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I just had a bit of a scene pop up in my head where someone was explaining how humans are the results of crossbreeding between elves and dwarves, and what we usually consider masculine or feminine are actually expressions of our dwarven and elfin natures. I really like the idea and it feels like an important part in the middle of a story, but I'm at a loss as to what the beginning or end might be. Any suggestions?
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Let's see a bit of world building.
The need to explain means that the dwarves and the elves procreated some time before, well enough that it's no longer common knowledge. The nature of the explanation of the humanity's origin implies that the other two races are likely very numerous in the past, and assumingly abundant in present. It has a corrolary that humans, while not a rarity, are not a majority of the world's population.
The need to explain hints also that mixed elven-dwarvish unions are extremely rare nowadays. The common conventions that elves are immortal, dwarves are long-living, and humans are mayflies needs to have an explanation on how two long-living produce a short-living offspring. OR change the lifespan of humans.
That said, it had let me to conclude that the possible beginning is the story of the said rare elven-dwarvish union, and the offspring they result in. Someone may be explaining this to them not long after their baby is born.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Continuing on
In the DnD universe the result of a dwarf/human crossbreed is called a Mole (unsure of spelling,) and are sterile. Perhaps something similar went on with the mix of elf/dwarf, shortening the resultant child's lifespan considerably, with this weakness being passed on through their own children. This could, in fact, be the reason behind the separation of dwarven and elvish cultures -- in order to avoid the outcome of producing more such children they separated their cultures, and over time (thousands of years) all remembrance of such events were forgotten.
Need more?
Melanie E.
To pronounce the spelling
The Mules (sing. Mul) are what you described. Yes, you were right of being unsure of spelling. Incidentally, mule is an offspring of a donkey and a female horse, and is infertile due to the progenitors having different number of chromosomes, resulting in an odd numbered set, and consequently, in sterility.
In fact, in Russian the word mule was associated with any hybrid of species, but this use is now outdated. I always considered mule to be a specific sub-term that indicated infertility of the resulting hybrid.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Aaah
I've only had them described to me by friends (never having read anything other than the core DnD game books) so I wasn't sure. "Mule" makes a hell of a lot more sense, though :P
Melanie E.
Mules...
Most are sterile. A small percentage are fertile.
Imagine a world where we have long-lived elves and dwarfs occasionally have a (much frowned-upon) tryst. The resultant mules are treated about the same way that so-called 'half-breeds' (Ever hear Cher's song by that title?) have been treated in most parts of the world.
So, these mules end up wandering the wilderness and, eventually, form a society of their own. Most of them are infertile, but the fertile ones (perhaps they have a different appearance, perhaps not) breed like rabbits -- producing a child every year or two, as opposed to every few decades.
While the dwarfs and elves are living their long lives and generally not paying attention to what is happening in the vast wilderness, the humans (as the fertile mules have decided to call themselves) are plotting their revenge for their ill-treatment.
Hey, we humans are good at holding on to a grudge for generations. Just ask the people in the Middle East and other areas.
So, greatly outnumbered, the elves and dwarfs go into hiding.
Was that
...because the Elves were a bit short of partners at the time?
Sorry...
Great ideas!
Thanks so much for your great ideas, everyone. Thinking about the what happened in the past, as well as why, has definitely gotten my muse going. I also loved the pun! Once it hit me, I was alternating between groaning and giggling for quite a while. :)
Perhaps...
...an ugly duckling who grew up to be a swan.