Comment editing fixed, and site updates

Wow, you’ve been busy. I like the changes you’ve made. Especially Comment editing and the bio pages. (They really are less cluttered that way)

I’m fascinated about how you sorted the elves. I never realized the servants would be in Fours as well. Somehow in my mind it was just the nobles and rebels.… You also gave them names. Some of them are so very fitting. (Yalis and Dru => The Shadows :eeek: ) Most of all I like that we now get an overwiew about who is what element. I was forever confusing that with the “minor” characters.

Last of all: Gwynnie! :squeee: You are so darn cute!

I love Elven Fours! :o That page is beautiful and interesting. I have so many questions suddenly. ^^ Ris took Osh’s place in The Bloodied, right? And was Ris before in The Silent(with Sarall)? And I couldn’t have guessed that so much older and younger elves could be in the same groups. Like The Shadows, with 76-​year-​old Yalis is Sul, who is fifty years younger! And I *also* wonder how “first, second, third and fourth” are decided. And oh oh, at what age can elf get in the group? Why I have never thought these things before?  

But maybe the best part is those names.  Boys, Rainbows and Mountain Hares!

I never realized the servants would be in Fours as well. Somehow in my mind it was just the nobles and rebels…

That’s the way the elves are: everything precisely categorized according to nature, caste, four, and rank. “That which is below is like that which is on high.” The servant fours have names which are grammatically feminine, however, even if a more warlike history seems to be encoded in some of the names, like The Hornets and The Knives. Or perhaps those fours consist of the “guard caste”?

Most of all I like that we now get an overwiew about who is what element. I was forever confusing that with the “minor” characters.

I can’t say I got confused before, but this page is nevertheless something of a revelation to me. You can see that the natures are not evenly distributed, even among the nobles. There are lots of fours with less than four members, just because they ran out of elves with that nature.

It seems that the elves have the power to at least influence the nature of their babies, since Ris and Madra have been commanded to produce a girl baby with fire nature. (Unless they are just expected to keep having babies till they get one, that is.)

So I wonder why they don’t make an effort to fill in their ranks better? Maybe it’s taboo to try too hard or something. Even if it means that noble girls like Miria and Lasrua don’t get a husband at all if their betrothed dies or otherwise disappears.

Ris took Osh’s place in The Bloodied, right? And was Ris before in The Silent(with Sarall)?

Ris was previously among The Night-​Black with Uncle Mustache. That’s how we first met him. (He was among the elves who attacked the castle, back when we first met Captain Eadred, too.) However, it is true that Ris is close friends with Sarall. Sarall might be his closest friend, actually, not that that’s a stellar achievement for Sarall.

Pol was among The Shadows before he died – he was the First of that four. Ordinarily he might have been in Sorin’s four, as the father of the Khira, but he and Sorin both have earth nature, so he had to be a in a different one. Maybe that’s how he got close to Dru? Or maybe he was close to Dru first, and that’s how Dru’s family moved up the ranks to the position of power they’re in now.

Now Dru is First, and I imagine he has a firm grip on the reins. Between Dru and Madra, and Ris acting as their agent, that family is taking over. Midor and Morin are both under Dru’s thumb as well. They’re not really ruling, but they keep an eye on things and make sure that no decisions are made that they won’t like.

Meanwhile, Vash? He’s just trying to make everyone get along. When Sorin dies, things are going to explode, because Dru and his clan will lose their leverage. (Unless Dru dies before Sorin maybe…)

Anyway…

And I couldn’t have guessed that so much older and younger elves could be in the same groups. Like The Shadows, with 76-​year-​old Yalis is Sul, who is fifty years younger!

I think it has to be this way. The ranking of the fours themselves is mostly unchanging. It’s the elves that move between them. If there weren’t a mix of ages, a four would get old and “die out” eventually, unless it occasionally brought in young guys. And there is surely an advantage to having a mix of youthful energy and aged experience.

When Sorin dies, his three will have to find other fours, and Vash’s team will move to the top. Ris will surely move back to The Shadows, and perhaps some of the other guys will too, and push some guys in The Shadows downward, and so on.

The Boys will be empty until Vash and his three have sons who are old enough to enter it.

When a boy turns 16 he enters a four. If a “full” four wants him, someone else has to move elsewhere. Otherwise he can join one that isn’t full, but even so, I would imagine it’s by invitation only. It’s all political. How noble are you? Is your best friend already in a four waiting for you? Your brother-​in-​law? Your grandfather? Etc.

Likewise, when an elf dies, an elf will move up to take his place if someone is available.

The fours at the top of each group – the noblest fours – are usually full, just because they get to pick and choose from anyone below them.

This doesn’t happen very often because the elves are so few. It looks like there are two among the rebels who will turn 16 in a few weeks (Ím and Imin’s son Sú), and among the nobles there will be two this summer (Lasrú and Taz).

Of course, death can come at any time…

What does the Rainbows and the Stars mean?

No idea… I said there must be stories behind them, but that doesn’t mean I have thought them up already.  

Do the elven ladies have fours?

And wow, I never realized how much work you put into the site. It is truly amazing to think how much work needs to be done in order to make a successful web design!

I don’t think the elven ladies have fours. That would mean women are like men, and we know that’s crazy, right?  

Seriously, I always imagined the ladies making their own cliques and living by their own rules. In “Madra learns all she can,” it is implied that Saralla chooses her own company. And in that room there are four ladies, but two of them have air nature, so it doesn’t seem like they go by fours.

Perhaps the ladies have their own rules and rituals that are deliberately different from the males’, just to distinguish themselves and to give themselves a different playing field on which to play their power games. Maybe we’ll learn more about that in the future.

As for the site, I can’t even imagine how many hundreds of hours I have put into it by now. But it’s like self-​education for my profession, so it’s not wasted time. Plus I do actually like programming.  

Wow. You really have just opened up a new can of worms with these Fours and these names and things. Now you have given Lydia and Ann more things to think about.  

I really like how dedicated you are to the site and how great you are with our concerns. You really are great at your job!

And my dear Gwynn. Why was she dressed like that?

ETA: Just checking!

I have a question about the demographics page— Are the half-​elf children counted in the human population or the elf population?