I never said change policy at a whim, none of this is or has been quick.
No, you did not say at a whim, I did. Because that's what it would be; when you met Cornwall in the street, he was very clear that his way was the right way. Totally unsolicited, he called Lin "pitiful", presumed that you'd make her get breast implants if only you weren't too poor to afford them, and was legitimately horrified that she spoke without being spoke to. In point of fact, he assumes she's mentally challenged; it was just before the choice to punch him that you're not allowed to follow through on. Going from that attitude to instituting full rights for elves after only a few in-game months is essentially acting on a whim.
You said none of this has been quick, but it actually has been. For three hundred years, elves had no rights at all; Cornwall is the one who gave them their current grab-bag of rights, according to Runey. Cornwall is in his mid fifties, and there is no way he was in a position to give the elves rights when he was in his twenties; let's be really generous and say he was mid-thirties. A species going from "no rights at all" to "full rights on par with humans" in twenty years is shockingly quick.
Sylvia was not stolen from him, she ran, got captured again, and we legally bought her.
I didn't say she was stolen from him; I said she is stolen property. There's an important distinction between the two, legally speaking, though I acknowledge that the distinction might be a little unclear for people without a legal education, and I probably should have been more clear. Mea culpa. Stolen property is property unlawfully taken from its rightful owner; Cornwall is her rightful owner, and she unlawfully fled from him.
Cornwall never gave up his ownership of Sylvia; she was a slave, who ran away from her legal owner. That means he remains her legal owner. No half-way sensible legal system would say "your slave ran away, so it's not yours anymore, so we're going to re-sell it" - that would be absurd. The MC gave the government money in exchange for Sylvia, yes, but only because no-one knew she was an escaped slave; the MC did not legally purchase her, because she wasn't in a position to legally be sold.
Remember the kidnap event? Their plan involves the HHI, a program for unclaimed elves; only they're not unclaimed elves, they're runaways. Not the same thing, and they know it; they presented themselves to the HHI under false pretenses. Nia literally says "Once Cornwall finds us, it's over".
Think of it this way; if your pet runs away, gets picked up and re-sold, and you can prove it was yours, guess who gets to keep the pet. Now imagine that was a one-of-a-kind pet, and the property of an important government official. Who do you think the law would side with in that situation?
The problem, of course, is that Runey hasn't actually explained how this system works, and hasn't thought it through all that well. As an example, an elf goes to the HHI, says they're unclaimed, and the HHI doesn't check they're telling the truth? Sylvia was absolutely claimed, by Cornwall, but no-one thought to verify her story? Nia also says "The HHI keeps everything a secret, so he won't know we chose you," but how exactly do they keep the elves owner secret, while also requiring all elves to have a registered owner?
As for changing the rights of the elves, that is a slow process that could take many years, but it is due to his influence that it happened.
I'm well aware of that, and I think I may have even mentioned it during this discussion. But he pushed for legislation for the rights he thought appropriate, that doesn't mean he'd push any further. There is a world of difference between "they're living things which shouldn't be needlessly abused" and "they're a sapient species equally worthy of respect and rights as humans". Again, go play Lin's story event where you first meet him, and then ask yourself if that person deciding that elves deserve to be included under HH's equivalent of the UDHR seems plausible? Is it possible it'll happen in the game? Absolutely, but it'd be a shockingly sudden change of opinion on his part.
I never said we could use our power to suddenly declare elves have full rights, but we have enough pull to get Ren, which is all I ever said, not sure where you are getting there rest of this.
My apologies if I misunderstood you, but what you said was "This is exactly why, as they gain more rights, her best interests should be considered as well". Who is the "they" in that scenario, who you expect to gain more rights, if not elves in general? If you meant some other hypothetical group gaining more rights, please correct me, but I think my conclusion that you were referring to elves gaining more rights was a reasonable one. And you clearly expect it to happen in the timeframe of the game, or you wouldn't bring it up in a discussion on how to get Mrs. Rin.
How did Lin remain a virgin? A combination of luck and cute looks
A nice theory, but also not true. Lin remained a virgin because Runey said she did. The end. Runey has said, blatantly, that it's not a realistic idea, it's just the one he wanted, because he thinks virginity is hot. That's not supposition on my part; he has literally said that.
I'm not sure you've understood my point, and perhaps I'm not being as clear as I think I am. I'm not saying these things cannot be included in the story; I'm saying they're not realistic. Can they happen in Runey's story? Of course they can, because he controls the narrative. But he cannot change how plausible they are. In the same vein, the MCs grandfather was apparently able to accidentally create a sentient robot, despite having no real technical aptitude, but no-one else in the entire world has? One individual managed it, while the rest of the entire robotics industry on the planet hasn't, in nearly thirty years? Is it what happened in HH? Yes, it is. Is it realistic? God, no. Did it make for a touching story? I'd say so, yes.
Unlikely as it is, it's far from impossible.
I didn't say it was impossible, I said it wasn't very realistic, and it sounds to me like you agree with me. Though we disagree that it's "far from impossible"; personally, I'd say it's pretty close to impossible. It's tremendously implausible that someone could go three hundred years in the slave trade without being abused by someone; perhaps not one of her owner, but certainly someone involved in the trade. Women in the real world slave trade, either the modern one or the one centuries ago, would be lucky to go a year without it happening, because people are terrible, and slavers are especially so.
