With regard to dialog, I'm really not interested in the difference between common, desert, dark, and drow elves. I don't care that they created pyramids without metal tools. I skim through the elf lore as quickly as possible. I wasn't going to say anything, but there were a couple of things that bothered me with the v11 dialog.
The first was minor. I didn't appreciate being lectured about what a horrible person I am for owning a slave when I had no say in it. Kali pointed out that Lin is happy. I could have mentioned the fact that I offered to free Lin, but she didn't want to be freed. I could have defended myself a little bit. Lin is with me by choice, and I disagree with slavery, but I left most of their criticism unchallenged.
You're free to skip that story, I give the player two options to ignore the history. Did you not see this? Did this appear too late for you? I'm just trying to figure out the issue here.
Vanessa is very aware that you can't simply free an elf in this system, she just assumed you didn't inherit your elf, and she looked like a dumb ass for it.
The second is a bit more fundamental. Until now, I had mostly thought of the elf slave trade as an allusion to the African slave trade. v11 was all about elf accomplishments before humans arrived, so it's now abundantly clear that the elves represent American aboriginal people and their pre-Columbian accomplishments. They even talked about pyramids, which is an allusion not to ancient Egypt, but to the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Inca. The human discovery of elvish lands is an allusion to the European discovery of the New World. The moral lesson is not so much about slavery as colonization and the treatment of aboriginal people. Great. But now that the link has been made clear, it has also become offensive. The elves weren't conquered just because humans showed up with superior weapons and technology. It has been mentioned throughout the game that elves aren't as intelligent as humans. I had thought, as the story progressed, it would be revealed that elves are not actually inferior to humans; humans simply believed it to be the case because the elves were behind in technological development when humans arrived, and because they spoke a different language and worshipped the wrong god. Slavery proponents in the US had argued that Africans were an inferior breed because they were less intelligent, which was obvious because they couldn't read and write (because slaves didn't go to school) or had come from societies that didn't worship Jesus, etc. While I was teaching Lin to drive, she explained that a consequence of elvish longevity is delayed development. It's now canon that elves are slower learners than humans. There is scientific merit to the assertion that elves are inferior to humans. Now all of this elvish lore and exploration of the ethics of slavery has come back to bite you. If elves are an analog for African slaves or American aboriginal people, then you've effectively just said that those people were conquered by white people because they were an inferior breed. You can't "this is just a fantasy game -- there's no human analog for the elves" out of this one any more. The v11 lore creates a strong link between the elves and Mesoamerican societies. The lore has gone from being a distraction from the porn to something actually political, and the political statement is condemnable.
You found the dots, but incorrectly connected them.
I take a lot of inspiration from the real world. "Write what you know" is a big part of my philosophy as a writer. The Capitol is a mix of Paris and Vatican City, very european-esque.
Syl'anar takes inspiration from both the Americas and Australia, with the struggle of foreign oppressors abundantly clear in the story here.
But here's the thing... Elves aren't human. They're a completely different genus, and it's also clear Drow are more like neanderthals. This story is about what would happen if humans didn't enslave their own race, but found a new species to take it out on, with all the bullshit justifications the people in power can come up with, like "all humans should be treated equally" being argued FOR elvish slavery, when those words were clearly meant to say "Treat all equally". I don't know if this is the first time you're hearing about fantasy races, but each race has their own perks and downsides. Dwarves for example have low light vision. Elves live longer. Orcs are stronger. Etc etc. Dwarves also take inspiration from nordic areas, and elves take inspiration from native american tribes, typically. (there's some controversy over Goblins taking after jews, but I don't want to get into that, I hope that isn't the case)
The elves weren't conquered just because humans showed up with superior weapons and technology. It has been mentioned throughout the game that elves aren't as intelligent as humans.
This specifically has faulty logic, humans showed up with superior weapons and technology
because they're slower than humans. If you imagine this as a strategy game, humans develop tech at 2x the speed, but are less skilled. This is much different from comparing humans to humans. All humans have the exact same traits generally speaking.
It's also stated in the game that elves would actually make MUCH better leaders than humans. It's not that they're less intelligent, it's that they're slower. They grow slower, they learn slower. A 20 year old human would be able to do more than a 20(300) year old elf. But that elf can live for thousands of years and easily outcompete any human alive. This is the trade off. There is also scientific evidence of elves being better at things than humans, like with seeing in the dark, and obviously living longer.
Elves aren't inferior to humans, or superior. That's the point of this story point. They're just different. But they should be treated equally regardless. Even with the differences. The connection between elves and natives is just that. Elves are natives to their own land, as much as native americans and aboriginals are. I'm not comparing any race to Elves. Elves are of all colors, just like humans. The biggest difference here is that Elves are an entirely different biological genus, and the story revolves around that.
I'm not really sure how you found those connections you came up with, but one of the biggest stories in this world is fighting for elvish freedom, and treating them with equality. Why didn't you focus on any of that?