How do you guys feel about the fact that Bretons are half Aldmer?

People have been criticizing me for role playing, so I'm just going to specify that this is my character'a thoughs on them: they are half human and half elf, but the fact that they inbred with humans makes them impure and they are no better than any human, especially if they worship Talos. The fact that they look exactly like Nords and Imperials makes them more humanoid than Elven too.

My thoughts IRL is that I don't care much for them. They are simply an obscure mixture of one great race (Elven) and one lesser race (human)

I'm asking about people who play as elfs and how they feel about the Bretons. I'm not saying "Hey, elfs!" And again with saying humans are lesser. Please stop, kay?

I think they should have been designed to look a bit like a mix of the two, instead of looking like short Nords with a magika boost. At least a slight edit to the ears..

For some reason I'm obsessed with playing as Altmer. Bretons look no different than a Nord or Imperial to me, which is kind of boring.

Although I do like Vicente Valtieri.

How do I feel? I feel that calling Bretons "half Aldmer" is a gross oversimplification of things.

In all honestly, the elven blood thing never quite made sense to me. I could understand if elven heritage was common among Bretons; but to say that all Bretons universally have some Aldmer in them doesn't really track. This is partially because of how racial intermingling works in Elder Scrolls--if two people of different races get together and has a baby, the baby gets the race of the mother with some hints of the father's heritage. Given that, I'd say that elven heritage couldn't possibly be limited to Bretons alone, and if a Breton never had an elven grandpappy down the line, well, how could you even tell?

So I guess it bugs me? I feel the same way about Bosmer and their supposed human heritage.

I play Bosmer, and I really don't care. I definitely consider them men, rather than mer, but don't hold any ill will towards them as a race.

Yes and I, a person who plays as an Elf, gave you my opinion! Again, I say TAMRIEL'S humans are inferior to TAMRIEL'S Elves because the Elves are descendants of the Aedra, the gods! I don't personally feel the same way about earth's humans because it's much different. I believe that all beings on earth are created equal, because we're all humans here. Nirn is different because there are living descendants of the very gods who created the whole damn planet and the whole damn universe.

I'm pretty sure their actual name is Manmeri.
And I agree with Bebop, they should've had slightly pointed ears. It looks like they actually do in TES: Online

That's wrong though. The Altmer believe they are the decedents of the Audra, it is not fact. Also the Aedra did not create Nirn, Lorkhan did. And the Altmer hate Lorkhan because he was the one who created Nirn, and they believe they are trapped on Nirn. And as to which races are better, there is not best race. Each has their own Pros and Cons. It is obvious that even when not talking out of character you are still so lost in the game and your character.

They were called "Manmeri" by the first Nords who met them during the first era. This is according to the Pocket Guide to the Empire, a famous propaganda piece.

My point is, this was all thousands of years ago. Any elven left in them would be negligible. To call their current form anything but human seems like a stretch.

Also when it comes to Bretons I think they are now becoming more and more human. Maybe when they first were distinguished as half Altmer they looked a lot different. But the way races intermingle it would only make sense they they are slowly becoming more and more human.

Why is that? Why would the population become progressively less elven over time? You're assuming that they primarily breed with races of men. If they breed equally with men and mer, they wouldn't become any less elven over time. Or if they breed primarily within their own race, they also wouldn't become progressively less elven, unless more elven traits are sixually selected against within the population.

May I refer you to: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Racial_Phylogeny.

Admittedly, much of my stance comes from the fact that they're commonly referred to and appear as a human race. This indicates to me that the interbreeding was primarily elven men with human women--in the Elder Scrolls universe, their offspring would still effectively be human with a touch of elven leanings. I'd argue that applying genetics as we know them to this particular IP would be a mistake.

That's the issue here: there are no true "hybrids" in Nirn. There are humans with a hint of mer and elves with a hint of man, but no true half-and-half...er, people. So from the very beginning, Bretons wouldn't have had an equal man/mer split.


(I apologize for how disjointed my responses are--it's been a long day.)

From my Dunmer's point of view?
...
I guess he'd shrug and make a comment like "What do you expect when cross breeding occurs? A colored egg?"

Lol this.

This.

Bretons look awfully darned human for being half elf. They're not half elven. They have elven blood in their acestry, that's for sure. That your great great (unto infinity) grandfather/grandmother was an elf doesn't make you a half elf.

They're really just another human race and have been that way since before the first TES game. Sure, some elven ancestry and all that. From what I understand they're the race of humans most inclined to want to use magic. It's an accepted part of their society. It's not to say that if you keep jumping off a cliff you're bound to grow wings, but the generations of magic use surely had some effect in giving them their heritage.

You should also consider reducing the size of your signature.

In description, they seem kinda like the Dunedain from Lord of the Rings fame. Humans who still carry the heritage of semi magical blood with longer life spans and increased inherent bonds with the magical. I love the culture and background in place, but their appearance is definitely lackluster when compared to that. If not slightly pointed ears, then at least sharper features to represent their ancestral stock.

Agreed x100

He does it on purpose because you, myself, and a few others gave him flak for the Thalmor hard-on. But I agree, he should grow up and stop acting like a child. And isn't that borderline spam having your sig that big?

I imagine most elves don't care, because they have better things to worry about. The only ones who consider it an issue are politicians and racists, and who cares what they think?

Spam is posting something over an again to advertise something, to promote yourself, or to press an issue. It's not spam, it's just rude.

Should we make giant signatures saying that the Thalmor are human excrement after it was eaten by a troll and then dropped out again?

They are not "half" Altmer

They only have small part elven blood

That's why I said borderline spam. I've been to many forums and chat rooms where they even consider typing in all caps as spam. But nonetheless rude indeed.