Elven Poltics

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I once did a version of elves for D&D based on their being majority Chaotic Good and vastly long lived. So my version had "kings" who didn't pass on their position to the offspring and just abdicated when they realized they had lost the respect of the people in favour of someone who was more respected. It was unofficial democracy.

One thing to understand about elven government is that leaders don't naturally die. They could fall out of favor or be murdered, but the king doesn't just randomly pass away and cause a succession crisis.

This likely results in the word for king being the name of the current king. He isn't "Elrond, king of the elves", he is "Elrond", which is also his title, kind of like "Ceasar" and if you don't know who Elrond is, what rock have you been under for the last few centuries?

Leadership changes are likely to be informal, at least where they start. Everyone (or at least a large portion of everyone) remembers when Elrond (or whoever) first became their leader. He likely emerged out of a period of strife, or solved a large problem. He will be his own founding legend, and his legitimacy comes from his past actions.


Even if you have a democracy, the same seven elves will be in the running for the chief office every cycle, extending across millennia.