#mwahaha!!! i love these questions ill be puttin this in the doc!!

[love-toxin]

Which one of Elias’s parents was an elf? Can you talk a bit more about half-elves?

WAHOO!!! I certainly can 🥰🥰

So Elias' mother had elven heritage, but she herself didn't exhibit traditionally elven features--her ears only had the slightest point that was barely noticeable, and if you were looking at her while she was alive, you probably wouldn't clock her as an elf at first glance. She was the child of a full-blooded elf and a half-elf herself, and with her non-elfy features, it was quite the surprise when she popped out Elias with those big ears and golden eyes of his!

Half-elves themselves are a bit anomalous in modern culture; although they genetically belong to both groups, a lot of half-elves end up feeling like they don't belong anywhere. Some elf communes don't see them as "elfy" enough to live in elven communities, and some human groups think they're abominations or inherently inferior as a human subspecies. For elf-hybrids, the prejudices aren't quite as strong in their own communities, but they're often harshly judged by more conservative humans. In reality, half-elves are really unique and possess intricate qualities between both races!

Much like how hybridism is a dominant gene despite the presence of outwardly hybridic features, people with elven blood have inherent traits that differentiate them from the exclusively human population. They usually have a deep connection to nature and can feel the earth's "hum", have resistances to human diseases and illnesses (Elias, for example, has suffered next to no health complications as a result of his alcoholism), and they generally can pick up knowledge fairly easily, whether it be learning other languages or picking up hobbies or skills. It varies from person to person, and some people have more physical traits than skill-based ones and vice versa, but they definitely are their own class when it comes to identifying the many different species of the world.

And while half-elves are conventionally the children of an elven and human or hybrid parent, half-elves can also be born from two half-elf parents, and even a human parent and a half-elf parent! Some bloodlines are so strong or skip so many generations that some families are shocked when two supposedly human parents birth an elf baby, only to go back in their lineage and discover their great-great-great-great grandparent was 1/4 elf. It's amazing! There's even a historical figure in the Yanverse who, roughly around the year 3407, was born into a noble and pure-blooded human family and ostracized for his elven features, only to discover that his lineage dated back to an elven ancestor from the royal family over 1200 years prior. According to the elven royal family's records, he was depicted as a prince in their line and historians believe he was welcomed into the royal family as their adopted son. Since then, that's been the longest recorded period of time between elven ancestry and an elven child being born to non-elf parents!