(Warhammer) Elves and humans mingling

I don't think that there is anything "wrong" with allowing an elf of Athel Loren to adventure in a party. However, it should be clearly seen as a "story in itself" and be part of the narrative of the campaign. Adventuring inside the bounds of Athel Loren itself, for a party of non-wood elves, should be even more of a story.

I must admit to not being quite straight in my original post. I'm actually asking this for a home brew where Elves are the least human player race. I just mentioned Warhammer because they have inhuman Elves and I wanted to know how they solved the problem.

Thankfully this thread has inspired some good ideas on how to regulate that in my setting, especially with respect to the racial traits Elves have in my campaign and allowing players to play a slightly less inhuman Elf if they desire.

As much as I'd like to remain true to my personal concepts of Elves (which resemble Warhammer/Exalted ones more then DnD ones), it would make them impossible as a player race. which means compromises must be made...
 

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I'm a little late to the party, buuuuut:

Do people in the Empire see elves as fey like they do in Brettonia? If so, some backwards farmers might blame elf PCs for missing children, poor crops, curdled milk.

On High Elves - if memory serves me, the people of the Empire call High Elves Sea Elves. Few humans know about Ulthuan, and all they know is that these fancy dressed elves control the oceans with their powerful fleet and come to shore on very rare occasions. That's also why the dark elves are called Elven Corsairs instead of Dark Elves or Druchii in the book of monsters. Most people do not know about the Druchii. Most people of the Empire do not even know that there is a difference between Dark Elves and High Elves. They are both elves that come from across the sea.

I also recall one particular elven career in the core book that allowed you to say you were a High Elf and not a Wood Elf (the diplomat?)
 

Do people in the Empire see elves as fey like they do in Brettonia? If so, some backwards farmers might blame elf PCs for missing children, poor crops, curdled milk.
Elves in the Empire or on the Bretonnian coast are mostly merchant communities and military allies. So they're not nearly as reclusive and mysterious as those of Athel Loren who have almost no direct contact with humans (even though they have a strong hidden influence on Bretonnian affairs through the cult of the Lady)

If anything I'd say backwards farmers of the Empire see elves as aliens rather than spirits of the land. And since they taught humans how to harness the Winds of Magic (chaos) elves might also carry the same stigma as wizards.
 
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Yes, the Ulthuan elves are called Sea Elves. The elves in the empire are called "Wood Elves" but aren't kin to the Wood Elves of Athel Loren. The Empire Wood Elves are descendants from Ulthuan colonists to the Old World who defied the Phoenix Kings evacuation orders after the War of the Beard. Being separated from Ulthuan they have developed their own culture. There were several different colonies within the Empire, Laurelorn being the biggest. Of these Colonists the Elves of Laurelorn are more isolationist than the other Elven domains remaining in the Old World.

Most elves seen within the human cities and settlements are travelers, merchants or envoys with the few exceptions to those elves taken up adventuring or wanderlust. Humans regard them with a mixture of fear, admiration and envy. I wouldn't be surprised if the peasantry have a healthy dose of suspicion thanks to the fear and paranoia bread by the Witch Hunters and Sigmarite fanatics...

I doubt that a common Empire Citizen has ever seen an actual Dark Elf or Wood Elf and would probably be the last thing the poor blighter saw before dieing....


The one thing I like about the Elves living in the Empire is that they are not Ulthuan, Druchii or Wood Elves. This keeps them seperate from the WFB elves and thus still unique. I wish they would do an Elf book for WFRP that just details the Elves living in the Old World. I really dont want to see people playing Wardancers or White Lions even though that could be a cool campaign setting in and of itself... but just wouldnt fit within the Empire-centric focus of WFRP2e.

And this coming from a WFB High Elf player with 6000 points worth lol!
 
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