ITT: Take a Veeky Forums (or general fantasy/sci-fi-horror) cliche and subvert it in a way that's actually interesting...

The benefits of regular exercise and fitness for intelligence and academic performance are well known. As such, many specialist soldiers are schooled in some basic magics that are useful on the battlefield as part of their training. You will also find that many wizards and students of magic are physically capable, some even engaging in constitutional combat exercises as a part of their self-imposed regimens. In fact, in the human civilization, there's quite a bit of overlap between the magical academics and the military, with members of both getting along well even when there are political differences or no career overlap.

Those that Veeky Forums together, fit together.

...eheheh

Whatever floats your goat

The aliens are all humanoid and attractive due to the fact that primeval humans were seeded across the entire galaxy, resulting in thousands of different subspecies and variants on the same base genetic code.

Yeah, the idea that magic users are weak cuz all their time is devoted to their studies is dumb.

If simple spells can be learned quickly everyone would know them.

Dwarves/dwarfs live in forests. They build their homes in the roots of the mightiest trees. They venerate trees due to their role in their lives (as well as homes, trees also provide food and produce the dwarves/dwarfs favorite and most holy jewel amber). Dwarves/Dwarfs main weapon are axes as they cannot imagine a crueler weapon (dwarvish blades tend to have teeth like saws).

Nah.

I use this in my world building constantly...

But. Nah.

So, basically, short and stocky elves with scottish accents?

Humans and dwarves, are stuck in a state of cold war, constantly trying advance their technology and weapons to give themselves an advantage over the other.

The gods are actually powerful AI set-up to watch over the world.

The world is actually a nature preserve, an experiment to see if elves, human, dwarves and others can get along properly.

Dwarves live in ancient mountainous regions, which are heavily forested. As such, dwarves are skilled naturalists and woodsmen as much as they are miners and architects. The temple in their capitol city is built deep beneath the earth, nestled among the titanic roots of the world's oldest living tree.

The gods aren't actually real. Clerics and Paladins gain their power from channeling their raw conviction that the gods can achieve their goals into reality.

Elves live for millennia but are only fertile for a month every hundred years.

This. This is good.

Belief = power.

Belief in a higher power = higher power

The Creator of the world is just that: a creator.
He lacks the ability to actually destroy anything.
As such if he made a mistake or something was created without his input he would be unable to effect them in any way, hence why he uses paladins and clerics as his champions.

Even the more academic magic users are required to pass physical exams and work out regularly to help their bodies handle the usage of eldritch energies.

Azoin, Head Librarian is said to regularly compete in Iron Man tournaments even at the ripe age of 94

So Tolkien elfs?

>Iron Man

Iron Trial.

The Iron Circle, the largest guild of magi in the land, supplements their fitness with alchemy and are working on a device that allows them to bypass the physical requirements of spell casting.

I like it

40k Orks then?

The eldritch, selectively-perceivable monster that hunts you down if you try to learn more about it doesn't kill you. Instead, it tells you more about itself, and politely asks to learn more about you for the education of its species. It means absolutely no harm.

The ubiquitous secret order trying to keep these monsters in the dark about us for the sake of making them easier/more fun to hunt is a completely different story. By making contact with this thing, you allowed them to perceive and interact with it as well.

nah Somerset. and elves don't live in forests. That would be weird. They live in hills.

That is good.

Word is bond.

So make beings that can go back on their word, that can destroy. Oops, they got out. Humans.

Elves and dwarves were originnaly one of the prinal offshoot human species, after humans as we know tem overtook, killed or interbred most of their rivals competition a few subspecies that would befome the races we know today were saved by the ancients from being wiped out by early homo sapien agression.

So does this mean that so long as enough people believe in the higher power said power exists, but if enough people stop believing does it stops existing?

>Swolemage

When we're done studying I'm meeting up with the Town guard at the gym, later bros.

Hell yeah. See American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Also, the study of magic is distinct from the other academic disciplines in that it is veeeeeeery dangerous and wouldn't even be considered if its potential benefits weren't so great. As such, wizards and aspirants need to be able to handle themselves against all manner of hazards, most of which are widely known or well-understood.

They live and work out of isolated towers to reduce the risk to others, but they frequently interact with the rest of society through their publications.

I'm not gonna expand on this concept anymore. This is turning into wankery over making grad school students and PhD holders into badasses.

1.Vampires are just mutated werebats.

2.Because of their constant warfare and love of fighting, orcs have become the best healers in the land. Why sit around waiting to heal when you can slap some magic and shit on that wound and get right back to fighting?

Nope. More viking than that.
I want Barbarian to be one of their favored classes.

>orc healers
I actually really like that. Imagine finding the most detailed, accurate treatise on medecine and humanoid biology, and its written in ork-speak.

Who says you can't have farmer joe Druids?

>Dwarfs live in Mountains

They were driven there because of the solar radiation that once scorched the earth and poisoned the soils, only hard rock could protect them from an early death.

Since the Orcish texts are the most advanced and detailed in all the land, their terminology has been adopted by most other races, and you'll occasionally hear a doctor refer to lungs as "breathy bitz".

That's pretty good.

Elves could raid along the coast, using their superior abilities to row, sail, and fight harder and smarter than anyone they meet. Though they don't use guns, they scarcely seem to need them, for an Elf, throwing a pebble that can crack open a mans skull at fifty paces is easy, and their composite bows have draw-weights far beyond the longbow, each arrow is the equal of a modern rifle bullet. They don't upgrade their technology, and it's only lately that organized resistance has been able to deny them access to coastal or riverine ports. Even then, the open sea is theirs, they are experts at night-rowing and navigation, and deadly in night-boarding actions.

What if we take this a step further. All the sentient creatures of a world are fully capable of changing reality based entirely on belief. So if enough people of that world can be convinced that say....the world is flat and there happens to be an edge to the world to fall off of, the world then does become flat with edge. Changing reality just involves convincing enough people that what you say is true.

I like this. The Harrowing Elves they shall be called, clad in leaf of black.

Sorcerous power derives not from intellect but from genetics, and most royal lineages have been self-operating eugenics programs for some time.

>leaf
nah, good old fashioned hides, leather, and chainmail.

>Elves speak a millennia-old language that is very close to its initial roots.
>No words for modern things like "wagon", "minaret", "tannery", or "armor".
>Plenty of synonyms for "leaf", though.

Or no armor.

They don't get into /fair/ fights. And if you don't kill them, they always heal. They may scar, they may lose function, but if something doesn't kill them, if they can be stabilized at the scene, they will survive the injury.

If they /really/ need armor, they kidnap tanners and blacksmiths. Then eat them.

>don't get into /fair/ fights
What kind of honorles fool would fight with deception? To fight without honour is to insult your mentor, for certainly they have taught you the skills to overcome any opponent.

For certain values of fair.

They don't mind fighting plate armor knights without armor on, they also don't mind fighting villagers armed with farming tools.

The point being, I'd make it so they kidnap people to make things like armor.

Oh, is elvish craftsmanship not good enough for them?

Congratulations, you made regular humans with pointy ears.

The royal sorcerers that result from this are extraordinarily powerful and wise in the way of magic. They're also the products of inbreeding. Contrary to popular belief, the "beautiful but insanely cruel" sorcerers are actually the weakest of them.

Whatever it is that provides sorcerous potency is linked to something that governs empathy and intelligence. The mightiest magic users are also the nicest, on instinct. They're also either very flighty or not too bright when it comes to things not relating to magic.

It is when crafting with wood and bone and rock. They can produce weapons with these parts that are equal to a WWII rifle in their hands.

They don't bother developing metal-working, not when they can just grab men to do it.

>only humans can wear armor, only elves can be unarmored
pic related, a round-eared elf

>No advanced tech
>No ancient culture
>Feral culture

The only parallel I can see is being in a cultural dead-end, much like Elves are in typical settings, only hyper advanced. Unwilling to change even as their nation crumbles around them.

That's cool. Is culture species, though?

Are breads toast? No, but they are a major ingredient in the making of it though

And yet, toast will always be bread. Sure, adding butter to it makes it more palatable, but that doesn't make it the same as a buttered scone.

Man, this metaphor is weird.

I know, but it seems quite fitting.

True, but lets be straight with eachother instead.

I don't want my elves to be filthy tree-nigers hiding in branches, wearing leaves, and shooting bows before running away.
I want my elves to be proud aryan ubermenchen with long martial traditions, a love of sagas, and expert craftsmanship
This does not make them more human and less elvish: they still retain a reverance for nature (their icy northern home), natural agility and carasma, and a long-term quality-over-quantity approach to racial planing.

Or as the Elves say:

>it is as bread in a toaster, enjoying the last burst of innocence

What the fuck is a carasma?
Being less assholey, how would the Aryan Odinic elves approach magic?

I like it. Agrarian druids that are a throwback to an earlier time in the human kingdoms. The artisans and tradesmen and swolemages look down on them for being "backward", but their folksy nature magic secrets are more efficient at sustaining a huge food supply than anything the city folk have been able to come up with.

They're allowed to retain most of their old culture and traditions because they and their people are so essential.

I meant to write charisma, but I accidentally words
Aryan Odinic elves would use druidic magic, as well as magic similar to what Merlin practiced (I.E. celtic hedge-mangic). They probably wouldn't use runes, since the Dwarves have that down.

Also, the farmer joe druids are the most knowledgeable about the dangerous dire beasties that would otherwise wipe out edge settlements, merchant caravans, and distant military encampments. I imagine they'd also be able to turn the deadly animals and plants on their enemies.

>elf redneck druids
fund it

>They tuk urrrrrr treeeeeys

>celtic hedge-mangic
I don't know if this fits, but it'd be pretty cool if their spellcasters caught and tamed stormclouds to accompany their vikings on the raids.

Imagine pelting rain, wind and lightning falling on a coastal settlement or a ship. Then the elf raiders rush in, unencumbered by the conditions as their targets are. They could even bring their spellcasters with them on exploratory expeditions, looking for bigger and more fearsome storms to work their mangic on.

>I don't want my elves to be filthy tree-nigers hiding in branches, wearing leaves, and shooting bows before running away.

I /do/ want my elves to be a sophisticated culture that /isn't/ like some wank of a known human civilization.

They are as sophisticated as civilization, but they aren't civilization. They live a long time, and unlike the common assumption that this means they become civilized and stratified, I think they'd just get incredibly good at the skills required for each of them to survive independently, and the skills required to work together - they wouldn't accept living under the rule of another elf who hasn't proven themselves personally.

I read this as
>Those who wish to bring mass destruction and death, do in fact get their magic powers suppressed by creation itself
>Those who wish to do geniune, selfless good find magic potential where none existed before.

I'm more interested in imagining the process of taming a thunderstorm

>be me
>living thunderstorm
>minding my own business, having fun by vaporizing some deer
>hear something. I look down
>there's some old-ass elf with a raggedy beard yelling at me
>lol what? well, better vaporize guy too
>crazy elf throws some sort of silver-laso around me
>wait what. how did he get a laso around me? I'M LITTERALLY MADE OF VAPOUR!
>HE'S PULLING ME DOWN TO HIM OH FUCK
>elf starts beating the shit out of me with a silver stick
>physically pushes me inside a glass jar and puts a cork on it
>the jar smells of moonshine and incest
>says that if I don't help his buddies raid the humans, he's gonna turn me into magic alcohol
>I do not want to be drunk by some crazy ass Elf hedge-wizard
>tfw I have to listen to mortals now

Inb4 the forces of nature themselves flee from the magic mortals wield.

You would probably like Dominions.

I like this idea, too. It's a little harder to develop, but from:
...would they be like predatory, solitary MacGuyvers? They could make whatever tools or weapons they need by working raw materials with more-or-less their bare hands. Their inhuman memory and affinity for language would also mean they'd be able to develop and share ways to make even more advanced and specialized tools out of whatever they'd have lying around. This could also extend to "domesticating" wildlife to serve their needs as well, in a sort of extreme long-term free-range practice. They spend their long lives carefully cultivating immense and ancient forests to be very comfortable for them and inhospitable to threats. Kinda like roaming, nomadic contingents of minecraft guys. Other races would barely be able to notice their efforts, since they're so subtle and far-reaching.

>elves
>mortals

Sorry, I projected my expectations/understanding of Elves all over this.

>to a storm-elemental, everything with biology is a mortal by comparison.

Fuckin' elves and their hedge-mangicians.

Angels/Demons/Etc... don't care about Mortals. At all.

From the lowliest Lemure, to the grandest Deity, they have absolutely zero investment in the affairs of mortals. Divine casters don't get their magic directly from Gods, they simply "invoke" a particularly deities portfolio to simulate it, or in rare cases gain it sorcerer-style through dimensional leaks.

Summoning is only used by psychopaths who don't understand the ambivalence of the universe, or occasionally by brilliant strategists on enemy strongholds and cities.

>tfw vorefag
>every time I consider adding cannibal elves to my setting I worry about it feeling magical-realmy

You're joking, right? That's literally Bosmer. Also Song of Swords has cannibal elves too.

Cannibalism is not all that uncommon in humans. I like it for Elves, they would not eat other Elves, but they would prey on everything else that moves.

Expanding on anons original Viking Elf concept, they would also be whalers.

I never got into the elder scrolls series

Polynesian Dwarves. They were initially the standard digging underground race, but when they broke the surface they found the only topside area was an island chain and that they were nowhere near the main continent.

After decades/centuries of expanding their surface holdings (access to wood, plentiful food from the sea, a ship is way faster to use for trade than digging a hundred miles of tunnel, etc), they as a culture mostly abandoned life underground in favor of seafaring.

Guys, guys, guys...

Hobbits but they're, like, thieves.

MUSCLE WIZARD

That seems like it has potential

haha nice try vect but craftworlders still make better waifus

Isn't muscle wizard about using STR as the casting stat instead of INT? That'd be like "me warp reality because STRONK", instead of "taking time to hone my body helps my primary efforts of honing my mind".

Humans and Orcs are competing primate species. All other races live on the moon and access the planet through magic and portals underground. The moon abounds with magic, while the planet is mostly mundane.

Are you sure of that, user?

Dwarves have been removed from society but have had a strong desire to improve themselves, but they only used themselves as a reference as to what "good" is, followed by an evolution of culture that's based on countering the latest fad development as it arises. Their entire culture, with this mindset, reaches the kind of irony conundrum we see on Veeky Forums; the line between satire and the satire of satire is very thin, and reality is lost in the midst. For example, what armor a dwarf wears depends on what season he came out of his cave home; in the Spring the dwarves wear chain to counter cutting weapons, in Summer rapiers are favored to stab through the chain and armor rises to full plate, when in the Fall hammers are brandished to handle the plate and do away with a lot of what good plate is and turning the focus onto less armor and avoiding attacks, and in the Winter cutting weapons are the fashion as people are too scarcely armored to protect themselves from the blades, and the cycle repeats in Spring when people return to chainmail.

Taking this self-improvement/incessant counterculture and applying it to every aspect of Dwarven society, the nature of the Dwarves keeps building layer upon layer upon layer, to the point where the outside world fail to see the logic in anything they do. Human combatants against dwarven fighters are either demolished due to their intense training or have nearly flawless victory based on what the dwarven fighter considered too unconventional to even be considered in a fight.

Techincally, muscle wizard referred to a strategy which allowed Cancer Mages to have nigh-infinite strength.