In D&D humans live for no longer than 100 years

Boring

Better

Life is too long to be tied to one thing. Cherish the time you have then move on. Elves follow the desires of their heart no matter the consequences.

I like the idea of Elven romance being an incredibly personal affair of following one's heart rather than being tied to any one person. Elven dramas, comedies, and tragedies feature the shenanigans of following one's heart no matter the consequences.

There's always lichdom. Or vampirism if you're a wuss

You don't fuck dogs

I think this is why some settings/splat books at least in older editions mention that elves are more likely to commit suicide.

So the fact that they have this huge lifespan means basically nothing because their decisions are not affected by it. They also have all the advantages of this lifespan without any drawbacks. And it reinforces the elf = slut meme.

I see nothing good coming out of this.

It doesn't need to be that, it can mean that elves are just really impulsive. You could have elves being the first one to go after something because it's what their heart says. If humans are driven by ambition, elves are driven by emotion.

>And it reinforces the elf = slut meme.
How so? It seems to me that while they might have several lovers/dalliances over their lifespan, they would also spend a decent chunk of it honoring the memory of their loved ones that passed on.

Look at from another angle: she got to groom him into her ideal man, while he will always see her as the most important woman in his life besides his mother. Their bond will always be more than simply what brings most men and women together.

This isn't an issue in Tolkien since humans and elves are technically the same species. The difference is spiritual, and half elves are just sort of stuck in the middle. On some very early writings it was even possible for a human to become an elf. Half elves are born as elves and eventually have to choose whether they want to remain immortal or embrace the Gift of Men, which is how Elrond is still around (and is technically the High King of the Noldor). They also aren't everywhere as they're living symbols of a sacred union between elves and men and only born when fate itself permits it.

It's also possible for this happen with the descendants of half-elves as with Arwen

>their decisions are not affected by it

Their decisions are, but not in the way you want or expect. It's humans that want to hold onto all they have because their time is short.

Among elves, relationships are cherished but it's understood that it doesn't last forever. Unlike humans who try to make it long as last as possible, elves break things off when they feel it's right to. Marriage is an institution that's foreign to elves, and elven families are full of half-siblings and cousins, to the point that elves relate to one another in familial terms.

>You don't fuck dogs
Not with that attitude

Even with a lifelong relationship between two humans, you are either going to die first with the knowledge that you are leaving the love of your life alone, or you are going to have to watch the love of your life die and grieve for an unknown amount of time afterwards.

A human threw some of his cum into the elf spawning pool and it got sucked into the ladyelf's cloaca. FYI, elves don't have coital intercourse. The male elf cloacae spray elfjizz into the ritually prepared spawning pools and the female elves splash around in it. It is why their kingdoms are so sacred and why their cultures are so close knit and cooporative. They don't have concepts of direct lineage, except for the royalty, but they have their own special spawning pools.

It makes it sound like they will jump on the next dick just because they feel like it.

This doesn't really sound like anything inherently elf-like, you could give this trait to so many other fantasy races, especially ones with really short lifespans that can afford to do dumb shit because they feel like it.

dogs can't consent and rape is bad, user

If you easily live over 700 years, most of that not being old and decrepit, chances are you'd go through a lot of relationships. Even if a young elf would marry a human, eventually the spouse and kids are dead, you have an entire clan at this point and more than five human lifespans to keep going, you could fall in love and start over again, until your genes are more widespread than Genghis Khan.

>Marriage is an institution that's foreign to elves
What setting? Because I can't think of a single one.

Oh, right. Forgot the Harkness Test! Silly me!

I'd imagine part of being elven is coming to terms with the fact that you will outlive things you care about.

I think you're confusing Elves with Merpeople, user

It could also make it sound like they put their whole being into being the best spouse for whoever they marry.

Until they find someone that makes their hearts go doki doki more and drop him in an instant.

>It makes it sound like they will jump on the next dick just because they feel like it.

It's a humanocentric understanding that makes you project the behaviour of being flippant, or sluts, or psychopaths onto elves because they follow their impulses and emotions. There is a stigma that's developed from this behaviour in regards to humans.

It makes to sense for such a long lived species to following the institutions and romantic mainstays of shorter lived species.

>him

Now you're just projecting user.

My real question is: in that pic, does she really keep the same clothes for over 30 years, as well the same earphones? What does a kimono-wearing immortal need to listen with earphones anyway?

The masculin can be used if the gender is unknown or unspecific.

For me it's a humanocentric to think of them as unable to have long term relationships, in their terms. This doesn't sound like a race being made to live through the ages at all, but some teenagers with too much free time.

I think Dungeon Meshi makes a cool joke/worldbuilding decision about this. Dead/lost romantic partners is a major fetish for Elves.

I don't remember that at all.

>This doesn't really sound like anything inherently elf-like

"Elves love variety, freedom, and self-expression so lean towards the gentler aspects of chaos. They value others freedom as much as their own"
-D&D 5e Player's Handbook

"Elves are often considered frivolous and aloof. In fact, they are not, although humans often find their personalities impossible to fathom."
-AD&D 2e Player's Handbook

...No? I thought the qt Elf said it was embarrassing, but that Elves love the concept of lost love and passed paramours. Unless that was a different D&D Anime/Manga that uses the same setup and artwork.

I know about these and I'm not a fan. But should I cite all these divorced elfen marriages from Tolkien works? I can't remember a single one
But I think there was something...
>In fact, they are not
Awesome.

>This doesn't sound like a race being made to live through the ages at all

Why not? What makes you think a race that's so incredibly long lived you mate for life?

>teenagers with too much free time
Well one, they're essentially aged as young adults for the majority of their lifespan, and two a short term relationship is like 10 years to an elf.

they just don't make 'em like they did back in the 70's is all! and why replace what can be washed?

It honestly makes sense for elves.
>Tragedy is beautiful
>Tragic loves is the most beautiful kind
>Fetishes for tragic love and unrequited love

You remember it wrong.

>Awesome.

You got the exact opposite point from that.

It's humans who think they frivolous, aloof, slutty. They are not, they cherish each relationship they have, but it will not last forever.

In the second-to-last picture she's holding what looks like a playstation controller, so that's probably what the headphones are for.

>Tolkien

Shut the fuck up about Tolkien. His elves are not the definitive elves. It is my honest opinion that he harmed their image more than helped it.

And people wonder why there are complaints of elves being all the same and stagnating.

Yeah, that was the idea I remember.

I remember YOU wrong! How about that?!
Yeah, probably user.

>What makes you think a race that's so incredibly long lived you mate for life?
A race that has to face what might feel like an eternity will seek stability more than anything. All these romances, of which some might end up very tragic, would pile up over time and hurt them more than a relationship might become a bit sterile. And being chaotic for a race that is supposed to be not innovative just feels wrong on so many levels.

Mind you that I'm not saying that they should every have only one relationship. If this is such a huge commitment there might be a long time of testing different partners, and I'm not so prudish to say that this won't encompass some sex here and there.
Also before anyone get some wrong ideas, I'm not saying any of this is the right and only thing to do, but it just works better in my opinion for what I udnerstand under an elf

paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedRaceGuide/ageHeightWeight.html
d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/more-character-options/young-characters/
>human age 15 = adulthood

>elf age 55 = human age 8
>elf age 110 = human age 15 (adulthood)
>elf age 175 = human age 35
>extrapolation: elf age 131 = human age 21

>half-elf age 10 = human age 8
>half-elf age 20 = human age 15 (adulthood)

So how is this not awkward? Imagine if a 15 year old human and an 110 year old elf marry.
A year later (human is 16, elf is 111), a child is born to them.
20 years after that (human is 36, elf is 131), the half-elf is age 20 and has reached adulthood, the equivalent of a 15 year old human... but the elf is the equivalent of a 21 year old human. How does this not get awkward fast?

Elves as known in modern fantasy come straight out of Tolkien's influence. Same with dwarves and even more so with orcs which were completely made up by Tolkien

>His elves are not the definitive elves
Yes, but I just wanted to contrast these DnD elves you presented, which are also not the definitive, but in my opion way better than Faerûn elves, who didn't realy add anything good in my opinions.

>And people wonder why there are complaints of elves being all the same and stagnating.
Funny, I see more people complaining about elves being too diverse, having too many subraces. And they come in all kinds of sizes, different ancestry, different alignments, which is why we can have this conversation. It's not like an argument about dwarves, which doesn't happen because there is nothing to argue about.

Blame the most internally famous work of fiction in Japan: Genji Monogatari. In it, the protagonist grooming a child to be his lover is the most well known part.

You are aware that most female dog fuckers just set themselves up to be fucked by the dog, and never actually forces it, right?

You are trying to say it is wrong because "rape", when that is really the least of the issue with bestiality.

Modern fantasy, much like modern anime, is completely incestuous. Tolkien took inspiration from old myths, the world he saw around him and his own creativity to create something new. Modern fantasy is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of Tolkien. This means that at the same time Tolkien becomes the golden standard from which any deviation is absolut verboten while at the same time the reasons why Tolkien presented certain themes or characters are lost. Kind of like how anime is filled with men who have made their careers out of drawing boobs yet can't draw convincing boobs to save their lives because they hate looking at actual boobs.

>Genji Monogatari
...is that the one where he fucks a girl, then fucks the daughter that relationship produced, then fucks the daughter THAT relationship produced et cetera until you can actually see his children get more incestuous with every passing generation? That's fucked up, not even Rance is that fucked up and Rance is a legend.

Rape and/or abuse of the dog is the biggest argument for why it's wrong though.

>A race that has to face what might feel like an eternity will seek stability more than anything.

Why? If anything it should be the opposite. A shorter life requires stability, a longer life has the time to experience much more.

>would pile up over time and hurt them more than a relationship might become a bit sterile

You love your pets even if they die but it shouldn't sour your relationship with your newer pets. You loved them all when you had them, but their lives are shorter than yours so you should cherish them as pleasant memories.

>And being chaotic for a race that is supposed to be not innovative just feels wrong on so many levels.

Again, why? I feel that's a humanocentric view that change means development or innovation. It doesn't.

>Elves as known in modern fantasy come straight out of Tolkien's influence. Same with dwarves and even more so with orcs which were completely made up by Tolkien

The topic is of D&D elves, which Tolkien elves they definitely are not.

Elves presented in the corebook are not Faerun elves either. The elves I posit are extrapolated from corebook descriptions of elves.

It's just like having a short mom.

Elves really don't suffer that badly from being samey, any given version of DnD for example will cover a wide range of elven sorts and for the most part, people will accept anything as an elf if they're mystical and have pointy ears.

If you wanna talk about suffering races, we're looking at dwarves. Guys can never get too far away from their Tolkien mold without people wondering why they're called dwarves at all.

>I see more people complaining about elves being too diverse, having too many subraces.

This was true in 3.5e. We've moved on from that, but moved too much in the other direction.

>It's not like an argument about dwarves, which doesn't happen because there is nothing to argue about.

I mean, I disagree with this as well but that's not the point of this thread.

>How does this not get awkward fast?
The common 4 to 5 generations (grand child -> child -> you -> parent -> grand parent) is so ingrained in us humans, that we can't imagine anything else.

But from the elf perspective, you wont have that many more generations. With more than a 120 year between each generation, you should expect to get 5 generations, maybe 6 if you try. So everything is still fairly normal.

An elf reproducing with a human is unnatural. So the ability to have several generations within a year, would be super weird for an elf. Your average elf likely wouldn't be able to cope properly with it, because their child is reproducing way too early, and then it's child will too... and suddenly, instead of having 1 child every 120 years, you have 6 new generations.

So yes, it gets extremely awkward for elves. Humans, not so much.

It goes a long way to show WHY elves look down on half elves. Why wouldn't they? If your child started reproducing when it was 4, you'd (hopefully) be extremely unsettled as well.

Pathfinder isn't D&D.

>A shorter life requires stability, a longer life has the time to experience much more
There is a wider perspective on this, where a race can afford to have many individuals to experiment and fail, because a generation will grow back much faster. To give some extreme examples: The life of a skaven would not work on an elf and vice versa. On an individual level an elf can of course experiment all kinds of stuff, but there might be a point where it's just too much, the elves knows what he wants and he has to live with that some several centuries ahead of him. I can only imagine how this would end in a personal disaster for him if he has the attention span of a human, going around seeking new heights. Imagine their sex live. No user, no cute sex with your elfen waifu, she's a sexual deviant and laughs about thinking having sex with an ordinary human. That's so 400 years ago. I just can imagine how this could work for their huge lifespan, some day there must be a point where they should stop caring or else it will consume them. Then it's also hard for me to imagine how instable their whole society would be, if family union is barely there, if they barely dedicate themselves, have no long time planning.

I wrote some short story some time ago about an elf establishing a kingdom with his human bro, who becomes king, and living through several generations of his childs until this kingdom falls and gets conquered by some new ruler. The elf is tired of this shit and just wants to live in peace in the woods.

>You love your pets
That's certainly insulting to human-elf relationships.

>I feel that's a humanocentric view that change means development or innovation
Yes user, I'm pretty sure change means innovation, and that's not really the elves expertise.

Most settings have, like, permanent Polymorphs or Wishes. So you could just change your race.

Part of this is the idea that elves procreate slower than humans as well. Which is also rather stupid.

As for your extrapolation that elves are doomed to become hedonists, this would really only happen if they constantly are seeking new experiences. New doesn't necessarily mean different. An elf can spend some years working on a sculpture, no longer feel his heart is into it, leave and do other things, and then feel his heart return to wanting to sculpt and return to that sculpture. They feel they need something different from their current experience, not necessarily something new. This is closer to the idea of variety.

>That's certainly insulting to human-elf relationships.

It's the only possible context we have to compare.

>I'm pretty sure change means innovation

You can change and do something different without actually improving anything.

What OP thinks the thought process is
>But what of the children in the long run? Will the aging process in a hundred years make it awkward?

What really happens
>Holy shit, it's an elf, I'ma stick my dick in it.

>You can change and do something different without actually improving anything.
If the elves adopt GW's way of doing things they are really a doomed race.

No, it isn't a light novel. It's classic literature, or some shit like that.

>I know who you're talking about, though

I remember that idea from a web comic called Errant Story, so maybe that's what you're thinking of. The elves of that setting are immortal and their romances rarely last more than 40 years. Their literature portrays the death of a lover as a romantic ideal since then the surviving elf would only remember their perfect partner. When the elves discovered humans, it was the perfect opportunity. However, half-elves of that setting are prone to physical and mental problems and are resistant to healing magic. After the setting's greatest wizard, a half-elf, spazzed out for a couple minutes and sunk a floating city, the elves led a racial purging of half-elves.

Here, was off trying to remember the name of the comic while posted up the important stuff. Pic related.

Did that kid start dying his hair or something?

you read it from left to right user

>It's sort of like BGII, when you can romance Jaheira. Not only is this fucked-up, because her husband died a few days ago, but also because she's old enough to be your goddamn grandmother. She even has the old lady voice!

At some point the age gap ceases to matter.

The reason IRL hundred-year-olds don't date IRL twenty-year-olds isn't that they'd be completely incompatible as people. It's that real centennials are, unfortunately, pretty icky and generally reaching the end of their lives.

Jaheira didn't raise the PC or anything. The Khalid thing is weird, but you're forgetting that the BGII campaign can take place over a large amount of time, and the developers probably assumed it would for most players. None of the romances are really designed for your veteran speedrun, they're designed for first time players who take their time with things. Except maybe Aerie's, I can see her latching onto the PC pretty damn quick.

Probably. In the Nihons dying your hair blonde is associated with thugs, gangsters and rebellious teenagers though.

>It would be even more fucked-up if it was reversed, with an immortal guy raising a girl who grows up and wants to fuck him.

Well, that's sexist.

Jaheira romance was clearly the most weird, but if you think of it as a rebound with a man she had groomed to be her perfect dude then it sort of makes sense.

You want to know the real weirdness? Viconia. Jahiera is a half-elf and yeah, 70ish. But Viconia is an elf and well past 170ish. It's an even bigger cradle-robbing, just less familiar beforehand.

Wait, what?

But they're walking left.

>orcs which were completely made up by Tolkien
Orcs were made up by an Italian poet who needed something to rhyme with 'porco'.

Not really in this case.

Yes, he dyed his hair.
Also, that woman is actually a small god who helped raise him, and later becomes his lover/wife. Serious Oedipus shit.

>that woman is actually a small god
Huh? Is there an actual story to this? I've only ever seen the pic.

>Leaving the love of your life...

In my perfect world, the wife dies with her husband.

The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village

>romantic murder suicide

nice, thanks

>So how is this not awkward?
It's simple: You disregard those numbers because they are mindbogglingly stupid and don't make any fucking sense.
However, your first mistake was giving a shit about anything from Pathfinder at all.

POO
IN
LOO

>If that was the lifespan of an elf, things would be tolerable. Elves could generally marry humans 30 years their junior (which isn't that big a gap, all things considered) and have a relatively 'normal' relationship where both partners die around the same age.

An elf might only live 304 years.

Er, 354 years.

Errant Story did this pretty well.

Elves live long enough to drift apart from any lover.
As a result, they think the pinnacle of romance is mourning someone you never got the chance to stop loving.
Preferably, that would be with another elf, but elf deaths are rare. But humans die much more consistently.

Elf lifespan varies on the edition. in AD&D it was up to 1200 years. In 5e it's around 700 years

Reminds me of Jones from Gunnerkrigg Court.

gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1092
Chapter works out of context.

Three pages a week, this was difficult to get through.

Now it's fucking excellent.

>Like, he's fucking his mother-figure.

They should honestly have locked the Jaheira-mance to races other than Human and Halfling because at least they can sort of make sense as "older than 20 youths" but even then it's definitely still a bit weird.

>Elves as known in modern fantasy come straight out of Tolkien's influence.
No, they come straight out of D&D's influence and those elves have basically nothing in common with Tolkien elves.

Elven lifespans in 2e were all over the fucking place; Athasian elves had like half their core lifespan, and whether elves died of old age or not seemed to change based on the whims of the writer, the setting, and the curvature of the earth at that particular moment.