Stretching the bounds of typical fantasy races -OR- What makes an elf?

[Cowrie]

With most of the more common fantasy races like elves, dwarves, or goblins, people tend to have a fairly solid preconceived notion of what that species is like. A few like trolls are to some degree 'wildcards' due to having being shown so many different ways, but if you say 'elf', most people are going to have a similar mental image: Slender, beautiful humanoid, probably fair-skinned and forest-dwelling with a penchant for archery, that is naturally agile, has an innate gift for magic, and is overall more skilled than humans.

However, what I want to know is, how far can you deviate from those typical norms for an entire race in a given setting, while still making it recognizable as an elf or dwarf or what-have-you and keeping the same name? Sure, you can have a purely original race that fits the same niche as a traditional race -- to take an example from TVTropes, the Na'vi from avatar are nature-loving, forest-dwelling archers, so they have a lot in common with elves despite being a sci-fi alien -- but that's not the same thing. What's the furthest you've stretched a race, either anatomically or mentally/culturally?

I'm currently working on a setting where the four different fantasy races in it are all descended from different branches of the primate family tree. Because of this, all of the races deviate somewhat from the typical standard. Slender-limbed, tree-dwelling elves are descended from New-World monkeys, with a particularly close relation with wooly spider monkeys. Because of this, they have a prehensile tail! They're also herbivores, with an ability to gain much more nutritional value from leaves than humans. However, they're still good-looking, long-lived and innately magical.

The goblins, as I mentioned in another thread, are related to tarsiers, with the same big eyes and ability to turn their head 180° degrees in either direction. What I didn't mention is that they have the oddly long legs combined with a relatively stocky body and large head of tarsiers as well, and are skilled jumpers because of those legs. Their ears, while fairly large, are more rounded than what people typically picture when they imaging goblins.

Harpies in this setting are an odd one. While there aren't any real life primates naturally capable of flight, there are a few species that are able to "parachute", and possibly even glide a bit. One of those, the needle-clawed galago, is what I ended up basing my harpies on. They are capable of powered flight, with their arms having evolved into bat-like wings, the membrane of which extends as far down as their knees, but does not stretch between their legs. Those legs end prehensile-toed feet that are just as dexterous as human hands. They also have a long, bushy tail they use to help steer themselves in flight. I'm currently undecided as to whether they have fur on the rest of their body as well, but their faces at least will probably remain hairless, and they have long, human-like hair atop their head. On the ground, they usually stand fully upright like a human, and are only about 3' tall. Unlike most versions of harpies, they're omnivores, with a particular fondness for tree gum, and the sharp teeth (to make wounds in tree bark) and long tongue necessary to acquire it.

Finally, trolls are close cousins of baboons. Though perhaps the most 'typical' of the non-human races in this setting, they're still unusual in that they're diurnal, with no better night vision than humans. While in many settings, trolls are either brutal savages or a somewhat magical species, these are very much a Proud Warrior Race. Like baboons, they have strong jaws set in dog-like snouts and exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. Males are bigger and stronger than females, but not as smart, so in trollish armies, males tend to form the bulk of rank-and-file infantry, but most officers are female.

How has everyone else stretched the limits of fantasy races?

[smurf]

For me the elf can be +1dx and Ht, increased basic speed, skinny and maybe some imbue powers from PU1.

[Culture20]

Before Tolkien, elves were quite varied in height, personality, and culture. The Norse even had two different types of elves in their stories. The most recent popular non-tolkien elves are “Santa’s elves”: diminuative magic workmen.

[RyanW]

The furthest I've ever seen elves stretched is, ironically, back to where they started: as supernatural beings that you generally don't want to be noticed by.

[mlangsdorf]

The elves in my current game are still somewhat shrouded in mystery, but the PCs have figured out that elves are the evil overlords of the cruel and despotic empire that the PCs are rebelling against. The orc armies that the PCs have been fighting are the elves' despised, disposable foot soldiers.

I'm not sure if "tall, thin, beautiful people with pointed ears who really like forests and are also the most evil of evil overlords" is a great departure from some of the more traditional depictions of elves, but it is a great departure from the Tolkien tradition of most RPGs.

[Taneli]

Compare Tolkien's elves to ElfQuest and Gloranthan elves: ElfQuest elves are shipwrecked alien explorers (it's been 40 years), while Gloranthan elves are basically plants.

[Flyndaran]

My elf-like people are the qlippothic remnants of demigods, tall, slender, magical and wise, but full of fatalistic ennui and sterile... with each other.
The single member that still wanders the world living life has left some "special" offspring in his wake.
Anyone of the "modern" world of iron capable of magic can trace their ancestry to him.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

How has everyone else stretched the limits of fantasy races?

Way back in my '90s D&D-converted-to-GURPS campaign, our dwarves and elves weren't radically different. But Halflings, called Tsarsha Moot, lived in a desert badlands region where they formed tribes of warriors who issued fearsome ululating battle cries and rode giant cliff-clinging lizard steeds into battle. They became a beloved feature of the game world.

[The Colonel]

Don't think I've seen elves done as proper, old school fae in an RPG yet ... although I see we've got a new GURPS Discworld out, in which elves were precisely that.
Tolkien has a lot to answer for in turning elves into humans with pointy ears ... and, to some extent the "like you but better" meme that has also stuck to them. I'm usually happier with the "we may look like you - but we are not like you" (and do not?). I'm even quite happy to eliminate them as a playable species if necessary to avoid them being devalued by over familiarity.

My own contribution would be "elves", heavily cribbed from Tad Williams' Sithi and Norns, who were actually the descendants of ancient astronauts, and pseudo-Buddhist sequential hermaphrodites. Just to mix things up, I also removed the archery fetish that usually attaches to them. They were also the creators of most of the playable species.

I would also like to try the fae elves - my general theme being to establish with players that an elf is something to be avoided at all costs.

Oh, and whilst we're cliché busting - how about a riff on RuneQuest's mechanical dwarves? Maybe with some Elder Scrolls thrown in? I fancy a setting in which the dwarves went trans-dwarfish centuries ago to avoid a great plague, uploading themselves to crystal soul jars. Unfortunately, very few - if any - other people know about the soul jars and humans tend to break into "abandoned dwarven ruins", (and assuming they can) trash the automated security and steal the "magic dwarvern power stones" to power their magic. The few active dwarf-holds remaining deal with outsiders using a few, heavily robed and masked, life sized chassis pretending to be live dwarves who themselves work through intermediaries. No, you don't get to play a dwarf either. Or meet one until late in the campaign. Campaign's resident "little people" are combination of Halfling and gnome stereotypes - being both yeoman farmers, colourful gypsies and skilled craftsman/capitalists (oh yes, I did play Arcanum as well...). These, you can play. They are actually the descendants of those dwarves that were left out of the great uplift, but even they don't know that.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Tolkien has a lot to answer for in turning elves into humans with pointy ears ... and, to some extent the "like you but better" meme that has also stuck to them.

Tolkien was only going back to the ideas of elves in older English sources, before the Victorian Age shrunk them into Tinkerbell-pixies. He did not invent this. He also did not invent the "like you but better" idea, which also comes from old English sources.

He was basically just rejecting Victorian fairies. All the other stuff was already there; he just gave them background context.