Half-Elf

Basic Information

Anatomy

Half-elves are bipedal four-limbed creatures with two arms and two legs. The general structure of their physiologies is thus similar to their parent races, humans and elves, though the combination causes half-elves to have a wider variety of body types across the board than either of the former.

Biological Traits

The sheer variation of half-elf appearance and physiology makes them one of the best examples of a true hybrid race. More long-lived than humans, yet less so than elves, half-elves can expect to live up to their second century. They are typically taller than their elven kin but do not have the same variation of height as humans. Half-elves are neither as slender or bulky as humans, though males tend to be heavier and taller than females.

Genetics and Reproduction

Half-elves can reproduce with most other humanoid species. However, to produce other half-elves, they would have to reproduce with either humans, elves, or half-elves. Half-elves mating with elves is guaranteed to produce half-elves; in extremely rare cases where a half-elf has particularly prominent elven ancestry, a half-elf paired with an elf may produce an elf. Half-elves with other half-elves most often produce half-elves, though on occasion can produce human offspring. Half-elf and human pairings have been pegged to have a fifty percent chance of producing either a half-elf or human.
As with other humanoid races, females carry the offspring after mating. Half-elven gestation periods prove somewhat of a middle ground between their parent races, averaging at about twelve months. As a result, half-elven and human pairings may have some indication of their offspring's race using signs of the mother's physical progress during the pregnancy.

Ecology and Habitats

Half-elves have been credited with an adaptability and flexibility that has, debatably, trumped both humans and elves. With their mixed lineage, half-elves will often encounter more varied environments. As an intelligent species, they can manipulate the resources provided to them by the environment and subsequently change their surroundings to suit their own purposes. Like humans and elves, half-elves can eventually set up a subsistent chain of food supply and storage.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Half-elves are ordinarily omnivores, meaning they can consume both plants and meat. However, their specific preference for diets would rely on lifestyles and perhaps whether they have primarily lived in human or elven society. Like their parent races, they can hunt or forage for their sustenance as well as ensure its safety with enough material and technological advancement.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

With true hybrids, half-elves soften the more rugged features of humans with the litheness of their elven ancestry. However, with the possible mixed origins of half-elves (from half-elves breeding with either ancestral race), their appearances may rely on which parent race is more genetically favored. Regardless of the mix, they tend to have ears with pointed tips, though not to the same pronounced extent as full-blooded elves.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Being hybrids, half-elves do not possess homelands in the same sense as their human or elven parents. Half-elves have thus been typically known to inhabit both mainly human and mainly elven societies. However, in some pockets of Varia, less significantly numbered half-elven settlements have appeared

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Half-elves possess the following senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. Whilst they do not have as acute senses as their elven ancestors, they do possess the ability of darkvision, allowing them to see in the dark albeit in the grey spectrum. However, some variations of half-elves can express more developed sensory capabilities.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Half-elves typically take to the naming conventions of the society in which they were socialized in. For example, half-elves in mainly human settlements will more than likely adopt human names whereas half-elves in elven societies would take on more elven names. In the event that a half-elf grows up in a primarily half-elven settlement, they will usually find names to incorporate conventions of elven naming combined with the norm of the surrounding human settlements.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Half-elves generally know the Common of the region in which they were raised, while those exposed to elven culture may know both Common and Elven.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

A hybrid race, half-elves have little to call their own original culture or heritage. Instead, they usually abide by the major celebrations of both humans and elves, though without ever delving too deep into the latter's culture.

Historical Figures

Hana O'lair of The Guardians of Avalon is perhaps one of the most famous half-elves in known history.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

More so than perhaps any race, half-elves possess some of the most genial relations with the denizens of Varia, barring typical quarrels as with the more monstrous humanoids like orcs, goblins, and kobolds. They often gain the same treatment within areas as their elven ancestors, who are generally well received in Varia.
In the north, half-elves receive some more mixed treatment in dwarven societies, where there is no sure way to determine whether the settlement would acknowledge their ire for their elven heritage more so than the mutual respect for humans or vice versa.
Within the Feylands, their status as a hybrid means little within the elven societies there, for elven blood is elven blood. Rather, treatment of half-elves depends more on the subrace, or apparent type, of their elven heritage.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Elf
• Half-Elf
• Human

Genetic Descendants

• Half-Elf

Origin/Ancestry

Half-Elf (High), Half-Elf (Wood), Half-Elf (Dusk)

Lifespan

Two centuries, give or take some decades

Average Height

Five to six feet, with males generally on the taller end of the spectrum.

Average Weight

Males average around 140 lbs. whereas females average around 110 lbs.

Average Physique

Half-elves tend to stand at about the same height as the average human but possess less bulk, with more slender builds akin to elves.