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Evolutionary descendents?

Alex

Troubadour
I kinda wanted an opinion on one of my races. They are basically Elven descendents called the Druvan. They use limited magic, like they can light candles or lanterns. They can also open doors and so forth. They lost a lot of their magic ability when the elves migrated up north after their forest homes were destroyed. Withe the temperature being more fridgid, over millions of years (elves were around long before humans) they gained more muscle and height for trudging through snow and things and keep them warm. In the process, they lost a great deal of their magic abilities due to lack of use, because they were generally unbothered by war so far up north.

Does this make logical sense to everyone?
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
It's not a lot to go on. Basically they're muscular elves with weak magic right? Whether or not they make sense depends largely on the context of the world you design for them. How have other races evolved over that time? What are the differences? Are there other elves that share common ancestry?

So yes, it CAN make sense. How you depict it & the environment/setting they live in/with will determine if it's successful.
 

Alex

Troubadour
Oh, I suppose I should have added more detail

Anyway, they also have heightened sight and hearing to help them deal with predators like snow tigers (or the occasional rogue dragon). They operate under a limited democracy (similar to ancient greece) rather than the human feudal system. If I can think of more detail, I'll post it.
 
Hi,

My thought is that evolution and elves (magic) don't fit well together. That the race changed over the millenia is fine, but don't throw a scientific word / explanation into a fantasy plot.

So instead maybe the elves grew bigger and stronger over time because of the extreme cold and to withstand predator attacks. They lost much of their magic because in those frozen climes there was little life all around them, and their magic comes from a deep connection with life. Something along those sorts of lines.

Cheers, Greg.
 

Alex

Troubadour
Well, I wasn't going to actually use the term in my story, as they would have no conept of evolution. I simply used it so those answering the question could better understand what I meant. In the story they call the elves "distant cousins lost to time" or "our lost cousins." Or just cousins. You get the idea
 

Jess A

Archmage
Interesting idea, I'd go with it, taking into account the comments above too.

One thing - if their magic can be used to light lanterns and such, why not use it to keep them warm in the snow? In that case, their magic would be an advantage in a cold climate and therefore unlikely to disappear. Unless the magic evolved into simple methods to keep them warm but can't do much else. But I would think being able to cast some sort of fire spells to melt ice, warm the air around them, dry clothes (etc) might also have some dangerous properties if used against someone else.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I would think being able to cast some sort of fire spells to melt ice, warm the air around them, dry clothes (etc) might also have some dangerous properties if used against someone else.

Seconded. Imagine a spell that's most often used for drying clothes suddenly being turned against an enemy, sucking all the moisture from their body so they die. *shivers* Not a pleasant way to go.
 

Alex

Troubadour
What I really want to ask is, what does everyone think of my idea? Is it sound? Does it need touch ups? What aspects do you not like?
 

Jess A

Archmage
Seconded. Imagine a spell that's most often used for drying clothes suddenly being turned against an enemy, sucking all the moisture from their body so they die. *shivers* Not a pleasant way to go.

I had a nightmare like that when I was a child. Thanks for the visual, Ireth ;)
 

Jess A

Archmage
What I really want to ask is, what does everyone think of my idea? Is it sound? Does it need touch ups? What aspects do you not like?

As I noted already before, I think it is a fine idea. I think as far as touch-ups go, you need to think about the magic. I think magic would be a useful survival tool in colder regions and hence I think that certain types of magic would remain strong or modified to suit their environment. But as Ireth also noted, even the simplest spells could kill somebody, with a little imagination.

That said, one could kill another with a pencil. -.-
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
I kinda wanted an opinion on one of my races. They are basically Elven descendents called the Druvan. They use limited magic, like they can light candles or lanterns. They can also open doors and so forth. They lost a lot of their magic ability when the elves migrated up north after their forest homes were destroyed. Withe the temperature being more fridgid, over millions of years (elves were around long before humans) they gained more muscle and height for trudging through snow and things and keep them warm. In the process, they lost a great deal of their magic abilities due to lack of use, because they were generally unbothered by war so far up north.

Does this make logical sense to everyone?

I would think the harsher climate calls for an increased usage of magic. Elves would need to master fire, light, water, natural, and communication magics to survive such extreme conditions.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Things to think about. In a cold climate, growing bigger and developing more muscle may not be an advantage in terms of evolution. It's very dependant on scarcity of food. Larger creatures with more muscle requires more energy/food to fuel them. So in a food scarce environment natural selection would trend toward small individuals. Not to say there can't be large creatures but there would be fewer of them because there wouldn't be enough food to feed them all. In addition, larger individuals will sink into the snow. A slight elf that's light enough to walk on top of the snow would be advantageous. EG. In LOTR Legolas can be seen walking on top of the snow while the rest of the Fellowship had to trudge through it.

Now in terms of magic, as mentioned above, I'd agree it'd be an advantage and IMHO wouldn't necessarily fade because of disuse. Maybe try instead of them not having little to no magic skill maybe have the focus of their magics be limited to fire type spells, and say they lose abilities like the skill to conjure snow and ice.

In the end it's all about your environment and the limits of the resources available and how the resources are used that will dictate wither big elves with no magic makes sense. If the elves can build warm palaces with their magic, evolution wise, they may not change very much at all physically, but magically, they may develop great skill in manipulating ice, snow, and water with magic spells. It's all in how you want to slant things.
 
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