Why do we only see Tolkien's elves, dwarves, and orcs in medieval fantasy, why not space?

[Hectix777]

This is a question that has been bugging me for awhile. I mean, what's so wrong with wantin to see that? I'm sure I'm no the only one who has imagined such a fantasy world. Where confederacies of dwarves run a galactic enterprise on valuable minerals and metals and have switched from the up close and personal tactic of warhammers to using something like war mechs. Dwarves are pretty industrious people, he tunnels they build are huge, elabroate, and an architectural feat of the masters. And why not elves? They pretty much think themselves as sometype of superrace, so I think it would be possible that elves would make huge ships with giant gardens on them, travel to distant worlds and terraform them for eleven colonization, than once they have a system of 15-30 planets, isolate themselves from the galaxy. Mankind would be there of course, doing what they always do.

I mean, its not a far stretch. We simply can't expect or think that in sometime in the mythos of Dragon Age the Qunari would not try and attempt space travel. They built cannons when every other race had bows and swords, they were only beaten by magic. And of course magic would still be around in such a universe, what does that make the Force( no quotes from Obi Wan or Yoda or anyone involved with Star Wars or a character from another movie/comic/tv show quoting Star Wars).

So how come I've never heard someone talk about this or heard someone think about it?

***Edit: As pointed out by someone's earlier post, I'm not talking about Warhammer 40k. I'm saying, what if we took what Tolkien's creatures, cultures, races, and mythos and sped the clock forward 1500 years or so. Why don't we see something like that? It doesn't have to be along the same lines as W40k, but closer to traditional Western RPGs or actual books. Like the dwarves and elves from Dragon Age, they're portrayed pretty damn well, to the extent where I believe that Bioware holds weekly seances to speak with Tolkien. I'm wondering why someone hasn't... What's a good way to put this....

Ummm... Why someone hasn't tried to mix the chocolate of Mass Effect with the peanut butter of Dragon Age. ( Yes, I'm a Bioware fanboy. It'd be a dream to work on a game for them and I truly believe no RPG company, East or West, can write or create a better lore and game like Bioware can)***

****P.S. If you are about to say,"Warhammer 40k," than walk off, please elaborate and not give me a joke about an orcs stuffy die dakka.****

 

[S-Unleashed]

That would be awesome.

 

[smearyllama]

Isn't that essentially what Warhammer 40k is about?

I have a friend who's creepily obsessed with this stuff, and a lot of the info has run off on me.

Still, if done in a different way, I can see the appeal.
Good idea, bro.

 

[dudehead]

Warhammer 40k, brah.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Don't ever mention Squats on a 40K board. It's hazardous for your health.

 

[smearyllama]

Warhammer 40k, brah.

Hey, cool post, brah.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Isn't that essentially what Warhammer 40k is about?

What this guy says.

The real problem with Fantasy Races in Science Fiction is the Science of it all. If you take into account Elven Longevity, Troll Regeneration etc. you have to find a Scientific reason for it. Then there's the idea of having Spacesuits etc. that can accomodate all these staples.

Equally, you could have Xenomorphs in Fantasy (Everquest already did that with the Kerrans) but you're losing out on the things that make something Fantasy or Science Fiction. Fantasy usually relies on Magic taking the place of Science; and Science tends to take the Believability out of Magic. If we have Space Elves, what makes them different from normal aliens that resemble Elves?

Also, Elves, Dwarves and Trolls have a reliance on specific parts of Earth. Transporting them into Space would require a total re-think on their philosophy.

 

[Merkavar]

orks = orc
elder = elves

in 40k

no dwarfs that i know about but there are ogres in 40k. they are like bigger humans

lol lets see how many post we can get that are just ''40k''

 

[Alar]

I don't think he means Warhammer 40k. I think he means taking Tolkien's world, Middle-Earth, and hurtling it into the future. Literally taking those peoples and those cultures and see what they'd be like so far in the future with spaceships and whatnot.

 

[chainer1216]

spelljammer, its DnD IIINNNN SPAAAAACCCCEEEEE!!!!

 

[Worgen]

eldar and orks
eldar are kind of space elfs and orks are kind of orcs in space

 

[Hectix777]

Isn't that essentially what Warhammer 40k is about?

I have a friend who's creepily obsessed with this stuff, and a lot of the info has run off on me.

Still, if done in a different way, I can see the appeal.
Good idea, bro.

Well... Warhammer 40k takes a huge plunge from Tolkien's creations. Orcs are admittedly not the greatest minds, but they do have some sense of battle tactics and skill. I guess that's why Sauron is in charge. I don't see an elf anywhere (I guess that's what the Mage guys are) or a dwarf. I really don't think that the guys from that made Warhammer 40k just basically got a physical description of what each race was and when it came to characterize t must have been along the lines of," Okay, Orcs. Some 'em up in three words or less, go!"

 

[moose_man]

AHEM.


Spelljammer.


And we all know how well THAT worked.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

The fact that every game ever made set in a medieval time period must have elves, dwarfs, and orcs is the reason. No one has broken from Tolkiens vision because it is what the nerds expect at this point.

Space is more flexible, it seems. Look at Mass Effect compared to Star Wars. No copying and pasting of races there, except robots of course.

 

[katsumoto03]

Isn't that essentially what Warhammer 40k is about?

I have a friend who's creepily obsessed with this stuff, and a lot of the info has run off on me.

Still, if done in a different way, I can see the appeal.
Good idea, bro.

Well... Warhammer 40k takes a huge plunge from Tolkien's creations. Orcs are admittedly not the greatest minds, but they do have some sense of battle tactics and skill. I guess that's why Sauron is in charge. I don't see an elf anywhere (I guess that's what the Mage guys are) or a dwarf. I really don't think that the guys from that made Warhammer 40k just basically got a physical description of what each race was and when it came to characterize t must have been along the lines of," Okay, Orcs. Some 'em up in three words or less, go!"

Well, that plus the Orks have the WAAAGH!

 

[Merkavar]

I don't think he means Warhammer 40k. I think he means taking Tolkien's world, Middle-Earth, and hurtling it into the future. Literally taking those peoples and those cultures and see what they'd be like so far in the future with spaceships and whatnot.

that might be it. like if after the ring is detroyed they invent steam engines and electricity and then computers and then flight then space flight then forge galactic empires?

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Isn't that essentially what Warhammer 40k is about?

What this guy says.

The real problem with Fantasy Races in Science Fiction is the Science of it all. If you take into account Elven Longevity, Troll Regeneration etc. you have to find a Scientific reason for it. Then there's the idea of having Spacesuits etc. that can accomodate all these staples.

Equally, you could have Xenomorphs in Fantasy (Everquest already did that with the Kerrans) but you're losing out on the things that make something Fantasy or Science Fiction. Fantasy usually relies on Magic taking the place of Science; and Science tends to take the Believability out of Magic. If we have Space Elves, what makes them different from normal aliens that resemble Elves?

Also, Elves, Dwarves and Trolls have a reliance on specific parts of Earth. Transporting them into Space would require a total re-think on their philosophy.

Really easy in high-scifi. It is essentially magic after all. Elves found a way to turn off portions of their DNA that governs aging and cell repair. Their brains being vastly different than humans accounts for no reductions in mental capabilities. Whatever you want man.

 

[MandalorynOranj]

40k uses the Warp as magic, just this big 'ol realm of demons and nothingness that people draw on to work psychic powers. But this is definitely what you're looking for, to put it really simply:
Humans = ...humans
Eldar = Elves
Orks = Orcs
Tyranids = Weird bug monster things
Tau = Commie fish people
Demons = ...demons
Squats = Dwarves, but they all got eaten by Tyranids
Necrons = Robot-undead

It's all pretty awesome stuff

 

[Bullfrog1983]

I think they call that Star-Trek. The Klingons = Dwarves, Vulcans = Elves, Orcs = Romulans? Myeh. Anyway they don't have the portly stature or green skin, but their characters are essentially the same.