Elfquest - Background and Setting

Background and Setting

The world where the series takes place, eventually called Abode by its human inhabitants, but originally referred to as the World of Two Moons, superficially resembles Earth. The geography is marginally similar, there are some unusual prehistoric survivals among the fauna, and in early storylines Abode could have been described as Earth with two moons. As the story moves forward however, and Abode's history develops, it becomes apparent that its human culture and technology is distinguished by the twenty thousand years of influence by the elves, who have left an indelible mark on human society, though their existence is unacknowledged and unofficially suppressed by the world government of Abode's future.

The elves of Elfquest are descended from highly advanced humanoid aliens called High Ones by their descendants. They had immense psycho-kinetic psychic powers and did not die of old age. When their homeworld's resources were depleted by overpopulation, several groups of High Ones went spacefaring to explore the wider universe and to find new planets to settle. They controlled their egg-shaped vessels by telekinesis and were able to adapt to any ecosystem by shifting their own shapes and metabolisms. As companions, they brought two of the last surviving animal species from their home, both of which gradually evolved during the journey (and subsequent events) into two more races of sapient near-immortals: the insectoid Preservers and the simian-descended Trolls.

Effectively crash-landing on Abode some twenty thousand years in the past, a group of High Ones are attacked by humans and scattered from their spacefaring vessel which is also their home. Adjusting to this new "home", the High Ones and later their descendants face a harsh existence where most of their conscious-expansive attributes are weakened. In time, the scattered elves form tribes whose memories of their origins have become dim through the loss of living High Ones and most of their earliest descendants. The known tribes include (in order of introduction) the Wolfriders (forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers), Sun Folk (desert-dwelling farmers), Gliders (mountain-dwellers, only a few of whom hunt), Go-backs (formerly hunters, now primarily warriors), and the Wavedancers (sea-dwelling hunter-gatherers).