Half-elves

Those who dwell between two worlds

Half-elves are people forever destined to walk the tightrope between the worlds of humans and elves. Often born of mixed pairings and capricious trysts on both sides, these children are rarely wanted or indeed truly cared for by their parents unless they come from societies that don’t frown upon such offspring. However, monolithic elven or human societies tend to discard them to fend for themselves in worst cases, or simply treat them with disinterest and neglect at best.

Due to their upbringing, young half-elves often learn to swim the currents of social relations with expertise that comes to seem almost natural to others, helped in no small part by their normally exotic appeal. This often casts them in the role of mediators between all other races except for their own parent races – as then each side tends to feel convinced that the half-elf is working for the other.

by Matt Duckett

The stigma of their birth often casts a permanent shade upon existential thoughts of a half-elf, which would sometimes drive them away to become outcasts or hermits in worst cases. The worst among them can be vindictive and sombre, feelings often aimed towards their parents or one or both of their parent races. Otherwise, they would band together in larger communities, inclusive of their and similar kinds for mutual protection and progress, and very often rising to leadership roles in such mixed commonwealths.

Individually, half-elves are often at odds with themselves, yet outwardly charming and amiable. Half-elves seem able to excel in many skills and attributes of both elves and humans if properly nurtured, though it is rare to find such cases. Moreover, one of the main conflicts they face is the one of longevity – them being a race with a longer lifespan than humans, yet much shorter than elves. Therefore, half-elves look to form bonds with others and find families of their own outside of the normal family units that “normal” races favour. Their guild, organization, party, or unit – those are the bonds that such a half-elf would value as much as a regular person would their own true family.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Half-elves combine features of both humans and elves to varying degrees. It is often said that a half-elf will inherit the best features of their parents, and in many cases that almost seems to be true.

Genetics and Reproduction

Due to intricacies of their mixed parentage between two species from different worlds, half-elves are most often born sterile, despite their sexual organs being able to fully develop and function. There were rare cases of successful conceptions involving half-elves, but it is considered that around 9 out of 10 of them are simply completely unable to successfully procreate.

Growth Rate & Stages

Half-elves grow and mature at varying rates, but in all cases considerably closer to humans than to elves. Typically, a half-elf child will reach puberty between ages 14 and 16, and fully mature between ages 25 and 35.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

by Tara Phillips

Half-elves inherit many of the angular facial features of their elven ancestry, while males also inherit the capability of growing thicker facial hair from their human side. Their eyes are slightly slanted, though not to the same degree as those of elves; and the same is the case with the shape of their ears too. Their skin, hair and eye colours run the full gamut inherited from their parentage.