The Elves are Dying Out

[Michael Hopcroft]

I'm in the process of designing a Fantasy HERO campaign, with real players and everything, and I'm trying to do a little world-building. I made things a little bit easier on myself by choosing to adapt the map from a map I found of mid-Renaissance Italy. But I'm trying to figure out how to fit in the Elves, especially the way I wanted to do it.

 

Once the Elves controlled the entire Mediterranean area, building a vast and shining empire. Then, a thousand years ago, came what they refer to as Calamitas: the women of the elves stopped giving birth. It has now been about a thousand years since a full-blooded Elf has been born in Europe.

 

Even with virtual immortality, the race has been shrinking ever since. The only territory still ruled by Elves is when the Papal States were on our Earth. Even there the population is at least 95% human, with the remaining elves making up a small minority. It is estimated that only a few thousand full-blooded elves reside in Europe. Their only progeny has been the product of unions with human women -- there are a lot of people with some Elvish blood as a result of thousands of years of interbreeding (usually illegitimately, as it is very rare for a long-lived elf to actually marry an ephemeral human).

 

Now I'm just trying to work out what this does to the culture of Italy and how it will affect my player-characters.

[djkester]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

I'd suggest a series of false beliefs about Elves in the current population would be in order. Things that are said about them... Also, because they are barren there should be something of fear in the population of whatever happened to the elves effecting people.

 

Finally, I'd suggest a transformation in the local Heros and Gods. old Temples and stuff that are abandoned and discarded as belief in the Elves has faded with their populations.

[megaplayboy]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Well, you'll have a lot of people claiming elvish heritage, for one thing, since they're quasi-nobility. You'll probably have to work out what the Elven women are doing, too.

[薔薇語]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Perhaps in the areas with strong Elvish influence, the population still clings to the idea of Elf lords, but what of the surrounding areas? The Elvish kingdom is amiss and but a shadow of itself. Their bloodline cursed into eternity. Perhaps this is used as reason to fear interbreeding and even fuels sentiments of "racial superiority" based purely on breeding potential. Maybe even stories of how Elves have fallen so low that the "unions" between them and man conjures up more images of savagery and brutalization than elegant trysts in the woods.

 

And what of the women? Sure, in the first year or so of the even, no one would know what was going on. After a few years pass, it would seem that it would become well known knowledge that the curse/what have you is only affecting the women of the population. What kinds of things would come of this? Would they be seen as blighted and in need of expulsion? Would there be stories of "women have fallen and are dragging us unto hell with them!"

 

What of the idea that it isn't a purely female issue, but one of intra-species breeding. Elves can only breed with non-elves. If so, are there racial differences between women born vs male sired? Does this generate cultural identity issues?

 

Best of Luck

 

La Rose

-of note, I killed off all elves in my first DnD game. So I approve of this move!

[Escafarc]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

La Rose

-of note, I killed off all elves in my first DnD game. So I approve of this move!

 

I approve too. In my fantasy world in which I've used with a number of different systems over the years(starting with D&D now Fantasy HERO), I got rid of all non-humans. The elves left to travel other planes, the dwarves died out,the haflings were killed off by a magical plague, and the gnomes just vanished. Only just recently have the elves returned after being corrupted by the elder worms which also was the return of "Psionics" to the campaign.

[Vondy]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Let us not fail to consider the ramifications of the excessively long tenure of Pope Elrond Borgia.

[Barwickian]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Let us not fail to consider the ramifications of the excessively long tenure of Pope Elrond Borgia.

 

Is he the elf who went on to become Elrond Hubbard?

[Alverant]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

One question that would come up is what caused Calamitas both in terms of what they think caused it and what really caused it. (Remember just because you know the answer doesn't mean it's right.) There could be several theories behind it. If the elves consider it divine punishment, they may consider bizarre ways to regain divine favor. Likewise humans may think God is striking down the elves to make way for Man and the sooner the last elf dies, the sooner Man can rule. I also imagine that the ruling elves would have sponsored exploration forces around the world looking for a cure and/or more elves. That raises the question of if there are elves in Asia or the Americas and if so, did the Calamitas happen there too. It could be that Calamitas is a disease harmless to humans which would make such explorers carriers for the plague. That would make the elves in the rest of the world quarantining the campaign setting (and maybe considering how to wipe it out to save themselves).

 

I imagine any cure scams would have come and gone ages ago but hope springs eternal. Given how the culture in the real world during that time treated women, I wonder if all the human/elf pairings were elven male with human female. The idea of a female elf mating with a human might be so offensive to them that it was never even considered. If such a pairing could produce a child, it would mean there wasn't a problem with either elven gender individually and instead the problem would be with both.

 

Also I think medical science would have advanced more here than in the real world as the elves attempt to find a cure.

[Enforcer84]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

I approve too. In my fantasy world in which I've used with a number of different systems over the years(starting with D&D now Fantasy HERO)' date=' I got rid of all non-humans. The elves left to travel other planes, the dwarves died out,the haflings were killed off by a magical plague, and the gnomes just vanished. Only just recently have the elves returned after being corrupted by the elder worms which also was the return of "Psionics" to the campaign.[/quote']

 

I killed off the Humans.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

I was wondering whether the proliferation of half-breed elves has given any of the elves with a more 'manufacturing' bent to consider whether they might breed a true elf from the half elves. To find a way of bringing together the gene pairs with some magickal manipulations. It would be statistically possible for two half breeds to produce a full blood elf but possibly extremely unlikely. However, the elves that emerge might prove free of the affliction after being strained through the human gene pool.

 

I would say those with magic use are possibly elven in some way and there may be artefacts that provide power to human mages that bring that elvish heritage to the fore. There will be people monitoring the use of these artefacts - waiting for the more powerful to become apparent and then to be 'cultivated' for the programme....

 

Elf-Files - the Truth is out there.

 

I also have in my head magickal places and rituals that work due to the continued use by elves over millennia. Some of these rituals and places may be beginning to lose power due to the retreat of the elves and their diminution in numbers. Strongholds may weaken and fall while previously bound monstrosities may be unleashed.

 

I am beginning to think a Fall of the Elvenkind campaign might be an interesting one!!

 

 

 

Doc

[Steve]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

If spellcasting is tied to elven blood, it would explain how a small minority could still maintain power. Also, requiring a certain amount of elven blood to wield magic gives a certain flavor to spellcasting and ties the end of magic to the end of elvenkind.

 

If that's the case, elves and human-elf crossbreeds form a magic-wielding nobility. And if purity of bloodline becomes an issue for magical power, inter-marriages among the "elfbloods" to maintain magical ability will attain more importance.

 

Certain bloodlines could also emphasize certain types of magic over others. Maybe one noble house is gifted at fire magic, but they're getting a little inbred and might think about capturing an elf or two to use as "breeding stock" to refresh the bloodlines.

[Tom Carman]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

If spellcasting is tied to elven blood, it would explain how a small minority could still maintain power. Also, requiring a certain amount of elven blood to wield magic gives a certain flavor to spellcasting and ties the end of magic to the end of elvenkind.

 

If that's the case, elves and human-elf crossbreeds form a magic-wielding nobility. And if purity of bloodline becomes an issue for magical power, inter-marriages among the "elfbloods" to maintain magical ability will attain more importance.

 

Certain bloodlines could also emphasize certain types of magic over others. Maybe one noble house is gifted at fire magic, but they're getting a little inbred and might think about capturing an elf or two to use as "breeding stock" to refresh the bloodlines.

 

For an idea of what this might look like, check out Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels, particular the "Ages of Chaos" ones. Of course that was breeding for psionics not magic but "po-tay-to, po-tah-to", y'know.

[Steve]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Actually, the more I think about it, you could get something a little like Harry Potter's approach to magic.

 

Since elves can't breed together anymore, a "pureblood" would be a human/elf hybrid or maybe a half-elf/elf hybrid. A family descended from half-elf/elf hybrids could be about as pure as you could get. Maybe trying to breed a half-elf/elf hybrid and an elf won't work. The hybrid half-elf/elf is as close as you can get to a pure elf blood. More elven blood in the mix triggers the infertility issue.

 

Families of near-elf blood (half-elves breeding with elves or the descendants of such cross-breedings having children together) are the purebloods.

 

Half-bloods would be your basic elf-human crossbreeds.

 

Lesser bloodlines would be the result of half-elves breeding with humans. It could be that magic only requires a little elven blood to work.

 

If humans can breed with elven women, you could get elven women who do desire a child seducing mortals.

[Lucius]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

so what's the lifespan of Elves?

 

If they literally don't age, and especailly if they're resistant to things like disease, they could be dying out verrrrryyyyy slllooooowlyyyyyy

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wonders who else is around besides Elves and Humans

[megaplayboy]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

so what's the lifespan of Elves?

 

If they literally don't age, and especailly if they're resistant to things like disease, they could be dying out verrrrryyyyy slllooooowlyyyyyy

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wonders who else is around besides Elves and Humans

 

Well, one assumes they've always had a low fertility rate(else they'd overrun the planet) and that the usual way in which they kick the bucket involves the usual suspects(suicide, homicide, accident and warfare). Presumably warfare would gradually become something to be avoided at all costs by elves, since it could kill off lots of them without any chance of replacement.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

so what's the lifespan of Elves?

 

If they literally don't age, and especailly if they're resistant to things like disease, they could be dying out verrrrryyyyy slllooooowlyyyyyy

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wonders who else is around besides Elves and Humans

 

Well, one of the players wants a dwarf, which is why I'm not doing a human-only campaign.

 

Elves live a VERY long time. The pureblood elves that survive are all at least one thousand years old. Half-elves have about a normal human lifespan (unlike in some settings where they gain elven longevity).

[Steve]

Re: The Elves are Dying Out

 

Well, one of the players wants a dwarf, which is why I'm not doing a human-only campaign.

 

Elves live a VERY long time. The pureblood elves that survive are all at least one thousand years old. Half-elves have about a normal human lifespan (unlike in some settings where they gain elven longevity).

 

Well, if elves have just under full immunity to aging, but they are able to live for over two thousand years, then a good portion of them might have grown to adulthood as the last elven children and could have a very different view of relations with humans than the older elves.

 

Certain elves could also treat humans as a form of animal husbandry in an attempt to preserve some aspect of elves for the future. With a thousand years, that's fifty generations of humans. In that time, an elf could have quite the experiment in eugenics.