RE: (TFT) What is a Monster?

["Ben Wallin" <bwwallin@multiservice.com>]

>Horses and donkeys can hybridize, but the offspring are nearly always  
>sterile.  If a male horse and a female donkey mate, it's not a very  
>fertile union, and they're unlikely to produce any offspring at all.   
>I imagine that the various humanoid races could work this way, with  
>mixed couples rarely producing children, and the hybrids usually not  
>having any.  This keeps the hybrids rare, and may contribute to the  
>taboo against inter-species marriage: people want to have grandchildren.

>From ITL 

HALF-BREEDS
Many of the humanoid races can intermarry, producing
offspring midway between the two types. Men, Orcs, Elves,
Dwarves, and Halflings can all interbreed, although the offspring
are usually sterile. Elves rarely marry any but their own
kind - when they do, they usually marry men. Dwarves and
Halflings almost never marry outside their own races at all.
Hybrids of any of these five races possess characteristics midway
between those of the two parent types. In cases where
the parent races were hostile (Dwarf-Orc, for instance) a halfbreed
will have very few friends among either race.

...

Orc/Man and Man/Elf hybrids are relatively common, and
are the only types likely to be at all fertile themselves. They
may be met in any populous place. Other halfbreeds are rare.
They tend to live either by themselves or in such populous
places that their uniqueness is not noticed. Their natures tend
toward extremes; they are likely to be either very bad or very
good people.
=====
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