Geas

I saw an IC note that implied that half-elves might have human mothers. I was under the impression that half elves could only come from elven mothers and human fathers, which is what is stated in the half-elf help file.

What's the official ruling? What the help file says, or can half elves come from any combination of human and elf?

I hope it can be both, but that one is simply much more common due to appearance ideals.

Like the help file says

To add to the question, after it's been answered, what about half-elves? Do they have children at all? (I.E., can a half-elf be born of two half-elves.)

They might be sterile, just as mules.

It's been RP'd in the past that male elves and female humans have kids. I really don't see a problem with it, as it opens up more RP. Seems like it's more common for M human and F elf though.

Change the file on them?

Well, considering an admin declared the help file to be the correct version, perhaps the RP should be 'rewritten' to account for the fact that male elves and female humans can't have half-elf offspring. Maybe they adopted an otherwise unwanted half-elf infant and claimed it as their own?

I'd rather see everyone sticking to the help files as well. Otherwise GEAS will undoubtedly see half-elves mating with everything that moves and birthing tshahark hybrids from hell.

Half-elf reproduction in general is a good question deserving an answer, IMHO. The restrictedness of half-elf birth suggest difficulties atleast.

Another question I'd like to see answered is what are the tshahark reproductive organs like? I mean, after witnessing a horde of horny tshaharks in GEAS one must think about these things.

Keeping in mind that I am only a player here, here's my stab at why a half-elf hybrid may be a difficult birth.

Elves mature much more slowly than humans. A half-elf matures faster than an elf, but still slower than a human. So at least in my mind it would stand to reason that an elven pregnancy progresses slower than a human pregnancy, and that a half-elf would also need a bit more time in the womb than a human's pregnancy would last.

So perhaps when a human woman tries to give birth to a half-elf, the infant may not be developed well enough (premature birth) to survive outside the womb. If an elven pregnancy does progress slower than a human pregnancy, the half-elf infant would have plenty of time to develop in the womb, and may even be a bit more developed than an elven infant upon birth (think late delivery).

Eleassa wrote:Keeping in mind that I am only a player here, here's my stab at why a half-elf hybrid may be a difficult birth.

Elves mature much more slowly than humans. A half-elf matures faster than an elf, but still slower than a human. So at least in my mind it would stand to reason that an elven pregnancy progresses slower than a human pregnancy, and that a half-elf would also need a bit more time in the womb than a human's pregnancy would last.

So perhaps when a human woman tries to give birth to a half-elf, the infant may not be developed well enough (premature birth) to survive outside the womb. If an elven pregnancy does progress slower than a human pregnancy, the half-elf infant would have plenty of time to develop in the womb, and may even be a bit more developed than an elven infant upon birth (think late delivery).

Ah, I was going to ask why is it that male-elf/female-human couples can't produce half-elves, but this may be a good explanation. I could see female elves giving "premature" (for an elf) birth to half-elves then, with the half-elves still being fully developed.

Is there an official stance on whether half-elves can produce children?

All good questions The helpfile is now updated.

Glasp you do too much. Youre not superman you know!
-Aunt May
(implying you are spiderman)

Well written and answers quite many questions. Now if only all the other racial help files were as informative Thanks!

Just wanted to mention that I like the updated helpfile