Talk:Elf-A

notes re: design

old design document

These folks will become increasingly slime-warped forest-humans. You won’t be able to live among non-mutant humans, but when you appear you’ll have dramatic effects (good & bad) and ought to be able to survive fairly well, provided you didn’t get some of the nastier downsides. Once Research gets into the game, sufficiently science-minded chars might try refining the design.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LhNpXGXmkPOxp_cp0-c9G7xqnihwApq-eZSa99exfcU/edit?pli=1

comments

M: "I believe elf-a is a combination of human and plant [and bird] to produce something a bit less extreme than the plant mutation line. They seem to have an innate desire to fight the mycus, but I'm not at all sure why. All mutation lines were purposefully developed by the people who ran the labs prior to the cataclysm, and are essentially a controlled version of what the blob does to zombies on its own"

M: "So elves are supposed to be a scientist's idea of fantasy elves. There's no such thing as fantasy elves, the scientists made a sort of chimera out of these other things and pick and chose traits to get something that they thought was nice."

An extremely rare mutagen cocktail. Recipe found in Standpipe Maintenance Log. Crafting requires 1 bird mutagen, 1 plant mutagen, and 2 slime mutagens.

Both Rivet and KG have said that elfa is *not* a fantasy elf, not a Tolkien elf.

Via Rivet (paraphrasing): ELF-A mutants may be sort of tree-people, but they're definitely not Tolkien elves, and don't have anything to do with orcs or goblins. They're mutants that are vaguely similar to literary elves.

And KG said to avoid fantasy elf tropes. I suspect he meant all fantasy tropes, but dryads or forest nymphs might be better frames of reference than Tolkien elves.

dreams

dream 1

   "messages": [ "You have a strange dream.", "You feel a yearning..." ],

dream 2

   "messages": [ "You dream of a home in the forests.", "You feel beautiful, and yet riven with worry..." ],

dream 3

   "messages": [ "NO!  You will not allow this corruption to prevail!", "You see yourself reflected in the beauty of the forest." ],

dream 4

     "You pant, terrified at the thought of that FUNGUS destroying your home!",
     "You wish others could understand, and join your struggle..."

traits

"Your eyes have turned...green. It's tough to tell the exact shade as it seems to shift. The effect is ...pleasant."

"Your skin is light green and has a slightly woody quality to it. This provides a weak armor, and helps you retain moisture, resulting in less thirst. Greatly decreases wet penalties."

Elf-a does grow leaves: "All the hair on your body has turned to long, grass-like leaves. Apart from being physically striking, these provide you with a minor amount of nutrition while in sunlight. Slightly reduces wet effects."

Elf-a has Pointed Ears

Elf-a has otherworldly beauty "You are incredibly beautiful. People cannot help themselves for your charms, and will do whatever they can to please you."

Elf-a is radioactive

Elf-a sleeps little or not at all

lithe, slender, a bit frail