Half-Elves

Half-Elves are one of the races of the Innworld and descended from Elves.

Physiology

Appearance

Half-Elves resemble Humans, with the exception of having pointed ears and unearthly complexion.

Physical Abilities

Senses

• Enhanced Hearing

Half-Elves' pointed ears are better than Human ones, and they can hear someone speaking in a low voice. They can also hear the sound coming from earbuds inside a person's ears, but they still have trouble listening to the faint audio.

Lifespan

Half-Elves can live up to a thousand years old, though the upper limit is unknown. That being said, the average half-Elf are more likely to die from unnatural causes rather than old age. Half-Elven infants grow up quickly like Humans do, mature to their adult body when they are in their twenties and undergo a puberty that last many years; for example, Ceria Springwalker spent 10 years dealing with the worst of hormonal imbalances, uncontrolled magical outbursts and the like. After they have become adult, Half-Elves visibly age three times slower than adult Humans, and it is when they become at least 200 years old that their hair starts to turn white.

Reproduction

No matter how many generations pass, a Half-Elf and a human will always produce a Half-Elf child. Not even Skills or magic can change that. This is also the case when procreating with other races, though traits can manifest, such as having scales from a Lizardfolk ancestry.

Diet

Half-Elves are omnivorous, though by-and-large, half-Elves from the villages mainly subsist on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Magical Qualities

Half-Elves are more gifted at magic than any other species, but they don’t learn spells any faster. They also have a greater deal of internal magic in their bodies, that they simply generate by existing. Half-Elven bones are more conductive for magic.

Due to their Elvish heritage, half-Elves are partly immune to hexes or enchantments. No matter how powerful an enchantment is, it will slowly fade, as there is no spell their blood will not break in time. The magical nature of half-Elves also results in stronger variants of undead from their corpses. The magic in their body can partially reanimate their limbs as skeletal appendages, such as Ceria's hand for example.

Special Abilities

Half-Elves have an instinctive, magical connection to nature. They have greater affinity with plants than other species do, like knowing the best way to planting them so they can absorb more nutrition and placing them in good spots for the sun. They also know where they could find flowers during winter. They can also talk to animals, though it is uncertain if they are able to fully communicate with each other.

Background

At one time, half-Elves ruled over most of Terandria and enslaved Humans, before being overthrown during the Twilight of Magic. As a result, even now they are despised and discriminated against on the continent, especially by the Humans.

Half-Elves keep to their own communities, on the edges of society, and they are tolerated because they are useful and some half-Elves have valuable Skills or high levels, but they are not well liked

In Chandrar, the Claiven Earth is a nation of Half-Elves that migrated from Terandria generations ago.

Culture

Half-Elves are known to be close to nature. It's believed to partially be in pursuit of the idea of what Elves were.

Terandrian Villages

The half-Elf villages in Terandria are best described as timeless paradises. The residents are detached from the passage of time to an extent that to them, years pass by in an instant, living in harmony with the land while following routines over and over again. Events will be treated as fresh within the villages even decades afterwards. For other species, this timelessness gives them the sensation of rapidly aging while there, which horrfies many. They dislike breaking the monotony, to the point that they will wear the same outfit, and copy any detail across their wardrobe. They don't keep pets, which they find die too quickly from their perspective, and treat growing trees like weeds.

They do not dress in flora, as some would expect. Most half-Elf villages are strictly vegetarians, refusing to eat anything with a face. Traditional half-Elves often refer to one another as "brother" or "sister."

Back when they lived around magical trees, they made sure to respect those trees, as they could defend themselves or be protected by Dryads.

Given the typical half-Elf villager's detachment from time, the only half-Elves to leave the villages are usually those who are less than a century in age. 'Timecaught' is a derogatory term used to describe half-Elves who interact with other species, as is also 'Entangled'.

Half-Elves pursue passions and develop obsessions, as a way to function over their centuries of life. They may study complementary areas or move to another specialization with time, but polymaths are rare among their species.

The surnames of half-Elves are derived from the villages they originate from. Ceria is from the Village of the Spring, hence her last name being "Springwalker."

Lizard-Elves

Lizard-Elves refers to half-Elves who grew up in Lizardfolk villages on Baleros, and may even have a Lizardfolk parent. They take on some Lizardfolk personality traits, and they thus behave very differently from their kin. They are chattier, more casual and carefree, and can actually swing from vines around a forest.

Ships

Ancient half-Elven colony ships look like they've been grown out of wood rather than carved, with sails of leaves. They are sleek and seamless, and can cut through water with incredible speed, though they also look fragile.

Relations

Non-native Terandrians (for example, Drakes, Dullahans, Centaurs and Lizardfolk) seem to be impartial when it comes to dealing with Half-Elves. People of Terandria have a negative bias towards them, as elaborated below.

Humans

In Terandria, half-Elves are a minority nowadays and despised due to the long-gone times when they had subjugated Humans. Half-Elves are considered untrustworthy, thieves, criminals and bandits at the best of times. It is said that they lie, cast harmful magic, prey on good, innocent folk, and they steal children out of cradles at night, even when everyone knows that last claim was false.

In Izril, the El Family has started to take on half-Elves as advisors.

Note: Given the lifespan and experience (levels) a sheltered Half-Elf can achieve, combined with all their progeny being Half-Elven, wide-spread intermarriage of Elves (which may seem prudent individually: They are long-lived and often attractive and looking ahead) with Nobility can lead to a legal Half-Elven ruling class in a very short amount of time, against which the Peasantry would naturally rebel. This is what may have happened in Terandria, and which is also the reason that Terandrian Nobility emphasizes their racial Pure-Bloodedness.

Frost Faeries

Due to the Elves that betrayed their kin and sided with the Gods being their ancestors, Frost Faeries hate half-Elves and will torment them whenever they can. Their most common assertions about Half-elves is that they are filthy and the sons/daughters/spawn of whores/bastards/sluts/cravens. This extends to female Half-Elves themselves who are similarly called whores. Less insulting names include half-breed, halfling or half-spawn.

Ivolethe implied that the existence of Half-Elves is what insults them, and alluded to the sin of the Half-Elf people. While Ceria had no idea which sin was meant, she understood the general meaning well enough.

Dwarves

Half-Elves are not liked by Dwarves. The majority of Dwarves (who are natives of Terandria as well) usually refuse to travel with them.

Lizardfolk

The prolific and social Lizardfolk have helped half-Elf settlements on Baleros boom in population, as they birthed more half-elven children. They have both welcomed and clashed with them.

Gnolls

Half-Elves planning to create a new colony in Izril's new lands approached the Gnoll tribes in the hopes of forging an alliance.

Trivia

• According to Ceria's grandfather, once—when everybody knew magic— all half-Elves learned Tier 2 magic before they’d reached their teenage years.
• All species, mostly Humans, had this image that half-Elves are eternally happy beings who loved to frolic in flowers and hug trees, not knowing that most half-Elves don’t even like nature that much. Another stereotype of half-Elves is that they eat bugs. Strangely enough, Ceria Springwalker embodies both stereotypes a bit, much to her own chagrin.
• While in Wistram, Ceria Springwalker mentally mused that half-Elves don’t have red hair. However, there are several half-Elves with red hair, including Falene Skystrall, Teura, and a half-Elf vendor at the Meeting of Tribes.
• Some half-Elves with Melded classes have their limbs replaced with roots and vines.