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Idea: fantasy setting where half-whatevers (half-orcs, half-elves, etc) refer to someone raised by two (or more, go wild) parents of different cultures. Culture of origin is the determinator of "race" and, indeed, within the setting nobody has a concept of drawing lines according to physical attributes. Someone with green skin and tusks raised by two dwarves is a dwarf. Someone with round ears and pitiful muscle mass raised by an orc and an elf is a half-orc half-elf.
Assuming we use the fantasy-standard "but everyone can still MAKE BABIES" bweth, the setting probably wouldn't have """standard fantasy races""" on account of interbreeding, the same way we wouldn't have dog breeds if human selection wasn't around to organize things. Note that there might still be some physical feature combos that crop up more often, and within a given culture there would be tendencies, unless the culture emphasized breeding with the wackiest-lookin MFer you could locate.
Signed,
Gettin' Real Tired Of Standard Fantasy Baking In The Racism
Disclaimer that I doubt I'm the first to think of this.
Assuming we use the fantasy-standard "but everyone can still MAKE BABIES" bweth, the setting probably wouldn't have """standard fantasy races""" on account of interbreeding, the same way we wouldn't have dog breeds if human selection wasn't around to organize things. Note that there might still be some physical feature combos that crop up more often, and within a given culture there would be tendencies, unless the culture emphasized breeding with the wackiest-lookin MFer you could locate.
Signed,
Gettin' Real Tired Of Standard Fantasy Baking In The Racism
Disclaimer that I doubt I'm the first to think of this.
