Comic Genesis Forums

RHJunior wrote:Mind, the long-lived elves (ones who'd already drunk from the Cup) didn't all die out immediately...

Speaking of the cup, I just have to ask. Is it truly irrecoverable / impossible to recreate? Or is this something Quentyn might consider pursuing to gain support from the elves?

(Imagine the effects if the elves try to help him collect the artifacts!) <EG>

The elves may be a dying race, but I don't think they'll die out as quickly as some here think. To be honest, they've been reduced to the level of sentient wolves, and those canines manage to survive pretty well on their own.

Besides, anyone who's read Elf Quest knows what happens when two tribes of elves meet up...

Wolves have a much longer reproductive life than elfs and normally have multiple births. The elfs' problem isn't that they have a "lord of the flies" society, it's that they can't reproduce enough in their short lifetimes to renew their population from one generation to the next.

You're making one tiny assumption:

A medieval birthrate similar to a modern one.

Remember, <I>there are no condoms here.</i> There's no Pill, no diaphragm, and though there are certain herbal prophylactics (storkpepper) they'd not likely to be in common use among the feral, uneducated and childish elves.

In medieval times, you married at a VERY young age, and started having as many children as you could. The elves, being raised essentially as savages, would not have even that level of social taboo against "young teen mothers."

Assuming an elven female could start bearing children at 13 or 14 (and those that didn't would not tend to survive, for obvious reasons) that's about 7-8 years of popping out babies one right after the other. And as most every elven female would tend to be sexually active early on (again, for obvious reasons), they could maintain their replacement numbers quite readily.

jwrebholz wrote:I've seen what happens when you leave a bunch of teenagers even semi-supervised (like in high school). The "society" they build for themselves is anarchy. With no adults around at all it'd be a lot worse than Lord of the Flies. Within two generations I'd say those elves would have eradicated themselves.

Maybe, but my guess is they'd do pretty much what humans instinctively do: Gather around the strongest, or meanest, most charming, or most arrogant member of their group and form a tribe. it takes about ten minutes, and generally speaking, it works. Tribes of humans survive better than do individual humans.
It's not anarchy, it's a dictatorship. Or a kingdom. The name they give it doesn't much matter.

You're making one tiny assumption:

A medieval birthrate similar to a modern one.

Remember, there are no condoms here. There's no Pill, no diaphragm, and though there are certain herbal prophylactics (storkpepper) they'd not likely to be in common use among the feral, uneducated and childish elves.

In medieval times, you married at a VERY young age, and started having as many children as you could. The elves, being raised essentially as savages, would not have even that level of social taboo against "young teen mothers."

Assuming an elven female could start bearing children at 13 or 14 (and those that didn't would not tend to survive, for obvious reasons) that's about 7-8 years of popping out babies one right after the other. And as most every elven female would tend to be sexually active early on (again, for obvious reasons), they could maintain their replacement numbers quite readily.

Quite true, however there also was a high mortality rate for young wemon who die due to complications during labor.

RHJunior wrote: Assuming an elven female could start bearing children at 13 or 14 (and those that didn't would not tend to survive, for obvious reasons) that's about 7-8 years of popping out babies one right after the other. And as most every elven female would tend to be sexually active early on (again, for obvious reasons), they could maintain their replacement numbers quite readily.

In a medival society about two out of three people die before age ten. I think it would be higher among elfs because of reduced parental care. I don't know where to find data on human fecundity so I'm going to pull a number out of my hat. Let's say an average of six months between pregnancies and average reproductive lifespan of six years (12-18) That's five kids 1.7 of whom will reach age 10. Presume everyone who reaches age 10 reaches age 18. You still can't maintain your population.

on the flipside, there are tribes where the women will give birth in the field and then go right back to work....

It's a question of hardiness, not longevity.

Historical death rates tended to run on an inverse bell curve, most happened before they reached five years old, or after 50 or so. If you made it past five you were likely to live to see your grandkids, maybe great grand kids if everyone started quick enough. It's all those kids dying before they were five that drag the average down to 30 to 40 years.

RH,

Whats the official story on elves/half elves and racoonans interbreeding ?

Are they compatible and able to intermarry ?

(Should I expect the possibility of a lightly furred half elf/racoonan ?

And are there any religious proscriptions against intermarrying with other than raccoonans (assuming intelligent species able to consent and marry, etc)

Something along those lines had occured to me, but I didn't want to be jumping the gun...
The short life-span means 'live like there is no tommorrow' and that is a valid philosophy to a certain extent. She basically has a terminal disease if she is a full elf. As for religious restrictions I wouldn't THINK the Sojounrer(sp) Church would have much problem with marriage between intellegent species, except to warn that it will be an especially difficult road to walk.

OK, lets not get ridicules here, geneticaly it is impossible, Human and elves and dwarves and the like humanoid races would have in theory like genes, same number of gene pares and simalar configarations, alowing for cross breading to take place, but Rac Cona Diehm if evolved from Raccoons or something like Raccoons would have a different number of genes, that alone would make the two species incompatible so no offspring.

Anatomicaly.....OK don't even go there Furry pervs.

No offspring, but all that means is that Tab A can go into Slot B with no worries about getting her knocked up.

nick012000 wrote:No offspring, but all that means is that Tab A can go into Slot B with no worries about getting her knocked up.

Aaargue You have soiled my mind, and tainted my sole.

Figures someone would say it sooner or later...

Relax, guys. Men and women can sleep in the same area without jumping each other's bones. You want 'em to get together, go write a bad fanfic...

...just don't post it here!

May I point out that to her, he looks like a talking pet-store refugee--- and that to HIM, SHE looks like a pointy-eared monkey with the mange?

RHJunior wrote:May I point out that to her, he looks like a talking pet-store refugee--- and that to HIM, SHE looks like a pointy-eared monkey with the mange?

<salute> On the money, Ralph. It's the thing the bad fanfic writers (and by "bad fanfic" I mean slashfic) always overlook on the grounds that otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get the characters in bed together. All life is partly xenophobic: You don't generally get the urge to shtup something that's incredibly different from your species norms. There are exceptions, sure, have been since time immemorial. But they're drastic exceptions.

In this case, unless both parties have a well-developed xenophilia... well, forget it, folks. Consider it something you can use in a slashfic set before the Mistwall went up, if you really have to write a Harlequin Romance of the Seven Villages. But remember what small towns are like...

(To say nothing of the fact that, before perfumed soap, it was entirely possible to smell the lover's scent on the "loved one". Hey, a healthy body odor was an aphrodisiac back then.)

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

P.S.: Before anyone brings it up, there has never really been a "love potion" like in the stories. But I can tell you how to make a "like potion"...

StrangeWulf13 wrote: Figures someone would say it sooner or later...

Relax, guys. Men and women can sleep in the same area without jumping each other's bones.

Heresy, sir! Heresy, I say!

Any man and women who can sleep in the same bed and NOT feel the urgent desire to jump each other are either incredibly unattractive, or a threat to the human race (due to their lack of a reproductive urge).

Of course, that's just my personal opinion. I'm a firm believer in the concept that sexual education in high school should be like driver's education. The ultimate goal of Driver's Ed is to get you behind the wheel of a car before you graduate. So, the ultimate goal of Sex Ed should be...

It's also the reason I'm irked at that recent bit about the school teacher who "raped" a male student. Feh. Seduction isn't rape.

But, as I said above, it's just my opinion.

EdBecerra wrote:

StrangeWulf13 wrote: Figures someone would say it sooner or later...

Relax, guys. Men and women can sleep in the same area without jumping each other's bones.

Heresy, sir! Heresy, I say!

Any man and women who can sleep in the same bed and NOT feel the urgent desire to jump each other are either incredibly unattractive, or a threat to the human race (due to their lack of a reproductive urge).

Of course, that's just my personal opinion. I'm a firm believer in the concept that sexual education in high school should be like driver's education. The ultimate goal of Driver's Ed is to get you behind the wheel of a car before you graduate. So, the ultimate goal of Sex Ed should be...

It's also the reason I'm irked at that recent bit about the school teacher who "raped" a male student. Feh. Seduction isn't rape.

But, as I said above, it's just my opinion.

One thing though. In driver's ed you are learning to avoid getting into a pile-up.

They teach the mechanics of sex, physiology, but trust you to just know what is right from wrong. I don't really see the comparison with the a car crash. The so called rape victim was a teenager TEENAGE MALE. As in not eight years old. He problably riped the clothes right off of her.
Male reproductive instinct, or hormones or whatever peek at about age 18, and steadily decline well into the sixties even with increasing risk of impotence.
Unless he's homosexual, missing his testicles, or has some sphycological issues, than he was struggling with a regular raging hard on. Point being I doubt he's suffering from the traumtic shock, and suffering a great deal with the authorities parading him around and screaming to everyone in the world who will listen "this kid had sex with his teacher". Humiliating him into doing what they want him to, witch is testify against his teacher.
Lets reassess, who are the bad guys in this situation again?