By Gregory G. H. Rihn - December 1980
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Gary Gygax’s article (The Dragon #29) about the half-ogre and hair-tearing about the potential hodgepodge of crossbreeds prompts me to set down in print my own rationalizations regarding the multiplicity of humanoid races, based upon recent research in the evolution of the human race. It’s not that I’m super-lawful, but I enjoy drawing logical connections between outwardly similar things. I find it helps give a nice consistent basis to the campaign. In the early days of my D&D campaign, I always did, and continue to, visualize orcs and ogres as far more human-looking than portrayed in the AD&D Monster Manual. From a genetic standpoint, the prospect of a successful union between a human and a pig-snouted thing seems somewhat unlikely . . . .
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Genus Homo
Men (Homo sapiens sapiens)
Men are the chief surviving humanoid life form wherever they exist, due to their intelligence, extreme adaptability, and rapid rate of reproduction in comparison to other hominids. They are also faster and stronger than the australopithenes, their chief competition. The peoples known as “halflings” would appear to be a race of mankind, being genetically indistinguishable from the mass of men. They are a sort of Caucasian pygmy, with certain distinctive racial characteristics, but nothing that really sets them off from men generally. Intermarriage between the races is rare, due chiefly to the shy clannishness of the halfling people. Offspring of such unions would be ordinary men for all purposes, though with a natural tendency toward below-average height.
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There exist two types of humanoids that are so closely related to men as to make interbreeding possible, with the result being fertile offspring. These are tentatively classed as subspecies. Note that this is not intended to imply that one race necessarily descended from another, but that they are very closely related, probably having diverged from a common ancestor relatively recently in evolutionary terms. These are:
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Elves (Homo sapiens sylvanus) and
Orcs (Homo sapiens orc)
Elves are chiefly distinguished from men by their extreme longevity (probably due to changes in the endocrine structure) and minor physical distinctions in height, features, etc. The so-called drow appear to be a racial variation. How much of their alleged evil reputation is due to past racial discrimination is a matter for speculation. Human-elf crosses partake chiefly of the human side, supporting the inference that the common ancestor was more like a man than otherwise, but enjoying an elvish increase in life span.
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It is often storied in legends that the orcish species was bred from other races by an evil power. The truth is shrouded in the mists of time, but the fact that orcs freely interbreed with any humanoid species, and produce fertile offspring when bred with men, indicates relation to them, if not a common ancestry.
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Specifically bred or not, the orcish species is superbly adapted to endure combat and extreme privation due to their toughness. If men were fewer, or less intelligent, it might well be imagined that the orcs would give men severe competition for world domination. Any crossing with an orc is considered “orcish” and outcast by all other intelligent species, except for humankind, which shows a grudging acceptance of “half-orcs.” Quarter-orcs are men for all practical purposes, and 3/4 orcs are considered orcs.
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Cavemen (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)
These humanoids are found in many Dungeons & Dragons worlds. They are Men for all practical purposes, though as a group they tend to have higher-than-average strength, keener-than-average sense of smell, slightly poorer-than-average eyesight, and, though no less intelligent than Men generally, tend to have difficulty with very complex symbology, or abstractions. A child of a Man- Caveman union could pass for either, and its children from a union with a pure Man or Caveman would take after the pureblooded parent.
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Dwarves (Homofaber)
In general terms, dwarves are human to within a very close degree of classification, although their skeletal structure is so different as to necessitate their placement as a separate species. The dwarf species appears to have never been very numerous, producing few children, and those slowly. This apparent relative infertility, coupled with a strong taboo against mingling with “outsiders,” accounts for a lack of dwarvish half-bloods.
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The dwarves exhibit several features uncommon among hominids, including a preference for underground living (probably adopted as a protective tactic, as with orcs and the australopithenes), and the fact that both sexes exhibit full facial beards. (This again appears to be a protective camouflage, allowing the females to blend in and thus be hidden from enemy attacks aimed at genocide.)
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It was long rumored that dwarvish women were small and ethereally beautiful, and were kept closeted in harems, away from the sight of outsiders, by jealous dwarvish males, along with other dwarven treasures. This base canard has been proven untrue; in fact, the dwarves enjoy the most sexually egalitarian society of any hominid species. Both sexes share the burden of child-rearing, and many dwarven communities provide for child care communally while the parents work at their trades. Dwarvish females are numbered among the most respected leaders in every field of dwarvish endeavor, including war and government. Study by dwarf-friends indicates that dwarven females retain full heads of hair in old age, whereas males tend to go cranially bald. Females in some dwarvish clans shave their upper lips. Dwarven females have relatively small but fully functional breasts, which are concealed by their modes of dress, as well as by their beards.
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The remarkable ability of dwarvenkind to navigate underground in near- to pitch-darkness appears to be due to a number of beneficial adaptations. Dwarves’ eyeballs contain a higher percentage of corneal and cartilaginous material than those of other races, and the blood supply to the living tissue is routed and cooled through capillaries in the bony structure of dwarves “beetle brows” (supraorbital ridges). This allows the dwarves an ability to see into the high infrared spectrum, an ability and adaptation shared by orcs and modern australopithenes.
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(Note: Elves, always primarily an outdoor species, have superior night-sight, due to their large eyes and pupil openings. It is probable that elves should have ultravision to a certain degree, allowing them to utilize the ultraviolet components of moonlight and starlight, but there is really very little justification for elves, as a species, having infravision.)
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Dwarves, in addition, have adaptations to the inner ear, making it very sensitive to changes in air pressure, thus giving a dwarf the ability to learn to estimate his depth below ground by feeling changes in barometric pressure. It would also appear that dwarven hearing is very keen, catching frequencies too high for humans to detect. This gives dwarves the ability to use a sort of sonar in caves and mines, and skilled miners can even learn to detect faults and changes in rock density by resonances and sympathetic vibrations, thus explaining the common dwarven habit of whistling as they work.
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Gnomes appear to be a racial variation or subspecies of the dwarvish type. If crossbreeds of dwarves and other races were found to exist, it is probable they would be sterile. There is no reason to suspect that such a cross would have any extraordinary attributes.
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Sasquatch (Homo sasquatch)
These rare members of the genus Homo are extremely shy. They have generally achieved a cultural level involving gathering and some hunting, with a loose extended family group being the highest extent of social organization. The dark-haired sasquatch are often mistaken for the white-furred yeti, an unhuman creature exhibiting a “supernatural” chilling power. The sasquatch are in fact very mild-tempered and non-aggressive. They have a primitive language of their own, and are capable of learning others. They are not comfort able in human society, and show no interest in mating with humans.
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Human types reciprocate this discomfort, as sighting of sasquatch are often reported as sightings of other large, aggressive humanoids such as ogres, bugbears, hill giants, or even the non-human trolls. Since sasquatch fight fiercely when molested, hastily organized hunting parties are seldom disabused of the notion that they have encountered a dangerous monster.
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Genus Australopithecus Kobold (Australopithecus boisei)
Goblin (Australopithecus africanus)
Hobgoblin (Australopithecus robustus)
Bugbear (Australopithecus giganticus)
The general description of all the goblin races, as to sloping brows, receding chins and flattened noses, corresponds strongly to skull specimens of Australopithecus, not an ancestor of mankind, but a collateral branch of humanoid evolution that coexisted with early Homo, but that died out in the real world. Had the australopithenes evolved in a separate area of the planet rather than in the same general area as hominids, they might well have toughened up and survived into recorded times, as appears to have happened in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. They have been driven by Homo sapiens and his allies into the most wild and desolate places, and underground, for which reason they harbor an understandable grudge against humankind, extending to widespread anthropophagism, and especially against dwarves, who compete with them for their remaining living space. Continual underground living has resulted in adaptations to such life similar to those exhibited by Homo faber and Homo sapiens orc. Though prolific, all of the australopithene races are fewer in number, and should the hominids develop more efficient means of mass destruction—such as gunpowder weapons, especially repeaters— it is likely that the goblinoids would be hunted to extinction in a few generations. Their cultural level varies widely from area to area, depending on their exposure to, or suppression by, hominid cultures.
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Goblinoids can interbreed with other goblinoids of similar size, the result being sterile goblinoids of intermediate sizes. Such liaisons are rare, due to intertribal rivalries, hatreds, and taboos; they are generally the result of the rape of prisoners.
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Fertile matches between different genera are extremely rare. The result of such a union would certainly be sterile, and would probably be assumed to be a goblin, although orcs will raise any surviving offspring as if they were also orcs. It would be extremely rare, however, for any such fosterling to rise above the status of snaga.
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Ogre (Ramapithecus robustus)
The jaws and skull of the ogre closely resemble those of early Ramapithecus species, a probable ancestor of both genus Homo and of genus Australopithecus. The present-day ogre is somewhat larger than fossil specimens, hence the appellation robustus. The society and cultural level of ogres has been well documented in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.
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“Ogre” is one of those terms of folklore that means many different things to different people (like “troll,” defined by Funk and Wagnalls as “a dwarf or giant of north European folklore”). The fairy tales of France present ogres as entirely human-looking cannibals capable of using malign glamours to lure victims to doom. They were often handsome or beautiful, more like vampires than the ogres we think of, yet not “undead.” Many other folk tales treat the ogre (or giant) as having a beautiful and entirely human-looking daughter who is willing to help the hero against her wicked father.
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These stories add fuel to reports of half-ogres, which, considering the large, uncouth creatures called ogres in D&D and AD&D, are, like human/orc crosses, likely to result only from rapes or intentional breeding programs.
Ogre characteristics tend to predominate in any ogre cross, although human/ogre crosses exhibit more cunning and discipline than pure ogres. They are a difficult army to maintain since the half-ogres are sterile, and hence each generation must be bred from the original stock. However, their reasonably long life spans make the effort not entirely a waste of time.
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Hill Giant (Meganthropus giganticus)
Ancient fossil skulls of Meganthropus indicate the one-time existence of hominids far larger than even present-day man, which survive into the present-day Dungeons & Dragons world as so-called hill giants. This is the largest being that can truly be called humanoid, since the larger giants rapidly begin to exhibit obviously unhuman characteristics as to bone structure and musculature, skin, resistances, and inherent powers.
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Due to the size differential, it is extremely unlikely that hill giants could cross with human-sized creatures. Even if the human survived the encounter, offspring would have a well-nigh impossible time coming to term. A giant child would overburden a human mother, and probably not pass the pelvic canal. Should a human male succeed in impregnating giant loins, the comparatively small and fragile child would probably be damaged at birth by the powerful contractions of a giant womb, and if it survived it would be born into a very rugged life.
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Ogres are more of a proper size, but, being of different genera, are not freely interfertile with giants. Crossbreeds would be a compromise in height with few, if any distinguishing features.
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This article only goes into a small segment of the myriad species of fauna found in most D&D worlds. Briefly, it would appear that mermen and aquatic elves are probably races created from parent stock by magical means. Then there are the numerous members of the genus Fey (brownies, pixies, nixies) distinguished by inherent “magical” powers; independently evolved intelligent species (gnolls, lizard men, troglodytes, etc. ); the questionably derived halfhumans (centaurs, satyrs, harpies); not to mention immigrants from other planes and dimensions.
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However, the correspondence between the goblins, ogres, and giants to real-world fossils is of interest; this provides a logical basis for the existence of these creatures, which are some of the most common that a Dungeon Master will deal with. Division into genus and species helps to head off the potentially troublesome issue of who can breed with whom. Closely related species interbreed freely (dogs and wolves, Canis domesticus and Canis lupus), and even produce fertile offspring (as witness Alaskan husky stock, often said to have wolf blood). Inter-genus hybrids are rarely strong and always sterile. And just because two individuals are of the same genus does not mean they may breed viably: for example, a lion and a house cat. Growth potions aside, what of a female house cat trying to bring to term a litter of half-lion cubs? (And what of the effect of potions on pregnant females and their in utero children? “Caution! Use is contraindicated during pregnancy . . .”) Monster manufacture by means of mutagenic magics is another matter, but if the referee is allowing people to cook up their own creatures and play them, especially as characters, then anything said here is probably of little interest.
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Note: By way of clarification, any beings with inherent, uniform, magical powers of any sort, as opposed to having to learn magic, are assumed to have an extra gene which prohibits interfertility with true humanoids, though they are still considered “persons” for the purpose of Hold and Charm spells, which are a matter of mentality. These include pixies, nixies, sprites, brownies, and leprechauns (genus Fey); and dryads, nymphs, and sirens (genus Fatale), whose human forms may be the result of convergent evolution, or of protective coloration. This does not necessarily rule out mutual sexual pleasure, however.
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