Half-Elf

Basic Information

Anatomy

Half-elves often struggle because to humans, they look like elves, and to elves they look like humans, as half-elves share many of the defining traits which most distinguish the two groups, but also lack certain essential traits of each which make them look somehow off and stand out from humans and elves. 
Half-elves possess neither the robust broadness nor grace  slenderness of elves, typically standing as tall as human peers, but are often noticeably lighter and lither. Half-elves may grow facial hair like their human parents, though often not quite enough to grow a beard as thick as a true human's, but enough to reveal them from the hairless elves. Half-elven eyes tend to share the coloration and dynamism of their elven parentage, but are more human in shape, while half-elven ears are pointed but noticeably shorter than true fae ears.

Genetics and Reproduction

Many believe half-elves to be completely sterile, and has unfortunately led some to label half-elves with the  slur "mules." In fact, this myth emerges from a number of contributing factors, and make the subject of children a difficult one for many half-elves to discuss. As half-elves are naturally conceived from relationships between humans and elves, they are incapable of ever actually producing more half-elves. While it is untrue that half-elves are all sterile, roughly half are (though it is impossible to distinguish between those which are and are not, and the trait tends to appear and disappear at random), and any half-elves who conceive children with humans or elves inevitably produce children who for all intents and purposes are either true-human or true-elven, dependent upon the heritage of the other parent, and half-elves who conceive children with one another (while also being significantly less likely to conceive), only ever produce true-human or true-elven children, though the heritage of the child from such parents seems to be random.
The fact half-elves produce children indistinguishable from children of exclusively human or elven couples further compounds this myth, as it means that many children of half-elves go unrecognized. As many half-elves choose to conceal their identities, this happens surprisingly frequently, since half-elves may conceal their true heritage from all but a select few. In so doing, any children they do have, identical to the true-human or true-elven children of their neighbors, fail to be identified as children of half-elves while also not revealing their parent's true heritage, and thus myths that half-elves cannot have children persist since obvious evidence to the contrary gets frequently overlooked and unidentified.
Aside from all of the mechanical questions surrounding half-elven reproduction, many half-elves make a personal choice not have children, and in doing so tend to reinforce myths about their sterility. This can be especially unfortunate as the myth is so widespread that half-elves without significant contact with other half-elves or well-informed individuals may actually live believing it about themselves. In both human and elven cultures the nature of half-elven souls is a subject of intense debate, and children born to half-elven parents or even the ability or inability to have them are a controversial topic and may be seen as a heavenly boon to a deserving half-elf, a divine endorsement of half-elves in general, the personal failing of a half-elf or lack of worthiness, a divine curse inflicted upon half-elves for their existence, or even a sign they have or might lack a soul. Many half-elves simply prefer to avoid such questions or fear discovering their answers, and as a result forego having children. 
By far though, the most common motivating factor in half-elves decision to not have children stems from the sort of existential loneliness many half-elves face, as even a half-elf's children, as just a human or elf, will be unable to ever truly understand the two worlds their parent walks in and neither the parent nor child can ever fully share one another's perspective. Children of any race also present half-elves with a difficult dilemma and real pragmatic questions. A half-elf with a human child will have to face the real potential prospect of outliving their child, much like any other humans that half-elf forms an especially close bond with. A half-elf with an elven child faces the obstacle of being unable to ever completely care for a true-elven child, being unable to guide them through the process of their meditative trances and reflections. Such guidance is necessary for the child to understand the primal memories an elven child will be flooded with and to associate normally with their peers, while elves who are divorced from this process and lack such guidance invariably end up emotionally scarred and isolated from their peers. In light of all these difficulties, many half-elves choose not to have children.

Growth Rate & Stages

Half-elves grow at the same rate as humans do, and reach adulthood around the age of twenty. Half-elves age far more slowly than humans, and remain youthful and fit far longer, only entering middle age at around a century. However, half-elves also age far more quickly than elves, and while their elven companions may only be entering adulthood around their first century and are still young by their two hundredth, very few half-elves live to see their two hundredth birthday and most begin to experience the deteriorating effects of age well before then, starting to appear old around the middle point of their second century.

Ecology and Habitats

Half-elves live in the same communities as humans and elves and live in the same manner as the surrounding community, although half-elves often tend to live on the periphery and often struggle to feel quite at home in a community of  humans and elves as not quite a member of either group. Depending on the local culture and customs, half-elves may choose to conceal their true identity to avoid social stigma and abuse. In other cases, half-elves find themselves most at home traveling or living independently, seeking their own path distinct from either humans or elves.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Half-elves share much the same dietary needs as humans and elves do, and tend to adopt the dietary habits of whatever community they live within. Occasionally, half-elves have been known to fuse elements of human and elven food to suit their tastes, such as by adding meat to typically vegetarian elven dishes, altering a human recipe with elven flavors, or preparing human or elven dishes using the other's methods or styles.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

To humans, half-elves look like elves, and to elves, half-elves look like humans. Half-elf men develop facial hair, though this is often more like peach fuzz, and sometimes grow beards which help to mask their elven ancestry, and while half-elven ears are as pronouncedly pointed as elven ears, they still feature the distinctive and notable points of elven ears. Half-elves tend to have eyes which look similar to their elven parents, and which to astute observers can occasionally help to distinguish their true parentage.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Worldwide

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

While half-elven senses are not quite as keen as those of elves, nor are they timeless, half-elves benefit in a number of ways from their elven parentage. It is often said that half-elves inherit their elven parent's eyes, and this comes from the fact that like elves, half-elven eyes also are capable of seeing in exceptionally dim or even dark light. Half-elves also seem to possess some of the natural resistance to magic designed to cloud their senses or put them to sleep, but unlike elves require sleep and cannot enter meditative trances the same way elves can.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Half-elves tend to adhere to the naming traditions of the cultures in which they grew up, typically using human names when amongst humans and elven names when amongst elves. Though as they mature, half-elves may choose to take a new name for themselves to either help them better blend into society (such adopting a human name in a human society) or highlight that are unique and choose a name which makes them stand out (such as adopting an elven name in a human society).

Major Organizations

Half-elves have very few formal organizations of their own, aside from those specifically formed to help half-elves feel some greater sense of belonging or to commiserate about shared experiences. Half-elves have no formal lands or kingdoms of their own, but as a result of their ability to get along with everyone, defuse hostility and find common grounds,  half-elves have a tendency to rise to positions of prominence within many major geopolitical organizations. Half-elves are commonly found as key advisors to nobility or states, military leaders, and even play important roles in a number of less-savory organizations due to their ability to easily transition between societies.

Beauty Ideals

Half elves tend to conform to the beauty ideals of the dominant society they live within. Half-elves raised in human cultures tend to share human beauty ideals, while those raised by elves tend to adopt an elvish outlook. Regardless of which side of their ancestry they identify more with, art produced by half-elves or that intended for half-elven audiences almost always features themes about the uniqueness, individuality and self-suffiencieny, or fusion, evolution, and unbound love.

Gender Ideals

Half elves tend not to have much use for gender ideals. Those raised in elven-communities tend to adopt the elves similarly amorphous views on gender, while those in human communities typically find their gender identity is secondary to their heritage and find a certain liberation from human gender norms in simply being "half-elven" and thereby unbound by human gender ideas.

Courtship Ideals

Half-elves often find it difficult to find and maintain long term partnerships for a variety of reasons. The simple stigmatization of half-elves means they are often kept at the fringes of society and never quite accepted and struggle to find romantic partners if exposed as half-elven, and even those half-elves who do find themselves wholly accepted within a community and with a number of potential partners are faced with the uncomfortable issue of potential differences in lifespan and absence of progeny, or even the prospect of concealing their identity, all of which often serve as deterrents to long-term half-elven romantic relationships. Despite this, half-elves often possess a sort of envious fascination towards romance and true love between others, especially between others, as their origins almost invariably involve love transcending normal social divides. This gives half-elves tend to hold a more romantic view of courtship and love. Finally, while half-elves also tend to possess a high degree of charisma and physically appealing features, and so while they may find few opportunities for deep emotional intimacy or romantic relationships, they often experience no shortage of opportunities for physical intimacy or shorter, more emotionally guarded romantic relationships. While amongst both humans and elves courtship tends to be oriented towards finding a long-term partner and might stigmatize short-term trysts or purely physical relationships, half-elves take a much more relaxed approach and are far less judgmental, still holding hopes for such a long-term match but viewing courtship more as a means of alleviating immediate feelings of isolation, loneliness, or a need for physical intimacy.

Relationship Ideals

Half-elves

Average Technological Level

Half-elves tend to share the same technologically level and expertise as the human and elven societies they inhabit, although amongst human societies a half-elven artisan, advisor, or craftsperson may be especially highly valued for their additional years of expertise and wisdom, and many half-elves become true masters of their trade during their lifetime relative to their human peers. While half-elves may not be renowned for any particular technological advancements, they play a crucial role in spreading technological advancements across the world. Half-elves tend to be amongst some of the first adopters of new technology, especially that which is pragmatic and portable, and they will take such technological advances with them far and wide as they travel between societies, thereby disseminating such advancements through their travels and interactions with others.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Half-elves are generally gifted when it comes to languages. Most speak both the common and elven dialects of their parents, and their ability to easily switch between their parents languages with ease also makes them especially adept at picking up other languages, and in fact most half-elves boast the ability to speak at least three languages with proficiency. This natural inclination to be polyglots both emerges from and reinforces half-elves ability to easily transcend normal social divides, even among diverse peoples and cultures.

Common Etiquette Rules

Half-elves tend to adopt the common etiquette of whichever society they grew up within, with half-elves raised by elves tending to share elvish moral outlooks and social norms, while those amongst humans tend to adopt human perspectives.
It should be noted, however, that while half-elves may adhere more to one peoples' standard norms of etiquette than another's, as a rule half-elves tend to be less severe in their judgments of others and to hold others less strictly to these rules of etiquette. This grace tends to derive from half-elves' relative victimization by existing social norms, as well as the fact that lapses in popular etiquette are more common amongst half-elves than for other members of that society, as half-elves may suffer from a degree of culture shock as they transition from culture to culture.

Common Dress Code

Half-elves tend to dress to match the society they live within, often to avoid distinguishing themselves from the general population. Half-elves might also use their manner of dress to help disguise their true heritage, such as wearing a bandana, head wrap, or headband to conceal their ear tips or wearing loose fitting and baggier clothing to conceal their physique and enable them to better blend in or avoid drawing attention. Conversely, some half-elves tend to dress in particulary garish and vibrant colors, seeming to revel in the attention they draw and clearly marking them as apart from the general population.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Half-elven culture is difficult to describe, as in many ways it varies from individual to individual and from place to place. Since half-elves tend not to gather in major communities of their own, and more often assimilate into the dominant culture, this issue is even more pronounced.

Common Taboos

Half-elves share the same broad taboos as other goodfolk, often with special adherence to the general taboos of humans and elves.

History

It is recorded that half-elves were among the first mortal heralds of the Concord, carrying its message of unity to humans and elves, and that half-elves were integral in swaying and assembling the original council of mortal leaders of the goodfolk which actually formalized their pact into the Concordance, thereby laying the social and political foundations of the world today, something especially ironic given that no explicit mention of half-elves ever actually appears in the text of the Concordance amongst the members of the goodfolk. This fact has actually been something of a challenge for half-elves, and is rather characteristic of their treatment. Half-elves are relatively invisible in the historical record when compared to humans, elves, dwarves, the other goodfolk, or even dragonborn, orcs, giants or goblinoids because they lack any formal unity as a group, and half-elves are in the peculiar position of being both a widely recognized species of individuals, while also not truly being a distinct species of their own. Thus they are often underrepresented when compared to the other major species and lack a formal history of their own, generally lumped in with humans or elves where history necessitates their mention.
This is especially unfortunate because no group has had perhaps such as outsized an influence on history as the half-elves, though their greatest accomplishments are often misattributed to humans or elves. In addition to their role in organizing the concordance, half-elves have historically served as excellent advisers, spies, and adventurers. This is in part due to their ability to get along with everyone and exist between worlds, making them perfect ambassadors and go-betweens who possess elven grace without elven aloofness, and human energy without boorishness and tempered by age. As a result, many of history's greatest heroes have been half-elven, with half-elves rising to become accomplished spell casters, graceful diplomats, brilliant generals, and even wise rulers of kingdoms of their own. Despite this, many such figures are misidentified (either accidentally or intentionally by either the figure or later historians) as true humans or elves, and visible distinctions vanish from the bloodlines after only a generation- if they have children at all- and so while distant descent from a half-elven ancestor is surprisingly common, very few families or individuals may be aware of such roots in their family tree, knowing of an ancestor but not knowing they were half-elven. Even if their descendants are not aware of such ancestors, a half-elf's legacy has a tendency to appear in a bloodline through a higher likelihood of spontaneous manifestations of magical abilities in their descendants, perhaps a result of lingering magic in the bloodline from their half-elven ancestor. 
In the present day, half-elves exist between two worlds, simultaneously honored and respected, while also reviled and scorned, forever existing at the edge of societies but never quite a part of them. Half-elves are generally informally recognized as among the "goodfolk" and protected by the concordance as humans and elves, but also exist in a sort of legal gray area as not technically being party to the concordance as neither true humans nor elves, and therefore are not officially included within it in the strictest sense. While many treat half-elves exclusion as a mere oversight, for some, this exclusion is used as an excuse which justifies stigma towards and persecution of half-elves in some societies. As a result, many half-elves choose to conceal their true heritage and blend into the societies in which they live.

Common Myths and Legends

One of the most popular myths among half-elves is the story of the Heroes of the Concordance, in which a half-elf serves as the primary instigator in bringing the various mortal representatives of the goodfolk pantheons together to agree on concrete rules for their treatment of one another.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Humans. "It's almost easy to forget you're not fully human at times, but remembering you're not tends to be painful. Humans will never truly let you forget it. Family, friends, and children will all come and go.
Elves. "Elves are family, but it's easy to feel like the black sheep. They share something special with each other through their trances we're simply not privy to, and it's easy to feel like an outsider when childhood friends are still in the prime of their youth long after age has claimed you."
Dwarves. "Dwarves are fixed in their thinking and traditions, and thus miss out on some of life's greatest pleasures. Still, they're equally stubborn friends, and will be by your side for life as long as you can convince them to come along for the ride."  
Halflings. "One has to envy the halfling's wide families and tight communities. Each person is so

Half-Elf

ability score increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

age: Half-elves mature at the same rate humans do, and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 180 years.

alignment: Half-elves share the chaotic bent of their elven heritage. They value both personal freedom and creative expression, demonstrating neither love of leaders nor desire for followers. They chafe at rules, resent others' demands, and sometimes prove unreliable, or at least unpredictable.

Size: Medium

speed: 30 ft.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and one extra language of your choice.

race features:
Darkvision. Thanks to your elf blood, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades gray. 
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep. 

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Elf
• Human

Lifespan

180 years

Average Height

5 to 6 feet

Average Weight

100-180 lbs.

Average Physique

Half-elves are neither as broad as humans nor as slender as elves, with men only slightly taller and heavier than women.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Half-elven coloration and features tend to lie somewhere between their human and elven parents, and thus show a more pronounced variety of tones and colorations than are typically found among either race.