(07-30-2016, 01:30 PM)Kilieit Wrote: I got no sources on any of what I'm about to say, I'm afraid, though I'm sure you could find things to support parts of it from the CNJ chain and that one 3.0 quest that heavily involves the Elementals. Just my instincts from what I've seen in the game of the Elementals and my 10 years of experience RPing druids and shaman in WoW. >< Sorry.
Please bear in mind that it's stated in multiple quests that Elementals simply cannot understand the speech of mortals anymore than mortals can understand the speech of Elementals. Hearers (and, by extension, Padjal) bridge this gap because they are capable of communicating with the Elementals, while naturally being able to understand and communicate with other mortals as well. They're the translators.
The Elementals have also been shown to lack care for the intent of mortals who draw their interest or provoke their anger. Again, they are still wholly unable to communicate with a regular person with anything other than violent response. We are two sides speaking entirely different langauges, in a situation where even body language doesn't translate.
It doesn't matter if your intentions are good. You could have the best intentions in the world, but if you do something the Elementals aren't okay with, they're still going to try to kill you...and everyone around you, probably.
Edit Insert: Which is not to say that I don't agree with a lot of what you're saying, because I believe a lot of it is probably true (though we may never get confirmation one way or the other). That's why I was pointing at the Hearer in Quarrymill in the first place. There's evidence in quests that she may very well be acting based on her own prejudices and not on the explicit Will of the Wood. It's entirely possible that the issues with the poachers in general are more a result of Gridania not feeling the forest can support both (remember, Gridania is living a subsistence lifestyle, with excess being returned to the Forest), and with their xenophobic tendencies in general rather than with anything specific the Elementals have stated about the poachers.
@Simba: That's a good question. I think they're tolerated by the Elementals as long as they don't step over the line. The issue is, the rest of Gridania is trying to regulate how many animals are being killed, etc, and the poachers don't care for those regulations. Yet, by over hunting, the poachers could spark a greenwrath, which would hurt everyone. Most of the intolerance ultimately seems to lie with the Gridanians themselves, and we all know how xenophobic they are.
@Valence: I'm totally digesting your longer post. They make me think so I have to "digest" them, as it were.