The elf ear-itation.

[Ryujin]

Exactly, and as always, I feel the player should have final say on how close their character comes to the norm for the setting. Anything significantly outside the table-setting norm can always be houseruled to be a deformity and thus frowned upon by that race's society. Slender, non-hairy, non-scarred orcs might be perceived just as unnatural as an Elf with 2-foot-long ears.

And I'm not suggesting that elves look distinctly alien, only that within their range of elfishness, which is already pretty darned human to begin with, they have their own distinguishing traits that make elves more than simple re-colorations of each other. Drow features might be more angular and predatory, their eyes smaller and closer together while their ears angle more backwards than upwards, coming to a sharper tip. Wood elves might have more rounded features, more facial hair(from their social/historical lack of hygiene), their ears shorter and more human, angling outwards with a more sail-like shape than a triangular shape. Grey/High/Eladrin elves might have taller, narrower ears, flatter against their skull with very chiseled facial features, where Drow look almost gaunt, High elves look statuesque.

I tend to think of the cultural/intellectual differences as being far more significant, between elves and humans, than are the physical differences. Despite the pointy ears and similar lack of understanding where human motivations are concerned, elves are sort of "anti-Vulcans." If they weren't, then a race that lives for a thousand years, in a world where experience equates to power, would rule the place.

 

[Sunseeker]

I tend to think of the cultural/intellectual differences as being far more significant, between elves and humans, than are the physical differences. Despite the pointy ears and similar lack of understanding where human motivations are concerned, elves are sort of "anti-Vulcans." If they weren't, then a race that lives for a thousand years, in a world where experience equates to power, would rule the place.

I have often tried to reconcile why elves are not as dominant as their intelligence, age and power should make them. I don't like the "official" answers of low birth rates, taking a long time to master anything or what have you. I think it all stems from the Tolkein depiction of elves in the end of the 3rd age. A grand, ancient empire of wise, powerful beings that is simply fated to be in decline is probably the worst reason of them all. It's the same reason why a 500 year old dragon only has one class.

Usually I answer the question with the idea that elves are actually worse than humans when it comes to their divides, long life only makes it worse, having them hold grudges for thousands of years that erupt in rare, but brutal, genocidal wars that nearly exterminate both sides.

 

[Klaus]

Many years ago I read a short story that had a cool explanation for why elves don't rule everything. According to that story, elves take a long time to learn from their experiences, because they're too caught up in them emotionally. Only after the emotions associated with an event subsume, do the elves manage to cope with what happened and learn from it.

 

[Ryujin]

I think of them as having no attention span whatsoever; a race of children needing Ritalin. They can only concentrate on one goal until the next shiny thing distracts them. It's the only way that a race so long lived could keep from going absolutely nuts (they start that way; Chaotic and all of that).

Like I said, anti-Vulcans.

 

[SethDrebitko]

I have often tried to reconcile why elves are not as dominant as their intelligence, age and power should make them. I don't like the "official" answers of low birth rates, taking a long time to master anything or what have you. I think it all stems from the Tolkein depiction of elves in the end of the 3rd age. A grand, ancient empire of wise, powerful beings that is simply fated to be in decline is probably the worst reason of them all. It's the same reason why a 500 year old dragon only has one class.

Usually I answer the question with the idea that elves are actually worse than humans when it comes to their divides, long life only makes it worse, having them hold grudges for thousands of years that erupt in rare, but brutal, genocidal wars that nearly exterminate both sides.

I justified it in my setting as the means by which they expanded. In the Elven homelands there is a "Tree of Life" and its offspring trees actually maintain magical bonds to it: like planting the seeds of leylines leading back to that tree. The seeds of the tree are not digestible to birds and so as they migrate the seeds spread to other places.

Humans on the other hand swell up their population and then just roll out in all directions. The Elves following their Leyline transportation points end up with a widespread, but non substantial presence; while the Humans have a dense fortified continual growth.

As for the OP question: yes and no.

If you want strange alien races make them, but don't call them Elves. When it comes to art there is a certain need to provide a baseline appearance and drill that in. This doesn't mean that all Elves have exactly the same ears, it just means that almost all Elves have ears that look this specific way. If you showed all kinds of different ears in art you would have a hard time trying to convey what the average Elf looked like.

 

[Blackwarder]

I have often tried to reconcile why elves are not as dominant as their intelligence, age and power should make them. I don't like the "official" answers of low birth rates, taking a long time to master anything or what have you. I think it all stems from the Tolkein depiction of elves in the end of the 3rd age. A grand, ancient empire of wise, powerful beings that is simply fated to be in decline is probably the worst reason of them all. It's the same reason why a 500 year old dragon only has one class.

Usually I answer the question with the idea that elves are actually worse than humans when it comes to their divides, long life only makes it worse, having them hold grudges for thousands of years that erupt in rare, but brutal, genocidal wars that nearly exterminate both sides.

I answer it with low birth rates and lifespan of about 300-400 years, so one generation of elves is equivalent to about 4 generations of humans and 1.5 generations of dwarves, thing is that once elves reach adulthood they don't physically age, couple that with the fact that close relatives usually resemble one another and you got a race that seems immortal to those who don't know about the secrets of elf society.

Warder

 

[Bedrockgames]

I dont know, the low birth rate thing makes a good deal of sense to me. I think many of shidaku's proposals also make good explanations. Population size is definitely going to be a factor in a society's ability to compete with other groups. Wtih elves, the issue they face is, living as long as they do, they may be more cautious than short lived races about risk.

 

[Stormonu]

In my homebrew, elves have longspans but their numbers are generally small. They can have children, but only by choice, and usually do not because they can be reincarnated themselves. They are immortal but often grow weary of life and move on to the dream lands - to a human, they appear to die due to a "lack of the will to live"*. As a defense mechanism, long-lived elves tend to avoid involving themselves in adventures or passions - very active elfs, such as adventurers, tend to "burn out" quickly and move on back to the dream lands rather than remain stuck in a repetive lifespan.

The dream lands act as a sort of vacation from reality for elves, but the shock of returning to the real world tends to blank their memories and experiences, allowing them to lead a new life without the baggage of the old.

In a way, it's like the setup in "What Dreams May Come".

* There is debate whether a murdered elf is truly destroyed and removed from the reincarnation cycle or if the entire life memory is wiped and the elf continues with no recollection of the life that led to a tragic death.

As a side note, the elves in my homebrew do not worship gods. They revere their ancestors, and have been noted to call other races gods "cousins" (or, "black sheep of the family" for gods they dislike).

 

[SethDrebitko]

I'm not huge on the low birth rate I think it is kinda a cop out and avoids more interesting opportunities.

• Maybe they have been engaged in centuries long wars that have ground their population?
  • Perhaps the wars ended a few decades or a century ago and they are grappling with a burgeoning population.
• What if because they can have children for such long periods to live their lives, they simply choose not to have children until much later in life if at all.
  • What if certain groups are rising in society trying to encourage increased procreation to combat the growth of mankind.
• What if they actually couldn't procreate do to some multiple decade or century long curse.
  • Could this be why the Elves are so secretive, what would their enemies think about finding this news out? Maybe the Orcs stop pressing so hard into their borders and decide to just wait them out?

Low breeding rate just seems like such a boring idea considering mother nature has managed to keep animals that live hundreds and hundreds of years in check without limiting their breeding.

 

[Ryujin]

What if they developed contraception, out of necessity, and actually use it?