Question about elven kingdoms / cities / villages

[schreier]

I was in the process of writing up a character history, and found myself at a loss. I was planning on my character finding adventure by overhearing conversations, but I was struggling to pick the location where conversations could easily be overheard. A normal human in a normal city could easily hear it at an inn or tavern, but I do not think I've ever seen mention of a tavern or inn in an elven village. Really, they seem to just have homes, council rooms, and workshops.

Do elven cities have regular commerce? Do they have inns? Regular shops and shopkeepers? I've never really thought about it, and honestly not even sure how to look it up.

[Bronk]

Do elven cities have regular commerce? Do they have inns? Regular shops and shopkeepers? I've never really thought about it, and honestly not even sure how to look it up.

They do, just some of the areas those activities take place in are hard for outsiders to get to, and descriptions of them end up in novels rather than sourcebooks and when they are mentioned in source books, they're usually from the past (like descriptions of Myth Drannor). I remember things like inns and so on coming up in the Return of the Archwizards trilogy...

[Spiderswims]

Do elven cities have regular commerce? Do they have inns? Regular shops and shopkeepers? I've never really thought about it, and honestly not even sure how to look it up.

The short answer is yes.

The default elven way of life treats commerce and trade as more like much more like a human treats a hobby. Most elves are not greedy and don't care much about money. And default elven society does not care about money: an elf is much more rich if they read poetry for eight hours then if they have piles of gold in their house.

The default elves do have inns where needed, but most elves often rest outside. While a traveling human wants a fancy inn room, and elf needs little more then a tree and some soft ground.

Default elves have shops, but the more small friendly country type shops. Nothing like a typical urban human shop.


But, of course, all this does depend on the Setting and what type of Elves and such things.

It's easy enough to make something generic though, like:

The White Unicorn Dance Hall--A large open air dance place made of white wood. Elves go here to dance to live music. There is even a wooden magically animated white unicorn construct that they can try to ride.

[Bronk]

You could probably ask Afroakuma on his thread about how elves live on various planescape and spelljammer worlds...

[Duke of Urrel]

It's hard to explain how elven society works, because elves are usually Chaotic. Most Chaotic societies are too disorganized to have carefully managed surplus wealth and commerce. However, in the case of elves, I think the Goodness usually balances out the Chaos, in a wondrous but effective manner. Therefore, the elves somehow enjoy all the benefits of complex social organization without actually being very organized at all.

In my understanding, elves have a strong sense of hospitality and generosity, and this is the foundation of the whole elven economy. If you do an elf a favor, they are sure to return the favor in good time, though the exact time is unpredictable. Although the elves may have no Laws that are unbreakable, their social network is bound together by interpersonal ties of love and respect that are absolutely unbreakable, though they may be very stretchy. When you don't operate on the basis of Law, you need to rely on personal trust.

Elven government also operates on the basis of trust. Formal taxes may not exist, but you are expected to pay regular tribute to your local elven aristocrats or patricians in recognition of their good work. The latter may not govern consistently, but they generally govern conscientiously, because they take the principle of noblesse-oblige very seriously. If you are a rich elf, you probably consider it a matter of personal pride to share your wealth and to donate lavishly to civic institutions, without being required by Law to do so.

Elven religious institutions probably work in a similar way. There is no formal tithe, but there is the expectation that you respond in gratitude to the elven clergy who protect and care for you and your family.

In public life, I imagine the elves have free and very vigorous debate about everything. Elven civic leaders don't make any major decisions without broad public consent, so that the elven manner of decision making tends to be democratic, even though the formality of regular elections may not exist. Elven leaders who are too selfish or incompetent to be popular always eventually get removed from power in good time, though again, the exact time is unpredictable.

In summary, in elven society, as if by magic, the spontaneity of Chaos always eventually works out, in the end, for the common Good.

[Eladrinblade]

Races of the wild talks about elven society and towns/cities.

[AnimeTheCat]

Since Elves don't really make permanent settlements, for the most part, and travel in bands of ~200, it's entirely possible that on occasion those bands intersect and have some kind of gathering/party where all of the adults share tales of their adventures, deeds, or even cautionary tales of woe. It's not unreasonable for a young elf (say... a 100 year old elf) to have encountered many gatherings of this kind before being taken by flight of fancy to strike out on their own.