working out really well.
I think it’s clear the magic is working toward something independent of HR or the crafting a game narrative. Also, obviously, the players have a sort of contractual immortality.
Theory: Perhaps the magic controlling the game universe is railroading out the things that can’t fit the “multicultural band of misfits work together to save the world” narrative? Best couldn’t, by his very nature, work together with the group. The magic forces him out of this dimension and brings him back as WAV.
Byron’s berserker nature meant it was inevitable he would be used against the group. He was turned against the group once and the magic had to resurrect them. They tried keeping it in check with the “cure,” which worked for awhile, but then HR forced his way through that. So the game lets Byron die for real which will allow it to reintroduce him in a form that works.
Nice analysis. I believe that line of reasoning could potentially play out, which makes it even more worth looking forward to once they meet the Winter Elves.
The winter elves know the past and the future and everything else. They know when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, they know if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.
Answer any question (I assume they mean ‘answer usefully’ because I can answer any question to, with total bullshit I yank out of my ass).
The thing about cosmic truths, truly knowing the nature of ourselves, is that those answers probably would drive us completely mad. Which explains why anyone who has found the Winter Elves (not to be confused with Winter Elvis) would be insane.
Finding Winter Elvis would drive you mad too, but for entirely different – and more disturbing – reasons.
Dun Dun!
Winter is coming.
When is the winter of our discontent?
“Noooooow something something”. Unforgettable.
Now is the winter of our on-disc content,
Made glorious summer by this software patch.
Hand winter a towel, then.
Oh my sweet summer child… What do you know of fear?
I sense another Kingdoms of Arkerra expansion coming on…
This was my first thought, too!
Should have known that the winter elves would come into play, seeing that they were mentioned before.
Gosh how do you folks remember these things?
The Wood Elf sort of stole the show on that page
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-1-page-13/
Interesting that they grow beards.
No better way to keep your face warm, than with a good thick beard.
“Guardians of forgotten lore”… You guys must be wood elves yourselves to remember them.
They came up much more recently during the Ask an Adventurer series.
Syr’Nj does not approve WAV.
That look on Syr’NJ’s face in that second panel.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
Yes, but to get there you first need to seek out the Mass Transit Elves and the Ticket Vendor Elves. And beware of the Customs Elves, they can be real dicks.
It’s all good until you get to the TSA elves. I hear Be’end Ovr Un Spr’eadem is a particularly feared chief and he’s very thorough with his inspection process of outsiders.
I have seen him, Syr. He lives within the Arctic circle, and wears huge shaded goggles and a covering that’s like a merging of a parka and his old Las Vegas act suit, spangles and huge white collar and all. His voice is a husk of what it used to be, and he’s got to be pushing 90. So I don’t see how he can help you –
Wait. You did say Winter Elvis, right?
Where the heck are Scipio and Bandit, anyway? Shouldn’t they be skulking around here?
Bandit went into hiding after E-merl freed her from jail and Scipio retired… and then his player got shot.
I don’t expect that to stop Scipio from reappearing. And Bandit went with Fr’nj and Scipio, remember?
Nope. Now we go into a 48-page arc about the new type of elfy elves of elfishness that came with the latest expansion. Because you can’t ever have enough elf breeds. Elves are the RPG equivalent of cowbell.
There will probably be a shift in focus on one of the other factions. It’s going to take time to journey wherever the winter elves are most likely to be. Might as well shift the action to the Savage Races, Altruists, or Sepia World.
Be that as it may, I’m pretty sure we’d be better off not wasting time on the umpteenth elven ethnicity, especially one that’s been entirely removed from the conflict so far. It feels like a wrong choice to pull on that irrelevant thread now that things are so shaken up in every existing story line.
“They are our brothers.”
“So were we.”
– Captain Arkerra: Civil War
Ack the game failed to render Clair’s face in panel four!
Nah, it’s just the new distance filter for low end machines. See they’re looking to expand into the console market and need ways to optimize performance. Not rendering high poly-count models after a certain distance is one trick. They just haven’t gotten the DEPTH OF OVER FIELD implemented to blur everything out so you don’t notice while sitting at couch distances.
I’m betting the Winter Elves know their world was designed to be a computer game. Calling it now.
Oh hey I remember those guys.
I see the plot remembers them too.
And apparently they remember everything.
They remember what you did last summer.
I always wondered about fantasy genres, on why every other race has one generic race (orcs, trolls, dwarves, humans), but elves have these different types of elves (wood elves, sky elves, winter elves; dark elves, etc).
I suppose there are different types of orcs and trolls in some specific fantasy series, but generally, elves tend to be the ones with their own different types.
Well, it usually boils down to Elves being an “ancient” race, with enough millenia to spread into several subraces, often with vastly differing world views.
Warcraft has lots of Troll tribes, because they’re one of the oldest races as well – actually, they’re the progenitors of Elves.
And from the Writer’s perspective, Elves are among the human-like races, and while e.g. Dwarves have a strong identity (alcoholic mountain-dwellers) the Elves are more generic per se, “long-living long-ears”, and offer more room for diverging “tribes” – which the Writer has to fill, sometimes just out of convention ;)
Warcraft Trolls come in different races as well. There’s the Jungle Trolls, which are the most common – the Gurubashi, Amani, Zandalari, and the Darkspear being prominent tribes. Then there’s the Drakkari, which are Ice Trolls, and the Farraki, the Sand Trolls.
Elves really only come in two flavors: purple and pink. There’s the original Night Elves that also come in Highborne and Nightborne cultures (but not races) and then the High Elves that evolved from them because of arcane energy, with Blood Elves just being addicted/affected to fel energy.
Not to mention Green Orcs and Brown Orcs. And Alternate-Reality Brown Orcs. Dark Iron, Wildhammer, or Bronzebeard Dwarves. Bison-faced or cow-faced Tauren.
WoW actually has a lot of variations of races. Which is either good story-telling or lazy programming.
Mostly both.
you forgot your yak-faced Taur’he from Pandaria. also, even amongst the dwarven progenitors, the Earthen, we’ve got several types: the Earthen, the Frostborne, and the Stormdwarves. And let us not even get started on human progenitors, the vrykul. A lot of the changes can be attributed either to the mutating energies of the Well of Eternity (trolls to elves, and pretty much all subspecies of elves from thence), or to the mutating Old God affliction, the Curse of the Flesh (earthen/dwarves, mechagnomes/gnomes, vrykul/humans, gilgoblins/goblins. Only the trolls, the taur’he, and the aqir species lines can be attributed to natural genetic drift owing to geographic separation. (after all, ten thousand years is a long time. and still no one is prepared.)
It’s a D&D thing. In 2nd edition, Elves were “Better Than You(TM)” and whenever a new race was needed, mechanically, the writers made up a new variety of elf that sort of fit the specific combo of abilities.
I’m gonna guess they will meet Byron 2.0 among the Winter Elves. We already have Payet 2.0, and he’s working out really well.
I think it’s clear the magic is working toward something independent of HR or the crafting a game narrative. Also, obviously, the players have a sort of contractual immortality.
Theory: Perhaps the magic controlling the game universe is railroading out the things that can’t fit the “multicultural band of misfits work together to save the world” narrative? Best couldn’t, by his very nature, work together with the group. The magic forces him out of this dimension and brings him back as WAV.
Byron’s berserker nature meant it was inevitable he would be used against the group. He was turned against the group once and the magic had to resurrect them. They tried keeping it in check with the “cure,” which worked for awhile, but then HR forced his way through that. So the game lets Byron die for real which will allow it to reintroduce him in a form that works.
Nice analysis. I believe that line of reasoning could potentially play out, which makes it even more worth looking forward to once they meet the Winter Elves.
Meh, I hope they don’t go that route. I’m getting my fill of the “Magical Omnipotent Force Railroading the Game” plot from Erfworld.
“What type of elves?”
“Winter elves. Their knights are-”
“No! Never winter knights!”
HAH! Good fun.
There was an Ask An Adventurer about them, wasn’t there?
Ah, no, wait, that was the moon elves.
There actually was: http://guildedage.net/comic/ask-an-adventurer-now-is-the-winter-of-our-elf-content/
There is an Ask An Adventurer about them. One where Syr’Nj hopes that the Winter Elves don’t get involved.
Ask An Adventurer – Now Is The Winter Of Our Elf Content
Mandatory ice level? Mandatory ice level.
Better than a sewer level.
Could be worse. Frozen sewer…
Or an icy mountain where it snows sewage?
It’s going to get frosty… but cold never bothered me anyway…. (please don’t tell Disney corp.
what I just did they have killer lawyers)
*clears throat*
YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS
To the north pole!
The winter elves know the past and the future and everything else. They know when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, they know if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.
I’m hoping the winter elves work for Santa as well, but it may be too much of a ripoff from Battlepug.
Let me guess. They’re BLUE, and they live in a very big and windy snowstorm?
But what of the cold?
Oh, here, just drink this and I’ll have complete control… I mean you’ll be unhindered by the cold!
Yaaaaay, we’re going to the ice world! (Insert SMB3 Ice World music)
The Winter Elves sound really Cool!
😂
Answer any question (I assume they mean ‘answer usefully’ because I can answer any question to, with total bullshit I yank out of my ass).
The thing about cosmic truths, truly knowing the nature of ourselves, is that those answers probably would drive us completely mad. Which explains why anyone who has found the Winter Elves (not to be confused with Winter Elvis) would be insane.
Finding Winter Elvis would drive you mad too, but for entirely different – and more disturbing – reasons.