Absolutely! I love talking about this topic! I ended up going really in-depth, because I’ve had it long enough that it is an All-Of-Tolkien’s-Mythos in Space AU, so I put everything here under the cut:
Foundation
Aman is not one single continent, as written in the histories, but its own binary star-system, with stars referred to as the “Two Trees” at its center.
The Ainur are their own species, with technology so advanced it is beyond most comprehension. In general, they tend to misunderstand the Children of Iluvatar in the way humans misunderstand other species, and make some Bad Decisions early on in their relationship with them.
Elves are from our Earth, and very much like humans, but the initial exposure to the Valar and the later trip to the new star system changed them. Like, genetically. (I did mention there were some bad decisions.)
Elves who settle on planets closer to the center of the system experience more significant changes, but some planets that are otherwise uninhabitable are populated through (morally-questionable) means. Some smaller locations, such as Formenos, are moons.
The Teleri, at the edge of the populated portion of the Aman system, have the greatest interest in travel. Through their strong relationship with Ulmo and Osse, as well as the length of time they take to make their journey, they end up with access to interstellar travel (i.e. their iconic swan-ships).
Noldor are Noldor. Very much devoted to their crafts and the sciences. Not much change there, except more space.
Now, I do want to be clear about this: the Vanyar are people. They have thoughts and feelings and ambitions. They have an appropriate amount of eyes and noses and mouths. But there are no Vanyar left on Earth after the Sundering of the Elves, because there were never any Vanyar on Earth before the Sundering of the Elves. And no full-blooded Vanyar leave the inner planets of the Aman system, because no full-blooded Vanyar can leave the climates for which they were designed.
First Age
Events play out more or less the same. Just imagine a little less riding horses and a little more riding space ships.
The silmarils are, of course, marvels–more so because they are tiny nuclear reactions. And I imagine, even with immense advancement, possibly beyond nuclear energy, most species get very nervous when another starts experimenting with it. (Elves are proven related to humans, when they try to create the power to hold a star.)
The Darkening is a direct assault on the two stars at the center of the system. Melkor kills for the silmarilli and flees to gain power and take the second half of his revenge. The Valar are unable to pursue because they must now invest almost all of their resources into maintaining and re-stabilizing their star-system, a feat which is possible at their level but draining and time-consuming.
The Noldor assault Alqualonde and take the swan-ships. Feanor’s group use them to cross to Earth and destroy them, to weaponize their remains. Fingolfin’s group must use less powerful ships that are less reliable, take longer than expected and and add a high casualty rate to the voyage through the void between stars.
The longer the Noldor or the Ainur are away from Aman, the more their resources dwindle. That’s why Melkor is diminished by the end of the First Age; he simply lacks the resources to replenish himself and his armies, and while he does show off some of his most impressive technological creations, he can’t match a unified direct intervention by the rest of the Valarin Council.
This around the point where the Valar finally realize that they can’t be actively involved in other species’ development, and withdraw from our own star system.
Second Age
The mental stand-out is of course, the advancement of the Numenorians over the centuries, leading up to their attempt to assail the shores of Aman. Thank Sauron for helping with some of those lost technologies that let them skip forward a couple more centuries! Now the edges of their star system are securely monitored, and unrecognized ships are destroyed. Also, their base of operation was destroyed, including his, but this is Not Going To Stop Sauron.
There’s some other stuff with like, Celebrimbor. And the rings. I haven’t thought as much about those, but I mean, having rings which alter the actions of things and people around you seems like the sort of shady and dangerous stuff that the Ainur as a whole–I mean, that Sauron would know a lot about.
…uh, to be quite honest I always forget some details of the second age. Maglor is my favorite character in the canon, and as soon as he disappears I lose track of the rest of the book…
Third Age and Beyond
Not only the loss of resources but also the loss of people who understand interstellar travel begins affecting the reach of Earth’s inhabitants. The people of Middle Earth are a people in-decline even in canon, and it’s no different here. There are still little remnants of the great technologies once used by Ainur, Elves and Men, but even the most advanced manufacturing techniques are useless if you don’t have the resources to reproduce them.
The Valar’s rule of aggressive isolation, protecting themselves and the remaining elves in their star system, prevents us from receiving contact from the one guaranteed alien race that we know about, and soon enough they fade from memory.
There’s significant overlap for me at this point in my creative development between the Eldritch Abomination Valar and the general sci-fi setting, because why can’t there be life out there in the void of space which is incomprehensible? But this is a setting which does not require them, and in fact, I’d probably feel better if Thingol didn’t get it on with Melian if there’s an outlying chance that she sometimes looks like way too many birds occupying a single place.
I’ve worked on it for some time with my buddy @urloth. There are some things we haven’t discussed at length but a lot of the development is because I’ve gotten to talk with her about it. We also have a Space Elves Extended Universe which happens way off in the future, where we have fun with our favorites and introduce more aliens to the mix, because I love them and they’re great.
tl;dr: space elves is the first part of the silmarillion in space and then over time less happens in space because going into space is a lost technology. also, the ainur make some bad choices.
yess yeEESS YAAAAAAASSS HERE IT IS THE SPACE ELVES
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