I have a player who's playing an Elven bard that was born and raised in Kintargo. Given the long lifespan of Elves and how "recent" the civil war and the Silver Ravens were, relatively speaking, does anyone have any suggestions or guidance on how to control what an Elven character would know about? From the way I'm reading it, the Silver Ravens were hardly a secret in their heyday so, even if an elven character could potentially have been a little young at the time, there's definitely the possibility that those characters could have firsthand memories of things going on in that time period. I'm trying to figure out how best to manage access to this sort of information as they progress through the AP but I'm struggling with it a bit as I try to maintain a lot of the mystery/discovery/conspiracy feel the writing seems to encourage.
Memories fade with time. Just go with the usual checks or give the character Breadth of Knowledge as a bonus feat. Hand similar feats out to other characters though, so it's fair.
In my version, the original Silver Ravens ("OSR") had two "eras". The first one was as an ordinary adventure company during the Chelish civil war. There were plenty of other adventure groups at the time in the region, and while the OSR were prominent and did a lot of good in Ravounel, they weren't at all unique.
The second era was after Abrogail Thrune took the throne of Cheliax. The OSR then went underground and transformed into freedom fighters (while the other parties scattered, turned their coats, or just laid down their weapons). This role wasn't as well known as their prior one, and, of course, actively repressed and downplayed by the regime at the time (and not only afterwards).
This take does change the background story as presented, were the OSR are described as very public and more or less open leaders of the city, but suits my group well as they themselves are very clandestine.
If you go for this, your elf PC may have heard the OSR name when they were a child/young as an exciting adventure group (along with others, such as e.g. "Swords of Andos", "The Cleavers", "Red Tower" etc.) but might be surprised when their latter role, heroism, and importance is discovered in the AP.
I have a player who's playing an Elven bard that was born and raised in Kintargo. Given the long lifespan of Elves and how "recent" the civil war and the Silver Ravens were, relatively speaking, does anyone have any suggestions or guidance on how to control what an Elven character would know about? From the way I'm reading it, the Silver Ravens were hardly a secret in their heyday so, even if an elven character could potentially have been a little young at the time, there's definitely the possibility that those characters could have firsthand memories of things going on in that time period. I'm trying to figure out how best to manage access to this sort of information as they progress through the AP but I'm struggling with it a bit as I try to maintain a lot of the mystery/discovery/conspiracy feel the writing seems to encourage.
What if the character has heard the stories but it was folklore. His mother used to regale him with stories before bed of a silver raven that used to sing the sweetest song and would calm the animals of the forest. You can add in a few more metaphorical characters or situations from the past. It is not until the events of the AP and the true history is discovered that the PC realizes the truth of the stories his mother would tell him.
This may not work for your game, but I (like a lot of other GM's) ignore starting ages and maturity speeds.
If you're an Elf then you're still 20ish like everyone else, you've just got a lovely long lifespan ahead of you. Otherwise you get into the whole strangeness of 30 year old elven toddlers, or 125 year old Rangers who for some weird reason haven't managed to progress past 1st level or pick up any meaningful skills.
Plus just have a chat with the player. Explain that one of the Campaign themes is the fact that Cheliax supresses its history so many people are unsure what actually happened, so for narrative reasons it would work better if his character didn't have an in-depth personal knowledge of Kintargo's past.
Most decent players will nod and work with you on making it make sense.