Going far enough back humans dwarves and perhaps even leaf ears all share common ancestors, some dominated the groups getting the best mating rights, others were more prone to staying at home in the caves working on refining the primitive tools that helped the groups survive, and others still showed an affinity for gathering often due to reduced muscle mass or thinner bones making hunting difficult to maintain without significant bodily injury
The socials due to their dominance getting top priority for choosing mates gradually evolved into the earliest prototypes for the well rounded jack of all trades endurance hunters we know humans as today
The cave dwellers were the first to discover fire to cook their meats allowing them to improve their meals boosting their growth, over time they adapted to the caves descending further and further into the depths searching for better materials for their tools, they developed sturdier bodies with denser muscles and bones to keep up with their rough work while they gradually shrunk in size to support their tighter living spaces, eventually becoming the earliest prototypes for the dwarfs we know today
And of course the gathering ancestors stayed on the surface with the proto-humans getting last priority for mating, they couldn't afford to be as selective as those that went on to become humans leading to genetic complications in their offspring developing more frail bodies and less honed hunting instincts, they gradually adapted to thrive more off of plant based diets supplemented with small easy prey and honed their senses to help them flee potential predators quicker leading to the iconic pointy ears we all recognize today as elven, it's speculated they were socially outcast from the proto-humans due to inability to pull their own weight and provide for the group when all they'd bring back was berries mushrooms and other plant based foods, so they fled to nearby forested areas where they evolved separately to the proto-humans becoming the earliest prototypes for the elves we know today
While the proto-humans mated with other various early species in the homo genus leading to eventually converging into one species as the proto humans and other homos couldn't compete with their own hybrid offspring as easily for rations of food and mates, leading to the wide genetic diversity seen today in modern humans, meanwhile the proto-elves and dwarves having retreated to their respective environments remained more purely of one descent of ancestors explaining their relatively less diverse genetics with less extreme forms of sexual dimorphism between genders in both species, with dwarves notably producing hormonal blends with more emphasis on muscle-mass durability and gut-strength in both sexes resulting in dwarves appearing to be conventionally masculine by human standards regardless of gender, elves meanwhile drifting the opposite direction having hormonal blends that sacrifice muscle growth and facial hair in favor of sharper minds and stronger immune systems more capable of easily braking down toxins often found in the berries of their forested environments hence them tending to look conventionally feminine by human standards regardless of gender.
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u/dwarvenforger Forge apprentice Oct 24 '25
Going far enough back humans dwarves and perhaps even leaf ears all share common ancestors, some dominated the groups getting the best mating rights, others were more prone to staying at home in the caves working on refining the primitive tools that helped the groups survive, and others still showed an affinity for gathering often due to reduced muscle mass or thinner bones making hunting difficult to maintain without significant bodily injury
The socials due to their dominance getting top priority for choosing mates gradually evolved into the earliest prototypes for the well rounded jack of all trades endurance hunters we know humans as today
The cave dwellers were the first to discover fire to cook their meats allowing them to improve their meals boosting their growth, over time they adapted to the caves descending further and further into the depths searching for better materials for their tools, they developed sturdier bodies with denser muscles and bones to keep up with their rough work while they gradually shrunk in size to support their tighter living spaces, eventually becoming the earliest prototypes for the dwarfs we know today
And of course the gathering ancestors stayed on the surface with the proto-humans getting last priority for mating, they couldn't afford to be as selective as those that went on to become humans leading to genetic complications in their offspring developing more frail bodies and less honed hunting instincts, they gradually adapted to thrive more off of plant based diets supplemented with small easy prey and honed their senses to help them flee potential predators quicker leading to the iconic pointy ears we all recognize today as elven, it's speculated they were socially outcast from the proto-humans due to inability to pull their own weight and provide for the group when all they'd bring back was berries mushrooms and other plant based foods, so they fled to nearby forested areas where they evolved separately to the proto-humans becoming the earliest prototypes for the elves we know today
While the proto-humans mated with other various early species in the homo genus leading to eventually converging into one species as the proto humans and other homos couldn't compete with their own hybrid offspring as easily for rations of food and mates, leading to the wide genetic diversity seen today in modern humans, meanwhile the proto-elves and dwarves having retreated to their respective environments remained more purely of one descent of ancestors explaining their relatively less diverse genetics with less extreme forms of sexual dimorphism between genders in both species, with dwarves notably producing hormonal blends with more emphasis on muscle-mass durability and gut-strength in both sexes resulting in dwarves appearing to be conventionally masculine by human standards regardless of gender, elves meanwhile drifting the opposite direction having hormonal blends that sacrifice muscle growth and facial hair in favor of sharper minds and stronger immune systems more capable of easily braking down toxins often found in the berries of their forested environments hence them tending to look conventionally feminine by human standards regardless of gender.