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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 3015324" data-attributes="member: 15538">Tolkien had Elrond and and the various orc hybrids (goblin-men may actually refer to men of Mordor rather than an orc-human hybrid, though, since "goblin" is not a proper term in LOTR and may be an epithet for creatures of evil; nonetheless, half-orcs and other crosses are of Mordor stock anyway and do exist). In Sword of Shannara, the hero is a half-elf. And then there's Tanis Half-Elven. In Howard's work, you had half-giants and half-demons, and in the stories of those who followed him, you had tribes of humanity with otherwordly ancestry. So it's definitely a long tradition in the literature.However, Palladium Fantasy took an early stance against half-elves and half-orcs.It is not strictly a requirement that species be unable to breed. Wolves and dogs, dogs and coyotes, tigers and lions, and tomatoes and deadly nightshade are just a few examples of species (of various relationships) that can interbreed, sometimes with fertile offspring. In traditional fantasy, elves are otherwordly yet humanoid and orcs are monsters created through sorcery, so interbreeding with humans does not offend logic.In some of the D&D world-building that has occured since, it may not be as logical. If elves and orcs were created by different deities, separate from humanity, it's hard to understand why they can interbreed. One explanation may be that all the standard races have traces of divine ancestry, dragon blood, and so forth in their dim past, and this magic may allow creatures to interbreed that are similar in form and physiology.</blockquote>

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