Do you find Moonshadow culture becoming a little less... likeable? (but not less interesting) It seems like they hand out Ghostings like candy with no path to forgiveness and no belief in a personâs ability to change and reform themselves. The pressure and anxiety those elves must be feeling at all times has got to astronomical. What are your thoughts?
I have plenty of thoughts, as always! Less likeable than what, though, anon? Maybe youâve missed most of my posts on Moonshadow society over the last year...
Moonshadow society is a disaster, poor thing. Itâs a tightlaced corset, pretty but restrictive with long term consequences. Itâs a queer neurodivergent elf who just wants to do their very best but all the rules that are supposed to help them out with that end up hurting them too and they donât know how to stop or change and so yes theyâre dancing gracefully in the moonlight and yes they express themselves through beauty but if you get close enough you can hear the constant pterodactyl screech of their soul too. (Did I extrapolate extra hard from âRunaan is the most Moonshadow of the Moonshadow elvesâ, maybe yes)
Moonshadow society is deeply flawed and it needs help, but itâs so big and pervasive that it may be impossible to change its course without severe consequences, just like last time (aka moving east across the border and becoming assassins that took out humans). The elves can only do so much to alter their own fates from inside their own society.
Some may leave and never return. Some get ghosted and want nothing more than to re-enter the fold because they still believe in its ideals, like Feathershawl. Some probably try to change things from the inside, whether subtly or obviously. And others embrace the rules with both arms and try to mold themselves into The Perfect Moonshadow Who Can Do No Wrong, in order to remain safe and to belong.
But thatâs a spectrum youâre going to get when perfectionism is a big part of your cultural philosophy. Everything has to be Just So for so many aspects of these elvesâ lives, and itâs Very Not Good for them. Yes, theyâre pretty. But mandating prettiness is just as bad as mandating other aspects of personal choice and free will.
As for ghosting, I really donât think Moonshadows just yeet those left and right with little care for the consequences. I do think theyâre too harsh with their shunning! Shunning, giving up, turning their back in a relatively permanent way, thatâs not a good solution. Learning and adapting are important, and knowing that you have time and room to practice and adjust is so important for mental health and stability in your society. Living in constant fear of minding the rules or getting even perceived to be doing something incorrectly is such a drain on your energy.
But I do think that the Moonshadows have strict rules for what deserves ghosting and what doesnât, just as they do for other stuff. The details of Feathershawlâs ghosting are theirs to keep, and I assume any Narrator could flesh those out however they chose during a playtest, whether to make their situation more or less sympathetic for the players.
But my take is this: Moonshadow elves revere life very deeply, and they work constantly to serve each other and their whole community, as they hold themselves together and celebrate their continued existence on every level they can. When someone in a position of big responsibility for the health, well-being, and lives of so many Moonshadow citizens messes up in such a bad way that thereâs a plague and lots of elves die--lose their precious lives, lose those connections with others, leave their families torn and distraught and unable to focus on their own duties due to heavy, soul-sucking grief--when one elf causes this level of arcanum-deep catastrophe, I can absolutely see why the other Moonshadow elders would be horrified and grief-stricken, and furious. Itâs a very un-Moonshadow thing to have happen, especially with how hard theyâre all trying to be so very Moonshadow all the time.
Feathershawl had a position that gave them authority over the food sources that kept a good number of the Forestâs elves fed and able to live their lives without privation. And they screwed that up somehow. They were trusted with a basic staple of everyday life--food--and they got it wrong in such a horrible way that there are a lot fewer Moonshadow elves as a result.
Moonshadow elves need each otherâs support and presence as part of their communal network, and anything that tears at that fabric goes against everything that Moonshadow philosophy stands for. Feathershawl themself had literally dozens of family members, whose illusions were kept in their crystal. Thatâs a lot of family! If itâs common for Moonshadow elves to have that many family members, then a plague would probably touch every family multiple times and leave everyone multiply devastated. Itâs just Bad All Around.
Thereâs probably a lot more to Raylaâs ghosting than we know, since we only learned of it from her POV and sheâs not in the habit of sharing Moonshadow secrets with Callum just yet. Knowing that Moonshadow families are so thickly intertwined, and how heavily they rely on each other to help support and cheer each other through standing strong together and mutual services, itâs no big stretch to imagine that Raylaâs biggest crime in Moonshadow eyes wasnât her supposed running away, it was that her actions cost the Silvergrove their assassin leader, one of their elders and one of the strongest moral guiding hands they had. Rayla cost the Silvergrove their most Moonshadow Moonshadow.
Without Runaan, the Silvergrove is probably reeling quite a bit, and Raylaâs failure is to blame, in their eyes. Theyâre all suffering, and they need to put the blame somewhere--other than themselves--so they can start to move forward again.
Itâs far from ideal. Itâs very shame and blame oriented. But it does hold to some internal logic that seems to bear out through the three ghostings we know of for sure so far.
Another things Moonshadows are very good at is quick action. The moment they think thereâs been a âmistakeâ, they move to address it. Whatever feelings they have on the matter, they process it in half a second (if at all) and jump straight to rectification. You attack the Storm Spire? Lainâs gonna kick you down the stairs. You think the Silvergrove ghosted you unfairly? You literally run to Ethari for help. You see Rayla trying to stay on the mission? You grab her wrists so she canât draw her weapons. You see your workshop doors open but no oneâs there? You stop working and fetch a hammer in case you need to smash a vindictive ghost. You think your friends failed their duty and dishonored you? You take everyone you can to go uphold that honor, including a 15 year old girl. (Holy cats does that mean everyone on Runaanâs squad was family, oh god) Swift action is a reassertion of the rules, of whatâs right, so no one forgets. Thatâs got to include ghosting for things that are really terrible.
What I do find interesting is that Eljaal, the homesick assassin who is afraid to return home, may not be worried about ghosting specifically? But itâs a little unclear. I think there is something else they fear, perhaps a lesser punishment? But still one they canât yet bring themself to face, poor elf.
I do think Moonshadow society is very stressful on the mind, and all these elves have become very skilled at hiding, mitigating, and otherwise working around their stresses and traumas. The greatest illusion that Moonshadows play is the one that Everything Is Fine, because there is always more work to do, and they keep telling themselves that theyâre the ones who must do it, for everyone elsesâs sakes. Laziness and selfishness are probably the same thing to Moonshadows. Hmm, maybe thatâs why Runaan lets his family drag him off to picnics on his birthday, so he doesnât seem selfish for wanting alone time.
In very very long, anon, Moonshadows are a Mess tee emm, and theyâve been designed that way from the start: doing their best inside a flawed system. This is the heart of their imperfection. They will probably benefit from spending time with literally anyone else aside from just themselves. They really really need to get out more, or to let someone else in, because the strictest of their own traditions are actually ruining the life and beauty they work so hard to celebrate.
