The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesnoth?

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Pewskeepski
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by Pewskeepski »

When I finish with the drake campaign, I had planned to make a Northern Rebirth sequel following the adventures (About whom are written many legends ;)) of Tallin's son, Who would end up dieing in the end with no offspring. But if the story changes, It will be silly to make it...
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by thespaceinvader »

Tallin adopting a son wouldn't break anything.
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Aldarisvet
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by Aldarisvet »

I just wonder that so much time has passed, but in NR we still have a text:
_______________
Although Tallin faced many challenges as the head of the Northern Alliance, his marriage with Eryssa was serene and filled with happiness. Together they had one son, about whom were written many legends."
_______________

Which can only unambiguously be interpreted as their son was a half-elf.
No one care to correct just a one sentence?
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tr0ll
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by tr0ll »

... and some of those legends might explain how he came to be their son, when "everyone knows" it is impossible. Fodder for add-on campaigns with competing stories, or one campaign that investigates to try to find the truth, etc. In other words, no need to change the NR text, a little mystery and ambiguity makes life (for writers at least) interesting :)
Durin_the_great
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by Durin_the_great »

Half-breeds are possible. For example Beren Ecthelion and Luthien Tinuviel had a child. He was literally half-elven all his life. Tuor and Idril's child was half-elven. Eärendil and Elwing's children could choose. But, as Tolkien wrote, half elven is not a seperate race.
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by Dugi »

From a realistic point of view, modern humans and neandertals were on the edge of genetic compatibility. It meant that while their crossbreeds were very much possible, most of them were infertile. You can create cross breeds between relatively distant species, like horse and ass without issues, but they are always infertile. Even crossbreeds between such distant speeches as sheep and goats sometimes survive (the last common ancestor of sheep and goats is about as old as the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, goats have 6 more chromosomes than sheep, chimpanzees have 2 more chromosomes than humans).

This means that as long as it's bipedal, it should be able to crossbreed. The next question is if the crossbreed would be able to breed further. If it's more human-like than neandertals, it should be able to breed. Elves and dwarves seem to be more similar to humans than neandertals. Orcs probably are too, because only homo sapiens sapiens cares about decorations like tattoos and jewels. They are more different than human races, but not by far. So, speaking of biology, there should be no problem with half-breeds.

There are some social implications for being a half-breed, each community assuming that the individual is from the other community. Because humans live less than dwarves or elves, the interracial human lover would be aware of the unescapable early death of the loved one and possibly also children.
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Re: The Origin of (Wesnoth) Species, or: Half-Breeds in Wesn

Post by Durin_the_great »

relatively distant species, like horse and ass
They are relatively distant I think :lol:
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