RhaezDaevan
Explorer
A thought occurred to me while reading through this thread about elves, orcs, and their mixed heritage descendants, that we all have varying views on how we want to represent them. So this thread is meant to be a place to share the versions of elves and orcs in your homebrew worlds. I'm hoping we avoid critiques of each others choices, but questions for further discussion is fine.
To get things started, I'll describe mine first in this "show and tell" style thread. (Anyone else hate presenting? I'm getting sweaty pits just thinking about it) Any-who, here we go.
Elves
Where some have made elves more and more human-like in their settings, elves in my home setting wen the opposite route and I made them more not-human. Their origins are in the Dream Lands as the custodians of that realm. They were natural shape-shifters there, but when beings they felt were invaders started appearing and making changes, some got very upset and tried to oust them. Those invaders were sleeping humans, who didn't (and mostly still don't) know that they're dreams are having a real effect on another parallel realm. Some of those shapeshifting beings felt that it was natural for these people to be there, so saw them more as tourists, not invaders. The two groups came to blows with each other over this difference of opinions and so a civil war broke out. This war was enough to wake up Those Who Sleep (the real creators of the universe), who sent both groups to live in the waking world (mortal realm). In order to survive, they took on permanent forms and lost their shapeshifting (at least the natural kind). One of the exiled groups became the elves, while the other became goblins. Neither will admit if they were the pro-human or anti-human group in the civil war.
The elves initially followed a strict caste system they learned from observing early human civilizations. A later revolt from the lower castes resulted in the groups dividing and becoming three distinct peoples, each with their own appearance, traditions and beliefs.
The formerly highest caste are the high elves. In appearance, they are the tallest ranging from 6 to 7 feet tall, with elongated features by human standards. Their hair, eye, and skin colours are the most varied, and resemble elements of nature. For example, hair could look like soft powder snow, or like billowing flame. Skin could look like a starry night sky, or like chiseled marble. Eyes could look like carved diamond, or polished pearl. As personality goes, they are the most arrogant and see themselves as above all other creatures (including other elves). As such, they make their homes in high places, like on mountain tops, or even in the clouds. They are the most innately magical, and so practice it regularly, and are most welcoming to other spellcasters.
The elves that found the natural world the most pleasing became the wild elves. They are the smallest of elf kind, standing around 5 feet tall. They have a wild, almost predatory look to them, as their shaggy hair almost look like fur, though some also have feathers in their hair too. Their eyes are like predator animals like wolves, hawks, big cats, etc. Their skin colours are natural and earthy, so browns, greys, and greens, but coastal wild elves may be found with blue-ish skin and shark-like eyes. They have the most pronounced canine teeth, but despite that are more friendly to non-elves than high elves are, so long as those people share respect for nature like they do. They don't hate hunters, as they hunt for food themselves, but over-hunting, or hunting for sport is very much a berserk button for wild elves. Wild elves are the most spiritual of elves, and taken on some religious beliefs from human tribes as well as gnome neighbours who share a lot of their values. (Note: gnomes are nature spirits here, and are linked to massive trees)
The elves that most closely resemble the elves form standard D&D, are the iron elves. They are the most industrial of elf-kind and live in city-sized fortresses. Despite being fond of combat and tactics, they are an honourable people that only attack those who attack them first. They are very disciplined, and train regularly, as if preparing for a world-wide war that has yet to occur. They mostly find human-style conquest distasteful, so pride themselves on being efficient with the land they have instead of craving more. In appearance, they are of average human height, with slender but muscular build. Black, blonde and silver are the most common hair colours, while skin colour is typically a light shade of pink or brown. Blue, green and amber eyes are the most common. Though not starting many wars themselves, they do join in on human warfare if they feel the fight is just, but will bow out if underhanded tactics like poison are used by the side they're fighting on. Iron elves that are caught being willfully dishonorable are branded on the forheard and exiled into the outside world. Those individuals are commonly found as mercenaries for humans, and sometimes even goblins!
Note: my setting has no need for drow, as high elves can already come in dark colours, and goblins fill the role of "evil elves" in the setting. If people ask, I can detail goblins too as an extention of the elf descriptions above.
Half-Elves
Elves in this setting mostly keep to themselves and rarely go adventuring, but have over the years had romantic relations with their human neighbours. Half elves of high elf or wild elf descent look mostly human in shape, but will have skin, eyes and/or hair that match their elf ancestors. These children are generally welcomed in both elf and human society, and often act as diplomats and mediators between cultures. Those of iron elf ancestry are often confused for pure human or iron elf, and some go most of their life without anyone being the wiser of any difference, until the age difference becomes noticeable. These human-elf mixes can have children with elves (and result in mostly elf children), with humans (and have mostly human children), as well as each other which creates more half elves.
Elves of different varieties having children together end up with children that are purely one or the other, though no one has quite figured out why. The magical way they linked themselves to the natural world once exiled from the dream lands may have something to do with it.
Elves can also have children with goblin-kind, but generally choose not too because of their troubled past. These half-elves are not as well received by any community, so live more solitary lives, however some groups of rangers welcome them as they too feel like outsiders.
The term half-elf is sometimes used in the setting, but outside those of iron elf descent they see themselves as a distinct people so usually go by Eldry amongst humans and by Elem with elves. The terms "elf" is actually what humans call the grouping of creatures I've detailed above, and "high elf", "wild elf", and "iron elf" are the human names for the subgroups. They each have their own names for themselves in their language. They're typically fine with humans using these terms though, as they themselves don't use the word human when talking in their own language either.
Orcs
Orcs are a very early offshoot from the same family tree as humans, where some of the ape-like creatures both descended from moved to living underground for unknown reasons. They've adapted well to living underground full time, and as such they've mostly lost their ability to live on the surface. Sunlight burns them quickly, like some real life humans do (sun allergies and such), so they only come to the surface during the night as moonlight only itches instead of burns. Most are around human height, with very sharp teeth, and black eyes. Green, grey and milky white skin tones are all common. Hair is typically black or dark brown. Some mutant orcs exist that are shorter and completely blind and hairless (think crawlers from The Descent), which mainly eat other orcs, but are even more scared of light as even torch light can burn them. Female orcs are rarely encountered as they rule over the tribes and send their lessers (the males) to do the dirty work of hunting prey and bringing food back, but the few that have been encountered show they are a bit larger, but bulkier with shorter legs, so not as well suited to hunting.
They are fully carnivorous by nature, but mostly ate moles, worms and other burrowing creatures for food. That is, until they had initial encounters with their distant relatives the humans who were mining at the time and delved too deep. Orcs always eat what they kill, so got a taste for human flesh which is now one of their favourite foods. After centuries apart, neither saw the other as people, so they fought for years. Eventually the orcs realized the humans were too much trouble as a food source, so went back deep underground.
Unfortunately for everyone, dark gods once worshiped by humans latched onto orcs as their new followers of choice and forcefully changed several of them into an army that they then sent to the surface to wage war against the humans. These upgraded orcs had some resistance to sunlight and were stronger and more disciplined. War orcs was the term humans used for them and the orc side would have won that war had it not been for the human's creating their own elite fighting unites that could fight better at night, and even follow orcs back into their tunnel homes if needed.
The humans did win that war, as well as another centuries later, but the orcs never fully die out. Some of the war orcs bred with the standard tribal orcs to create stronger, smarter orcs that have become a lot more bold in living nearer to the surface, and have even taken over the lower floors of catacombs and other below ground structures. Orcs have their own mage-priests called shadow-speakers, that use their own form of magic not found on the surface. This magic was granted by the dark gods they now worship.
Though orcs originally fought with weapons made or rock and bone, they've since taken weapons and armour from their fallen foes and learned to craft their own. In general, the closer to the surface they live, the better the orc equipment becomes, as there are still orcs deeper down that prefer the more primitive weapons and lifestyle they had before they ever encountered their human enemies.
Half-Orcs
As detailed above, the humans were losing their war with the orcs, and badly. A group of human mages came up with the idea of making their own orcs, but loyal to their side. Orcs were captured alive and magic rituals performed to create new life that were then magically implanted in human women. These brave women gave birth to the first human-orc mixes. These rituals quickly became expressly forbidden by all spellcasters, but they were created out of desperation.
Ornak was the name given to them (though some human commoners sometimes use the term half-orc). Ornak means "orc-blight" and they lived up to their name and turned the tide in that war. They and orcs now have a deep hate for one another. In appearance, they look like tall, strong humans, but with a slight green or grey tint to their skin and their eyes are dark similar to orcs. Some have more pronounced teeth, though they're never as sharp as orc teeth. Though the first Ornak were all male, some human women took a liking to them after the war so when they were given some land for their service, the women helped settle that land. All children were also Ornak, so their numbers grew over the years.
After that initial war, no orcs were seen for some time, so some of the human nobles decided the Ornak may no longer have a use, so decided to drive them off their lands. Human and Ornak alike that disagreed with this poor treatment were silenced and driven out. They settled in many other places, where they are found even in modern times. This bit the nobles in the rear when later on a new orc war broke out and without the elite soldiers their ancestors had, they were quickly consumed by the hordes. Many nations fell before the Ornak and their human allies were convinced to come back and turn the tide of the war yet again. Since then, the idea of not having Ornak as part of each human nation is considered dangerous and a prestigious unite of Ornak, the night guard, are part of every human military. Not all Ornak are warriors though, in the intervening years between orc wars, they adapted pretty well to farm life and many still feel that's more their calling over killing orcs.
During the second orc war, the orc shadow-speakers created their own orc-human mixes. These looked like humans, but had a natural fear of sunlight, which was the only way to tell them from regular humans. They acted as spies and assassins for the orcs during the war, but once their weakness was discovered they were found and dispatched. Some think there may be more out there though, living amongst the human population, which has created some paranoia during times of trouble. Harak (human-blight) was what this variety were called.
Note: If this goes well enough and doesn't turn into another toxic thread, we could go onto other common races/species/origins like dwarves and gnomes.
To get things started, I'll describe mine first in this "show and tell" style thread. (Anyone else hate presenting? I'm getting sweaty pits just thinking about it) Any-who, here we go.
Elves
Where some have made elves more and more human-like in their settings, elves in my home setting wen the opposite route and I made them more not-human. Their origins are in the Dream Lands as the custodians of that realm. They were natural shape-shifters there, but when beings they felt were invaders started appearing and making changes, some got very upset and tried to oust them. Those invaders were sleeping humans, who didn't (and mostly still don't) know that they're dreams are having a real effect on another parallel realm. Some of those shapeshifting beings felt that it was natural for these people to be there, so saw them more as tourists, not invaders. The two groups came to blows with each other over this difference of opinions and so a civil war broke out. This war was enough to wake up Those Who Sleep (the real creators of the universe), who sent both groups to live in the waking world (mortal realm). In order to survive, they took on permanent forms and lost their shapeshifting (at least the natural kind). One of the exiled groups became the elves, while the other became goblins. Neither will admit if they were the pro-human or anti-human group in the civil war.
The elves initially followed a strict caste system they learned from observing early human civilizations. A later revolt from the lower castes resulted in the groups dividing and becoming three distinct peoples, each with their own appearance, traditions and beliefs.
The formerly highest caste are the high elves. In appearance, they are the tallest ranging from 6 to 7 feet tall, with elongated features by human standards. Their hair, eye, and skin colours are the most varied, and resemble elements of nature. For example, hair could look like soft powder snow, or like billowing flame. Skin could look like a starry night sky, or like chiseled marble. Eyes could look like carved diamond, or polished pearl. As personality goes, they are the most arrogant and see themselves as above all other creatures (including other elves). As such, they make their homes in high places, like on mountain tops, or even in the clouds. They are the most innately magical, and so practice it regularly, and are most welcoming to other spellcasters.
The elves that found the natural world the most pleasing became the wild elves. They are the smallest of elf kind, standing around 5 feet tall. They have a wild, almost predatory look to them, as their shaggy hair almost look like fur, though some also have feathers in their hair too. Their eyes are like predator animals like wolves, hawks, big cats, etc. Their skin colours are natural and earthy, so browns, greys, and greens, but coastal wild elves may be found with blue-ish skin and shark-like eyes. They have the most pronounced canine teeth, but despite that are more friendly to non-elves than high elves are, so long as those people share respect for nature like they do. They don't hate hunters, as they hunt for food themselves, but over-hunting, or hunting for sport is very much a berserk button for wild elves. Wild elves are the most spiritual of elves, and taken on some religious beliefs from human tribes as well as gnome neighbours who share a lot of their values. (Note: gnomes are nature spirits here, and are linked to massive trees)
The elves that most closely resemble the elves form standard D&D, are the iron elves. They are the most industrial of elf-kind and live in city-sized fortresses. Despite being fond of combat and tactics, they are an honourable people that only attack those who attack them first. They are very disciplined, and train regularly, as if preparing for a world-wide war that has yet to occur. They mostly find human-style conquest distasteful, so pride themselves on being efficient with the land they have instead of craving more. In appearance, they are of average human height, with slender but muscular build. Black, blonde and silver are the most common hair colours, while skin colour is typically a light shade of pink or brown. Blue, green and amber eyes are the most common. Though not starting many wars themselves, they do join in on human warfare if they feel the fight is just, but will bow out if underhanded tactics like poison are used by the side they're fighting on. Iron elves that are caught being willfully dishonorable are branded on the forheard and exiled into the outside world. Those individuals are commonly found as mercenaries for humans, and sometimes even goblins!
Note: my setting has no need for drow, as high elves can already come in dark colours, and goblins fill the role of "evil elves" in the setting. If people ask, I can detail goblins too as an extention of the elf descriptions above.
Half-Elves
Elves in this setting mostly keep to themselves and rarely go adventuring, but have over the years had romantic relations with their human neighbours. Half elves of high elf or wild elf descent look mostly human in shape, but will have skin, eyes and/or hair that match their elf ancestors. These children are generally welcomed in both elf and human society, and often act as diplomats and mediators between cultures. Those of iron elf ancestry are often confused for pure human or iron elf, and some go most of their life without anyone being the wiser of any difference, until the age difference becomes noticeable. These human-elf mixes can have children with elves (and result in mostly elf children), with humans (and have mostly human children), as well as each other which creates more half elves.
Elves of different varieties having children together end up with children that are purely one or the other, though no one has quite figured out why. The magical way they linked themselves to the natural world once exiled from the dream lands may have something to do with it.
Elves can also have children with goblin-kind, but generally choose not too because of their troubled past. These half-elves are not as well received by any community, so live more solitary lives, however some groups of rangers welcome them as they too feel like outsiders.
The term half-elf is sometimes used in the setting, but outside those of iron elf descent they see themselves as a distinct people so usually go by Eldry amongst humans and by Elem with elves. The terms "elf" is actually what humans call the grouping of creatures I've detailed above, and "high elf", "wild elf", and "iron elf" are the human names for the subgroups. They each have their own names for themselves in their language. They're typically fine with humans using these terms though, as they themselves don't use the word human when talking in their own language either.
Orcs
Orcs are a very early offshoot from the same family tree as humans, where some of the ape-like creatures both descended from moved to living underground for unknown reasons. They've adapted well to living underground full time, and as such they've mostly lost their ability to live on the surface. Sunlight burns them quickly, like some real life humans do (sun allergies and such), so they only come to the surface during the night as moonlight only itches instead of burns. Most are around human height, with very sharp teeth, and black eyes. Green, grey and milky white skin tones are all common. Hair is typically black or dark brown. Some mutant orcs exist that are shorter and completely blind and hairless (think crawlers from The Descent), which mainly eat other orcs, but are even more scared of light as even torch light can burn them. Female orcs are rarely encountered as they rule over the tribes and send their lessers (the males) to do the dirty work of hunting prey and bringing food back, but the few that have been encountered show they are a bit larger, but bulkier with shorter legs, so not as well suited to hunting.
They are fully carnivorous by nature, but mostly ate moles, worms and other burrowing creatures for food. That is, until they had initial encounters with their distant relatives the humans who were mining at the time and delved too deep. Orcs always eat what they kill, so got a taste for human flesh which is now one of their favourite foods. After centuries apart, neither saw the other as people, so they fought for years. Eventually the orcs realized the humans were too much trouble as a food source, so went back deep underground.
Unfortunately for everyone, dark gods once worshiped by humans latched onto orcs as their new followers of choice and forcefully changed several of them into an army that they then sent to the surface to wage war against the humans. These upgraded orcs had some resistance to sunlight and were stronger and more disciplined. War orcs was the term humans used for them and the orc side would have won that war had it not been for the human's creating their own elite fighting unites that could fight better at night, and even follow orcs back into their tunnel homes if needed.
The humans did win that war, as well as another centuries later, but the orcs never fully die out. Some of the war orcs bred with the standard tribal orcs to create stronger, smarter orcs that have become a lot more bold in living nearer to the surface, and have even taken over the lower floors of catacombs and other below ground structures. Orcs have their own mage-priests called shadow-speakers, that use their own form of magic not found on the surface. This magic was granted by the dark gods they now worship.
Though orcs originally fought with weapons made or rock and bone, they've since taken weapons and armour from their fallen foes and learned to craft their own. In general, the closer to the surface they live, the better the orc equipment becomes, as there are still orcs deeper down that prefer the more primitive weapons and lifestyle they had before they ever encountered their human enemies.
Half-Orcs
As detailed above, the humans were losing their war with the orcs, and badly. A group of human mages came up with the idea of making their own orcs, but loyal to their side. Orcs were captured alive and magic rituals performed to create new life that were then magically implanted in human women. These brave women gave birth to the first human-orc mixes. These rituals quickly became expressly forbidden by all spellcasters, but they were created out of desperation.
Ornak was the name given to them (though some human commoners sometimes use the term half-orc). Ornak means "orc-blight" and they lived up to their name and turned the tide in that war. They and orcs now have a deep hate for one another. In appearance, they look like tall, strong humans, but with a slight green or grey tint to their skin and their eyes are dark similar to orcs. Some have more pronounced teeth, though they're never as sharp as orc teeth. Though the first Ornak were all male, some human women took a liking to them after the war so when they were given some land for their service, the women helped settle that land. All children were also Ornak, so their numbers grew over the years.
After that initial war, no orcs were seen for some time, so some of the human nobles decided the Ornak may no longer have a use, so decided to drive them off their lands. Human and Ornak alike that disagreed with this poor treatment were silenced and driven out. They settled in many other places, where they are found even in modern times. This bit the nobles in the rear when later on a new orc war broke out and without the elite soldiers their ancestors had, they were quickly consumed by the hordes. Many nations fell before the Ornak and their human allies were convinced to come back and turn the tide of the war yet again. Since then, the idea of not having Ornak as part of each human nation is considered dangerous and a prestigious unite of Ornak, the night guard, are part of every human military. Not all Ornak are warriors though, in the intervening years between orc wars, they adapted pretty well to farm life and many still feel that's more their calling over killing orcs.
During the second orc war, the orc shadow-speakers created their own orc-human mixes. These looked like humans, but had a natural fear of sunlight, which was the only way to tell them from regular humans. They acted as spies and assassins for the orcs during the war, but once their weakness was discovered they were found and dispatched. Some think there may be more out there though, living amongst the human population, which has created some paranoia during times of trouble. Harak (human-blight) was what this variety were called.
Note: If this goes well enough and doesn't turn into another toxic thread, we could go onto other common races/species/origins like dwarves and gnomes.
