A I: Wingless Elves

Written by Neons-Mindrealm

Wingless Elves
Immortal Hybrids of Alterna I: The Lands of Paradise

Origins:

The Wingless Elves, or just Wingless for short, are rare hybrid offsprings of couples that consist of both a human and elven partner, but are not guaranteed outcomes of their mixed procreation.
As most of the time, when a Human and Elf copulate, their offspring will either be a pure-blooded Elf or Human, depending on which of the two has the more dominant genes.
Only when the genes of both parents share an indistinguishable dominance, the two will mix together and allow for a Wingless to be born.

Current Habitat:

Given their dual ancestry of both human and elven nature, Wingless are mostly living in either the human Town or their settlements. But in some rarer cases also try to share a home with their elven parent in the village of Elves, where they are forced to blend in with the other pure-blooded Elves and hide their human side as best they can.
Since most Elves still see their relationship to Humans as deeply scarred, many Wingless also decide to live on their own in seclusion, either in a small hut or cave, to not risk having their elven parent be found out of having an intimate relationship with a Human.

Average Size / Height:

Much like Humans and Elves alike, Wingless average a height of around 1.6 to 1.8 meters tall.

Diet:

Similar to most sentient races of Narcana, Wingless also count as omnivores who dine on both meat and plant-based foods.
Other than their elven ancestors, however, Wingless do tend to be a bit more curious about the consumption of meats, and do not try to actively avoid hunting, but are more on par with their human side regarding that aspect.

Physical Appearance:

At a first glance, indistinguishable from the elven race, the body of a Wingless is like nearly any other sentient race of Narcana based on a bipedal structure.
With a torso holding most of their bodies vital organs, two legs that are slightly longer than their two arms, and a single head, housing a well-developed brain.
Just like Elves, they also possess pointy, elongated ears, and share the same fast yet efficient metabolism that Elves have, leading most Wingless to have a more slender figure as well.
The one optical aspect that does differentiate them from their elven ancestors is their lack of ethereal wings. Which, no matter how hard they train in the art of Channeling, will never be able to be manifested.
But since elven wings aren't omnipresent, and only come forth if they channel great amounts of arcanic energies or essence, their lack of wings might never be truly noticed in any casual encounters.

Behavior and Social Structure:

Caught between the world of Humans and Elves, Wingless often tend towards a longing for seclusion. And often distance themselves from creating long-lasting social bonds with anyone.
Since in the world of Elves, it would only be a matter of time until they would eventually be found out as a mixed blooded being. And have both them and their elven parent be at risk of being driven out of the elven village for the intimate relation that led to their existence.
Whilst in the world of Humans, they would only be seen as Elves incapable of their most defining talent of channeling the arcanic breath of the Spirits, and more often than not, be mocked for their weakness.
Still, despite the downgrading treatment of Humankind, roughly around half of the Lands' Wingless prefer living in either the human Town or their settlements over the village of Elves. Where they mostly show a rather cold, or in some cases, even aggressive behavior towards those who approach them.
With the majority of the other half having chosen to inhabit either a small hut of their own or a cave out in the Lands' many biomes, to hide their existence from the world's eyes.

Role in the Food Chain:

With their limited channeling capacities, similar to those of Humans, as well as their fast metabolisms, that hinder their muscle build up, Wingless are neither exceptionally capable of Channeling, like Elves are, nor bulky enough for heavy physical combat like Humans.
But with the elven blessing of timeless immortality, as well as their highly sensitive ears, and humanoid instincts for survival and hunting, many Wingless who travel the Lands are known for utilizing very strategic and cunning fighting styles.
For which they use their abundance of time to sharpen their senses, and master the art of stealth, patience, agility, and ranged physical combat, to compensate for their lack of brute force or arcane strength.
Like with the reliance on stealth to effectively sneak up on single targets and end a fight before it has even begun.
The graceful dance with lightweight blades to swiftly strike down enemies while evading their attacks.
Or the deadly precision of a longbow, to pierce a foe's heart without giving them a chance to even fight back.

Special Abilities and unique Physical Traits:

Similar to the strong resolve of Humankind, Wingless also tend to not let themselves be put down easily by natural flaws or incapabilities, and are not afraid to seek out aid in the form of ancient or unknown powers. As long as it could result in the achievement of their goals.
Most of the time, Wingless also appear to be focusing their minds on just one single goal alone, and spend their abundance of time to truly accelerate in it.
With the majority of Wingless choosing to sharpen their already sensitive senses even further, enabling them to be able to accurately pinpoint the location of a specific sound within a roughly 80-meter radius.
Or in a closer proximity, even allowing them to see purely through sound alone.
Another thing about Wingless is that even though they are able to copulate with both Humans and Elves, a pair of two Wingless is not able to procreate.
And has to rely on a pure-blooded race in order to achieve the creation of a new life.

Additional Insights:

It is believed that due to the Elves close connection to the Spirits, Wingless are not only a possible offspring of a human and elven couple, but a natural experimentation by the Spirits to create a new form of life. And that the potential would be there for Elves to mix their genes with any kind of sentient race, resulting in the possibility of a vast variety of Wingless with different body shapes and ethnicities.
But since Elves on Narcana were for the longest time worshiped as a race of demigods among mortals, no one ever dared to defile their kind with any thoughts of impure acts.
Which is why many believe that the Wingless on the Lands are not only the first but also the sole representatives of their mixed blooded kind.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• A I: Elves
• A I: Humans