Fantasy Genetics: I
Humanoid races in review
by Gregory G. H. Rihn
 
 

MM Links

Men

Elves

Orcs

Cavemen

Dwarves

Gnomes

Sasquatch

Kobold

Goblin

Hobgoblin

Bugbear

Ogre

Hill Giant

PH Links

Men

Elves

Orcs*

Cavemen

Dwarves

Gnomes

Sasquatch

Kobold*

Goblin*

Hobgoblin

Bugbear

Ogre

Hill Giant

POV Links

Men

Elves

Orcs

Cavemen

Dwarves

Gnomes

Sasquatch

Kobold

Goblin

Hobgoblin

Bugbear

Ogre

Hill Giant

* Dragon #141

Gary Gygax’s article (The Dragon #29) about the half-ogre and
hair-tearing about the potential hodgepodge ov crossbreeds prompts
me to set down in print my own rationalizations regarding the multi-
plicity of humanoid races, based upon recent research in the evolu-
tion of the human <species>. 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 MM.
From a genetic standpoint, the prospect of a successful union between a human and a pig-snouted thing seems somewhat unlikely . . . .

Genus Homo
Men (Homo sapiens sapiens) (Hetero storiens storiens)
Men are the chief surviving humanoid life form wherever they
exist, due to their INT, 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 <“hobbits”> 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 characteris-
tics, but nothing that really sets them off from men generally. Inter-
marriage between the races is rare, due chiefly to the shy clannish-
ness of the hobbit people. Offspring of such unions would be
ordinary men for all purposes, though with a natural tendency
toward below-average height.

There exist 2 types of <non-humans> 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 <species> 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:

Elves (Homo sapiens sylvanus) and
Orcs (Homo sapiens orc)
Elves are chiefly distinguished from men by their extreme longe-
vity (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 specula-
tion. Human-elf crosses partake chiefly of the human side, support-
ing the inference that the common ancestor was more like a man
than otherwise, but enjoying an elvish increase in life span.
It is often storied in lejends 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.

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.

Cavemen (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)
These humanoids <sic> 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 STR, keener-than-aver-
age 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.

Dwarves (Homofaber)
In general terms, dwarves are human to within a very close
degree of classification, although their skeletal structure is so differ-
ent 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.

The dwarves exhibit several features uncommon among homin-
ids, including a preference for underground living (probably adopt-
ed 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.)
It was long rumored that dwarvish women were small and ether-
eally 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 num-
bered 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.

The remarkable ability of dwarvenkind to navigate underground
in near- to pitch-darkness appears to be due to a number of benefi-
cial 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 capil-
laries 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.

(Note: Elves, always primarily an outdoor species, have superi-
or 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.)

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.

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.

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.
Human types reciprocate this discomfort, as sighting of sas-
quatch are often reported as sightings of other large, aggressive
humanoids such as ogres, bugbears, hill giants, or even the non-hu-
man trolls. Since sasquatch fight fiercely when molested, hastily
organized hunting parties are seldom disabused of the notion that
they have encountered a dangerous monster.

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 australopi-
thenes 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 anthropopha-
gism, and especially against dwarves, who compete with them for
their remaining living space. Continual underground living has re-
sulted in adaptations to such life similar to those exhibited by Homo
faber and Homo sapiens orc. Though prolific, all of the australopi-
thene races are fewer in number, and should the hominids develop
more efficient means of mass destruction—such as gunpowder wea-
pons, 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 sup-
pression by, hominid cultures.

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.

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.

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.

“Ogre” is one of those terms of folklore that means many differ-
ent 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.
These stories add fuel to reports of half-ogres, which, consider-
ing 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, al-
though 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.

Hill Giant (Meganthropus giganticus)
Ancient fossil skulls of Meganthropus indicate the 1-time exist-
ence 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, resist-
ances, and inherent powers.

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.

Ogres are more of a proper size, but, being of different genera,
are not freely interfertile with giants. Crossbreeds would be a com-
promise in height with few, if any distinguishing features.

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 magickal 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 half-
humans (centaurs, satyrs, harpies); not to mention immigrants from
other planes and dimensions.

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 DM 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 2 individuals are
of the same genus does not mean they may breed viably: for exam-
ple, 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 magicks 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.

Note: By way of clarification, any beings with inherent, uniform,
magickal powers of any sort, as opposed to having to learn magick, are
assumed to have an extra gene which prohibits interfertility with true
humanoids, though they are still considered “persons” for the pur-
pose 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 <cf. siren>
human forms may be the result of convergent evolution, or of
protective coloration. This does not necessarily rule out mutual
sexual pleasure, however.

F a n t a s y   G e n e t i c s : I I
Half-orcs in a variety of styles

by Roger Moore

The ability of orcs to interbreed with nearly any creature is
lejendary. There are limits, of course; to my knowledge, there are no
orc-goats, orc-hamsters, or orc-<Balrogs> (thank God) running loose in
the world. Orc genetic material is compatible, however, with humanity, and with most demi-human and humanoid races.
Orcs and elves cannot interbreed; no matter, as the hatred
between the 2 <species> would eliminate any chance of orc-elves
occurring anyway. Similarly, the age-old warfare between orcs and
the other demi-humans, particularly dwarves, makes racial intermingling astronomically unlikely. Orcs prefer demi-humans as
slaves and food (except elves, which they prefer dead), and the
demi-humans tend to respond with similar genocidal actions. It is
with the humans and humanoid (or “goblin-type”) races that orcs
commonly breed when they do not do so among their own. Half-orcs tend to bear a strong orcish strain in appearance and nature, but
about 10% of them may resemble their non-orc parent enough to
allow them to “pass” as a being of that non-orc race.

Orc-humans are well covered in AD&D;  this article is concerned
with the other half-orcs that may be found, more or less commonly,
among orcs and other humanoids. Often these creatures may be
found in leadership positions in the race they live with. As a rule, orc
crossbreeds involving less powerful creatures are usually found
among those creatures, and crossbreeds with more powerful creatures are found in orcish clans as “tough guys” and sergeants. All the
half-orcs listed here have 60’ infravision, and unless they are found
wearing metallic armor they are AC 6. They are generally rare in
frequency.

Note that none of these half-orcs possess psionics. Orc-ogre
mage crossbreeds are not known, and trolls cannot breed with any
creature but themselves. In subservient tribes of kobolds and goblins, owing fealty to a larger orc colony nearby, orc-kobolds and
orc-goblins can attain high status and leadership positions, with a
minimum amount of tribal rejection from the subject race. Orc-hobgoblins may be found as sergeants in orc armies; the more
powerful orc crossbreeds may command small companies, and orc-ogres in particular govern with a lot of respect from their troops.
As would be expected, orc crossbreeds of the more powerful sort
(orc-hobgoblin on up) nearly always occur if there are a large
number of the non-orc beings living near the orc colony in relative
harmony: The crossbreed population of an orc community is usually
5% of the total at most (20 half-orcs out of 400 orcs, for example).
Weapons and armor tend to be above average, particularly among
those in leadership positions. Note that half-orcs living with the race
of their more powerful parent (an orc-kobold living with other orcs,
and so on) will usually be very low in social status unless serving as a
go-between for orcs and the other race. No matter what status a
half-orc attains in its society, orc-humans will usually attain more
power because of their ability to increase in class levels, which no
other half-orcs can do.

Experience Point Values of Humanoid Half-orcs

Orc-Kobolds- 5 XP + 1/HP
Orc-Goblins - 10 XP + 1/HP
Orc-Hobgoblins - 10 XP + 1/HP
Orc-Gnolls - 20 XP +2/HP
Orc-Bugbears - 28 XP +2/HP (Special Ability; Increased Strength)
Orc-Ogres - 50 XP +3/HP (Special Ability; Increased Strength)

HALF-ORC HUMANOIDS

-	Orc-Kobold	Orc-Goblin	Orc-Hobgoblin	Orc-Gnoll	Orc-Bugbear	Orc-Ogre*
Hit Dice	1-6 HP	2-7 HP	2-8 HP	1+2	2	2+2
Move	6"	9"	9"	9"	9"	9"
No. of Attacks	1	1	1	1	1	1
Damage/Attack	1-6	1-7	1-8	1-8	2-8	2-9
Ave. Strength	10	11	13	15	16	17
Intelligence	Average (low)	Average (low)	Average	Average (low)	Low-average	Low
Alignment	Lawful evil	Lawful evil	Lawful evil	Neutral evil	Neutral evil	Neutral evil
Size	S (4 1/2')	M (5'-6')	M (6'+)	L (7'+)	L (7'+)	L (8'+)

<cf. ogrillon>

F a n t a s y   G e n e t i c s : I I I
What do you get when you cross. . .?
b y   J o h n   S .   O l s o n

In TD #29, Gary Gygax wrote an article for Sorcerer’s Scroll
about the problems involved with letting AD&D players use characters of racial types other than those listed in the Players Handbook.
He recommended strict limits on this and offered a set of
guidelines.

In listing the reasons for avoiding the problem, he cited the sheer
weight of numbers of possible races and crossbreeds, concluding,
“pixie-storm giant half-breeds would not be impossible . . .”
I have found a simple way (well, complicated really) to squelch
player enthusiasm for strange critters as PCs: namely,
to let them try it once and see for themselves that humans are vastly
superior in the long run.

To illustrate this method, I will now demonstrate, using Mr.
Gygax’s own suggestion of the pixie-storm giant crossbreed.
In the first place, the tremendous size of the storm giant would be
offset by the very small size of the pixie, thereby making the hybrid
human-sized, with human characteristics. However, ability die rolls
should be averaged out by counting all 1s as 2s and all 6s as
5s.

Since the 2 races are so dissimilar, the hybrid would not be a
very viable life form. He (or she) would probably be sterile, and
might also be sickly in the magickal power department. The powers of
each race being diluted, the hybrid would only have watered-down
versions of his parents’ most spectacular powers. For example, the
natural invisibility of the pixie might enable him to go invisible just
once a day, but this could not be maintained during combat or for
more than 6 hours. The storm giant’s various abilities with regard to
storms and lightning might be reduced to a single Shocking Grasp
spell per day, and the immensely powerful Levitation would be
limited to the hybrid’s own body, plus whatever he could carry by
himself, unencumbered.

So much for the advantages. The disadvantages would far outweigh the advantages; 
after all, the AD&D universes are human-dominated for a reason, right?
For starters, the hybrid could never
become a Druid, Cleric, Paladin, Ranger, Illusionist, Assassin, or
Monk. As a Magic-User, he could reach no higher than 2nd level
(his magical abilities being as sickly as they are, remember?). As a
Fighter, he would be limited to 3rd level, and a pixie-storm giant
Thief could rise no higher than 6th level. Perhaps the character
would start out with a number of advantages over his comrades, but
as they advanced in level, he would quickly fall into a secondary role.
There are also severe disadvantages in lifespan. The Dungeon
Masters Guide gives a chart for the aging and eventual DEATH by
natural causes of those characters who managed to survive that long.
Since a cross between such widely diverse beings as a pixie and a
storm giant would not be very viable for genetic reasons, the hybrid
would be a young adult from ages 12-14, mature from 15-22,
middle-aged from 23-35, old from 36-45, and venerable from
46-60. Even half-orcs live longer than that.

The circumstances which brought about the bizarre union necessary for the creation of a half-breed of this type might have hidden
disadvantages, too. Mr. Gygax mentioned a pixie with several
Growth potions and a Love philter. I can think of several other ways
to bring about such a union, such as a Wizard making experiments,
or an act of the Gods. The use of potions and the Wizard idea both
carry the problem of the reaction of other storm giants when they
learn that a female of their race has been used in such a manner (the
storm giant would have to be the mother, as a female pixie could not
carry a human-sized infant to term). While they might realize that the
hybrid is not responsible for what had happened, they would still be
forcibly reminded of it whenever they saw him, which would make
him generally unwelcome. The pixies, too, might take it upon themselves to make life uncomfortable for their unwelcome relative. The
idea of a Wizard producing the crossing is ominous, since the Wizard
is obviously not of good alignment, and he will want the hybrid to do
things for him, and will keep tabs on him generally. If it was an act of
the Gods, they probably had a reason for it, and they will be mixing
their hands into the situation sooner or later. And, as Larry Niven has
said about the Gods, “They might grant your prayer, they might
grant your enemy’s, but they’d certainly grant their own.” None of
my characters ask for DIVINE INTERVENTION, for fear of being answered.
Some of you may wonder why, if the end result of this exercise is
such a pathetic twerp, did I even bother with it? Well, I believe that
AD&D should be as open-ended as possible, and that anything is
worth trying at least once, so long as the balance of the game is
preserved. And as for those difficult players who insist on trying
strange character racial types, well, this is the best way to shut them
up. Let them try what they want and see for themselves that humans
are their best bet; often it’s the only way they’ll ever learn. And
finally, once the player gets tired of playing this peculiar character
who has reached the limits on his advancement, it makes a dandy
NPC for those adventures to which you want to give an element of
whimsy.

To sum up, it should be possible to allow any character race into
your campaign without upsetting the balance, just by using common
sense. So you want to play a dragon? All right, but you’ll have to start
out Very Young, it’ll take centuries to grow up, and every knight
around is going to try to kill you. Want to play a djinn? Sure, but
don’t blame me if some Wizard enslaves you. Demons, dinosaurs,
titans, centaurs, etc., ad infinitum, all have the same or similar
problems. And the hybrids are the easiest to handle. Just load them
down with weakening factors until they become reasonable.
Anybody want to play a crossbred sphinx-titan-unicorn-werebear-elf?
I didn’t think so.
 

Fantasy Genetics IV:
Half  + half isn't always full
by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh

Now mind you, I’m not one of those odd people who believes that a
fantasy world should accord by every known or conjectured scientific
fact of the modern age.

On the other hand, I see no objection to a little scientific analysis of
a fantastical situation — especially if it leads to an interesting conclusion.
That’s why I got interested in the genetic aspects of half-orcdom. To
say nothing of half-orc family life.

Everyone knows, after all, what a half-orc is. It’s surly (not as much
as a true orc), ugly (ditto), intelligent (not as much as a human), and
suffers from a persecution complex with considerable basis in fact.
What about the 2nd generation? One might reasonably assume
that half-orcs produce more half-orcs. Does a half-orc mating with a
human produce a quarter-orc? What do you do with a quarter-orc?
Race it at Santa Anita?

Presumably a half-orc and a full orc produce quarter-humans. Were
such creatures to be sold as slaves in the early United States, the
Census would reckon them (I assume) as 0.25x0.6, or 15%, human.
None of this is impossible, and such breeding has considerable
poetic possibility — family lines with a trace of orc in them (“a touch of
the old claw, old bean”), or some other species, even. Some of the old
families of the Shire supposedly had some Elf or Fairy in them; details
were not given, the Hobbits being too polite to speculate about such
matters.

However; there are other ways for traits to manifest themselves,
and one of them results in quite amusing results.
Let us suppose that instead of humans (for example) being a complex of many traits,
while orcs are a complex of different traits, that
both share most traits.

This simplifies some things. Instead of wondering about the feasibility of large-scale
interspecies breeding, we treat the 2 as variants
of 1 race. They differ in only a single trait: humanness or orcness.
Somewhere on a specimen’s chromosomes is a gene which reads
either Orc or Human. The gene is probably on the sex pair — the X-Y
chromosomes have an H gene, the creature is human. Two O genes
produce an orc. An H-O combination produces a half-orc, and triggers
secondary traits associated with both races.

Now for some basic Mendelian genetics. The usual example is
roses, so we shall grow some roses. Anyone who remembers the
chapter on Mendel from high school biology may want to skip this
part.

We’re growing pink roses. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing.
There are, however, red and white roses, and if you cross them, you
get pink roses.

Now about the second generation . . . .
Each pink rose has associated with it both a red gene and a white
one. During reproduction, there is an even chance for one or the other
to be given to the offspring, since each parent contributes only 1/2 of
the various pairs of chromosomes which make up the offspring’s
genetic heritage. Using this, we can set up a simple chart of the 4
different combinations possible in the offspring (W stands for white
gene, R for red):

                                                                        PARENT A

PARENT B	Red Gene	White Gene
Red Gene	RR	RW
White Gene	WR	WW

You can see that a fairly typical 2nd generation of 4 offspring
will produce 2 with both white and red genes, and, which are there

fore pink; 1 with all red genes, and therefore red; and 1 with all
white genes, and therefore white.
I’m sure you can see it coming . . . .
If human mates with human, no problem. All the offspring have
human (H) genes. Same for orc-orc conjugal bliss. But when half-orc
marries half-orc . . . .

                                                                        PARENT A

PARENT B	Red Gene	White Gene
Orc Gene	OO	OH
Human Gene	HO	HH

A nice little nuclear half-orc family will therefore consist of 2 half-orc parents, 2 half-orc children, 1 orc child and 1 human child.
That’s the point of this discussion. How marvelously bizarre! Think
of the society this will create!

Also note that there is no fading-bloodline possibility under this set
of assumptions. A half-orc breeding with a human will produce 2
half-orcs and 2 humans; half-orc and orc produce 2 half-orcs and
2 orcs.

Will the non-half-orc children be subjected to taunts at school? Will
they be abandoned in the wilderness? What political parties will be
formed? Will solicitous parents advise their children to “find a nice
half-breed and settle down”?

And finally, think of what happens to the generation gap . . . “Do
your parents understand you?” “Nah.” “Why not?’ “They’re another
species, man.”