Bear in mind that the Old Ones/Slaan made the "young races" (including the Eldar and the Humans) then it's more than possible that they may have some form of genetic compatibility.

Especially as they were designed to be a weapon against what was eventually revealed to be the Necrons (that's why Humans & Eldar both have significant psychic ability)

And it's always possible that some ancient Eldar prophecy states that the two races will merge in some manner to defeat an ancient enemy.

Some groups on both sides might think that the Merging is a literal one and try a breeding program, starting with captured dark Eldar ("they all look the same, point ears and long hair") and finding some manner of success, only to capture a normal Eldar (be it a civilian or what have you) and start the process all over again.

Other groups might think the prophecy is just a form of "the two sides will fight side by side" kind of prophecy.

Either way it's bound to be a Heretical thing and they deserve purging.

I was ASKING about what I had read concerning the male Eldar passing on genetic material during the procreation process. I READ that. I didnt say it was a fact. For all I know, it might not even be canon. And if the Eldar have that ability, why would they have it if they couldnt control it?

And the Eldar do forget things. They forget things quite a bit.

Edith The Hutt said:

Exactly. What I wanted to create was a rumor so strong that it would force the PCs to intervene on behalf of the Inquisition, and then create a deep conspiracy that aims to throw down the planet's Imperial rulers to substitute for some form of cult which probably has nothing to do with Eldars, they just use the rumor to create instability amidst the ignorance.

To have a small campaign based on the spreading of a rumor which couldn't possibly be true, but was still able to shake the minds of a lot of people.

Dezmond said:

If you recall, in Tolkien's Fantasy Men and Elves shared a common ancestor. The respective racial founders were brothers, after all.

[brief aside]

Not according to the Silmarillion, in chapter XII, Of Men, the arrival of men is described. And there was no "racial founding", Men are after all in Tolkien's mythology Iluvatar's Children. The Eldar and Dwarves were the creation of the Ainur/Valar, but Men were created by Iluvatar.

There were lines instances of Eldar and Men breeding, in a few special occassions, but only after the Eldar gave up their gift of Immortality, in effect becoming mortal and no longer true Eldar.

Hellebore said:

A great post, Hellebore.

I might add that evolution (although the Eldar were created by the Slaan, so that goes against what I am about to say) results in divergent organisms. We have convergent evolution with the Eldar and humans, which is highly unlikely. Despite their outward similarities, one cannot support interbreeding when both species are likely to have a disimilar biological makeup; their proteins are likely to be different, as well as the enzymes, blood components, or even what sort of chemicals 'inhabit' the synaptic clefts of their neural networks. All that is controlled by dna sequencing, which may result in similar appearances, but largely the differences (for instance brain structure or metabolic processes between species) are so profound that it would be impossible (ignoring the dna engineering performed by Tyranid Norn Queens) for interbreeding. To use an analogy, it is like merging the components of a PC and a macintosh; essentially both are outwardly similar and behave the same, but the processes - mechanical/electrical and algorithms - are almost completely different.

This is one of the reasons I cannot stand Star Trek - Vulcans breeding with humans seems flawed.

You could say, since eldars have have 4 strands of dna that humans were made of two of them, and the tau the two others.

A plot could be that a farseer, have foreseen that slightly impure eldars (stained by human dna) would not get their souls eaten by Slannesh.

Wilfred Owen said:

Star Trek either had a movie or tv show that cleared this up by showing that all alien life in their galaxy was formed from the same DNA that humans came from and were "seeded" on their individual worlds by their "gods". I think it was one of the last season episodes of the Next Generation series, but I'm not sure. Therefore, based on the arguments presented in this thread, Vulcans and Humans are compatible genetically.

In regards to an Eldar/Human hybrid, I think the magic of the warp is the best explanation for purposes of verisimilitude. It seems that people have difficulty buying into genetic compatibility, but alien races, humans populating space, psychic abilities, and ships the size of small moons with gravity fields are all acceptable and believable.

It's funny what some people will argue about.

Sure, you could make a case for anything being believable or not based on science, but if you disproved everything based on science we'd all be playing a game focused on real life.....and how fun would that be?

read all this and could not get past a couple of things ....

Homo Sapiens and Pan Troglodites are arguably geneticaly close enough to allow fertilisation, but, good luck if you wanna get a Chimp warmed up for a bit of fumpy pumpy.

Also i seem to remember in the Xenology a mention that the Eldar may require several 'encounters' to fully develop the genetic coding of the foetus. It would be arguable with this vague reference that only one or two strands of split DNA are absorbed by the egg during each procreation. Therefore allowing arguabley, in a fantasy environment, a Human father for a Female eldar.

Probably will not work the other way, the argument that is.....

just thinking out loud

LeBlanc13 said:

This

Action_Carl said:

Yet for all those examples you have something that *explains* the inconsistencies. Alien races: no explanation needed, evolutionary pathways leading to different lifeforms is a well accepted theory of biology. Humanity has populated space currently in the form of space stations and limited time spent on the moon, most of the problems are known and solutions appear to be within range of science; it's the cost (and benefit) that still remains prohibitive.

Psychic abilities are explained by the presence of the warp and its effects in realspace. Ships the size of small moons WOULD have gravity fields, just by virtue of their mass. The more glaring issues would be those of structural integrity, but even those are explained by the "higher technology" mantra.

Yet reproduction adapting willy-nilly to cross-species fertilization?

What has changed in how we reproduce that in 40k we'll be able to cross-breed with any species? What's the explanation? Has our DNA mutated into something different? Is the "junk DNA" really just some dormant set of instructions that allow us to cross breed with any of the species created by the Older Ones? I mean, even the warp excuse given above makes more sense than "just cause". Make some excuse up!

LeBlanc13 said:

Hence why I disagreed with natural reproduction and said it would be acceptable with warp intervention. See my post on why magic is the answer.

Hellebore

Evilscary said:

But what if the Eldar were actually related to Humans countless mlliennia ago? What if Humanity was a genetic offshoot, much like Ogryns and Ratlings are to Humans? Maybe Earth was just a colony, or even an Eldar experiment. Substitute some present day Grey experiment theories with Eldar, mix in the 38 millenia and the genetic variances that would produce (20ish from very tired memory, since it was the dark age of technology when I think the first contact was made IIRC) and you have a delicious conspiracy which the Inquisition might want to cover up...

What if the Emperor was one of these Eldar experiments? What if he *is* an Eldar...

Gets you thinking, doesn't it.

This topic is quite interesting, but what is worth pointing out is that eldar do not think like humans.

It is quite possible that a human could fall in love with an eldar. After all they have a fantastic form, fluid movements, and all the pictures show them as quite "attractive" [slender, long limbed, perfect forms rather than hideously ugly or obese etc]. Now suppose said love struck human captured the eldar and forced/coerced [or for all I know the eldar might be interested] into sexual relations.

Just because there is a tiny percent chance of something happening does not mean it can't. The eldar might have created devices that allow procreation between species [or at the least it might be prior to the fall, and hence a possible story arc]

The eldar are mysterious beings. It could be their farseers have fortold of a coming of a half eldar, and they are trying to facilitate this by kidnapping "appropriate" humans.