Timeline for Elf-like race: What could prevent overpopulation?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
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| May 27, 2019 at 0:25 | comment | added | Penguino | with regard to your comment "reproduction wouldn't stop entirely if a younger generation is wiped out in some war", one of the reasons that the younger generation fights wars in human communities is that they are stronger and fitter than their elders. If elves don't 'age' then it would be reasonable for older elves to make up a significant portion (or even the majority) of warriors - so war wouldn't discriminate against the young. | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 13:29 | comment | added | dwizum | @Schwern the beauty of Tolkein's design is that it lets you separate the real world from the "magic one; the real world can be "realistic" in the sense of resources, space, economics, power, and other factors that would contribute to overpopulation, and all the story elements that those constraints bring. But then the magic world can be magically free of these restrictions. So, you can have an immortal race that can participate in the real world, yet they won't overpopulate it. | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 9:21 | comment | added | jwenting | @Schwern no, as they wouldn't reproduce there at all, nor (presumably) require sustenance. It was their equivalent of purgatory as I understand it | |
| Jan 27, 2019 at 1:11 | comment | added | Schwern | @dwizum Doesn't that just shift the problem to the Undying Land? | |
| Jan 24, 2019 at 15:55 | comment | added | chepner | Not just can; it was considered a rarity (cf Finwë's first wife) not to be reincarnated after a short visit to Mandos. | |
| Jan 24, 2019 at 12:09 | comment | added | pboss3010 | It should also be noted that Tolkien's elves are technically immortal, being bound to the planet. When they get killed, the Valar (basically gods) can give the elves a new body. | |
| Jan 23, 2019 at 22:09 | history | edited | svenvo7 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
improved formatting
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| Jan 23, 2019 at 20:09 | comment | added | dwizum | To take a different - more magical, less practical - page from Tolkien's elves. Give your elves the option of sailing on magical boats to a perfect Undying Land that other (more problematic) races can't reach. Once they've become overwhelmed with this world, or solved whatever challenge they were put here for, they can choose to leave. | |
| Jan 23, 2019 at 18:11 | history | answered | svenvo7 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |