Post by Sofia on Mar 23, 2014 1:38:54 GMT 1
The elves that appear in this game are based on the ElfQuest comics by Wendy and Richard Pini. The comics are available online for free, just follow that link.
The elves in this Holt will be from different worlds, descendants from different High Ones and raised in different tribes. What they have in common are pointed ears, large eyes, four fingers on each hand and that they all have High Ones as their ancestors.
The High Ones were a space traveling species with great powers (telekenisis, pyrokenisis, telepathy, etc.). The exact details vary from Holt to Holt, but the High Ones land or crash on a planet and take on the shape of elves for some reason or other (usually to impress the local humans). They get cut off from their spaceship and must adapt to their new homeworld, while their powers fade, leaving only a few descendants able to use them, calling their powers 'magic'.
Elves can have all skin, hair and eye colors that humans have, plus violet/purple eyes. Any 'unnatural' colors for these features will have to be backed up by adaption logic (i.e. sea-elves could have green hair or skin to blend in with the seaweed they live among) and usually some flesh-shaping by a healer.
Reproduction
Elves generally reproduce through Recognition - i.e. two elves suddenly learn each other's soul names and feel the overwhelming urge to mate with each other (unlike when they become soul siblings, which involves the sudden exchange of soul names but no mating urge). Recognition can seem "random" as elves can't control who they Recognize. Recognition also doesn't happen very often - it's not unusual for stable elf tribes to go decades without new children being added to the tribe. If a tribe 'stagnates', with death becoming a rarity, Recognition can temporarily stop all together until change happens.
Elves can reproduce without Recognition. For some tribes (i.e. the canon Wolfriders) such a thing is rare, while for others (i.e. the canon Go-Backs) it's more common than Recognition, all depending on the way of life the elves lead. A healer can also 'help along' a couple wishing to have children, though this is something that takes a lot of energy out of a healer and isn't always a success.
Animal-blooded elves
These are the only elves who die of age, but few actually do that. When you can live to be more than 1 000 years (maybe even more than 2 000) dying of old age is a slim chance. Thus, most animal-bloods have no idea that they can age to the point of dying, like other creatures do.
To mix animal and elf, one of said elves' distant (or recent) ancestors has to have been a Shapechanger, who've taken on animal form and given life to a half-elf.
Elves who have animal-blood usually show their animal ancestry through both physical appearance (i.e. wolf-blooded elves have sharper teeth than purebloods and the males grow beards aka 'face-fur' when they get near 500 years of age) their actions (i.e. howling, growling) and their culture (i.e. living in "The Now of Wolf Thought").
Should two different animal bloods (say a lynx-blood and a wolf-blood) have a child together, that child will have both bloods (lynx/wolf-blooded), but one will be dominant (in this case, they could only bond with lynx or wolves, not both). When that child in turn has a child, maybe with a third kind of animal-blooded elf, they only pass on one of their own animal-bloods; usually the dominant one, but the elf's player gets to decide (i.e. lynx/wolf-blooded + fox-blooded -> lynx/fox-blood or wolf/fox-blood, where one will be dominant).
Bond-friends, i.e. animals with elf-blood, live an average lifespan of 40-50 years, unless killed in an accident (or if they naturally have longer lifespans, like turtles).
Age: children 0-14 years, youths 15-99 years, adults 100-499 years, elders 500-1 000 years, ancients 1 000+ years
Height: Animal-blooded elves are generally much shorter than their High One ancestors. What animal they share blood with also affects their height.
Example, wolf-blooded elves: short 3'6"-3'8", average 3'9"-3'11", tall 4'-4'2".
Pureblooded elves
These elves are immortal when it comes to age, but they're not invulnerable.
Age and appearance can be tricky with immortal elves. An immortal who’s 4000 years old and has lived a happy and peaceful life can look much younger than another immortal who’s only 1000 years old but has had a rough, harsh life. In short: immortals don’t look “old” unless they go through some bad times, mentally or physically.
Age: child 0-15 years, youths 16-600, adults 600+. Since the elves are immortal, who is an elder and who is an ancient depends much on the culture. For a canon example: among the Sun Folk a person who is 3 000+ years could be considered an elder (i.e. Sun Toucher), while such an elf among the Gliders most likely would be considered an adult, even a young adult.
Height: Depending on their way of life, they can either look similar to the forms the High Ones took as they landed (i.e. the Gliders in canon) or they've adapted their height (i.e. the Sun Folk in canon).
Original height: short 4'3-4'7", average 4'8"-5'3", tall 5'4"-6'
Adapted height: short 3'6"-3'7", average 3'8"-3'9", tall 3'10"-4'
Sea-elves
These elves can be pureblooded or animal-blooded. What sets them apart is that they live partly or mainly in water. They have gills, but can switch between breathing on land and in water. Some of them have fish-tails instead of legs, much like mermaids.
Age and Height: Depends if they have animal-blood or not. See above.
The elves in this Holt will be from different worlds, descendants from different High Ones and raised in different tribes. What they have in common are pointed ears, large eyes, four fingers on each hand and that they all have High Ones as their ancestors.
The High Ones were a space traveling species with great powers (telekenisis, pyrokenisis, telepathy, etc.). The exact details vary from Holt to Holt, but the High Ones land or crash on a planet and take on the shape of elves for some reason or other (usually to impress the local humans). They get cut off from their spaceship and must adapt to their new homeworld, while their powers fade, leaving only a few descendants able to use them, calling their powers 'magic'.
Elves can have all skin, hair and eye colors that humans have, plus violet/purple eyes. Any 'unnatural' colors for these features will have to be backed up by adaption logic (i.e. sea-elves could have green hair or skin to blend in with the seaweed they live among) and usually some flesh-shaping by a healer.
Reproduction
Elves generally reproduce through Recognition - i.e. two elves suddenly learn each other's soul names and feel the overwhelming urge to mate with each other (unlike when they become soul siblings, which involves the sudden exchange of soul names but no mating urge). Recognition can seem "random" as elves can't control who they Recognize. Recognition also doesn't happen very often - it's not unusual for stable elf tribes to go decades without new children being added to the tribe. If a tribe 'stagnates', with death becoming a rarity, Recognition can temporarily stop all together until change happens.
Elves can reproduce without Recognition. For some tribes (i.e. the canon Wolfriders) such a thing is rare, while for others (i.e. the canon Go-Backs) it's more common than Recognition, all depending on the way of life the elves lead. A healer can also 'help along' a couple wishing to have children, though this is something that takes a lot of energy out of a healer and isn't always a success.
Animal-blooded elves
These are the only elves who die of age, but few actually do that. When you can live to be more than 1 000 years (maybe even more than 2 000) dying of old age is a slim chance. Thus, most animal-bloods have no idea that they can age to the point of dying, like other creatures do.
To mix animal and elf, one of said elves' distant (or recent) ancestors has to have been a Shapechanger, who've taken on animal form and given life to a half-elf.
Elves who have animal-blood usually show their animal ancestry through both physical appearance (i.e. wolf-blooded elves have sharper teeth than purebloods and the males grow beards aka 'face-fur' when they get near 500 years of age) their actions (i.e. howling, growling) and their culture (i.e. living in "The Now of Wolf Thought").
Should two different animal bloods (say a lynx-blood and a wolf-blood) have a child together, that child will have both bloods (lynx/wolf-blooded), but one will be dominant (in this case, they could only bond with lynx or wolves, not both). When that child in turn has a child, maybe with a third kind of animal-blooded elf, they only pass on one of their own animal-bloods; usually the dominant one, but the elf's player gets to decide (i.e. lynx/wolf-blooded + fox-blooded -> lynx/fox-blood or wolf/fox-blood, where one will be dominant).
Bond-friends, i.e. animals with elf-blood, live an average lifespan of 40-50 years, unless killed in an accident (or if they naturally have longer lifespans, like turtles).
Age: children 0-14 years, youths 15-99 years, adults 100-499 years, elders 500-1 000 years, ancients 1 000+ years
Height: Animal-blooded elves are generally much shorter than their High One ancestors. What animal they share blood with also affects their height.
Example, wolf-blooded elves: short 3'6"-3'8", average 3'9"-3'11", tall 4'-4'2".
Pureblooded elves
These elves are immortal when it comes to age, but they're not invulnerable.
Age and appearance can be tricky with immortal elves. An immortal who’s 4000 years old and has lived a happy and peaceful life can look much younger than another immortal who’s only 1000 years old but has had a rough, harsh life. In short: immortals don’t look “old” unless they go through some bad times, mentally or physically.
Age: child 0-15 years, youths 16-600, adults 600+. Since the elves are immortal, who is an elder and who is an ancient depends much on the culture. For a canon example: among the Sun Folk a person who is 3 000+ years could be considered an elder (i.e. Sun Toucher), while such an elf among the Gliders most likely would be considered an adult, even a young adult.
Height: Depending on their way of life, they can either look similar to the forms the High Ones took as they landed (i.e. the Gliders in canon) or they've adapted their height (i.e. the Sun Folk in canon).
Original height: short 4'3-4'7", average 4'8"-5'3", tall 5'4"-6'
Adapted height: short 3'6"-3'7", average 3'8"-3'9", tall 3'10"-4'
Sea-elves
These elves can be pureblooded or animal-blooded. What sets them apart is that they live partly or mainly in water. They have gills, but can switch between breathing on land and in water. Some of them have fish-tails instead of legs, much like mermaids.
Age and Height: Depends if they have animal-blood or not. See above.
