Develop them from the ground up. How did they get here, what were their interactions throughout history with their neighbors, etc.

Mutations, transhumans, artificial lifeforms, or good old fashioned aliens.

Well, it helps if you don't bring ANY of the conventions of fantasy clothing alonf with them. Characters WILL wear shirts. Characters WILL NOT wear vambraces. Characters WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, wear pauldrons. These considerations are just as important for human characters in scifi as they are for non humans.

Not OP, but question. How would elven lifespans affect a sci-fi settin- oh wait, Vulcans. Nevermind.

Given that they're all so similar to humans, I'd go with groups of humans that have been reproductively isolated for a while. I'd guess at maybe a few hundred thousand years, but I'm no biologist.

Mostly mutations. I don't ever bother with pointy ears though.

Elves are a thin and pale aristocracy descended from WASP elitists.

Dwarves are stocky as fuck and short but otherwise pretty darn normal.

Halflings and gnomes are midgets.

Orcs are big grumpy bruisers. Ogres are orcs taken to the extreme.

Apply some phlebotium for mutation, genetic engineering, and breeding true, and voila.

>>12566703
Depending on the environment, that sounds about right. That's how long we've been around now, anyway.

>>12566703
Not even this much time. It only takes a few generations of genetic bottlenecking to get some really weird things. Like that island where 10% of the people are true color blind and can see in the dark.

>>12566665
Wait. OP are you asking you'd make sci-fi races that are similar to fantasy ones? Or are you asking how you'd make like... a fantasy setting that's now in the future.

>>12566690
>Characters WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, wear pauldrons

Wait? What?

no pauldrons.......ever heard of the Astartes?

>>12566861
WH40K was meant to be silly and exaggerated, so it's fine there. They do a good job.


So OP, are you talking about a sci-fi setting with space, right? You should avoid giving races anything too cosmetic unless it gives obvious benefits in their environment.

IE: Elves with large ears would probably need to hear pretty well.

Dwarfs might be from a world with higher gravity, or just live underground.

But since all these races look almost the same to humans, you'll probably wanna have a common ancestor or some way for them all to exist. Unless you're using magic too.

>>12566717
Wasn't there an island where there were hobbits IRL a few thousand years back too? Like even smaller then pygmies.

>>12566895
Yeah, they died out though. Presumably from malnutrition from the population increasing and mass-starvation.

>>12566895
My point exactly. Some scientists try to make them out to be some entirely different species, but I suspect they were just very small homo sapiens.

Scientists always call whatever they find a new species, because you can justify more grant money for a new species.

>>12566665

If your pic is anything to go by, apparently you gratuitously splatter them with blood so they look all HAWRDCOAR.

Also, in the grim darkness of the far grimdark, there are only pauldrons.

>>12566892

I know of them.

I am not fond of them.

Future elf mechanic or maybe pilot.
She doesn't look retarded.

>>12566917
Nah they weren't another species more then neanderthals were, although neanderthals could be considered dorfs or orcs I suppose they were still homos (not in the sexual way you moron).

>>12566930

Nah, that's just a human with pointy ears.

>>12566930
Can humans mate with her to create offspring?

>>12566950
Facepalming like the first of the north star.

>>12566950
Seeing how she's imaginary, her race can do whatever the fuck you want them to do.

>>12566950
Humans can mate with almost anything.

>>12566967
>>12566950
Well, the key difference being that if offspring are possible, and not sterile, then you aren't dealing with two separate species, but two slightly morphologically different subsets of the same species.

>>12566991
Like white people and black people?

>>12566665

>How do you adapt fantasy races to a sci-fi setting?

Well, there's a few routes you can take.

1) The Shadowrun. Elves? What elves? These're just mutated humans who happen to look, act and act like elves.

2) The Fourty Kay. Elves? I see no elves, merely elf-like aliens.

3) The Maybe Retarded One: Take a fantasy setting and advance it to the space age and beyond. Elves are elves, it's just that the world said elves live in has advanced from the perpetually-medieval state of fantasy, to modern states and beyond. The interim periods would be quite interesting. Like, what would a fantasy worlds' version of the 1950's and 60's look like? Teddy Boy Orcs?

>>12567004

...The example is potentially trollish, but basically, yes.

>>12566991
Humans and Zentradi are fully compatible. Zentrans are an engineered warrior race and humans were subject to evolutionary intervention by the same precursor race. So in a sense its probably more accurate to say that humans are a (tiny, more fragile) subset of Zentradi in a lot of ways.

>Like, what would a fantasy worlds' version of the 1950's and 60's look like? Teddy Boy Orcs?
That would be Fallout+elves.

Well, you could count Ghouls as elves because they have ridiculous lifespans, but they're not as pretty.

>So OP, are you talking about a sci-fi setting with space, right?
Not specifically.
To be completely honest, I just created this thread to help push the Dresden Codak thread off the 15th page.
Oh and to spur discussion, but I don't really give a damn.

>>12567049
You bastard.

>>12567025
Fucking Macross man, I remember watching that with a bro when I was a kid, he had all the tapes with swedish dub, nowhere to be found today, only the shitty american dub.

>>12567087
Call me what you will; the thread was an ugly pile of trolling and rolling and I'm not sorry.

>>12566665

>Fantasy -->
Sci-fi

>All manner of average racial heights.
4' minimum(Race is known for being tiny as hell) and 7'8" maximum(Race is known for being horrendously, impractically tall) unless original fantasy race was very close to one of the extremes, the sc-fi version has extremely muted, essentially irrelevant differences from humans, brought up only in a vaguely racist context to argue slight superiority/inferiority.

>>12567166

>Delicious lop-eared elves; stout, hairy dwarves; etc.
Keep these signature traits as is. The point of translating these races to sci-fi, after all, is so that they're a recognizable homage/parallel to the fantasy version. However, fluff out a racial, evolutionary explanation for each trait. Ex.

>Dwarves originate from a high-gravity world, resulting in the evolutionary pull of long, lithe bodies being a liability and a weakness, whereas a squat, highly resilient, compact and powerful body allowed them to function quite well. The Dwarven home world was also quite cold and hostile on the surface, causing the altitude at which the average temperature is conducive to life to, in fact, be below the surface, between the warmth of the planet's core and cold of its surface. Due to its geological peculiarites, however, that perfect depth is obscured by a many-miles thick layer of bedrock, leaving precious few areas on the planet where the Dwarves were able to build in a suitably warm area. These select few paradise depths are the hubs of Dwarven high society, politics, and tourism, as they became something akin to tropical metropolises. As a result of the overwhelming cold atmosphere everywhere else, however, the Dwarven race, by and large, are known for having prodigious amounts of dense body hair. This has influenced their culture in that the upper-class Dwarves born and raised in the large, warm cities, tend to keep themselves notably clean-shaven and some lower-class Dwarves, out of bitter defiance for the pomp of the pampered aristocracy, even accentuate their necessary natural insulation by braiding their beards.

Also, it seems i just made almost the entire race's fluff. Damn.

>>12567173
This is... fantastic.

Do elves now. Or orcs.

>>12567173

Races from fantasy to scifi the easy way:
1) Pick a planet.
2) Imagine a human-like race as the main intelligent race there.
Physical characteristics:
3a) What attributes made them survive and prosper?
3b) What is considered sexually attractive by their standards?
4)?????
5) Profit!

>>12567173
And you could explain their propensity for drink out of the need for larger/more efficient livers, due to somewhat toxic or otherwise hard to digest and process cave roots, mushrooms, and animals.

So booze doesn't effect them nearly as much....greater mass, and more powerful livers.

>>12567204
oh fuck YES

Ornate, braided beards are no longer an ancient mark of status but rather the equivalent of one cockney dockworker having a snazzier cap than his mates?

FUCK

YES

>>12567173
Hard mode. Explain why they arnt albinos.

>>12567249
Because tanning salongs.

>>12567277
How do they tan if they're all body hair?

>>12567249
An abundant radioactive isotope on their homeworld emits mild ultraviolet radiation which causes the Dwarven races to be much more tan than one would expect.

>>12567277
Gee, at least try.

Like unique radioactive elements that give off visual spectrum light with UV radiation.

Maybe they could also have dramatically increased radiation resistance too.

>>12567311
>Implying you can't tan if you ave lots of bodyhair.

You haven't seen many mudslimes at the beach I recon...good for you.

>>12567249
Well, albinism is a genetic trait that comes from a complete lack of pigment.

Hypothetically, early proto-dwarves with this trait would be at a noticeable disadvantage in a dark/cave environment, as they would be incredibly visible to predators.

So it makes sense from a synthesis of vitamin D standpoint for dwarves to be pale, but it may be a differing environmental factor giving them darker skin, possibly in the grey to black range to better survivorship, which is then supplemented with a vitamin D rich diet.

>>12567173
>>12566894
>Dwarves are mutated humans from high gravity worlds.
So they're Squa-

>>12567193

Got chores to do, then gonna be shootin' dem guns.

But i'll give you my immediate idea.

Elves and Orcs originate from the same tropical jungle world, however their evolution branched off drastically very early on.

Yes. They are, essentially, the same race, eons removed from each other.

Elves took the high road.
>Elves evolved to flee their predators, becoming light, swift and agile. Perfect for skillful brachiation that no predator could follow, developing notably keen eyesight, but infamously exaggerated ears, as the shifting, dancing light shows formed by the jungle's canopy, coupled with the overwhelming confusing of hundreds of kinds of fauna, hampered even the best eyesight, whereas supernatural hearing could warn of threats far earlier.

>The Elves' ears were not naturally so exaggerated, however. As most budding cultures of primitive sentience do, their earliest societies highly valued long ears for both their practical purpose and, soon thereafter, a cosmetic appeal. Other races, in modern times, have jokingly mused that their long ears are "only there so they can hold their long, faggy hair out of their eyes", although this sort of talk is widely considered to be in terrible taste.

>>12567320
>>12567322
Radiation mind
>apilrfe Isotropic
Even captcha is getting in on this hivemind.

>>12567362

Orcs
>Orcs were the ones who did not take to the trees. They became hardy, powerful and aggressive to match and, with the later advent of tools and ever more complex thought, surpass their predators in the jungles. They have evolved a deep green hue in their skin, which aids unnervingly in their talent for camouflage and ambush, at least in a setting akin to their home. Other adaptations made the Orcs not just prodigious hunters, but allowed them to swiftly and completely consume their prey, so as not to linger where the scent of a half-wasted meal would attract greater beasts. Their teeth, particularly their canines, are very pointed and highly pronounced. They also tend to have very stout lower jaws. Their culture developed placing high value in sheer capacity as a hunter and as a defender of one's tribe/family, leading to a vastly patriarchal society populated by men whose aggression and physical prowess is their primary, perhaps only, measure. As with the elves, their peculiarities to other races are often the subject of ridicule, comparing them to apes of the Human's homeworld, for instance. As with comments ridiculing Elven ears, this is widely considered to be highly tastless, although often vastly more fatal than insulting an Elf.

>>12567362
>>12567368

You are my favorite person.

Bumpy agrees.

>>12567362
>>12567368
For extra credit, give them both chameleonesqe camouflaging.

Saving this thread.

Then leaving.

Would it be a good idea to post a racial Fantasy->SciFi conversion thread tongiht or in the coming days, so i can take requests on races and perhaps fill out holes in the lore for maximum, gritty SciFi realism?

this is really cool

>>12567409
Best idea I've heard in a good while.

Do it.

Take your current fantasy setting. You got your elves and your dwarves and halfling and pudding. Now take notes on their history, their wars, politics and what nots. Don't gotta get too detailed, just basic stuff. Keep doing this until their history has gotten to the point that the different races are having a space race. Who will colonize and claim one of the three moons? Will it be the Kobold Confederacy? The Goblinoid Oligarcy? Or the Elven Faggotry?

Whatever, just spend a bit thinking what early space ship designs for the different races, and from there base the rest of their ships somewhat on the early ships.

As for clothing, just go along with what fits the race, but remember due to the invention of internet and mass communication, clothing starts becoming a bit more uniform.

>>12567391
so their head & hands are the only things that blend in when they wear clothes?
The again I remember a sci-fi book where the chameleon alien had transparent armor to get round this

>>12567492
Oh, the exploitability...

>>12567362
>>12567368

>>12567013
>The Maybe Retarded One: Take a fantasy setting and advance it to the space age and beyond.

I like this one. Imagining how the renaissance, the Victorian era, Industrial revolution, all the way up through the Nuclear age and beyond to the space age would look like in a fantasy environment...

We are your space elves, join our empire

Start with one that's fairly alien to begin with, then give them spaceships.

Seriously, they're already psionic, even.

>>12566665
I don't
no, really
I like shadowrun but I couldn't possibly take it seriously with all those fantasy stuff
it's awsome trash though

If you're going the route of developing a fantasy setting into a sci-fi instead of just making alien counterparts..

Arcanum was a good vision of what happens when a fantasy setting stumbles into the industrial revolution, though I don't totally agree with the magic disrupting technology and technology ruining magic. I'd prefer to have the two work together.

Develop further from that. Orcs and humans living together in modern cities, Elves being pushed further and further away as pollution and lumbering eats the forests but what are they going to do? Bows won't stand against a magitech assault rifle or gatling wand. Id' be a case of join or go extinct (or treat them like american indians and take their lands and force them onto reservations in exchange for future casinos. Then develop further from there.

>>12567553
Suck a nuke.

>>12567553
Second season has nice space combat but elves are bit too Mary Sue to be enjoyable.

They way I did it in my setting (still fantasy):

Humans are the oldest race. All of the other races stems from them.

Giants: The oldest attempt of mankind to create a "better" version of itself. They were created as supersoldiers in a long war. Sorcerers used magic to modify babies in the womb of their mothers, however magic and science (square law motherfuckers) weren't as developed as they are in the present day of the setting and this race quickly died off because of its inability to move efficiently. Most of them were crippled since birth and had to be fed enormous amounts of food to sustain their bodies.

Orcs: The second attempt. The ultimate race of fighters, but they didn't make good soldiers. They were far too aggressive. Most of them exist today within a tribal culture of wargangs. Males as well as females are powerful hunks of meat, otherwise perfectly outwardly human. They reproduce extremely fast and this, and their berserker-ish attitude towards battle, are the only reasons why they still are a fairly numerous race.

Elves: The latest children of mankind. Since the Giants, scientific and magical knowledge have progressed a lot and this race, unlike the other two, comes from a joint-effort to better mankind. It was successful, but still, elves have mostly withdrawn from human society—out of arrogance mostly. They are a race which needs magic to grow and live. Most pregnant elves have to make a pilgrimage in a ley-node as soon as they are aware of their condition.

Dwarves: They come from a freak accident. During an ancient war, a god died near a ley-node and disrupted the entire net. The ley-line striked a mountain and miners within fused with the earth and were reshaped. They can't reproduce but are extremely resilient and immortal. They can even reshape themselves using the soil.

>>12568669
Oh, and only humans can really become mages. Elves have an innate use of magic which affects the surrounding areas and can influence this effect, but casting spells is out of the question. Orcs are... orcs, not really interested in studying magic. Dwarves could be, but they were mostly miners, not educated people. And even when they discovered they were effectively immortal, they were still not interested with learning magic.

>>12566665
A little while back, I had written up a distant future sci-fi story set thousands of years after the collapse of an awesomely advanced post-scarcity society.

Elves were the descendants of a particular group of transhumanists who had used genetic engineering to perfect their physical bodies. During the period of "dark ages" following the collapse of civilization, the origin of this race was forgotten, and their immortality/unnatural beauty caused the ignorant masses to view them as supernatural creatures. These "elves" formed insular communities in the post apocalyptic world, with generations of inbreeding causing their artificially engineered traits to become over-expressed, further distancing them from the rest of humanity.

Now fast-forward a few thousand years, and you've got a genetically distinct race, utterly inhuman in appearance, regarded by most of humanity with fear and awe. Sure, they're not really elves, but for the purposes of storytelling, they're basically the same thing.

Space Elves are best elves.

Why not just have elves be people who have been space travellers or people stationed on low gravity worlds and asteroids for generations making them tall and frail? Dunno how to explain the ears from here.

Big ears for improved body heat radiation.