new take on fairy/elf

[Asura Levi]

While working in one of my endless winep (work in never ending progress ) I introduced this slave woman with exotic looks claimed to come from the ice lands.
At first, she was just be an exotic woman, but then she became a half elf.

While thinking more of her, I came to different (maybe original) picture.

She is "half-breed", the common folk call her half-fairy or half-elf, depending on the location.

She was born from a human woman and her father, well, wasn't a father at all but a Fairy/Eladrin/Elf woman.

To explain (or at least try):
The woman-fairy transmutes, become completely spirit, essentially dying.
In this form, she would impregnate a fertile human who in turn would give birth to the half-fairy.
The half-fairy would age faster and keep her young looks longer [this part can be scrapped, not relevant].
At a point in her adulthood she would "die". Or at least her human side would die and she would become a full-breed fairy.
And process continues.

As it is visible: what-if the woman "impregnated" by the fairy is already carrying a child. And what-if is said unborn is male.

So, what do you guys think? This is a very early draft of the idea. But I do enjoy working new 'races' out.

P.S.: Maybe the slave is like stated above, a twin of a fairy. Dunno yet. Also, I didn't thought about any power/abilities yet.

 

[skip.knox]

A promising beginning, though not much more than a sketch. Time to break out the paints!

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Slightly confused. Mum is a human woman. Dad is a fairy woman. I'm seeing a slight problem here!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Asura Levi]

Hi,

Slightly confused. Mum is a human woman. Dad is a fairy woman. I'm seeing a slight problem here!

Cheers, Greg.

Once the fairy dies, that is, her body dies and she exist only in spirit form, it will incarnate in a fertile human woman, making her pregnant.

As you can see, this makes the fairy population finite. If they are killed/destroyed in a way that this process is not possible (no woman around), they will vanish.
In fact, it is know that the fairies are slowly disappearing.

 

[Noma Galway]

I'm understanding the process well, and I like it.

As for the human mother already being pregnant with a male...

I'm assuming there are no male fairies. If this is true, is it because it is impossible for a fairy to be male or because it just never happened? Did the woman-fairy in question have much of a choice who she chose in that circumstance or was this an emergency choice? I'm guessing twins would probably happen, and only one of them would be overtly fairy-like, but the male might have some characteristics? You're saying they age faster, which might mean they develop faster, so there already being a pregnancy would not be a problem. Fraternal twins would most likely be assumed by the populace at first. I feel like I'm rambling but those were the ideas that put in my head.

I love this concept!

 

[WooHooMan]

I don't think "elf" would be a good name for this creature. "Fairy" works though. "Fairy" implies "ethereal" and "magical".

I like the idea. It's almost like the child is an incarnation of its fairy-parent.
I think a logical process would be...
Human Man + Human Woman = Human Baby
Then...
Human Baby + Fairy Spirit Woman = Half-Fairy Baby
The fetus turning from male to female seems unnecessary. Perhaps, I'm missing some kind of symbolism or something.

To me "Human Woman + Fairy Spirit Woman = Half-Fairy Female Baby" feels like an "immaculate conception" which brings all kind of weird implications. I think you need a human father in this equation.

 

[Asura Levi]

I think the reason for the fairies to be female is that they take the trace of the actual mother.

If the woman-'vessel' is already with child, probably the biggest chance would be either a possession of the child or killing it and starting over again (really odd if the pregnancy is already in its 8th month).

In the case of possession of a male child, that would probably be a 'male' fairy. It could either change his powers/abilities or just be completely irrelevant. (Once the fairy 'dies' it would take over a woman again, making her pregnant and giving birth to a girl).

In the case of the twins, probably extremely rare, it would be as you suggested Noma, one of them will be a fairy while the other will have some uncommon abilities.

As of the choice, the fairy will usually choose her 'vessel' but can take any in a emergency situation. And I'm prone to say that it could take any animal, adapting itself to that form until it could re-start the process. (It would have a life-span in the form of a magical beast resembling the animal who mother her but then it could return to human form.)

I'm not sure what will happen with past experiences and knowledge. If the new fairy would have any memory of it. Maybe some flashes or deja vu feelings.

 

[DaFlaminUnicorn]

This is a very unique take on the fairy ideas. It is kind of wired but in a good way. I like your Ideas. I think you should keep them. My take on the fairy world is actually very different, but I think yours will do nicely in your story.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I don't buy it, but even assuming I did there's another problem. If a dead fairy can incarnate as you put it into a human woman and create a half fairy, can a half fairy do the same and create a quarter fairy? That way leads to non-fairies(?) sooner or later. Or can they also incarnate into other fairies and have full fairy offspring?

Or alternatively - and here's how I would envision it - it's a form of reincarnation. The fairy dies and is reborn - so it's still her. But maybe she grows up as human and simply doesn't realise what she is until a certain age when her powers start to show. That would make much more sense to me than half fairies etc.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Asura Levi]

Maybe I wasn't really clear on that point psychotick.

The fairy lives her humanoid life and at a moment, for whatever reason, dies, becoming spirit only.
Her spirit will incarnate in a human woman and give birth to a 'half-fairy'.

The half-fairy will live her life, mostly as human, but maturing faster (maybe, maybe not, this is something that can easily change) and at a given age, her human side will 'die'.
During these years, she would have a limited set of powers.
At a seemly random age, lets say, menopause, when the human-side of hers die, only then, she becomes a full embodied fairy (pretty much like you envisioned it).

The half-fairy naming, is merely a way to make this difference clear.
The human folks don't really know how this all works, so they would just assume that a human with small fairy-like powers is a half-fairy.

As for why all her friends/acquaintances/other family member don't realize the change, it is because the half-fairy hardly stays fixed in a community, and because they do live longer (once they mature in full-fairy) most humans wouldn't really recognise her.

That is still a hole on all this, what if she give birth while still a half-fairy? I still haven't figure that out. If the offspring would have any fairy-like attributes at all, etc...