Half-elf not knowing he's a half-elf

[Manhattan]

Say a half-elf is raised without knowing he was a half-elf. He always thought he was human. He's lanky like an elf, but his ears are rounded. Other than that, he's just a tall, thin man. If he didn't know he was of mixed blood, how would you go about roleplaying him?

Would he still have that fierce independence, that struggle for acceptance, the half-elven paranoia?

[Larrath]

Would he still have that fierce independence, that struggle for acceptance, the half-elven paranoia?

Yes.  A half-elf is a half-elf even if he doesn't know that.

Edited to add: don't forget that half-elves have a longer life span than humans by around 10%.  This isn't a huge difference, but the half-elf would grow up and mature more slowly than any humans he may be able to compare himself against.  He could start puberty at 15.  On the other hand, not all Zalanthans are aware of their true age and he might never notice it past being a late bloomer compared to other humans.

[Spoon]

I've always thought of it as obvious to both humans and elves whether someone is a half elf or not.

I remember reading something about half-elves from D&D, maybe it was from baldur's gate or something:

'To humans half-elves look like elves, to elves they look like humans.'

Now, while not looking exactly the same, the opposing race will notice everything impure about them. Elves have extremely distinguishable features, and even with generation upon generation of humans shagging half-elves, these will still most probably shine through in one or two areas. Elven skeletons are a different shape also, so the structure of their skull will be very different to that of a human's, along with their hands, limbs etc etc.

Personally, I don't think a half-elf would be able to shake of their elven genes, and they'd always be apparent.

[John]

I've always thought of it as obvious to both humans and elves whether someone is a half elf or not.

Races[/url]"]Regardless of these attributes, however, half-elves can virtually always pass for either humans or elves, and share the skin tones and hair-and-eye colours of both parents.

[FightClub]

I've always thought of it as obvious to both humans and elves whether someone is a half elf or not.

I remember reading something about half-elves from D&D, maybe it was from baldur's gate or something:

'To humans half-elves look like elves, to elves they look like humans.'

Now, while not looking exactly the same, the opposing race will notice everything impure about them. Elves have extremely distinguishable features, and even with generation upon generation of humans shagging half-elves, these will still most probably shine through in one or two areas. Elven skeletons are a different shape also, so the structure of their skull will be very different to that of a human's, along with their hands, limbs etc etc.

Personally, I don't think a half-elf would be able to shake of their elven genes, and they'd always be apparent.

Yeah this is Arm, not D&D, our dwarves don't have beards, our half-elves can pass as either or, without detection.  Our chicks can have wee-wee's, and I think you get the point bro.

[Kalden]

However...all half-elves will have pointed ears, I believe. That's one trait that isn't quite random.

Unless maybe you had very diluted elf blood? Or is it possible for half-elves to have very round ears?

Theoretically elven blood would be mixed into many (or at least some) of the humans, at least in trace amounts, after this length of time. Slightly curved ears might be embarrassing but usually overlooked.

[Spoon]

Arm is apparently based on Dark Sun, FightClub, which is D&D.

The point I was trying to make is that unless you are planning to have some incredible story of your PC finding out they're a half-blood, you're missing the entire point of playing a half-elf, which is that they don't feel accepted by either race but strive to be, making them what they are.

[Nao]

Arm is apparently based on Dark Sun, FightClub, which is D&D.

No. There are quite some differences between your usual d&d and darksun. One being that elves are taller than humans and not shorter, so there HAVE been some racial changes.

[spawnloser]

The staff has said before that it is perfectly acceptable to play a half-elf that does not have obvious indicators in any form that it is a half-elf.  It is perfectly fine to have a half-elf that doesn't know that s/he is a half-elf (but yes, they are still a half-elf and have the half-elf racial bipolar disorder).

[Spoon]

Ok, I don't mean to derail this thread, but I don't need patronising posts about how arm differs from D&D. I was merely trying to put a few ideas across, and used D&D as an example.

I'm just not too keen on people bypassing the half-elf bit of their RP, not that i'm accusing anyone, it's just it happens from time to time.

[Marauder Moe]

The staff has said before that it is perfectly acceptable to play a half-elf that does not have obvious indicators in any form that it is a half-elf.  It is perfectly fine to have a half-elf that doesn't know that s/he is a half-elf (but yes, they are still a half-elf and have the half-elf racial bipolar disorder).

It's not all about the ears.

The staff have also mentioned that if you assess -v someone and notice they're not the race you thought they were, then it's ok (thought certainly not required) to ICly notice some traits of mixed blood.

[moab]

And please be careful about using the term "bi-polar" to describe half-elf psychology.  I know it's a really popular term these days, but it does not describe half-elf psychology.

Additionally, since half-elf psychology is based (from my player-limited knowledge) on environment and not genetics, it could well be that a half-elf who does not know he is a half-elf (doesn't even have a niggling of doubt) may be perfectly well adjusted and confused by people who treat him oddly (and don't bring it up to him).

The exploration of the character, here, would revolve around dealing with his own doubts and then the sudden blossoming of his half-elf personality when he realizes what he is (if he ever does).

[Anonymous]

My take on it has always been:

If you want to play a human, then play a human.

If you want to play an elf, then play an elf.

If your half-elf looks like an elf or looks like a human because of the dominance of one half of his genes, that's fine, but having it be completely impossible to tell... Eh.. Why not just play human or elf?

Either way, a half-elf should follow the half-elf mentality of independence and have a similar upbringing of scorn from both sides in order to work.

[Agent_137]

right, davien. If one wants to play a tall lanky human with some elven ancestry, good. Go to it, play a human, espescially if you don't want to deal with the half-elven bi polar thing.

[grog]

And the fact that elves are taller is actually directly from Darksun.

[UnderSeven]

Someone said 'all half elves have pointed ears'.  I just wanted to jump in and say that is NOT true.

All half elves more or less have no for sure traits.. They are taller then humans you might argue, but a really tall human might be taller than a really short half elf.  Their eyes may or may not be almond shaped, their ears can be round or pointed or somewhere in between.. Ect.

Remember, half elves are not just there for Half elves, but could be a different mix, three quarter elf, forty sixty, one third.  If a half elf and a half elf get together they make a half elf, if a half elf and a human get together, they probably still make a half elf.  

if a half elf and a human who has some elven get together and make a human, then that human gets together with a human who has elven in their blood.

You can assess and know someone is not your race, but that's rather twinkish if looking at their desc and assessing their height they really look like your height.  This has come up before, half elves can pass as either or.

[Jherlen]

This discussion is interesting, because I think it explores the root of the half-elven conflict.

Would a half-elf raised by humans, and always treated as a human, never knowing he was any different, still have the personality acceptance/independence issues that half-elves are known for? In other words, are those issues genetic, or just a result of the way half-elves are treated by society?

For the game's sake, I think the issues would probably be considered genetic (if you want to play a human, play a human), but an interesting half-elf background might be one who has grown up thinking he was human, until later in life finding out he is not, and then having to come to grips with his mixed heritage internally. Hmm...

[amoeba]

It may very well be that there is a strong genetic component to the half-elf's psychosis.  There are breeds of dogs that have a natural physological instablity bue to years of controlled breeding.  We all know that a horse breeding with an ass, creates a mule, which is incapable of reproduction.  I would argue that a elf and human breeding produces inherently unstable offspring.  It is possible that a breed could honestly think he is fully human, yet the underlying genetic condition would still effect him to some degree or another.

I also want to reinforce that bipolar condition, otherwise known as manic-depressive disorder does not properly represent the half-elf mindset.  Manic-drepressive disorder exhibits itself in wild mood swings of unreasonable euphoria, and crushing depression.  The half elf mindset is one more of conflict, feeling beneath everyone and deeply wanting acceptance, while on the other hand wanting to prove that they don't need anyone and wanting to show their independance.

[Cenghiz]

As far as I know it is mentioned that 'assess -v' is IC info. So, if someone tells you that you have mixed blood for sure without your char even knows it, they're not twinking, they're not using OOC info, they're not being unfair etc etc.
Possibly you won't ever become a militia or noble house servant in south or rise in ranks in merchant houses. There will always be someone realizing you're a half-elf.
I love this policy, there were way too many half-elves trying to pass as humans.

[Manhattan]

So is the half-elf paranoia genetic or caused by the environment?  I mean, we could argue if homosexuality is the same way...we may never know.

Jherlen got the point of my thread. This is just something I really want to know right now.

Like, the half-elf grew up with a single parent who never revealed to him his daddy was a dirty elf. He grew up around humans in a human village... but he does look kind of weird...because he's lanky and tall. Occassionally, people would note this odd physical trait, but other than that, he's practically human. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLAYING THIS??

I'm gonna put this in Ask the Staff.

[Aldiel]

I've always thought of it as obvious to both humans and elves whether someone is a half elf or not.

I remember reading something about half-elves from D&D, maybe it was from baldur's gate or something:

'To humans half-elves look like elves, to elves they look like humans.'

Now, while not looking exactly the same, the opposing race will notice everything impure about them. Elves have extremely distinguishable features, and even with generation upon generation of humans shagging half-elves, these will still most probably shine through in one or two areas. Elven skeletons are a different shape also, so the structure of their skull will be very different to that of a human's, along with their hands, limbs etc etc.

Personally, I don't think a half-elf would be able to shake of their elven genes, and they'd always be apparent.

Yeah this is Arm, not D&D, our dwarves don't have beards, our half-elves can pass as either or, without detection.  Our chicks can have wee-wee's, and I think you get the point bro.

Actually this isn't true.  Once upon a time, I made a half-elf that had round ears like a human's, and I got in trouble for it.  I had to rewrite my mdesc after I got approved.  I know players who've made half-elves with round ear that have slipped through, but I am pretty sure they only got through because the staff failed to notice their ear-shape in their mdesc.  Being lanky in your descript is not enough.  For a character to have the stats of a half-elf, he has to be a first generation breed.  Meaning, he has to have had a human parent and an elf parent, not a two half-elf parents, or something like that.  If a half-elf is human enough to have round ears, he is human enough to have human stats.

[Manhattan]

You send this message to the staff:
    "Is my half-elf allowed to have round-ears?"

A staff member sends:
    "yes, there's nothing saying half-elves have to have pointed ears, the docs indicate they can pass for an elf or human"

I'm also gonna send an email. I really need this cleared up.[/quote]

[amoeba]

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLAYING THIS??

Well since you are going to yell....

Perhaps I was too obtuse.  Not knowing one is a breed, does not make him not a breed.  The underlying issues are still there, the mental instablity.  -How- to play it out is up to you.  He could fret constantly about why he has these odd feelings that he doesn't undertstand.  He could lash out at anyone who even remotely accused him of being of mixed heritage, he could slowly come to understand he has more in common with breeds and come to loathe himself, or even accept it. There are many ways to play it.  It is a personal thing, this is up to you to deceide.  But the base underlying principle is that he is still a breed, otherwise as others have stated, play a human or an elf.

[Cale_Knight]

Someone will always realize you're a half elf. Always. You will never ever really get away with it.

[Manhattan]

Alright, thanks guys. Amoeba and CK. I'm getting a lot of ideas now. Hmmmm. This is gonna be fun!