The story begins in a police department where two police officers (one human and one dwarf) investigate the murder of a young orc girl. Their own prejudices come to the surface as they investigate the crime in a dark and gritty modern city with ethnic ghettos.
Possible plot threads:
- One or both of the cops had ancestors who fought or were slaughtered by orcs and that affects their motivations in the investigation.
- The girl was from a traditional orc family and was involved in the sex trade/strip clubs - expose the sexual fetishism of modern sexuality in a Middle Earth world where inter-species sex is going from unheard of taboo to fashionable fetish.
- Her traditional orc family is suspected of slaughtering her in an honor killing - the killing matches the rituals of their traditions - but is it a set-up?
- Killer/kidnapper is a human with obsessive views on race. He is a collector - kidnaps (and occasionally kills) members of the other races. Wants to keep them in a personal zoo and subject them to racist humiliation.
- History of the world is a mixture of Middle Earth lore and real human history - the middle ages actually resemble Tolkien's mythology. After a huge Lord of the Rings style war in which the species united to destroy an evil force in the world the age of man began. The elves and dwarves hailed to a human king by respecting their respective prophesies and so the world began adopting a form of tolerance and mutual acceptance between the very different species.
- As history progressed into contemporary times civil rights movements eventually granted equal rights to blacks, jews, gays and even orcs. But of course conservative movements among all of the species still wish to preserve the differences between the races and keep them segregated. Christians still preach against gays, dwarven elders still rally against orcs, etc.
- Antarctica, Atlantis are both habitable continents. The humans developed in Eurasia, the dwarves in Antarctica (evolving from snow apes - they lived underground by necessity and developed great natural resistance to the cold. This also explains their propensity for mining technology, etc and their hairiness/beards).
- The Orcs were almost like the natives of America - they were the least developed intellectually and technologically and they were regarded as savages when their lands were colonized by the other races. They were initially slaughtered and enslaved but when they gave their allegiance to the dark lords they were able to strike back at the other races creating the first wars/hostilities. These hostilities are never forgotten and persist into the modern times when tolerance is attempted. Orcs are very tribal and modern orcs are still into the tattoos and piercings of their tribal roots as well as social echos.
- The elves evolved from tree-dwelling monkeys in Atlantis - fate of Atlantis may have become a Rapture-like technological underwater continent. The fact that they made their homes in trees helped them retain much of the agility of their simian ancestors. The abundance of foods in the upper canopies of the forests and their tendency towards sustainable living allowed them to evolve into peaceful and civilized creatures in harmony with nature. As they became a dominant civilization these natural tendencies shaped their culture and politics making them a more civilized people than the others.
- Despite the civilized reputation of their society, the elven society is actually the most drastically stratified into a caste system resembling India's. Connect their religion/social ideals to Hindu based reincarnation beliefs. The Shakespearean tragedy focuses on a hero who falls from the upper reaches of this caste system.
- The difference in gender demographics for many of the races makes some species way more competitive for mates in their behavious - orcs and dwarves are predatory for human and elven wives. In the old days they used to kidnap them. Today they emphasize their brutish masculinity to attract libidinous, adventurous and rebellious women from the "fairer" species. The sexuality of modern society is shaped by these tensions.
Religion
- The human religions exist in the same world as the other races' religions which are based more in the lore of battles between wizards and dragons, etc. Contrast the black and white, good vs evil of those stories and the morality that they breed with the post-modernism of secularism.
- While the other races convert to the human religions, humans are also attracted to the romantic simplicity of the other races' religions. Want to identify themselves with those histories in which humans played a very small part.
- The Old Testament account of Genesis has some of the first people remaining in Eden while Adam and Eve were banished - this was the separation of the Elves from humanity.
- The elves had a far stronger connection to G-d than the humans detailed in their own religious tradition - it allowed them to develop into a more civilized and compassionate race.
- Meanwhile the Old Testament established Judaism as a religion of subservience to the Elves who were regarded in a similar way to how real-world Judaism regards angels. Some of the early prophets and fore-fathers were actually elves.
- The New Testament was the first significant shift towards human dominance of society - Jesus was a HUMAN son of G-d - not an elf. Humanity was empowered through Christianity and so the first great human conquerors to adopt Christianity and spread Christendom became the first to shift towards human political dominance.
- Under elven dominance, the world was stratified into a strict caste system with Elves ->Humans->Dwarves->Orcs. Within the elven society they were greatly stratified between the high elves (priest class) and the Dark Elves (untouchables).
- Human societies mimiced these caste systems when they established their own feudal societies.
