Well, more accurately, their long lifespans work against them, but their slow maturity works for them -- so they should be in the same boat as pre-modern humans, who could not help but grow their population until conditions were miserable enough that deaths matched births.Kid Charlemagne said:The elves' long lifespans should help them here - as they live so long, their numbers will increase slowly, allowing them the tiem to adapt to the increasing numbers.
Or elves could maintain a high standard of living -- largely determined by the ratio of food-bearing land to food-consuming mouths -- via contraception. Dark elves could maintain theirs via infanticide.
The elves would have to improve their "crop" yields at a faster rate than their population growth, which would imply constant progress, or negligible reproduction, which seems unnatural, or high mortality from something. (Hmm... What does "sailing to the west" really mean?)Kid Charlemagne said:Incremental improvements in their management of their food supply will solve their issues, whereas a short-lived and fecund race like orcs (or for that matter, relatively speaking, humans) will experience population explosions that will tax their immediate surroundings, forcing them to expand their terrritory and come into conflict with other races or cultures.