Stone Elf Advice

Nikorisu

Artisan
Hey, I'm going to be rolling up a stone elf in a few weeks and I'm looking for any advice that current Stone Elves might have. Only character I've played in Alliance so far was completely ruled by his emotions, so it'll be an adjustment. My biggest question is how people are viewed. both generally and specifically. Can stone elves feel care for another? is that care only because they are a living creature and their moral code says so, or is it because they care about that specific person? Can a stone elf love? and if they can, what form does that take? The world at large is pretty straight forward, but specific people are where hiccups start coming. Any tips or suggestions?
 
I don't play a Stone Elf outside of a particular NPC, but I can help a bit, I think?

Stone Elves have emotions just like everyone else, they just don't display them openly to anyone else; you can be madly in love with someone or hate their guts, but you'll still hold the same neutral expression. Think of your emotions like your butt: everyone's got one, and some of them are very nice, but it's considered proper to keep it covered up in public.

Remember that there are a lot of ways you can make it known how you feel about something that don't have anything to do with an emotionally neutral face. Simply walking away can be used to show displeasure, offering to help people with their problems is a good way of showing you care about them, and so on. Even using particular words can change the entire tone of a conversation, so if you've got a big vocabulary, put it to good use. ;)

About the only time it's really acceptable for a Stone Elf to show emotion is when they're doing a mental link with another Stone Elf, and that's usually a highly intimate thing for them, so you probably won't be doing it often; even then, it's entirely in your minds, so no one else is privy to it.

One thing you might find is that people get confused or stressed out after interacting with you for extended periods of time, because most people read body language subconsciously, and when we can't use facial expressions to read emotions, it tends to make us uneasy; it's one reason why masks are a popular tool to mark someone as a villain in visual media.

It won't be nearly as bad if you've been with the chapter for a while and people have gotten to know you, or if there are other Stone Elves you can group up with.
 
Hello! :| Welcome to #StoneElfLyfe! My first and, so far, only Alliance PC has been a stone elf, and that's been a good time!

So my approach has largely been that stone elves, like Vulcans, operate largely on a platform of lying extensively to everyone. You gotta pretend nothing and nobody matters to you, because otherwise it's headache city, up until that critical moment where you do something completely out of left field that makes zero sense to anyone who falls for your malarkey, like running alone through enemy lines or burning a Sacrifice or throwing all of your column at one particular dude.

My stone elf in particular is from an isolationist and xenophobic (speaking of that sweet, sweet stone elf hypocrisy) nation, and hadn't met anyone not a stone elf until she entered play, but since being taught about it I've found that dry sarcasm is very useful, even if others don't recognize it. Oh , yeah, jokes that are for you and nobody else are the best.

And really, what form love takes for any individual character is going to be different. On like my first year or so, I was having trouble with attachment, and I asked a stone elf who had been in play longer how he lived with himself, to which he responded, "Find something that makes the pain worthwhile." So you can isolate yourself, or you can throw yourself into friends and family knowing it'll be worth the pain, or you can bottle everything up until a critical explosion, or you can make yourself a life plan that includes a marriage negotiation in 200 years and just plan on it never coming up in game. Every character is different, even the deadpan ones.
 
I have a lot of fun with friends "practicing smiling" to make other feel more at ease. It is a great way to break the tension yet still stay in character. However, these are the most awful smiles in the world and would freighter small children in real life.

For my character using the words/title "my friend" is a deep experience for him as it mean he values that persons greatly. Or the i will normally call someone by there formal title verses there name to show respect for them. My character has also been married in game to a MWE for the yin yang of it.

When I use mind reading and other skill I show the emotions of other person in my RP. One example is a Fey was being controlled by his true name to commit acts that was against his very being. While i worked to help him I was screaming as if I was being ripe apart from the inside out till he was able to be freed of the controlling force. I use these moments to show the extremes between the normal stone face and an amplified expression of any other emotion.
 
So what I'm hearing is more towards "stone elves have emotions, but refuse to act on them over logic" vs what I had originally thought of "stone elves receive immense pain upon feeling intense emotions". That is good to hear and will be a lot of fun to play with. Also, the fact that I got 3 great responses in less than a day just makes me super happy.
 
Well... Yes and no; your emotions are always going to play into your decision making, but a Stone Elf is just never going to say so or explain how. If they choose, say, cherry jam over blueberry, it's going to be because they like one over the other, not because cherry jam is inherently more nutritious or valuable as a spread, but taate is subjective, so you're likely to either say that the choice doesn't require an explanation or lie through your teeth about it being based on some other factor.

Same goes for who they want to talk to and spend time with; you'll like some people and hate others, and prefer to spend time with one set over the other based on those feelings, but if anyone asks, it doesn't require any explanation.
 
Stone Elves developed the ability to control their emotions because emotions cause them severe, wracking, physical pain. Logic/rationality is more of a side effect of dealing with that pain.
 
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