Will this thing have Orcs and Elves....?
Yeah, but NOT like you think - even if on the surface they are like you think...
Just to piss off the "Woke" this scenario will have plenty of room for Orcs and Elves - including Dark Elves, savage hugely endowed lusty Orks who might assault women, etc. I'd have actually tried to move away from them without it so credit the "Social Justice Warriors" bleating and shrieking to get a "Trope" not only perpetuated but LOCKED IN...
Having said that, one trope I want to break from is the leeching off of Tolkien the "baseline" TTRPG uses. Really I think they whacked off to fantasies about sodomizing little hobbits and the Tolkien coffin feeders brought in their lawyers in self-defense sometimes...
No disrespect intended to JRR himself, his impact on fantasy and literature is unquestionable and deserves great thanks... - matter of fact I like his "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" translation and the Sean Connery movie "Sword of the Valiant" made from it. However for "Old School" fantasy I prefer Lord Dunsany - heard of him? No? Shame - try "The Fortress Unvanquishable save for Sacnoth" arguably the first modern Sword and Sorcery pure fantasy (vs historical) story... Quite debatable but he was a level above so many others...
Most of this TTRPG paradigm is to borrow from Gene Wolfe and especially Jack Vance - that such a world is that of the Far, FAR future to explain the Magic, the creatures, the overwhelming number of Dungeons and wild places and the seemingly primitive/mideval but "Modern" people and attitudes... Another reality - well if a cosmological constant is changed the universe is either thinner than two atoms across all space as we know it or is a burning rock a tenth of a milimiter across. The past as it never was, no way... The future remembering the past in long cycles however....
I'm not stealing from Dunsany here, or Vance, rather H G Wells for an explanation for any Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves and such creatures in this fantasy TTRPG setting...
H.G. Wells, rather!
You see this is set about a million years in the future and the Elves are akin to the Eloi envisioned by Wells in "The Time Machine" and the Orcs and underground races are the "Moorlocks". Given later knowledge of real genetics and technology we can deviate a bit from Wells's story meant for social analogy more than real speculation of the future. I recommend reading it, short novel and should be read as an adult but NOT forced on a kid in school.
The Elves are the inheritors of some "Upper Class" of perhaps five hindered thousand years hence but that also before the 'current' year. They managed to establish some kind of system to keep themselves in power and wealth but free of the need for any labor that lasted a long time even enduring the latest "Wizard Lord" era between that and the present time. Like the joke of the American Businessman and the Hispanic Fisherman what would you do if worked really hard so you were so rich you didn't have to work? They made a new Garden of Eden that stretched over many many miles that their descendants could run and frolic in beauty the environment protecting them from danger and aiding them. They lived in great Jade cities that were almost immune from the ravages of time while "Deep Elder Forests" served them and protected them. Now the Jade Palaces are just large domes and mostly open structures but the woods live and breathe and respond to them and ensure always nice weather and bountiful food and protection.
Unlike Wells's vision they did not degenerate mentally or evolve completely outside humanity - too many safeguards built into their DNA including secondary mechanisms in their cells kept them stable. Like the movie "The Fifth Element" a being from this age would give a modern genetic test a crash for there have been countless edits over the Eons.
These "Elves" as known in this far age also came about in a civilization post - magickal development by the "Wizard Lords" so indeed they and their forests had this advantage built into them too - effects we would consider Magic in this day and age. Per Clarke any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. This is also why elves have both a natural affinity but an upper limit for the Magic they can weild - the safeguards that allow them some level of power but prevent them from fully ascending to perhaps challenge the Wizard Lords but most likely disrupt their existing "Eden" with foolish abuse of 8th level and above spells.
YES - in this game if your character's "Race" is "Elf" you have natural affinity for some Magic most being able to cast at least a cantrip without studying - BUT - you have upper limits on spells and won't ever become an "Arch-Mage" and don't even think about being a "Wizard Lord" even if this setting gets an "Epic Level". It'd be easier to get a Goblina's skin not to have a tinge of green. Ten times. This is in "Unfair Balance" with other classes that do have a higher magic affinity but none of the Elven legacy of Nature, Natural Magick, Nobility template, Wisdom, beauty and ability to fight with speed.
The Eloi or Alloi or Elves did not become mentally retarded but over Eons lost their identity and now they merely assume they are a superior race perhaps only loosely linked to mankind living in their elder forests and ancient now crumbling Jade domes overcome with special breeds of trees that keep these from falling apart and grow into vast cities in the deep forests and excrete nourishing sap and fruit.
The Orks, the Goblins, the Dwarves are the Morlocks... The latter are "The Great Northern Whites" a playable race of northern beings that live in the frozen north and inside great underground Liminal Arkologies...
However, like Wells the Moorlock races were the "Workers" - unlike them they weren't really some mass underclass. Most were highly skilled professional workers who were well paid. Since the elites wanted a new "Garden of Eden" they accepted well paid positions maintaining it. They liked the endless high tech corridors, having more credits than they knew what to spend at the great shopping malls, occasional vacations to the Islands though the sun seemed harsher and harsher till they stopped going...
Most of the machinery was self-repairing and artificially intelligent. Over time the "Ghosts" in the machines became "Guardian Spirits" that guided them in their labors. The great underground machines mostly kept the endless corridors inhabitable and boosted the environment for the "Great Elder Forests". These machines might also be part of some ancient systems that slowly move the earth as the Sun gradually grows brighter to help keep the climate stable and can trap or emit carbon and countless other operations as needed.
Instead of Moorlocks proper there are "Great Northern Whites" who mostly live underground and/or in the frozen north. They are not stunted but tall, muscular, beautiful humans who can stand cold to 80F below casually with no fear of frostbite. Their skin is usually white along with their eyes being mostly white save tiny pupils which widen to turn jet black in near total darkness to see with minimal light. They do NOT like high heat or harsh sun and can get heat fatigued or sunburned easily if and when they venture south.
A few often do venture south, their warrior skills and instinct for machinery and problem solving helping them out. Sadly there is an ancient racist stereotype that "Whites from the North" are murderous conquerors and slavers so they face some social penalties. Very few if any delude themselves to be "Superior" at anything save their own adaptation to the far north. They find the darker, shorter people of the wider part of the world to be very cute and like to have sex with them, but only voluntarily. They'd fight to defend themselves and slay any real threat no matter the race, species, skin color but rarely if ever start a fight.
The interaction between Great Northern Whites and Elves is usually not favorable. It is rarely hostile because their lives are so far apart now they do not hate each other but want to be distant. Many "Liminal Arkology" tunnels lead right beneath Elven glades but when discovered both sides expertly seal these connecting portals. Sometimes in foreign ground the Great Northern Whites joke the Elves look "Tasty" but there hasn't been any such incident and even such a remark is only after a LONG diatribe about them being "Savages"...
The other Orcish/Goblinoid are the lesser workers - those assigned the true worst jobs such as being above ground or outside after world wars and epochs of poison - where the surface of the planet was mostly toxic (save the protected Elven Glades) and the sun beat harsh and deadly. The Green is a self-reinforcing symbiote derived from Blue-Green Algae that gives a microscopic boost (.01% food energy if in the sun) but also absorbs excess radiation and filters toxins from the body growing darker until nearly black green.
Sadly the social conditioning did not hold and the Orks, Goblinoids and miscellaneous "Lessers" are indeed savage and dangerous. Bandits. Ambush predators. Violent tribal savages. They do target Elves out of some deep seated jealousy not knowing why while Elves tend to be very cruel to them somehow knowing they are 'lesser' beings.
These types, Orcs, Goblins, and Dwarves also have both stricter limits on Magic use but also a high resistance to its effects. Magic that affects the world such as lifting up a rock and throwing it would still do the damage a rock thrown by natural means would do but trying to charm them or use a bolt of 'magical' energy might work less. Dwarves have the most resistance, Orcs and Goblins the least and various other creatures different levels. They also have that from great to mild penalties for learning it themselves. Most "Magic" from these peoples are "Shamans" who call on lesser Gods and spirits to give them powers aka "Clerical" spells.
In between all of this - almost inexplicably (A Wizard did it!!!) the "Baseline" humans exist and might slowly again outnumber the "Old Races" even though said groups are divergent from Humanity proper. Humans act as a bridge because Elves and Orcs cannot interbreed but they can with Humans and "Great Northern Whites" are accepted as a race of mankind.
Humanity proper tends to be enthralled by the Elves who seem to be aloof ancient guardians of wisdom and nature - though their "nature" is a construct and far removed. They tend to conflict with and hate the Green races and this reduces racial conflict among baseline humanity -like an ancient bard of the dim past mentioned - "Black and white team up on Green". The Great Northern Whites tend to be treated with awe and fear but once they establish they are not going to "Conquer" them become nice curiosities and welcome partners for adventure or friendship.
The recent addition of the "Domesticated Goblina" - tiny petite sexual slaves created by a depraved Archmage from female goblins and human male breeding is upsetting a lot of "Traditional" notions for it proves that all of these beings clearly come from baseline humanity but were edited somehow in the past in ways their "Sacred texts" do not tell about at all. Most simply deny this and if disgusted simply chock it up to a Wizard's sick experiments and creations. These petite sex slaves are quite disruptive - mostly from eligible women facing tiny easy to obtain competition. They are usually sold as sterile but this is due to a "Womb Tattoo" enchantment that is defeatable and most seek to have this undone so they can bear more human children when they have a master who is kind to them. Most human males are unthinkably kind compared to Goblinoid behavior as they tend to not be violent to them, attempt to please them during sexual interactions, provide good food for them and shelter. I'll not describe regular Goblinoid behavior but it is the opposite of the last sentence especially to their women. The Goblinas being bred in the depraved Archmage's dungeon 'factory' are repeatedly told this by Grand-Mothers and Great-Grand-Mothers so they urge them to be the best and find a Human Male, any one save legit brutes or freaks.This is far from the first time humanity has done such a questionable deed of course. The "Half-Size" races were created as diminutive servants for amusement and sexual relief. Like the origins of the Elves and Goblinoid races this is lost in the weight of endless time and if confronted by "Historical Archives" they'd angrily assure it was "Balderdash and some vile fiction... Surely Humans are just those of us who got restless and ate too much, grew too big for a proper hill home and ran off to conquer the world. Some of us might take a fancy to you but we are so different, how would we ever introduce you to our clan as a deep friend?"
Oh, and yes there are rumors of "Dark Elves" the Eloi or Elven who in the past committed some unspeakable sin so were banished with the "Gods" burning their skin BLACK to warn others of their evil and making them so intolerant of the sun and most light they fled into the darkest depths of the earth where even the other subterranean humans fear to tread to practice the darkest of rituals. YES if an "Elf" becomes truly evil such as the greater range of evil on the "Planar" spectrum and commits atrocities they can wake up after a night of hellish nightmares of being judged by the "Gods" and find themselves a Dark Elf that runs screaming as his or her skin and eyes burn in even the full moonlight into the nearest cave to try to reach the darkest depths. They flee screaming past any Great Northern Whites they find the "Liminal Arkology" tunnels too bright and with "High Elves" in pursuit, the pursuers pleading a "Truce" and aid in capturing to kill "The evil one judged black..." Most Dark Elves only hang out in "Entropic Ruins" as only there in areas the sun seems never to reach the surface proper and among horrific abhumans can they hope for any brief respite as Elves and Humanity, even Orcs fear to tread there...
This can also happen to the worst of the Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins forming truly terrifying things - again usually confined to "Entropic Ruins" as so evil almost all seek to instantly destroy them.
Also, rare as it is, there are "Dark Elves" who have rejected their depraved society of sickest perversions and evils and have braved the Sun and done all possible to redeem themselves. They have a very LOW survival rate as the Entropic, dark forces do not release their hold casually and the others fear their enclaves secret location might be revealed. The few who have redeemed themselves the sins of their Fathers have turned Light skinned and been welcomed back to the Elven Glades as "Pure again"...
Stories of this might make some humans with brown skin of that far future age wince without knowing why, but if they inquire the Elves and Northern whites will say has nothing whatsoever to do with them...
Thus - up to the DM and players - but we can put Elves, Orcs, Hob-wer short people, Dark elves, etc. into the game. No real issue there!
MaxxFeral - new writer on the project.
