I don't know why Elves would ever like hot springs. With their lack of knowledge of geology, they'd probably think that a hotspring was hot because it had a wood furnace beneath it. Also, trees don't tend to grow around the springs:
Why would they like them?
I'd say that the only ones who'd really like them are humans and goblins. Dwarves have access to things much warmer and much more powerful. One puddle is about as interesting as the next.
Humans and Goblins, being at least relatively self-interested, would want them for heat or whatever. We love hotsprings, they're great because they make us feel good. Maybe Dwarves would feel the same way, but goblins definitely would.
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I agree with all people who don't like the magic sites idea. Magic as a force seems silly to me. I don't see magic as a big web that covers the earth and is stronger in some places like some people do. Why would some place be more magical than some place else? Magic, as I see it, is knowledge that other people don't understand. What's a hot spring going to do? Boil your skin off until you obtain nirvana? It's a pit with water that's warm, not much more.
That said though, although a dwarf would see through the geological feature that is a hot spring, I could see a goblin or human finding it holy. Not god holy, but like "I went down to the
river hot spring to pray" and wash all the sins off holy. Goblins might not wash their sins off, but they might splash around and say "Ha ha fuck you we're warm, you trash!" to some yaks or something. If it's hot enough, it could be a proving ground or a torture device.
Holy has to be defined. A deity is a holy figure, but is he himself holy? He is probably just some demon that people worship. Something sacred is used for spiritual purposes (say praying to Armok), but you don't use Armok himself to pray to Armok. Does that make Armok himself not necessarily holy? I can see a hot spring being holy, but not being worshipped. What would a human pray too if a hot spring was worshipped? I can only see it as being an accessory to a myth. Maybe that was where they thought their demon deity crawed out of hell from, and now it's a place some people like to visit. Other than that, though? I don't see it happening.
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People have worshipped stupider things, such as...um, your least-liked religon's god.
Or for that matter, your religion's least-liked god powerful entity. Difference. You may be a catholic and hate islam, so allah would be your least liked god. Or you may be a catholic, and thus the devil would fit the description. There are people who worship both (however silly worshipping the "bad guy" may be).
bad guy being the devil not allah
The hilarious part is that 'Allah' just means 'God' in Arabic, and Islams, Jews, and Christians all worship the same god...
It'd be funnier if they could see it that way...
I was just trying to draw an example and not use the word "God" as the head-honcho of a religion that wasn't Christianity. I probably could have used Zeus and Hades, but whatever. Wasn't trying to sound ignorant of religion (though being none of those, I can't really say I'm not.).