"My father's friends grew old and grey while I still looked like a girl. My mother's friends still call me 'the little one,' and I'm seventy. You learn to belong to both sides, or to neither." — a half-elf translator on the docks of Tidegate
Half-elves are born wherever humans and elves live side by side. They live longer than humans but not nearly as long as elves, so they often outlive their human friends while still seeming young to their elven kin. Many spend their lives between the two, never quite at home with either. That same in-between place makes them natural go-betweens, and half-elves often work as translators, envoys and traders, at ease with both the human rush and the elven long view.
Names
Half-elves are usually given names in their elven parent's tradition: a personal name and a family name, joined by a word like "Ru" for old noble houses, or an earned name for most. Examples:
- Aerin Ru Talenor, of an old noble house of Sylvaris
- Daelin Saltweaver, of the docks of Tidegate
- Nyssa Duskthorn, of the Ravus Empire
Half-Elves by Homeland
Tidegate
Half-elves are most common in Tidegate, where humans and sea elves mix freely on the docks and many work as translators and traders.
Sylvaris
Some are born into the old elven houses of Sylvaris, and they're often caught between noble expectation and their human side.
Aetheria
In the canal cities of Aetheria, half-elves thrive as envoys and merchants between human guilds and elven senators.
Sanctara
Half-elves are found in welcoming Port Solace, where humans and astral elves meet.
Ravus Empire
Children of humans and drow are raised in the factory-cities of the Ravus Empire, shaped by the Empire like everyone else.