The Feyborn: Never a Dull Moment

Sometimes, when a human daddy and Ilvari mommy (or vice-versa) love each other very much, they have a baby together.

This usually does not make them popular with their neighbors.

The Feyborn (only occasionally known as "half-elves") are the product of cross-species mating. Humans and elves are sufficiently genetically compatible to produce offspring, but the match is far from perfect. Physically the Feyborn tend to represent a subtle blend of human and elven features, typically favoring whichever race their mother belonged to. Feyborn grow faster and for longer than either humans or elves, so fully-grown Feyborn are typically at least six feet tall. Their pupils have the unnerving appearance of being permanently dilated.

The mix of human and elven blood running through Feyborn veins leaves them unstable, and as a race they share three traits universally: sterility, sorcery, and madness.

There are already a considerable number of obstacles to a human and elven pairing. Many if not most members of each race find the physical differences in skin tone, facial structure, body proportions and hair coloring displeasing in the other. Culturally, Verai are forbidden from fraternizing with non-Verai (even other elves) and Cellans, while perhaps open to the occasional dalliance, rarely tolerate humans in their caravan communities. In the cities where assimilated Ilvari are most common, many would rather pair among their own number, and some humans frown upon elven admirers, believing that they are looking only for social advancement. Officially, humans and elves are forbidden permission to marry, ostensibly to discourage the birth of Feyborn.

For those couples not dissuaded by such discriminations or prejudices, the specter of the Feyborn still looms large. All Feyborn have some innate talent with magic, though not all choose to pursue it. All Feyborn also exhibit some mental instability or madness, as measured by common standards of both the elven and human communities. There is no true common thread to their racial mania--it can manifest itself in as many ways and to as many degrees as madness can be found in human lunatics. But even among those Feyborn who pass for normal, it is always there in some form, lurking at the back of their mind. Typically it is described as "The Urge."

Many Feyborn do grow into lucid, productive adults. Imperial law considers Feyborn to be elves, so they may hold a variety of jobs and even own some property, although most exist in the subsistence or laborer strata of the economy. Many leave civilization behind entirely, living as hermits. Others turn to the clergy or the military--both to find in a place in the world and to find help taming their inner demons, though their advancement in both organizations is usually limited. Feyborn lifespans are shorter than that of elves or humans-no Feyborn has ever been known to live past the age of 50.

Some sensitive-minded individuals believe that Feyborn as a race are unfairly blamed for the actions of others and that given the same opportunities as their human or even elven parents, they could be perfectly normal members of mainstream society. The usual retort to this position is that said optimists have never had their skulls caved in by a middle-aged Feyborn who has suddenly and without warning lost all interest in respecting the lives of others.