If there were a third city-state it would be...

[Intrepid]

I dunno... addendum doesn't really sound right... how about.... the mystical city of nightfall

or... Tier's outpost

Well...it was meant to be an addendum to the very large post above it
about Riphia.  Sorry for the confusion there.

[Supreme Allah]

Awesome stuff, Intrepid.

There any particular stance on elves?

Is a child being taken from a family viewed more as theft of the child or a great honor bestowed upon the family?

[Intrepid]

Awesome stuff, Intrepid.

Thank you.  I doubt it will ever be used, but it was fun to write.  And
who knows, maybe the imms can use pieces of it in various parts of the
game or something.

There any particular stance on elves?

Well, the way I wrote up Riphia was to match all the various themes in
the other two city-states as a three way opposition rather than the current
two way opposition we have between Tuluk and Allanak; things that
Tuluk and Allanak have in common would generally be found in Riphia
as well, for the most part, so the same racial tensions found in Tuluk and
Allanak can be found in Riphia, I imagine.

Is a child being taken from a family viewed more as theft of the child or a great honor bestowed upon the family?

I think you mean pressed into service as a psi or a soldier, right?  As a
soldier, it's considered a necessity, one every able-bodied Riphian has
to go through.  But as a psi, it tends to vary from family to family as a
mixture between opportunity to relief to fear.  Some parents would, I
imagine, even wonder if they did something wrong (or correct) in how
they raised their child.

[Hymwen]

If there was a city-state where elves were in charge and humans were scum, wouldn't all the elves of the current city-states move there, and the humans of that new city-state move to on of the two others where they wouldn't be considered scum by default?

And that would make for some less interesting societies

[Supreme Allah]

Is a child being taken from a family viewed more as theft of the child or a great honor bestowed upon the family?

I think you mean pressed into service as a psi or a soldier, right?

No, no. I was referring to this, Intrepid:

All templars are considered to be Riphia's children and all nobles are
considered to be her relatives. For unknown reasons, a single commoner
is sometimes adopted into the higher castes by Riphia. Due to the
legendary temper of the Queen, no one asks why. None but the highest
ranks of the templarate and nobles ever see the Queen, and they have
all been tight-lipped about it.

[Intrepid]

Definitely, Supreme Allah.  It's a rare opportunity (aside from being found
a psi, which is double-edged honor) to actually break into the higher
castes.

[Intrepid]

If there was a city-state where elves were in charge and humans were scum, wouldn't all the elves of the current city-states move there, and the humans of that new city-state move to on of the two others where they wouldn't be considered scum by default?

Thing is, there is no such thing as elven camraderie--and if one such
group of elves did exhibit it, all the other groups of elves would prey
upon their naivette until they stopped behaving so.  Just because one
tribe got large enough and lucky enough to make a city does not mean
that they would have particularly good feelings toward others of their
race.  An elf from a seperate tribe might as well be someone of another
race--the main difference is, elves usually count on each other to be
absolute scoundrels.

[Yokunama]

A city that is at first glance ruled by a single elven tribe, but is in super sekrit fact run by a human psionicist who has "convinced" elves of differing tribes that they are in fact part of the same tribe, and that he is their ruler.

That's got a nice twist to it.

A human pulling one on an elf -- An entire elven tribe at that. Nice.

[Morrolan]

I'd like to suggest that the area have a different language entirely.  THAT would make things fun.

[Angela Christine]

Or the could speak Tatlum.  All the more reason to hate the "new" guys, they are going to teach everyone your secret templar language!


Angela Christine

[Yokunama]

I bet the next Highlord's name would be 'Amos'!

[Intrepid]

Tatlum is a pretty old language.  I guess it would all depend on how long
ago the new guys became isolated from the rest of the Known World.

Of course, Bendune is an old tongue too.