Now, when I say “elves”, what do you think of? Legolas from Lord of the Rings? Santa’s helpers? A recent epic battle in Dungeons & Dragons? Well, here is some information you may NOT know about elves.

Elves were first seen in Germanic mythology and folklore. (As a side note, Germanic doesn’t just mean “German” – it also includes Nordic, Slavic, Anglo-Saxon, and more.) They were seen as supernatural, magical beings that could help or hinder humans if they so wished. Later they were seen as evil or sinister in nature and often played evil tricks on humans and livestock.

In more modern times, elves were grouped with fairies (or faeries) in the 1800s during the Romanticist movement. But it wasn’t until the the 20th century, that elves really became well known in the high-fantasy genre with authors like J.R.R. Tolkien.

Throughout all this, elves are often seen as superior to humans in some way – whether it be height, strength, senses, knowledge, magical ability, or longer live spans. It varies depending on the context as in some myths they are seen as shorter and others they have no magical ability at all. Others they are far more graceful and beautiful and in some cases, they can even be uglier or seen a comical. (Take the difference between Legolas and the other elves in “Lord of the Rings” to Dobby in “Harry Potter“.) In gaming circles (in my experience), literature, and in a lot of artwork I see these days, elves are often portrayed as experts with weapons and possess far greater battle skills than a human.

But what about those Christmas elves? A lot of our Christmas traditions come from German traditions anyway (like the Christmas tree as one example) so it’s no surprise to me that Elves are Germanic in nature to begin with. However, the Christmas elf is seen more often in Children’s stories in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. They appeared as early as 1850 in Louisa May Alcott’s unpublished book “Christmas Elves“. We all know the poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” in which Santa himself is referred to as a “jolly old elf” but most don’t know that this it the first time (1823) it happened. Over time, the Christmas elves have become less dainty and delicate. Now we see these elves depicted as short, stocky, men with long white beards (perhaps the influence of Santa?). Though, in the movie “The Santa Clause” starring Tim Allen, we get to see a come back of old mythology in that the elves in Santa’s workshop are still quite young and youthful despite being a few hundred years old – “with glitter on their cheeks.”

Different Types of Elves

This where my research became a little interesting. When I looked into the different TYPES of elves there were, I ran into some conflicting information depending on what article I was reading. While the names remained the same for the different races of elves, their appearance and purpose changed in subtle ways that it was hard for me to keep track of what race I was reading about. Then of course, there are the literary references that are the same race, just under a different name to serve the “world” the elves appeared in.

In the future, I’ll post about each of these and share all the different bits of information but for now, here is a list of some of the most common races of elves that I’ve found over and over again:

• High Elves (can also be Gold Elves, Light Elves or Sun Elves, though some have these as five different types)
• Drow (aka Grey Elves, Silver Elves, Dark Elves or Moon Elves – again can be different types depending on who you talk to)
• Wood Elves (aka Forest Elves, Green Elves, Wild Elves)
• Aquatic Elves (aka Sea Elves)

Then of course, there is a HUGE list of elf races that appear in only one type of game or book – like Snow Elves in the Elder Scrolls games or the Lythari (elves that transform into wolves) in The Forgotten Realms campaigns of Dungeons and Dragons.

The Kinir Elite

So, after doing ALL this research, I took the idea of elves being experts in weapons (and having keener senses, strength, and agility than a normal human) and turned that into a military unit. But I didn’t apply the weapons expert to every elf in Kinir. Their culture is not a fighting one so it’s perfectly normal for some elves to not know how to fight at all, much less use a sword. But in their military, and especially in the Elite, the elves know many types of fighting styles, weapons, and self defense to aid them should they need to use it.

I did make my elves have keener hearing and eyesight, faster healing time, slower aging, and are naturally faster/stronger than a human, however I did not make them immortal or immune to anything. They still get injured – and it still hurts – and they still have to recover from their wounds – though their recovery time is just over half what a humans would be for the same injury.

Why? Well I could answer “Why not?” but truthfully there were a lot of reasons that went into it. First, I wanted my elves to be sort of “the ultimate warrior” in the stronger/faster/better mindset but I didn’t want to make them “Superman” either. So I had to find a happy medium in that, okay they are stronger than humans but they are not impervious to injury, illness, etc.

This also presented another unique challenge while writing the second book (and in the future the third book) when I brought the humans more into light in the story. How can the human army/elite keep up with the elves? Well – I had a bit of fun with that one (and so did my crit partners) and I leave I’ll leave that as a mystery for now. *maniacal laugh*

What are YOUR favorite types of elves? Have you made up a new type? Tell us about them!

Pretty spot on I’d say!

Who would YOUR dream cast be for the Kinir Elite? Let us know in the comments!

What is YOUR personal motto? Please share in the comments! We’d love to hear them!

About Derac and I (Tyn) when we were kids – the time we accidently (and I stress the accidently) burned down The Harvest Moon Festival.

The Harvest Moon Festival is where the local farmers get together in someone’s barn to celebrate the harvest. There is a huge bonfire outside, dancing, music, great food, etc. It’s a great celebration that all the elflings look forward to every year.

Each festival would have what you call fireworks. Derac and I were in charge of keeping an I on them in order to make sure they didn’t get wet or stolen or knocked over.

Oh oh wait, I forgot to mention. On this particular Harvet Moon Festival we were at Linnae’s father’s barn. Dearc was sweet on her at the time.

Anyway, we were in charge of the ‘fireworks’ but elflings as we were, we grew restless waiting or them to be displayed in the night sky. So we grabbed a torched, secured the stake in the ground and set one off.

Ooos and ahhs sounded as it exploded and Derac and I were happy! But of course, some of the adults were not. So they came over to us – including Dearc’s mother, who by the way is one scary lady!

So in a panic, we ran – dropping the torch as we went. No one noticed of course as they were chasing after us, but the dry grass around the barn cought fire. Which spread quickly to the fireworks…and the rest is literally history.

Derac and I had to rebuilt Linnae’s father’s barn the following spring as it was literally blown up by the fireworks. *laugh* Oh the stuff we used to do! *sigh*

Oh by the way, Linnae brought us water and helped us rebuild the barn everyday that spring and summer. *chuckle*

Jill Edwards is a junior math major at the University of Washington. In brief, Edwards, a member of the UW student senate, opposed a memorial to UW grad “Pappy” Boyington. Boyington was a U.S. Marine aviator who earned the Medal of Honor in World War II. Edwards said that she didn’t think it was appropriate to honor a person who killed other people. She also said that a member of the Marine Corps was NOT an example of the sort of person the University of Washington wanted to produce.

Gen. Dula’s letter to the University of Washington student senate leader:
To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)
Sub: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

Miss Edwards,

I read of your “student activity” regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and service women on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naivete. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There’s no dishonor in being a sheep — as long as you know and accept what you are. Please take a couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the thousands — millions — of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.

Brett Dula
Sheepdog, retired

———————————————————-

ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D., author of “On Killing.”

“Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?” – William J. Bennett – in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy, November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf.

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed. Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.” Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warrior hood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers – athletes, business people and parents — from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. – Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones. I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn’t bring your gun, you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: “…denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling.”

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.

If you are a warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself…”Baa.”

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheep hood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

This post reminds our author of two important sheepdogs in her life – her father, SFC (RET) H.G. Behrends, served 20 years in the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry and SGT Howard Zang, served 7 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, as a radio operator. While these two men are personal in her life, she hopes this post (and any future posts on this blog) honors all sheepdogs, past, present, and future.

Dear Anastasia,

I am truly honored you chose me as the hero of this story. I know the story originated as a contemporary novel to honor your father, a soldier. I am proud to still honor such a man with my own story. Your world and mine can use more men like him.

Please accept my utmost gratitude for your own dedication and sacrifice to sharing my story with the world. I know it has been a difficult journey for all involved, including myself. I am honored to have worked with you on this project.

Know that I will always be here, even after the story is done. I have enjoyed every moment we have had together and I don’t want to lose any future moments with you. I will continue to visit you in your dreams and caress your imagination with my adventures and love.

Thank you for everything, Anastasia. I pray you never lose your love of magic and child-like sense of adventure.

All my love,
Derac Vidor

1. His Sword
2. Kinir
3. The Kinir Elite
4. Dragons
5. Camping
6. Training
7. Missions
8. His family (parts of it…)
9. Taking over Anastasia’s body so he can communicate with other people through the internet!
10. Training

Tyn’s Favorite Things

1. Any bladed weapon
2. His faith
3. Praying
4. Women (more specifically A woman)
5. Any bladed weapon
6. Laughing
7. Praying
8. The Kinir Elite
9. Kinir
10. Healing/Medicine (as in learning about it)

Kie’s Favorite Things

1. Training
2. The archery range at elite headquarters
3. The Kinir Elite
4. Her uniform
5. Camping
6. Warm baths
7. Kinir
8. Training
9. Missions
10. Training

Aeli’s Favorite Things

1. Her hair brush
2. Brushing her hair
3. Dresses
4. Attending Grand Balls
5. Dancing
6. Good looking males
7. Saving innocent people
8. Solving puzzles
9. Kinir (the open plains and bright skies)
10. The Kinir Elite

Jardel’s Favorite Things

1. The Kinir Elite
2. His dress uniform
3. Women/Females
4. Weapons
5. Fighting
6. Women/Females
7. Children who think he’s an angel
8. Women/Females
9. Good food
10. Women/Females

Rakan’s Favorite Things

1. Silence.
2. Quiet.
3. Silence.
4. Camping.
5. Silence.
6. His mace.
7. Silence.
8. His dagger.
9. Silence.
10. No sound.

Kinir Elite Training Schedule

0530: Wake up
0545: Morning meal
0600: Morning training (pairs rotate from day to day)
—-0600: Kie, Jardel at archery range; Derac, Tyn at sword ring; Rakan, Aeli at track (running)
—-0700: Kie, Jardel at sword ring; Derac, Tyn at track; Rakan, Aeli at archery range
—-0800: Kie, Jardel at track; Derac, Tyn at archery range; Rakan, Aeli at sword ring
—-0900: Break
—-0915: Kie, Tyn at hand to hand combat; Rakan, Jardel at staff/spear; Derac, Aeli at close combat;
—-1015: Kie, Tyn at close combat; Rakan, Jardel at hand to hand combat; Derac, Aeli at staff/spear;
—-1115: Kie, Tyn at staff/spear; Rakan, Jardel at close combat; Derac, Aeli at hand to hand combat;
1215: Noon meal
1300: Afternoon training (1-vs-5 or 2-vs-4 or 3-vs-3 exercises)
—-1300: Team at track
—-1400: Team at sword ring and staff/spear
—-1500: Team at hand to hand and close combat
—-1600: Team tracking exercises
—-1700: Team stealth exercises
1800: Evening meal
1900: Weapon maintenance and headquarters clean up
2000: Free time
2100: Lights out

Tyn: Umm, Derac, I don’t think that just posting up our schedule is going to satisfy Anastasia for this post.

Derac: Well, what else does she want me to say? Our whole lives are training and missions. Not much room for other things.

Tyn: *gasp* There is too!

Derac: In the grand scheme of things…really Tyn? Compared to normal people? Or even the regular Army – how much free time do we really have?

Tyn: Well, I guess not that much in comparison…but we do have some.

Derac: So, training schedule is good for this post I think. It change when we have a mission and that varies depending on the particular mission, whether it’s night ops or day, complexity of the mission, and others things like that. So, I can’t really say much more.

Tyn: *rolls eyes* The elf of so little words has spoken.

Derac: *smirks* And don’t you forget it.

I look forward to seeing this story in print! I’m honored to have worked with Anastasia on our story and I can’t wait to begin the next book in the series.

I’ll keep you updated on the submission progress!