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[sambojin]

I'd have to say that this is probably the only thing dwarfs and elves have in common. Humans use up far too much ore for their stupidly out-sized and mis-made armour and weapons. And you never see them planting more ore in the ground to make up for it. We can't have these monkeys raping our hillsides and mines without a thought of our long term conservation of ores and metals. And thus they must be exterminated at our leisure. It's a cultural thing

[plisskin]

I like the theory because it makes elves seem more like a race of "people" concerned with their own well-being rather than the walking embodiment of unwarranted self-entitlement, but their issue with tree-cutting seems too ideological rather than political based off of the aforementioned fact that it's not just the cutting of the trees but the molestation of their form that incite them into waving their pretty sticks around. They're culturally-inclined fetishists whose possessiveness complex with wood causes them equate foreign carpentry with rape and brigandry.

It'll be interesting to see if other races snub any trade goods in future releases. Imagine a human trying to trade an earnestly mangled out clay sculpture of a famous dwarf to a mountainhomes emissary who begins crying at sight of the cheap lawn gnome he's been handed.

[Nirreln]

Explaining why we do it to humans as well is the tricky part...........

No it's not, they can make metal but they still bring as much cloth as those stupid elves. 

[NW_Kohaku]

I've said this in some of the religion threads before, but...

When you read things like the Threetoe stories, the elves venerate a forest spirit that is made of some magical consciousness of the forest.  (Basically, they're like Pandorans from Avatar.)

When they take from the forest, or eat the dead there, it's because those creatures have already passed out of the forest's blessings and protections.  Harvesting wood the forest says is OK for them to harvest doesn't upset this.  When someone who isn't part of the forest tramps in and starts cutting down trees and killing wildlife, it goes against their religion, which is based around this living spirit of the forest itself.

Cutting down trees is such an affront to them because you're literally bleeding out their god.  Do it often enough, you can destroy their god utterly.  Then you can obtain all the unobtainium they have under their Great Tree.

Then they try to put Sigourney Weaver into the glowy tree Matrix because she can read it while it's still encrypted, but she's already turned into a ghost and demands a slab while the elves eat her corpse. 

[G-Flex]

When they take from the forest, or eat the dead there, it's because those creatures have already passed out of the forest's blessings and protections.  Harvesting wood the forest says is OK for them to harvest doesn't upset this.  When someone who isn't part of the forest tramps in and starts cutting down trees and killing wildlife, it goes against their religion, which is based around this living spirit of the forest itself.

Cutting down trees is such an affront to them because you're literally bleeding out their god.  Do it often enough, you can destroy their god utterly.  Then you can obtain all the unobtainium they have under their Great Tree.

Interpreted in a non-spiritual way, they get pissed because their methods of living in the forest are harmonious with the ecosystem, whereas yours aren't and you don't even know how to go about doing so.

[NW_Kohaku]

Well, from reading the Threetoe story Root, they pretty literally talk TO their forest spirit deity.  It literally exists and can shift from one tree to another, and magically creates the animal people in the forest.  However much cannon that is, I'm not sure, but that can be the direction DF goes.

[3]

Regarding "forest spirits":

[ENTITY:FOREST]
...
   [RELIGION:REGIONAL_FORCE]

It exists exactly like gods do. Obviously there isn't much in the way of actual implementation (that is, "talking" to gods and such) currently, but that'll change later.

[G-Flex]

Well, from reading the Threetoe story Root, they pretty literally talk TO their forest spirit deity.  It literally exists and can shift from one tree to another, and magically creates the animal people in the forest.  However much cannon that is, I'm not sure, but that can be the direction DF goes.

Right, but even then, the "forest spirit" (and other regional forces) still act more as spiritual manifestations of ecological/natural phenomena (like a forest or a river) than as a divine spirit that simply happens to inhabit that area. To me, they basically seem like spiritual reflections/personifications of those phenomena/systems.

[Vertigon]

As you all know, even though elves don't die of old age, they can still die by other means. However, if an elf's corpse is reclaimed and planted, he can become a fathertree around which other trees will grow. So the elves value trees because some of them are deceased elves. Forest spirits are especially important/heroic elves. The wooden goods they sell aren't fathertrees, but their children, which are deemed okay to kill. However, they take offense with dwarves cutting down trees because they might have lost track of which ones are fathertrees, or because they don't think dwarves are worthy to cut down the childrentrees.

This is my take on it, your mileage may vary but I just thought I'd toss it out

[NW_Kohaku]

Right, but even then, the "forest spirit" (and other regional forces) still act more as spiritual manifestations of ecological/natural phenomena (like a forest or a river) than as a divine spirit that simply happens to inhabit that area. To me, they basically seem like spiritual reflections/personifications of those phenomena/systems.

She awoke in the sacred grove. All around satyrs danced and played lively music. The squirrel chirped and chattered. The princess looked to see a wide tree, bearing the gnarly face of a man. It bent down a branch and shook down some seeds to the appreciative squirrel. "What?" said Cameda, "What is going on?" The tree looked on her and she felt shame. Dear Itho, she thought. It is all my fault. A rough hand took her wrist and pulled her up. Her tears became laughter as she danced with the satyrs into the night.

As the figures around them spun, the tree god spoke strange words, twirling the squirrel around with its knotted finger. The creature began to grow. Cameda stepped into the circle, fascinated. "The forest spirit," she said, holding out her hand. A shape lay before her, crackling with light. A hand reached up and seized her palm. At last, a squirrel man stood before the tree.

"What is your name?" croaked the tree.

"I shall be called Root," said the animal person.

"This is a good name," said the tree, "for a keeper of the forest."

The tree fell silent, and Cameda looked around confused. All the strange creatures had vanished, leaving nothing but an old contorted tree.

That doesn't seem like allegory to me, that sounds like it really is a spirit taking over a tree and using divine magic to do something while directly talking with other characters.

[helf]

Drug induced hallucinations.

[G-Flex]

Right, but even then, the "forest spirit" (and other regional forces) still act more as spiritual manifestations of ecological/natural phenomena (like a forest or a river) than as a divine spirit that simply happens to inhabit that area. To me, they basically seem like spiritual reflections/personifications of those phenomena/systems.

She awoke in the sacred grove. All around satyrs danced and played lively music. The squirrel chirped and chattered. The princess looked to see a wide tree, bearing the gnarly face of a man. It bent down a branch and shook down some seeds to the appreciative squirrel. "What?" said Cameda, "What is going on?" The tree looked on her and she felt shame. Dear Itho, she thought. It is all my fault. A rough hand took her wrist and pulled her up. Her tears became laughter as she danced with the satyrs into the night.

As the figures around them spun, the tree god spoke strange words, twirling the squirrel around with its knotted finger. The creature began to grow. Cameda stepped into the circle, fascinated. "The forest spirit," she said, holding out her hand. A shape lay before her, crackling with light. A hand reached up and seized her palm. At last, a squirrel man stood before the tree.

"What is your name?" croaked the tree.

"I shall be called Root," said the animal person.

"This is a good name," said the tree, "for a keeper of the forest."

The tree fell silent, and Cameda looked around confused. All the strange creatures had vanished, leaving nothing but an old contorted tree.

That doesn't seem like allegory to me, that sounds like it really is a spirit taking over a tree and using divine magic to do something while directly talking with other characters.

I never said it was allegorical. I know they're literal, spiritual forces. I never even implied otherwise.

The sort of mythological/cultural inspiration for this thing is certainly allegorical (from the perspective of one who doesn't share such beliefs), but that doesn't mean it isn't also literal here. The nature "force" is an actual, existing spiritual personification of, say, the forest, in line with real-world folklore that involve similar spirits inhabiting and representing similar phenomena/places.

My point is that both interpretations, in this case, are correct. There's an actual forest spirit with wants, and needs, and a personality, and those aspects of it reflect ecological reality and the physical nature of that system.