Post by Lore on May 20, 2014 17:22:43 GMT -5
So after working through my apprehension, I have spontaneously decided to share a little something with the community here. What I am about to present is what I hope is a unique take on elves. I've only been working on this for about a week but I would really like some feedback, opinions, and ideas from some fellow fans in the fantasy genre. It's just over 500 words so there is not a lot to take in and I did not really get in to other things such as information of the world they inhabit. In fact, everything here is subject to change as I continue with the world building.
Feel free to offer feedback, ideas, support, or any other sort of comment you can think of. Again, this is very much a work in progress but I really just wanted to get this out there. Believe it or not, the elves are not really a huge part of the story that I am working on but I do feel like they are one the more unique parts of it. I know that it is a work in progress but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I may not have the answers but sometimes another person's question could bring me to an answer I never considered before.
Feel free to offer feedback, ideas, support, or any other sort of comment you can think of. Again, this is very much a work in progress but I really just wanted to get this out there. Believe it or not, the elves are not really a huge part of the story that I am working on but I do feel like they are one the more unique parts of it. I know that it is a work in progress but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I may not have the answers but sometimes another person's question could bring me to an answer I never considered before.
ELF (Engineered to Live Forever)
“We are one. One in many.”
“We are one. One in many.”
The entire population is in fact a single entity that lives through countless vessels. Others use the plural term ‘elves’ to describe the vessels that ELF inhabits but each vessel identifies itself as part of only a single entity and yet it may occasionally use terms such as ‘we’ and ‘us’. In these instances of self-pluralization, ELF is simply recognizing each of its vessels as being a physical individual.
ELF’s origins are an enigma even to the world’s foremost historians and even current information on it is scarce but there are countless theories and rumors. Among those theories is one that says ELF is in fact an ancient demon who created vessels out of clay and ash that would allow it to exist in the mortal realm. Not surprising, this theory’s origins stem from the Church and it has become a widely-held belief even by non-members.
In truth, ELF’s origins stem from a prehistoric plant that existed on the planet back when demons still ruled the world. The plants which contained the spores that would become ELF were sentient but they were not sapient. It would take countless generations of human hosts before ELF was born in to the sapient species it is today.
After a millennium of evolution, the current ELF vessels (or ‘elves’) still resemble their human ancestors with their overall humanoid shape, possessing only a few physiological differences. Male elves are generally taller and more slender than humans with narrow, elongated faces and what can best be described as alien eyes. They have little to no hair on their body or face and the hair on their head is thin and wispy.
Their ears are leaf-shaped with elongated and pointed tips that usually stick out from their hair. Despite commonly being taller, elves are generally lighter or the same weight as the average human due to their small frames and honeycombed bones. Their long limbs often make them appear even taller than they actually are.
While it’s not difficult to distinguish between the two genders, male elves have more effeminate features than females who often have harder, more masculine facial features. Females are also generally shorter and heavier than their male counterparts with fuller figures.
The Church myth about elves being created from ash and clay comes from the gray, ashy complexion of males and the ruddy, more appealing complexion of females. Other rumors insist that ELF can see through all its elves simultaneously so that it could literally be looking in two different directions at once but this is simply not true. The elves are all physically separate from one another and so they are limited to the same visual scope as anybody else with two eyes, though it has been noted that their vision is slightly better than that of humans as is their hearing.
However, elves do possess an uncanny awareness of each other’s presence which allows large groups of them to move with an eerie syncronicity and because ELF is a single entity, each vessel can mentally communicate with one another with such precision as to make telepathy seem like a bad stutter. Being in a large group of elves can be unnerving for some since they have no need to verbally communicate with one another.