Casus Belli

[Jerseydevil]

I have a question that I was hoping you all could help me with.

In the story, humans and elves go to war with each other. This is nothing new. The two races have been at each others throats since as far back as anyone cares to remember. Elves believe humans to be a blasphemy (for lack of a better term) against the gods since they have no connection to magic, outside of a little alchemy. Anyway, the main plot is that the elves launch a full scale attack against the humans. I don't mean to conquer them, but to wipe them out.

This is my problem. For centuries, they have been living in a kind of Cold War. Humans live in three large, well fortified cities, the surrounding countryside for farmland and some mountain mining settlements. The elves live in the forests, swamps, mountains, and other wilderness areas. Both sides will raid the other, and humans will occasionally go into the wilds to gather alchemy supplies, but it is always a small scale, guerrilla type of conflict. There was always a balance of power between the two sides. Humans would be picked off if they went after the elves in force, and even the most brazen elf leader would not dare to attack large human settlements.

My question is, what would cause the elves to launch a full scale attack against the humans as a species? I want to avoid cliches like a prophesy or the humans disturbing a tomb of an elf ancestor or something like that, though I'm not completely adverse to the idea. It must be an important reason, though, since elves are perfectly well aware of human technology and what a rifle can do. Humans have roughly 1870's tech. Humans are also aware of the potential threat of elves, and generally stay out of their way, only going into the wild if absolutely necessary, sticking to trails between the cities, and moving quickly to avoid confrontation, and will not encroach on elf lands. There is no diplomacy between the two races.
Anyway, the elves know they will take serious casualties in this war. They do have a bunch of other lesser races helping out to bolster their numbers, but elves will die as well. What could be a possible motivation for it? I was thinking a political thing, like the elf leadership changes, but that seems kind of flimsy. What could possibly motivate an entire civilization for a war like this? Again, elves are terrified by human weapons, and a leader would have to be charismatic beyond all reason to convince them to fight in something like this.

Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.

 

[X Equestris]

You've already given one possible explanation: religious fanaticism.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Racism and xenophobia would work to "justify" the attack. In fact one could even make the elves attack not because of religion but because of the cult of personality.

 

[Saigonnus]

An event happens that they take as some sign that it is Gods will?? Some weakening in the human defensive capability??


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[ThinkerX]

You are being a bit overly kind all the way around.

You mentioned human society has a mid 19th century tech level. Real world earth, greed and violence abounded during that period. Possibilities that come to mind:

human industrialist wants to punch a railway through the territory of the 'elfin savages' - and to hell with any treaty. Or he becomes convinced that an elf city is parked on top of a vein of valuable minerals.

or human fanatics attempt to 'civilize' the elves through slavery, and kidnap the populace of an elf city or three to get things started.

On the elven end, well, you mentioned religious fanaticism and prophecy. What you didn't mention was elfin longevity - the attitude that says - this site isn't important now, but it will be in 300 years. And the time is about up.

(This also gives another motive to the humans - the notion that elf blood or other body parts can be turned into a 'longevity potion.')

 

[valiant12]

Again, elves are terrified by human weapons, and a leader would have to be charismatic beyond all reason to convince them to fight in something like this.

If humanity technology improve constantly and they already have superior weapons, its not unlikely to assume that the elves would attempt one final attempt to eradicate humans before humans develop tanks and fighter jets.

 

[trentonian7]

It seems unlikely that elves could overtake the human cities at this point. Obviously this depends on a number of factors, but I imagine the cities are built within at least one if not series of large walls equipped with heavy batteries.

Take real- world example Constantinople. Several impenetrable walls had staved off numerous invasions from powerful enemies. Constaninople falls only to more advanced technology; cannons. Granted, it goes beyond gunpowder, but it's going to take more than bows and arrows to pierce walls like would likely be found in your human cities, especially if they're heavily armed with cannon and mortar.

If the cities are surrounded by farm fields, the humans will have an advantage outside their walls as well. Regiments of rifle carrying troops will excel in this environment, just as the elves will excel in the woods and mountains.

To sum it up: your elves, unless they have massive numbers (which seems unlikely in a non- farming society), will be unable to occupy the surrounding flatland around the cities when their opponents are equipped with rifles. Horses and steel cuirass could remedy this issue I suppose, though humans would likely have this already. Even if somehow the elves do manage to surround the cities, they lack the siege equipment or capabilities to break the human walls and counter human artillery:

In- short, either the elves need very powerful magic, the humans need to have some sort of internal problems, or, inline with their guerilla tactics, they infiltrate the city through stealth or unconventional means. A commentator above mentioned railways; what if there are railways in and out of the city and the elves take advantage of these in the night? Perhaps there are sewer systems, or rivers entering the cities. Granted, these tricks probably wouldn't work in all three cities.

Maybe the elves introduce a plague or there is internal dissent, weakening the human strength.

Just some ramblings.

 

[X Equestris]

It should be noted that one need not directly attack the human cities to hurt them. Cities require food, and lots of it, to support their populations. Burn the fields, launch raids on workers so they can't harvest the crops, and it'll be a matter of time before they start to whither on the vine. Depending how closely humans and elves resemble each other, elves might be able to infiltrate cities by passing as humans, then sabotage granaries. The humans can't just hole up in their cities. They have to control enough farmland to keep from starving. How they do that is up to you, but there are lots of possibilities.

 

[skip.knox]

I didn't see anything in the summary that would require the elves to attack humans *as a species*. It could just be the same ordinary neighborly attacking that is done all the time, with the same range of motives.

It might be interesting to try to come up with a motive that was specifically elven, a motive or goal that would not make much sense to humans but which would be important to elves. As you have noted, though, the historical question would be _why just now_? That answer would depend heavily on your general timeline, but could also depend on specific characters.

I often formulate general questions like the one raised here. I wrestle it around for a while, but ultimately I make the most progress when I view the question from the POV of actual, specific characters. Remember, there can be the "real" causes, and then there are the causes as perceived by the characters in the story.

 

[trentonian7]

Motivation:

Perhaps the elves have traditionally been very loosely organized and only recently, a stronger tribe united the tribes. Aggressive expansion and a new war ethos ensues- this new warrior state would quickly turn its attention to its ancient enemies in the flatlands: the humans. Taking the great human cities would be a huge symbol of their power and prestige.

The scenario I described very closely mirrors the rise of the Ottomans and the eventual fall of Constaninople. Granted, the fall of the human cities would be through a different means. Starving them out could certainly work and if they infiltrate the city, the spies could open the gates in the night and allow the elvish armies in.

I hope I didn't sound critical earlier, I very much enjoy the idea of an elvish world with three isolated human cities with 1800's tech. Why haven't the humans expanded though? Trees can be cut down and there are other open lands.

 

[pischtoph]

Oh those dirty inbred humans cavorting around half nude spitting out babies like rabbits! They are a plague on our lands and that blasphemous religion of theres! No connection with Mother Nature they are a virus destroying our world on day at a time! I say my brethren elves time for us to rise up, rally our troops and purge those horrendous savages from our world!


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[pischtoph]

Tons of reasons why elven nations would enjoy genocide of the human race but the biggest reason I could see is how destructive we are on the environment. So that's a choice, due to the 3 cities expanding, the elves natural habitat is slowly being taken away.
You also mentioned each side raiding but only mentioned why the humans do, for alchemy ingredients, why would the elves raid? To steal the humans advances in technology? Maybe with enough proof they can arouse the rest of the elven populous to stand tall and destroy the humans.


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[Jerseydevil]

Thanks to everyone. I have much more to work with thanks to all of you. I had the big overarching action planned out, but not the details as to why it all happened. I had the how, but not the why. Thanks again.

Motivation:

I hope I didn't sound critical earlier, I very much enjoy the idea of an elvish world with three isolated human cities with 1800's tech. Why haven't the humans expanded though? Trees can be cut down and there are other open lands.

No problem at all. I guess I didn't explain well enough, and I'm happy for any input.

First off, I'm subverting the trope that elves are a dying race, and that humans are exponentially more numerous. Elves are doing fine population wise, and have more primitive races as vassals (lack of a better term) working for them. Humans do outnumber them, but not by a huge margin, and are outnumbered when the elf's client races get involved. The continent is huge, and the area the humans live in is mostly open prairie for farmland, an area that elves are not too interested in anyway. There are some clashes, as there are some human settlements near the border between the two, but nothing major. Humans have no reason to expand that far nor a population that needs too.

Why the humans haven't expanded yet is because the three cities are under populated. The idea for this work is an combination of several ideas I had in a single work. The typical fantasy story has elves and humans fighting the Evil Overlord. This story will take place hundreds of years later, when the unifying force of a common enemy gone, and ethnic differences become more pronounced. During the war with the Evil Overlord, humans bore the brunt of the casualties and were the shield for the elves, giving them the opportunity to counterattack. The population needed that long to recover and are still not enough to fully populate the cities.
In my original idea, the humans had Medieval technology and were driven into exile by the elves, only to return centuries later with modern tech levels. In all honesty, I just wanted to write about dragons vs. fighter jets, trolls vs tanks, and elves shooting magic against humans with assault rifles. I had to abandon this, since I couldn't help but make the humans too over powered.

I settled on the 1870s, as the weapons are more advanced than flintlocks and other muzzle loaders, but at the same time not overwhelming. Also, my favorite movie is Zulu and when I thought about the work, and I wanted to have a scene like this:
Zulu - Final Attack - YouTube

(I have a similar scene in an urban fantasy I'm working on, but instead of singing, giant speakers blast Pantera)

The elves will not be winning quick, decisive victories. It will be a slow, costly grind against humans, fighting tooth and nail in close combat in an urban environment. I thought about the most brutal fighting in human history, and settled with Stalingrad, and built the plot around that. My question was what would suddenly make elves engage in this activity. I guess religious fanaticism and the opportunity to knock out an enemy before they became too powerful never crossed my mind.

 

[TAGallant]

How about the simple belief that the humans are going to do exactly the same thing to them (i.e. wipe them out)? It seems to me this is a plausible way to induce panic and extreme xenophobia where there may have been relative complacency previously.

 

[TAGallant]

To clarify, I'm not necessarily saying that the humans are planning on doing the same thing to them; all it requires is the belief on the part of the elves, which could be based on any number of things (misunderstanding etc).

 

[Jerseydevil]

How about the simple belief that the humans are going to do exactly the same thing to them (i.e. wipe them out)? It seems to me this is a plausible way to induce panic and extreme xenophobia where there may have been relative complacency previously.

There will certainly be an element of "We better take them out before it's too late." The two sides never really liked each other, and only allied out of convenience.