Races

Half-Shei - by T.A. Saunders ©2010 v1.0

Racial Articles Half-Shei as a Culture

The Half-Elves onto themselves do not have a cultural identity, but tend to relate to either their human or Elvish background. As has been noted elsewhere, depending largely on the Elvish side of the heritage will in turn depend what sort of cultural identity they may or may not have. Some Half-Elves, for whatever reason may find more value in their Human cultural roots and will tend to mirror those values and beliefs.

In addressing the Elvish viewpoint, Moon Elves having lost most of their original cultural identify, have developed over the centuries since the War of Eternals a more progressive and free-thinking culture, where inter-breeding with Humans is considered an evolution in their people's development, rather than a mark of shame. Moon Elves are more concerned with the study of magic, the maintaining of religious and culturally significant knowledge and values, than racial purity.

Wild Elves consider their Half-Elvish population a happy accident and tend to look at the rearing of such children as making lemonade from lemons. They are educated and inducted into society as Elves, though there are various degrees of prejudice when Half Wild-Elves are dealing with their full-blooded kin. Most are accepting of their half-blood kin, some are grudgingly so but there is almost no outright hatred.

Shadow Elves at the very best of circumstances will shun their half-blood kin. They will not look at them, they will not speak to them and if addressed, they will simply walk away, ignoring the existence of a Half-Shadow Elf (or any Half-Elf for that matter). In the very worst, a Half-Elf of any breed caught in a major Shadow Elf city like Am-Raynia is likely to be banished on pain of death, beaten or possibly killed on sight, for being an aberration. The generally dark turn Shadow Elf society has taken post War of Eternals has bred copious amounts of intolerance that draws its power from the fact that straying from any of the traditions can lead to destruction and anarchy.

Of the Human viewpoint, most human parents of Half-Elvish children love them no differently than if they were children of full human decent. The prejudice does not show itself until racial differences are exploited somehow. Half-Elvish children for instance, almost never get adopted into Human families, for fear the child will outlive even their grand-children and horde any claim of title, land or money that may exist. In schools, Half-Elvish children are often picked upon, for developing more slowly physically than their human counterparts, but still maintaining a higher mental acumen than most humans. While this can lead to challenges growing up, most Half-Elves are accepted in Human societies, regardless of their cultural roots.