Message no. 1

From:	Mark Steedman <M.J.Steedman@***.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject:	Re: Immortals (Dwarves)
Date:	Tue, 17 Jun 1997 08:43:21 GMT

John E Pederson writes

> A good question. What about immortal trolls or orks, though?
Given immortals of one race it would seem reasonable to assume they
can be of any race. Given the level of magicking required to multiply
a lifespan by 20 (elves 400 years base to the age of Harlequin and
co) i don't think the intrinsic lifespan of the race matters very
much, also note that this manifests in SR as the critter power
immunity to age (see Frostys stats)
I have myself got an immortal Orc running about, that if anything has
spent more time chatting to an interacting with PC's than the total
apperances of Harlequin, including the group i ran Harlequins back
for i think. Though identifying her for what she is, well is another
matter.

> Or
> shapeshifters, for that matter (I see this one as a greater possibility
> than the trogs as the regen should at least partially counteract the
> effects of aging).
True.

> All we know is that somebody like the idea of Immortal
> Elves so much that they managed to push it through into SR from ED.
I think you will find they go back before that actually. But yes we
have a case of previous SR developers at FASA really liking elves,
this has changed.

> I've heard
> somestuff about some metahuman kingdoms having been founded in Bavaria (a
> Troll kingdom, I think), possibly even some sort of re-brith of old
> Throal (ie, a dwarf nation), but I don't know if that was something that
> was FASA-official or just somebody's campaign.
>
There is a FASA mentioned Kingdom of some sort in that area, see
Germany sourcebook, and there have been a few hints about Russia and
non elf kingdoms as well. The problem is if FASA bring out
sourcebooks on such places it will balance the elves a bit but they
most likely won't sell very well and they will introduce even more
almighty immortals running everything plots if immortal dwarves or
something are running the show to match off against the elves. Which
doesn't solve the existing problem.

Mark