HUMANS

CAPITAL CITY:

Too many to list

RULED BY:

Definitely too many to list—and constantly changing!

CULTURE:

Compared to the intelligent species (which the elves do not classify humans as), humans have relatively short life spans—and many elves believe that this gives humans a more “short-term” focus, causing them to overlook significant problems (like their pollution and destruction of the planet). Humans also do not have a single culture, language, or government—a notable difference that gives them an incredible diversity of cuisines, arts, music, fashion, customs, and traditions to enjoy and experience. But these differences also create distinct national and societal divisions. Humans sometimes also discriminate for other reasons (like background, appearance, wealth, and systems of beliefs), which has caused a number of serious problems for their world—at times even leading to further divisions and war. And yet, all of this is a tremendous oversimplification of the “human experience” and does not even begin to capture the depth of their unique challenges and struggles—as well as their contributions, gifts, and talents. Sadly, though, it’s the full extent of what elves (and the other intelligent species) are taught about humanity.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ELVES:

Contact with humans is forbidden (which is why elves call the human world “the Forbidden Cities”)—and they’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that humans have no knowledge of their existence (or of any of the intelligent species—as well as many of the protected species). All of the Lost Cities are hidden by numerous illusions and shielded by a variety of security measures—and the elves have also spread myths, legends, and stories to make humans think of them as “silly” and “magical” and “make-believe.” That way, even if humans were to accidentally discover the Lost Cities, they’d discount what they were seeing. But the relationship between humans and elves wasn’t always this way. Long, long ago, humans were classified as an intelligent species. In fact, the elves built Atlantis as a merging point for their two worlds—a city where elves and humans could peacefully exist together, and learn from each other, and inspire each other, and form friendships and connections. The Unity Fountain in Atlantis remains a reminder of this brief time period—before everything went wrong. And while elvin history books tell a tale about the humans’ greed for power and the violent uprising they were planning (which led to the elves’ decision to engineer the tidal wave “catastrophe” and sink Atlantis), recent discoveries have unearthed the reasons why the humans began their rebellion—and the elves were very much to blame. Vespera was fascinated by the humans’ capacity for “ruthlessness” and felt that if elves didn’t learn to be the same way, the humans would eventually overthrow them. So she began conducting evil experiments on humans in a secret facility under Atlantis in an attempt to understand their propensity for violence—and when the humans started noticing that people were going “missing” and tried to get the Council to intervene, the Councillors refused to believe that such monstrosities could be happening. As a result, the humans banded together, planning to overthrow the elves—which then led to the elves’ disappearing to avoid a war. And even though both species have continued to thrive without each other, it’s hard not to wonder how much better things would be if they’d been able to keep working together. That’s one of the reasons why the Human Assistance Program was created (a program where those with the Council’s permission would enter the Forbidden Cities disguised as humans, in order to advance human wisdom and potentially gain knowledge in return). But all too often, the information shared led to troubling human innovations (particularly in the case of weapons—which infuriated the goblins and ogres), and the elves eventually canceled the program, fearing it was causing more harm than good. Since then, the elves have done their best to pretend that humans don’t exist—all while the other intelligent species have grown increasingly concerned about how much land the humans are claiming and how much damage their pollution is causing. At one point, some even proposed moving the humans to a new sort of “Sanctuary” to contain them and protect them—but the Council rejected the idea, knowing the humans would consider it to be imprisonment (and it would be). Despite making the right choice, the Council has taken no other actions to remedy the situation, which is one reason why the Black Swan created Project Moonlark and chose to have Sophie Foster grow up in the Forbidden Cities. Yes, she was also hidden from the Council that way, but the true benefit was to give Sophie an alternate perspective by allowing her to experience the human world without any elvin biases. As a result, Sophie not only understands humans in a way no one else in the Lost Cities can, but she also views the elvin world through a different lens and is able to identify problems and injustices that others have grown too accustomed to notice. And perhaps someday, she’ll fulfill her creators’ hopes, and change both worlds for the better.

SOPHIE’S HUMAN FAMILY

William (Will) David Foster

(also known as Connor Freeman—and another alias kept classified for his protection)

ROLE: Sophie’s human father

QUALIFICATIONS: Kind, affectionate, hardworking, balanced, and generous—and someone who would never use his children to gain prestige.

KNOWN FOR: Calling Sophie “Soybean.”

NOTES: The Black Swan needed Sophie’s existence to remain “low-key” to avoid detection—and they knew there would be many things about her that could garner quite a bit of attention. So they carefully searched for a loving couple who wouldn’t exploit their daughter for fame or profit, finally settling on the Fosters. After Sophie was moved to the Lost Cities, her human father’s memories of her were erased, and he was given a new job, a new name, and what humans would consider a “comfortable” existence—as well as a house with a yard big enough for the dog their family had wished for. The Freemans seemed to be thriving in their new lives—until Vespera escaped from Lumenaria and took both parents hostage to use for her horrible experiments. No one knows exactly what they endured, but it had to be terrible. Once they were rescued, their memories were erased in a unique way to ensure flashbacks would never be triggered, and the Council now keeps a closer eye on Sophie’s human family to better ensure their safety.

Emma Iris Foster

(also known as Kate Freeman—and another alias kept classified for her protection)

ROLE: Sophie’s human mother

QUALIFICATIONS: Loving, intelligent, cautious, humble, and skeptical about human medicine—as well as someone who needed fertility assistance in order to have a baby.

KNOWN FOR: Her homemade fettuccine and tendency to worry.

NOTES: Many human medicines have dangerous side effects, so the Black Swan searched for parents who wouldn’t expose their daughter to too many chemicals during her time in the Forbidden Cities. But they also needed someone who would get Sophie treatment if the need arose, and the Fosters struck that perfect balance. The elvin fertility treatments Sophie’s mom (secretly) received also enabled a second pregnancy, giving her a biological daughter to hopefully make up for the fact that Sophie would someday return to where she belonged. Like her husband, she was captured by Vespera and put through terrible experiments—and her memories of that time have been similarly erased. But she managed to say a proper goodbye to Sophie before the Washer did his job, giving them each gentle closure.