Mental Pursuits (EoA)

== Mental Pursuits ==
Elves enjoy thinking that involves their current situation. They dont like to dwell on the past, except for an occa- sional legend that takes the form of a song and dance. They also do not enjoy contemplating the future, for all they see are the tragedies to come. But they can spend countless nows thinking about the moment. In many ways, elves find more enjoyment in mental activities than they do in physical ones.
Learning for learnings sake occupies much of an elfs free time. On average, a greater percentage of the elf pop- ulation can read and write than the populations of other races. Not only do they study their own written language, but they make a habit of becoming proficient in the com- mon language, partially because it is useful when a tribe engages in trading activities.
Mental challenges make up the majority of elven pas- times. Puzzles, word and logic problems, and even math- ematical riddles fill the time on elf runs or when the tribe is camped. Elves who create challenging problems re- ceive as much or even more admiration as those who are quick with solutions. Some of these problems become so complicated as to take years to figure out, and a few even become part of a tribes tests of passage.
== Elves and Magic ==
Elven intelligence makes the desert runners association with magic almost inevitable. On average, they are the one race most comfortable with the arcane arts and their accoutrements. They have no problem gathering and selling spell components, and they see no inherent evil in either preservers or defilers. Since they believe that pain and death are the obvious results of life, then a defiler is only a single catalyst for the unavoidable outcome. Both approaches to magic can make the now more bearable, so both find a place among the elves. Individual tribes may have restrictions concerning one type of mage or the other, but in general both are accepted and even wel- comed among elven ranks. As a personal matter, pre- servers and defilers do not like each other, so though elves may not have any bias concerning the two, they will rarely be found operating in the same tribe.
Whereas other types of tribes may either openly hate or barely tolerate the presence of a magic user, elven tribes accept them the same way they accept a good fighter or a skillful rogue. Mages receive no special con- siderations within a tribe, but they also receive no undue restrictions and are not objects of fear and suspicion.
Because of their ready acceptance of magic, elves have no problems combining arcane mental activities with more physical training. It is not uncommon, therefore, to meet an elf who displays skills as a fighter, thief, cleric, or psionicist along with his or her magical abilities.
== Elves and Clerics ==
Priestly magic, on the other hand, is as mysterious to elves as wizardly magic is to the other races. Most tribes offer positions of power and respect to clerics (whom they call element singers), though they hold those who com- mune with the elements in awe and feel at least some fear toward them. Because of this, tribes will rarely have more than one full element singer among their number, and never more than two.
Each tribes particular traditions often dictate the type of singers they seek, and if none of that type are born to the tribe they will try to steal one (literally) from another tribe. Those clerics born to a tribe who worship an ele- ment other than what the tribe is dedicated to are directed to become multiskilled practitioners. These clerics combine priestly talents with warrior, mage, psion- icist, and thief skills to better serve their tribes. They are never afforded the title of element singer.
== Elves and Psionics ==
Because psionics are so vital to life on Athas, the elves have embraced this field of study with the same enthusi- asm they show the martial and thieving arts. While elven attitudes preclude them from developing anything as for- mal as the schools devoted to the Way of the Mind, elder psionicists among the tribes teach young talents how to harness their developing abilities. Even wild talents are encouraged to practice their skills in order to best use them for the benefit of the tribe.
Every so often, a talented elf psionicist will leave his or her tribe to search for a more qualified teacher. Those who voluntarily reject their tribal affiliation take up plain brown wrappings to signify this decision, showing all they meet that they are elves without a tribe. It is rumored that some of these brown elves even find a place among the legendary Order.