This is the information that Alec learned from the oldest Theland scholar, who had learned it long ago from a discussion with an elf elder.
There are five distinct races in the multiverse: elves, orbs, goblins, gons, and cross-breeds. Three of the races – elves, orbs, and cross-breeds – can interbreed; however the goblins and gons can not interbreed with the other races. In the past, there were many creatures constructed by the different races to help in the wars against each other. The war-dragons, the goblins’ hydra and vargr are the most commonly-known creatures created to aid in the war effort.
The most populous race is the orbs. They are found throughout the multiverse. The elves are the second most populous, but elves are always found with orbs. Goblins were once almost as numerous as orbs, but are now very rare, and may be extinct. The gons are constrained to a very small number of worlds, although at one time in the distant past they were common across the multiverse. Cross-breeds carry the blood of both elves and orbs, and are found throughout the multiverse.
The elves view themselves as the master race, since they descended from the Gons and their progeny can include cross-breeds, and occasionally orbs, in addition to their elf freshlings.
Female elves dominate elf society. An adult female elf is called a ‘Mother.’ Female elves have the ability to manipulate negative dark energy and use it to mentally coerce others around them. Each female elf has a dominant ‘talent’ that first emerges when she reaches adulthood. When a female acquires her talent, she is given a solemn ceremony where she is granted the rights of womanhood, given an elf ring, and deemed to be a ‘Mother.’
There are at least twenty different distinct talents; most Mothers exhibit more than one talent, but one talent is always dominant. The coercers have the most desired talent, and they are at the top of the pecking order. The coercers have a talent to twist the lines of negative dark energy in ways that influence others around them. Other talents include empaths with the ability to sense emotions and actions, protectorswith the ability to bond with dragons, truth seekers with the ability to sense truth or lies, rightness holders with the ability to direct users of positive dark energy, and communicators with the ability to speak to other Mothers over time and space.
Mature female elves form a group, called a ‘clutch’, which consists of one female and three males, called her ‘clutchmen.’ The Mother dominates the clutch and bonds the males to her will. She can communicate with her clutchmen mentally over long distances, and the males must respond to her commands. When a Mother is deemed ready to form her own clutch, she selects the three male elves for her clutch, either on her own or with the assistance of a ‘clutch council’ consisting of several other Mothers. The males are given no choice in this decision. Once the males are clutched, they cannot choose to be unclutched. They are under the Mother's control until they either die or are traded to another Mother.
Sometimes, a Mother loses one or more of her clutchmen to accidents or fighting. In that case she will bond an unclutched elf male and make him her clutchmen. There are generally unclutched males available, so mothers will often have apprentices waiting to replace her clutchmen. When she loses a clutchman, the Mother is free to have one of her apprentices join her clutch. Elf society encourages all Mothers to have apprentices because it cuts down on the number of unclutched males running loose and causing trouble. Unclutched males are considered a wild element in elf society. In general, they are complacent and obedient, but some of them exhibit uncontrolled behaviors and can be a menace to the community.
Elves are rarely bothered by disease. Most deaths occur due to accidents or fighting. Mothers typically live to over a hundred. Only in the last few years of her life does she tend to age visibly. Once aging starts, a Mother’s body progresses from vibrant to decrepit and then into death due to internal organ failures. Male elves have the potential to live as long as Mothers but rarely reach that age.
The elves breed like the Gons by laying eggs. Two or three times in a Mother’s lifetime, her eggs will ripen. These breeding periods are about a decade apart. When the eggs ripen, the Mother goes into a breeding frenzy that lasts about four days. An egg must be fertilized by three males to be viable. During the frenzy she will couple with all the males she can catch, including her clutchmen and any other elf or non-elf male that is available. If an elf mother’s eggs are fertilized by one clutchmen and two orbs, her eggs will contain four cross-breeds. If a mother’s eggs are fertilized by only two clutchmen and one orb, her eggs will contain two elves and two cross-breeds. If fertilized by three clutchmen, the population will be four elves.
A month after her frenzy, the Mother goes to the Hatchery and lays eggs that are about the size of the end of her thumb. There are always four eggs. The drones can vary the ratio of males and females in the eggs, but traditionally a mother’s first clutch of eggs is three males and one female. The subsequent clutch of eggs is usually four males, but twenty-five percent of the time one of the clutch is made female. After the eggs are deposited, the Mother’s part is done; that is the end of her involvement with her offspring. The male sires have no interaction with the offspring and generally have no knowledge whether or not they have fertilized an egg.
Eggs are placed in special covered incubating cradles. The Hatchery uses dark energy to incubate the eggs for about a year. Nursemaids – usually orbs – use a tricrystal to infuse the eggs with dark energy. The eggs are transferred to larger cradles as they grow and mature, and then hatch. The freshlings – newly-hatched elves – are helped from the leathery eggs by nursemaids and are about the size and development of a four-year-old human child.
The freshling are taken to a communal child-pen where they are raised until adulthood. The freshlings are tested for racial purity as soon as possible after hatching. Often inpure elves are either dumped into the orb herds or eliminated, depending on the customs of that particular elf community or the needs of the group.
Elves, like the Gons, cannot sense or manipulate positive dark energy. They can sense and use negative dark energy. When a female elf reaches adulthood, she acquires the ability to sense negative dark energy. Generally, the sensing is described as feeling lines of force that can be mentally twisted and manipulated. Mothers become more adept at their dominant talent over time as they are trained and practice using it. All mothers can control Orbs and other animals with a touch. Once they touch an Orb, the orb only desire is to do the mother’s bidding.
Since the elves were created from the reptilian race of gons, the only emotions they feel are pleasure and pain. Sex and fighting generate those emotions best. Watching a fight that results in death generates the longest-lasting connection to negative dark energy. Coupling is the next-best way to produce the strong emotions. Mothers prefer to generate an intense feeling at least once a day. This desire to continually refresh the Mother’s emotions dictates much of elf culture and explains the prevalence of viewing or participating in sex, torture, and death-fights as a means of entertainment.
The elf ring is an important artifact used by most elves. Wearing a ring augments the elves’ natural talent to sense the negative dark energy background. Most elves have one dominant talent and wearing the ring strengthens this, but it also brings out secondary talents. With the ring, elves can sense the presence of orbs or others at a distance, and elf coercers can influence other races at a distance. They think of this as ‘twisting the lines of force.’
While wearing a ring, strong coercers can influence non-elves at a distance. The influence is subtle and only encourages natural trends, but does not produce the total control that the elf has when touching someone. The elves find that a subject’s strongest tendencies are easiest to use to gain control; sex and sleep are the two strongest influences. A competent coercer requires only a few seconds to start encouraging a subject to fall asleep, and within a few minutes even the stoutest resistance usually succumbs to sleep. Once asleep the subject can easily be banded with the elf neckpiece and made into a drone.
The elves use various technologically sophisticated devices, called stones, to enhance their ability. Coercion stones increase the range and strength of a mother’s ability to control people.
Message stones allow the elves to communicate with each other.
An elf empath’s abilities are also enhanced with a ring. An empath with a ring can sense the feeling of anyone within sight. The empaths also have an additional capability that the ring enhances: the empath Mother can sense the intent of her opponents and subconsciously communicate that to her clutchmen. As a result, the empath’s clutchmen are the most feared fighters because they can anticipate an opponent's actions and instinctively react to counter the action, even against multiple opponents. The only way for orbs to win a fight against an empath’s clutchman is to have a sufficient number of orbs fighting the clutchman at one time to overcome him by brute force.
An orb touched by an elf feels an overwhelming desire to do whatever the elf wants. There is no hint of resistance or hesitation about performing the elf’s desire. However, if an orb is wearing a ring, a Mother cannot control the feelings of the orb, and the orb is no longer susceptible to the elf Mother’s touch. The rings make it possible for orbs to exist in elf society without being controlled by the elves.
Although now used primarily by elves, the orbs invented the rings over a million years ago. They were originally developed as a counter to the ancient enemies’ ability to manipulate negative dark energy. Much later, the orbs discovered that the ring was effective against the elves. There were several versions of the rings, but the common version eventually evolved as the best compromise between function and manufacturability. At some point, the elves discovered that they also could use the rings, but in a different manner so as to enhance their abilities and overcome the orbs. Now, rings are rarely found or appreciated in non-elf societies.
Orbs are an ancient race. They are the most populous race and are found throughout the multiverse. Orbs are the most diverse of all the races. The wild orbs take many different forms and have often evolved to adapt to life on different planets. The common orb is the most prevalent type; humans, found on the planet Earth, are a form of the common orb. The occurrence of diverse orb types is decreasing as more and more former orb territory becomes encroached by elves and planted with common orbs.
The Orbs can sense positive dark energy. With the use of a tricrystal medallion, an orb can manipulate positive dark energy through mental exertion. An orb cannot sense or manipulate negative dark energy. Manipulating dark energy allowed them to spread through the multiverse. The Orbs were probably the original space faring race and had extensively explored the multiverse before encountering the Gons. The Gons never developed the ability to move between planets or universes but took advantage of the Orbs when they encountered them. Over time, the Gons used the orbs to spread beyond their home world, and eventually subjugated the Orbs. Great Orb civilizations existed concurrently with the Gons, and those civilizations developed technologies, some of which cannot be recreated even today.
The elves changed that when they eliminated the Gons. The elves can use their mental abilities to control the orbs, so they view the Orbs as a lesser class of beings, no better than other animals.
They made the Orbs a slave race to them and subjugate any free Orb civilizations they find. Some Orbs still exist on free worlds that have not been found by the elves, but the vast majority of Orbs are subjects of the elves. The free Orbs fear and detest the elves and do anything they can to hasten the downfall of the elves. The orbs are the most inventive of the races, and almost all the technological innovations that are currently in use throughout the multiverse originally came from the orbs.
Typically, elves plant an orb colony, or “herd,” on a new or established world. The common orb is the type preferred by the elves; anywhere the elves plant an orb colony they always use the common Orb. On most of these worlds only a small group of herder elves watch the herd, and the orbs are not aware of the existence of elves.
Left to themselves, orb civilizations tend to be very innovative and develop amazing uses for common tools. The elves discretely encourage these civilizations to develop the tools that support large herds. When a herd is large enough (ripe), the elves will cull orbs from the herds to replenish their supply of drones. The elves have many ways to cull, and there is little that a civilization can do to stop it once it is underway. In a large grand cull, essentially all of the herd is harvested and culled, the suitable ones are made into drones, and the others are eliminated. After the cull, the residual population regresses to a primitive level and starts the process again.
An offspring with a mix of elf and orb genes is a cross-breed. Cross-breeds are physically indistinguishable from their orb kin, and live and reproduce like an orb. They have many of the capabilities of both races. The ability of cross-breeds range from indistinguishable from orbs, to far more capable than the elves. Cross-breeds, like elves, are not susceptible to disease and tend to have similar lifespans to elves. Often, cross-breeds are unaware of their elven heritage.
Since cross-breeds tend to mix with orbs, and breed with them, over time the orb bloodline fraction dominates the herd and dilutes the cross-breed contribution. For the cross-breeds to stay dominant they must manage their population proactively, or have a continual infusion of new cross-breeds from the elf societies.
Cross-breed females do not intuitively access negative dark energy as an elf Mother can, but have the capability, if using rings, medallions, or tricrystals, to access both negative and positive dark energy. Wearing an elf ring gives a cross-breed many of the capabilities of an elf Mother. Cross-breeds can sense and manipulate negative dark energy using elf rings and can focus positive dark energy using medallions or tricrystals. Most cross-breeds do not have the inborn sense of negative dark energy that elves have, and must be trained to learn how to use negative dark energy; however, a well-trained cross-breed can be more capable than an elf mother.
The combined ability of two or more cross-breeds can produce capabilities beyond anything that an elf can do. Individual cross-breeds have different levels of proficiency with each force. A strong negative user (usually a woman) combined with a strong positive user (usually a male) can combine the two powers and be much stronger than several elf mother. These skills were commonly utilized by the Gon’s in their war, but only a few controlled populations of cross-breeds such as the Sadri are aware of these skills anymore.
Elves fear and hate cross-breeds. Elves decided that the cross-breeds were a potential competitor. Unlike the orbs, which the elves consider inferior animals, the elves worry that the cross-breeds might be a superior race. Elves kill native cross-breeds. Elves use subjugated cross-breeds, such as the Sadri, in various war-fighting roles but tightly control them, and eliminate them when their service is complete.
There are two kinds of cross-breeds, stable cross-breeds, and unstable cross-breeds.
- Stable cross-breeds are the offspring of a Mother elf and a male orb. Female stable cross-breeds always produce stable cross-breeds. A female stable cross-breed produces no more than three offspring, regardless of the race (elf, orb, or cross-breed) of the male. The first child is always a male, the second always a female, and the third always a male. They are generally conceived several years apart. Male stable cross-breeds may have many offspring who may be either male or female; the offspring may be either stable or unstable cross-breeds. The combination of a stable male cross-breed and an orb female will result in an orb half the time, and an unstable cross-breed the other half of the time. The combination of a stable male cross-breed and an unstable female cross-breed will produce a stable cross-breed half of the time, and an unstable cross-breed the other half of the time. Through multigenerational breeding, the stable cross-breed population has the potential to be self-sustaining over time, or even increase. There are many variations to the general rules of genetic succession; for example a male elf and an unstable female cross-breed can produce either a stable or unstable cross-breed, depending on whether the original female parent of the line was elf or orb. Also, the combination of a stable cross-breed female and a cross-breed male (stable or unstable) will occasionally produce an elf.
- Unstable cross-breeds are the offspring of a male elf and a female orb. The resulting cross-breed has the same abilities as a stable cross-breed. The offspring of an unstable cross-breed and an orb will produce an unstable cross-breed twenty-five percent of the time and an orb the rest of the time. The offspring of two unstable cross-breeds will be unstable cross-breeds fifty percent of the time and orbs fifty percent of the time. A population of unstable cross-breeds will eventually recess to the orb population. Unstable female cross-breeds can have as many offspring as their body will support, the same as an orb.
The dragons that the elves control were created by the Gons at a pivotal time in the war with their ancient enemy. The Gons were masters of genetic biology and routinely combined genes from different creatures to produce modified creature for particular applications, especially war creatures. The Gons dreamed of the dragon as the ultimate war weapon, but for many millennia it was only a dream.
To create a dragon, the Gons used a race of reptilian winged drakes that naturally used dark energy to fly. The winged drakes were creatures of beauty and grace, about half the size of an elf, but with a natural ability to collect and use dark energy. They were somewhat clumsy on land but their natural connection to dark energy allowed them to fly with beauty and grace.
The basic genetic framework of the winged drake was merged with the body of a large reptilian Gon. The creature was named a drake-gon, which was eventually shortened to dra-gon. The body was increased many times in size, until it was one of the largest creatures to ever live. The winged drakes natural dark energy storage capability was augmented so that it could hold copious quantities of dark energy. As initially envisioned, the two brains would be merged, but the Gon brain would dominate.
Since one brain only use negative dark energy and the other could only use positive dark energy, the two merged brains were incompatible and the creature never survived. The Gons continued their attempt to develop the dragon for many millennia with no success until after the introduction of the cross-breeds. The cross-breed could control the flow of positive and negative dark energy.The Gons merged a cross-breed and her brain into the dragon body and used it as an intermediary between the other two brains. The three brains were linked through a control stone to create a single unified brain.
The resulting creature was the dragon of today. The dark energy made the initial creature essentially immortal. The dragon is able to repair essentially any damage to itself, although extensive damage may take decades for the dragon to repair without outside assistance.
Since the cross-breed component was an add on to the dragon, it was not immortal. The cross-breed component had a finite lifetime, and every few hundred years it needs to be replaced with a new cross-breed.
Many dragons were created by the Gons for use in the war. Most of them still exist today. No new dragons have been created since the time of the Gons.
To provide direction to the dragon, the control stone allowed the dragon to bond with a dragon-mother and respond to her desires. A special group of cross-breeds, called dragon protectors was created to manage the dragons. Only those could bond naturally with the dragon.
When the elves overthrew the Gon’s the elves took control of all of the Gon technology including the dragons. The elves did not like cross-breeds controlling the dragons, so they used the elf protector mother’s that were used to create the cross-breeds to bond with the dragons. Some elf societies found it difficult to bond the dragons, so when they replaced the cross-breed component, they inserted additional control stones into the dragon.
The dragon-mother then could use that stone to control the dragon. This was successful, and allowed elves that were not dragon-protectors to control the dragon. This method left the dragon-mother vulnerable to any pain that the dragon felt, and often resulted in the death of the dragon-mother during battle.
A dragon is always hungry, and its reptilian brain is always looking for something to eat; a typical diet would consist of two pigs, one cow, or several Orbs per day. A dragon is a storage battery for dark energy. When it flies it consumes more dark energy then it can collect. It can fly for only a few hours, before it must rest for several hours to restore its dark energy supply.
A dragon with an ample supply of dark energy is almost impregnable. Its skin will harden against any attack, and it can create deflecting fields that cause shrapnel or bullets to flow around its body. Because of the huge reservoir of dark energy inside the dragon, it is continually healing itself.
For all of the strength of the dragon, it does have a weakness. It so seldomly feels pain, that when it feels pain, it hurts and wants to flee. Normally physical attackers are not strong enough to cause the dragon pain.
The only way to defeat a fighting dragon is to suck the dark energy from it. The elves have devices called dragon knives that use dark energy to do this. It causes intense pain to the dragon, and makes it panic and want to flee. Once enough dark energy is removed, a dragon becomes comatose and can be immobilized.
The drone is the basis of elf society. A drone is an orb that has been domesticated by the elves such that it is totally compliant to any elf request. Often the drones will wear the bands that punishes the wearer that disobeys a command. A good drone will happily execute any order.
A few drones are obtained from domesticated herds, but most drones are obtained by culling wild herds of orbs that the elves allow to populate many planets that they call herd worlds. Earth is a typical herd world. In a cull, orbs are sorted. The suitable ones are banded and the unsuitable are eliminated.
The band is a ring that is permanently attached around the neck. It monitors the wearers feelings and forces the wearer to severely punish itself whenever it disobeys any command. Banded orbs are domesticated using a brutal process of intense pain. Any time the orb does not respond to a command it is severely punished. Quickly the Orb becomes compliant until it will do anything to please its masters.
Once a drone is compliant it is sorted and trained. Learning stones are used to train the drones on the skills it needs. Drones are taught various skills depending on their abilities. The most physically pleasing male drones are reserved to be the direct servants of mothers. Other talented drones perform all of the trade and services that are required to operate an elf city. Skilled drones are even taught to use medallions and focus dark energy.
Unskilled drones are used to fill the lesser roles in society. Since there are many unskilled drones there is little incentive for elf society to minimize their work. When a drone is no longer useful, it is terminated.