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Half man half...

In my story setting, Half-Humans (Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Half-Dwarves, etc.) will usually inherit the skin, hair, ears, & eyes of their Non-Human parent but any physical and magical abilities they inherit will be somewhat less potent and their lifespan will be at least 20% shorter than the Non-Human parent's, provided that their lifespan exceeds that of a Human (which, in my setting, caps at 180.) Another principle is that the children of the Half-Human child are designated as 2nd Gen Half-Humans, even though they're only 25% Non-Human. This extends to the fourth generation, which is usually the last one where any Non-Human attributes are still visible in the person's appearance. (Abilities, however, may continue to manifest for several more generations and may even crop up occasionally much further down the line.) The appearances of 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Gen Half-Humans become progressively more Human and less Non-Human and the potency of any Non-Human abilities will also decrease. Extended lifespans drop by up to 20% with each generation, though this is not always the case, especially if both parents are Half-Humans, such as a Half-Elf and a Half-Orc.

One thing I should clarify is that, with only a few exceptions, only Humans and Half-Humans are able to interbreed with other races, so an Orc and an Elf cannot sire offspring (though they can obviously adopt children.) This is because all the Core Races in my setting were based on the same Template of Creation, specifically the template for sapient life. However, two of the gods, the Matron and Patron Deities of Humanity, decided that it would be best to have a race that was, in essence, the Template given life. Humans can interbreed with the other races because they're what all those races would be without any adjustments to the Template.

What I'm still trying to figure out is what happens if a Half-Human breeds with someone from their Non-Human parent's race, such as a Half-Orc having children with an Orc. If people are considered Half-Humans up to the 4th Gen while they get progressively more Human (1st Gen 50% Human, 2nd Gen 75% Human, 3rd Gen 87.5% Human, 4th Gen 90.625% Human,) then it would seem consistent for the reverse to be true (2nd Gen 75% Non-Human, 3rd Gen 87.5% Non-Human, 4th Gen 90.625% Non-Human,) but I'm not sure. Likewise, I feel like, in such a scenario (breeding away from Human rather than toward it) having the 2nd Gen be the last one capable of interbreeding with other races might make more sense. I'm not sure why, but I feel as though once the amount of Human DNA drops below 25% interbreeding should no longer be feasible, though perhaps less than 10% should be the cutoff point, so maybe the 4th Gen can't interbreed. I just think that there needs to be a threshold for how much Human DNA enables reproduction with other races.

Regardless, the last thing I'm going to mention is that the flagship protagonist for my story setting happens to be a Half-Orc woman by the name of Perdita Nightshade (pictured below.) I'm having a lot of fun with her, but one interesting tidbit is that her father is actually a 3rd Gen Half-Elf, which means Perdita technically qualifies as a 4th Gen Half-Elf in addition to being a 1st Gen Half-Orc. This is why she has violet eyes and an eggplant sheen to her hair. It's my way of featuring this particular aspect of how interspecies children can work in my story setting.

perdita_nightshade___art_by_hexxart_by_patrick_leigh_ddu1e8t-fullview.jpg

(Art by Hexxart)​
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
>Half-elf is a human term.
Yeah. I wrote a book whose MC is an orphan, told her mother was human and her father was an elf chevalier. At one point, she is in a town and tells someone she's half elf. The other person responds, "oh yeah? What's the other half?"

The phrase always bugs me, too. I have a character in my WIP who is part ogre and part dwarf. I'm not sure of all the implications; I'm just letting that little plant grow for a while.

The truly interesting part to me isn't how various peoples cross-breed. The interesting part is what consequences that might have for an individual or even a whole group. Are they outcasts? Admired like a rare jewel? Merely commonplace? Are certain pairings a scandal while others are not? How about something other than a pairing?

Lots of possibilities. I'll leave the gene-sorting to others.
 
Man, I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have used that blonde-brunette hypothetical scenario.

I'm also wishing I'd stuck to my original comment. In most fantasy worlds, genes are probably not going to be a consideration for the inhabitants, so why bother considering that aspect? I suppose the chance exists for some description of inheritance of traits to cause a particular modern reader to stumble while reading...And I think that leaving the exact mechanisms unexplained will probably work for the majority of stories set in fantasy worlds.

Perhaps very odd circumstances, for instance the influence of magic or of actual gods, will make delving into the mechanisms of inheritance of traits an interesting exploration for a fantasy tale. Heck, it could add some great world building depth. But otherwise? Naw.
 
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