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Elves are the main race in Keeper of the Lost Cities, serving both as some of the protagonists and opposing forces of the series.

Main Characters[]

Protagonists[]

Supporting Characters[]

Antagonists[]

Anatomy[]

Attractiveness[]

Elves are incomprehensibly more attractive than humans. Sophie Foster, upon entering the elven world for the first time in Keeper of the Lost Cities, was overwhelmed by the general beauty of a lot of elves. However, not all elves are equally beautiful, as some noble families such as the Vacker family having notably better looks than most other elves, as Alden Vacker is repeatedly stated to be more handsome than the average elf, even by Mr. Forkle, who said, "Even with all the potions and elixirs ever made, I could never be than handsome", which Sophie agreed upon. Furthermore, Sophie and the rest of the Foxfire student body agrees that both Fitz and Biana Vacker are better looking than the rest of the students.

Blue Eyes[]

Main article: Blue Eyes

Barring Sophie Foster, all elves have blue eyes of different shades, such as teal, periwinkle, or silvery blue. Sophie's unusual brown eyes came from her DNA being mixed with an alicorns'.

Indefinite Life Span[]

Elves do not age past their prime, which is why a 30-year-old elf will look similar to a 300-year-old elf. However, the tops of the ears of Elves continue to sharpen with age, and thus sharp ears are a mark of age. Councilor Bronte has incredibly sharp ears after being alive for millennia, and Sophie even remarked that Fallon Vacker, one of the oldest elves and founders of the elven world, had "the pointiest ears she had ever seen." As a consequence of their indefinite life span, ancient elves rarely, if ever, celebrate their birthdays.

Intelligence[]

Elves are much smarter than humans in general. Sophie seems to be a prime example of this: she used to be a genius who skipped 6 grades in the Forbidden Cities, but she is one year behind while still mostly struggling in the Lost Cities even after 2 years of accommodation. She isn't seen as an academic genius by most of her classmates anymore, and a few of them even consistently have better grades than her.

Elvin Abilities[]

Main article: Abilities

Elves can manifest abilities that make them able to do things humans never could like to read minds, control the elements, and turn invisible.

Elvin Skills[]

Main article: Skills

All elves have natural abilities that humans don't, like levitation, regulating their body temperature, and telekinesis.

Reproduction[]

Because of biological predisposition and advanced medicine, there is very little risk of an elvish pregnancy ending in a miscarriage or carrying genetic diseases. Additionally, elf women (and human women carrying an elf fetus) are aware they are pregnant from the very day of conception and implantation because their belly button puffs out and becomes pink. They see birth as a mere milestone in their child's development, not any more significant than their first breath or their first steps. Elves also do not feel pain, only discomfort, when they give birth. Because of their views on life and the lack of uncertainty surrounding childbirth, elves count age from the date of conception, contrary to humans who in some cultures wait several days after birth before giving their baby a name, for fear they won't survive through their newborn days. As a result, all elves introduced in the Books are actually about 9 months younger than their disclosed age by human standards. Della Vacker and Mr. Forkle have expressed that they are dumbfounded that humans still chose to have children (at a much higher rate than elves too) when pregnancy is so painful and can go so horribly wrong in so many ways.

Aversion to Guilt[]

Main article: Broken Mind

When they take part in violence or do something particularly cruel, guilt consumes elves so much that their minds may break from it, whereas humans may do horrible things without any guilt at all. This is part of the reason that the Neverseen, who have tortured, hurt, and killed throughout every book in the series, are so unstable mentally and physically.

Elvin Culture[]

Elves enjoy a peaceful culture based on light, hope, and illumination. Elves are very in touch with the natural environment and seeks to create peace in the world. However, the elves' world is a crumbling utopia, a world that seems idyllic at first, but on second glance, a lot of concerns were rising, from the matchmaking system to Council rule.

The Council[]

Main article: Councillors

The Council is the ruling body of the Lost Cities. They make the laws, but they have a few rules specific to themselves that they must follow:

  1. Councillors may not marry or have a love interest. If they do, they must leave the position of being a Councillor or forget about the connection entirely. Councillors are also not allowed to have children.
  2. Councillors have to keep their cache safe and not open it unless all 12 Councillors agree that they need to open it. They are not allowed to give their cache to a non-Councillor or open it without permission.

List of Known Councillors:[]

Laws and Tribunals[]

Main article: Tribunal

When laws are broken, Tribunals are held with the accused being judged by the Council and is sentenced to a variety of punishments which are minor. However certain crimes can lead to memory breaks, banishment from the Lost Cities, being sent to Exile, or imprisonment at Lumenaria.

Wealth and Luxury[]

Every elf is born with a birth fund of five million lusters. They still add to the fund once they start working, so some families do have more money than others. The birth fund is accessed by a gadget called the Treasury Cube. Vendors swipe the Cube with a gadget called a Deducter. However, no matter their wealth, all elves aren't able to purchase anything they want. Some objects are strictly restricted by status, like capes and leapmasters, the first being mandatory and exclusive to the nobility, while working/middle-class elves can only use limited versions of the second. In a similar fashion, only noble elves wear fancy gowns and lavish clothes, but it is unknown if this status quo is enforced or simply an unspoken rule.

A World Focused on Ability[]

Main article: Abilities

Main article: Manifesting

Main article: Talentless

Manifesting a special ability is a life changing moment for an elf in the Lost Cities and may determine their future, as is not manifesting. Until the moment that they manifest, unmanifested elves are treated as equal. Afterward, they can be divided into the talented and Talentless, though few use the term talented, instead preferring to refer to their abilities.

No one can control where, when, how, or if manifesting will occur, nor can anyone predict what abilities they will get. Foxfire (the school) has an ability detecting session designed to trigger specific abilities through telepathy, and its success has been exemplified throughout the centuries. But there will be some elves that never manifest. Even following the guidance of the matchmakers does not necessarily agree a talented child, which turns manifesting into a source of fear, consternation, and celebration (most of the time).

Manifesting can be intense, and at times slightly dangerous, with their minds, senses, and bodies fighting to control the new ability. The average manifesting age is around 12-15 years old, but some have manifested older or younger. It is possible to have more than one ability, although this is very uncommon, except in the case of Polyglots, for whom it is much more common to receive another ability.

Some abilities, such as Telepath and Empath, are extremely desired abilities and may allow easier passage into the nobility, while some are considered undesirable, such as Shades. Shades are viewed with disdain and discomfort, due to the world of the elves being built on light and illumination. Therefore, many elves may even make decisions about education, jobs, and friendship based on abilities. One ability is even forbidden, that being pyrokinesis, after Fintan Pyren practiced Everblaze with 5 other pyrokinetics, resulting in the death of those 5. The ability was banned and Fintan stepped down as Councillor.

It is rare, but new abilities can crop up from time to time, such as Sophie Foster manifesting a brand-new ability: Teleportation, although this was actually due to her mixed genes between Alicorn and Elf. Keefe Sencen, after being exposed to both pure quintessence and shadowflux, gained two new, unnamed abilities, namely the power to feel what power someone will manifest (or not) and the ability to induce verbal commands into people.

Some abilities are rarer than others. Telepath and Empath appear to be some of the most common abilities, followed by Polyglots, Conjurers, Vanishers, Phasers, and Flashers. Some abilities are extremely rare, such as Pyrokinesis, Descryer, Enhancer, and Teleporter, the last 3 with only 1 confirmed user (barring Alicorns).

Elemental Abilities[]

Main article: Elements

“Just as fire hungers and wind breathes and water roars and earth waits. I've never been near quintessence, but I hear it pulses. And shadowflux dreams—hovering high above, waiting for something to capture its interest.”

- Lady Zillah, in Book 7: Flashback

Elemental abilities are a collection of 5 abilities, namely Pyrokinesis, Gusters, Hydrokinetics, Shades, and Flashers, with control over a respective element, namely Fire, Wind, Water, Shadowvapor/Shadowflux, and Light/Quintessence. Many holders of elemental abilities are drawn irresistibly to their element, and without proper training can cause mass destruction, such as Linh Song, nicknamed "The Girl of Many Floods" because she received no proper schooling on her Hydrokinetic powers.

Language[]

Main article: Enlightened Language

Main article: Polyglot

Elves can speak the Enlightened Language from birth. They have 2 written alphabets which elves are able to instinctively understand. Their primary one uses modern letters while the runic one is used for decorations and codes. Elves may also learn how to speak Ogreish, Goblinese, Gnomish, Trollish, and Dwarven. It is unknown whether this ability is genetically coded or learned in the womb.

Celebrations[]

Their celebrations are related to accomplishments or natural events. For example, when there is a total lunar eclipse, Orem Vacker puts on a spectacular light show named the Celestial Festival. Other celebrations include the Opening Ceremonies, midterms, final celebrations, Winnowing Galas, weddings, and parties that are held for no reason.

Transportation[]

Main article: Light Leaping

The elves rely on light leaping, a process that lets the light break down their bodies so that they can hitch a ride and travel to places within seconds. Home crystal and Leapmasters are used until they are issued a pathfinder. Ancients used starstones to create their paths before leaping crystals were invented.

Certain abilities can be used for traveling, such as Teleportation, which requires a preexisting downward trajectory, and a Shade, only when Enhanced, can create shadow portals.

For short distances, they may use a vortinator, a special spiral staircase, an Elven version of an elevator. Candleshade possesses a vortinator, and so does Widgetmoor.

The Council uses the Paragon, a special room inside the Seat of Eminence which allows them to travel to the Point of Purity, a point near outer space.

Life and the Timeline to Extinction[]

Main article: Timeline to Extinction

To elves, all life is sacred. As a result, they do not eat meat and believe no species should ever go extinct on Earth, to the point that they preserve dangerous and genetically engineered species, and take great effort to turn them vegetarian as well, eliminating predatory instinct, to have them all cohabitate in the Sanctuary

Death in the Lost Cities[]

Main article: Wanderling & Wanderling Woods

Death in the Lost Cities is uncommon due to the Elves' indefinite life spans, and thus, to the shock of Sophie Foster upon arriving in the Lost Cities for the first time, many elves do not understand loss or the fear of death. However, in the event that an elf dies somehow, possibly through Fading or ability accidents, the elves will take a part of the deceased's DNA, normally their hair, and coil it around a special species of tree seed, called a Wanderling. Upon planting and stimulated growth with an elixir, the Wanderling will grow with traces of the deceased's DNA, and is normally planted in the Wanderling Woods, the Lost Cities' version of a graveyard. All elves will wear green, the color of death, to a planting.

Vegetarian Nature[]

Main article: Elvin Food

All elves are vegetarian, eating plants and treats that are still delicious.

Prejudices[]

Main article: Talentless

Main article: Bad Match

Elves do not discriminate by skin color like some humans, but they have prejudices and discrimination of their own. One such example are Talentless, elves that did not manifest any abilities, and are thus unable to progress to the nobility.

A bad match is one of the greatest prejudices in the entire elven world and refers to a couple that have been deemed genetically incompatible and could produce Talentless offspring, much to the chagrin of Sophie Foster and other races, who sarcastically point out the machine-like selection process and how elves deem romance as purely to create powerful offspring. A Talentless elf who marries and has children with a elf that is talented will bring extreme social prejudice against the latter. Such was the case of Kesler and Juline Dizznee, where Kesler, a Talentless, married Juline, a Froster, bringing Juline and their children down on the social hierarchy.

Multiple births are generally avoided, and triplets are heavily discriminated against. For example, the Dizznee triplets have every statement about them with the phrase "for triplets", i.e. "They are fairly intelligent, for triplets," or "They are healthy, for triplets." Elves believe that genes grow weaker with multiple births, resulting in weaker offspring, which has been disproven countless times, the best example being the Song twins, both being extremely powerful.

Uprisings[]

Main article: Black Swan

There is an elvin rebel group called the Black Swan. The Black Swan knew that the elvin way was not working and implemented change. They created Sophie Foster, a girl of both worlds, and placed her with the Foster family in San Diego, California. She had seen the flaws in the Forbidden Cities, as the human world was called, but when Fitz Vacker brought her to the Lost Cities at 12 years old, she saw the flaws in her new home too. As she finds out more about herself and the Black Swan, she and her friends start to see that what they originally had seen as perfect was not perfect at all.

Main Article: Neverseen

The Neverseen is the name of one of the rebel groups and the main antagonist in Keeper of the Lost Cities. Their sole purpose is to oppose the rule of the Council. They have wreaked serious havoc on the Lost Cities to make their presence known to everyone. They also have a large, extremely expansive network and many different secret hideouts, some of which were compromised in Lodestar, forcing the members to flock toward others.

Known Elvin Locations[]

Public Places[]

Eternalia[]

Main article: Eternalia

Eternalia is the main, capital city of the elves, hidden away in a valley in the Himalayas, and is a wonderful sight to behold. It is likely the source of human legends about Shangri-la. Eternalia consists of a wide river lined with Pures, and one half of the city holds the twelve identical castles for the residence and offices of the 12 Councillors. The other half is a sparkling, crystal urban area. A large part of the city was destroyed in an inferno by Everblaze, but the city was quickly rebuilt with the help of the dwarves and gnomes. Buildings that survived the fire can be identified as a building made from one color gemstone, and newer editions, made from multicolored gemstones of various types and colors.

The Tribunal Hall[]

Main article: Tribunal Hall

The Tribunal Hall is inside the other half of Eternalia, and is constructed of pure emerald, and has a blue flag that is raised into the air when a Tribunal is in process.

The Seat of Eminence[]

Main article: Seat of Eminence

A massive diamond palace with four towers, inside Eternalia, only the nobility and council may enter.

Eternalia Library[]

Main article: Eternalia Library

The largest library in the Lost Cities, and its primary source of knowledge.

Councillor Kenric Memorial[]

A large fountain dedicated to the late Councillor Kenric Edgar Fathdon.

Mysterium[]

Main article: Mysterium

Main article: Slurps and Burps

Mysterium is one of the 'working class' cities in the Elven world, designed for function rather than glamour of many other 'noble' cities. The narrow streets are filled with vendor carts and food stalls and plain identical buildings, barring Slurps and Burps, which is an extremely popular apothecary with wacky architecture and a splash of color to "make those stuck-up nobles feel nervous".

Foxfire Academy[]

Main Article: Foxfire Academy

All wish to attend. Only the most talented are chosen.

Foxfire Academy is the elven world's most prestigious academy, and is the only noble school, meaning that graduation from Foxfire is a necessary qualification for the nobility. The academy is named after a rare fungal bioluminescence found in otherwise dark, damp, lonely places, symbolizing a bright, welcome glow to an often-darkened world.

The campus is in the middle of an oasis, surrounded by barren desert, again symbolizing illumination and light in a barren world. The main building is shaped like a large pyramid, containing the principal's room at its apex, the cafeteria, the orientation room, and the detention room. The building contains six wings and six towers, colored by the same grade level that holds sessions there. The campus has two elite towers, the Silver Tower and Gold Tower (the Silver Tower is the elder one) which twist around each other, as well as a domed amphitheater and other buildings, as well as the Healing Center, which was put to very good use after Sophie Foster arrived in the Lost Cities.

Residences[]

Splendor Plains[]

Main article: Splendor Plains

Elwin's residence is just as bright and bold as the man himself, and is purely constructed out of windowed walls, each with a completely unique color glass. It has a flat roof and lots of sharp angles, with many 'Elwin' touches, like a personal storeroom of stuffed animals, and tunnels visible under the glass floor to allow his pet banshee (Bullhorn) some space to run around the house. The house is bordered by forest on one side and ocean on the other. The house seems to be located in Northern Canada.

TBA

Interspecial Relationships[]

Human-Elf Relationship[]

Main article: Human Betrayal

The elves once lived in harmony with the humans under the treaty given to all the intelligent species, but they were taught that humans wanted to rule the world instead of sharing it. Humans made disastrous weapons that had the potential to destroy the world and didn't know how to control them. For the safety of them all, the elves decided it would be best to sever connections with the humans completely. After the elves left, humans started making myths about them. Atlantis, Shangri-la, unicorns, and pointy ears all came from elves. As the humans eventually started to forget about the elves, the people who did remember the elves told these stories which became myths. However, elves could not completely sever ties and they started the Human Assistance Program, designed to help humans with inventions. But instead, they started to make harmful devices, so the program was terminated.

However, in Nightfall, it was revealed that it was actually the elves that had forced Atlantis to close, due to Vespera's actions.

Quotes[]

“We are elves. We live to dream and inspire. And when we need to, we regroup. We rebuild. At times, we even change–But only when such changes are for the better of our people.”

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