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[Zavvnao]

I think it would fit that if a world's population of a certain creature gets too low, elves will protect and try to raise the numbers of that species back to sustainable levels.

This would fit with the elves, be good for players wanting a chance at finding exotic things themselves, and may even cause conflict between elves needing war mounts and those tasked with defending a certain species.

Also imagine elves stopping a war and setting up a preserve around your fortress to let you know how good or bad the fight has gone for your species.

[Aquillion]

I'm not sure.  Do we know whether DF elves care about animals?  They don't currently object to trading leather or meat, say; they only care about forests.

(Of course, in some cases ecological collapse caused by mass extinctions could endanger forests, but it's also unclear whether the elves would realize that.)

[Zavvnao]

You are probably right.

[Dirst]

Elves do have the "at peace with Nature" tag, so it's legitimate to say they care about animals.

I can just see some of the sillier outcomes from a preservation ethic.

"Die, Dwarf, die!  Defilier of the forests!  Traders of plant-death!  Die!"
Urist McPlantgatherer is struck down!
"And you too, Dwarf, will die under the hail of our arrows!"
Urist McFisherdwarf is struck down!
"All dwarves are but vermin, fit only to fall before our righteous might!"
Urist McAbouToGetKilledByCarpAnyway is struck down!
"Our mission to protect all natural things is paramount.  The Dwarf species is down to a mere 100 members. We will fight to the death to preserve the last of this noble creature."
Three squads of dwarven militia arrive and bemoan that the elves are no longer considered valid targets since they're no longer hostile.
"Elves, please come this way to our Magma Chamber Hall for Honored Guests."

[Blastbeard]

It'd be funnier if they try to preserve something that doesn't play nicely with them.

Peta Treesong, Queen of The Foolish Eaves: "We will fight to the death to protect the last of the {MODDED CREATURE WITH [CRAZED] AND OVERTLY HOSTILE TO ALL LIFE}. Surrender the last of them to us or it's war."

Urist Aloofbooze, Expedition Leader of Beastshelter: "Y-you're serious? Fine, take 'em. It's your problem now."

Peta Treesong: Come here, little fella, nobody's ever gonna hurt you aga--- AAAAIIIEEEGH!!! MY EVERYTHING! SAVE ME NATURE!!"

Urist Aloofbooze: "Whatever. Time for a drink."

[GavJ]

The problem with this is that if they are keeping that animal to raise its numbers back up, then why would they be trading them to you? That's one less breeding animal and that much more endangerment...

Also, do normal type animals ever actually die out in normal games? Sentient civs are the only thing I've heard of going extinct.

If normal animals do tend to go extinct, thoug, then despite elf logic, it would certainly be a nice feature for elves to preserve them.

[sal880612m]

I think one of the Ages that can occur is actually when everything is dead. I don't know if it can happen in fort mode but I am fairly certain you can get there in adventure mode.

[GavJ]

I think one of the Ages that can occur is actually when everything is dead. I don't know if it can happen in fort mode but I am fairly certain you can get there in adventure mode.

Age of death and emptiness are only civilized sentients dead, not things like lobsters and cats.

I don't know if people actually know if there's another age for everything dead period. You might be able to just see in the decompiled code if there are other ages. Otherwise you could probably test for it by modding out every other creature except civs and somehow making them all die, finish off anything else in adventure mode.  Seems unlikely there'd be a special age for something that pretty much requires modding, though (not sure how else you'd kill all vermin)

[Dirst]

I think one of the Ages that can occur is actually when everything is dead. I don't know if it can happen in fort mode but I am fairly certain you can get there in adventure mode.

Age of death and emptiness are only civilized sentients dead, not things like lobsters and cats.

I don't know if people actually know if there's another age for everything dead period. You might be able to just see in the decompiled code if there are other ages. Otherwise you could probably test for it by modding out every other creature except civs and somehow making them all die, finish off anything else in adventure mode.  Seems unlikely there'd be a special age for something that pretty much requires modding, though (not sure how else you'd kill all vermin)

Reminds me of a session of SimEarth that involved a nuclear war.  I got a notice that all intelligent life had gone extinct, which rolls you back into an earlier stage of the game.  A few ticks later I got a notice that all multicellular life had gone extinct, rolling back to an even earlier stage.  I was impressed that they had thought of that possibility.

[Blastbeard]

So what happens when if when if elves start to qualify as an endangered species?

[GavJ]

So what happens when if when if elves start to qualify as an endangered species?

What happens is that I pray Armok has mercy on their souls.

...But then Armok probably won't anyway. Because they're elves.

[Zavvnao]

I realize this was a bad suggestion already.

[Scoops Novel]

I realize this was a bad suggestion already.

I like it.

[Blastbeard]

I realize this was a bad suggestion already.

I like it.

Anything that distracts the Green Menace from Tree Jihading all over everything is a good idea in my book. It just doesn't feel... Elfy, in the DF sense.
 You need to realize we're dealing with an extreme case of Our Elves Are Different. The elves we have now in Dwarf Fortress aren't your typical tolkenien supermodels, or Blizzard's glowy-eyed fanfiction fodder. These are Keebler Elves from hell that make cookies from your giblets if you so much as look at a tree funny. They don't care about the woodland critters, they just care about the woodlands. Killing and devouring every sapient creature on the planet is perfectly justifiable for them if it's in the defense of their precious trees. They've done it many times before and they're going to continue to do so at every opportunity.

The behavior you've suggested is very elfy, it's just not the DF forest elf's particular idiom at the moment. If their methods ever change, this should definitely be a thing. It's already partially supported, there's an ethics value for killing animals no vanilla civ uses. It would be neat to see another race of elves that values animal life over plant life, and protects endangered species as you've described. Better still if they get into wars with the original elves over which is more valuable, pants or animals. Elves killing elves for me would be great.

[Zavvnao]

I just thought of it when Toby talked about populations coming form pools.