In the speculative Elphame Universe the Fae are an advanced race that had interacted with humans in centuries past creating the myths of Fae, Pari Pari, Nymphs, and Jogha across the world. These Fae have abilities and technology beyond those of contemporary society, and what is magic but science we haven’t learnt yet (Arthur C. Clarke).

The magical abilities of the Fae are the evolutionary result of Elphame, a compound that is natural to the Fae world. Centuries ago the Fae— under the guise of research and the betterment of all— experimented on the young human race. They tested the Elphame compound on humans, studying its effects.

These experimentations included taking one male and one female youth from each region, back to their Fae world. There those youth would become the first of the human settlement in Elphame and for almost 600 years the Fae would study and did not interfere as the settlement grew and a new Human Elphame race was born.

As the human race evolved, the moral ethics of the Fae’s involvement on earth saw the experiments come to an end. But small groups of Fae stayed and from the shadows watched, and over the generations two new races evolved. 

Fae: The Fae have many abilities. Over the millennia their life spans have lengthened and are now able to live upwards of 300 years. They are simultaneous hermaphrodites and possess fully functional male and female genitalia. They have no disease and heal from most injuries within minutes. Individual Fae have abilities that their families have cultivated over the years, including:

• Abilities to heal others
• Levitation
• Control of the elements
• Change gender, shape, species
• Foresight 
• Empathic 

They are also a technologically advanced society and have learnt how to harness the Elphame and apply it to wormhole theory to create portals from the Fae world to Earth.  

The Fae people are a highly enlightened, well-educated, liberal-minded, community-centric, environmentally aware race. Though they will admit they are not perfect and continue to make mistakes. 

Shifters: Shifters were the evolutionary result of a Fae experiment focused on controlling Fae ability to change genders and forms. Prior to the experimentation, Fae could not control their gender, environmental factors could see their gender change multiple times throughout their life. The Fae wanted to control their gender and were interested in seeing if they could take other forms using the Elphame.

Although this experiment ultimately failed in controlling gender, it did succeed in allowing the humans implanted with Elphame to take on physical aspects of animals for short periods of time. Over the centuries the Elphame within these humans evolved and within three generations these humans were able to change into an animal form. Overtime the animal forms these shifters would turn into would change dependent on the enviroment, but eventually a persons animal forms would be determined based on personality traits. 

Shifters are not like the apha pack animals portrayed in media. The animal shape they take is not a separate being, there are no “animal instincts”, no alphas or omega’s, and they do not have packs. However shifters do live in small tight-knit communities ofter made up of extended families and friends. These communities are connected through shared history with the wider shifter community and shifters will often travel and visit other communities (it helps with preventing inbreeding). Shifters are aware of the Fae and Mages, but the Elphame Humans are a race they are only just learning about. 

Mages: The Mage race, like the Shifters were the evolutionary result of Fae experimentation. The Fae wanted to learn how to control the elements and used humans as guinea pigs to their theory’s before applying to their own race. This experiment was highly successfull and through teaching human’s how to pull the little pieces of Elphame the Fae had given them and call the elements the Mages successfully learnt to find magic in nature. 

The Mages, unlike the Shifters, didn’t form small communities. Instead they remained assimilated in society and often faced persecution for their abilities. The Mages learnt to hide themselves in plain sight and kept their knowledge within the family. 

Over the generations the Mages learnt how to further harness their energies and direct it certain directions, e.g. towards healing. However some Mage’s developed new abilities including the ability to pull energy from animals and other humans. These Mages often sort power and the ethics and customs of the Mage people were often discarded in that reach for power. 

Elphame Humans: The Human Elphame are the descendants of the youth taken from Earth 600 years ago and brought to the Fae world. For 500 years they lived, grew and prospered creating their own traditions, customs and ideas. During those 500 years the naturally occurring Elphame naturally blended into the humans genetic make-up, giving them longer lives to where they now live for around 130 years, less illness and faster recovery from wounds.   

However human technology in the Fae world did not keep up with their new abilities and after 8 years of drought and famine the Winters Men would be a night that would change the trojection of the Human Elphame. 

With the Human Elphame civilisation on the verg of collapse due to starvation and no knowledge of Fae world beyond the lage island the Human Elphame inhabit a group of men in their 40’s and 50’s take action. In one winters night they murder 85% of elderly and disabled people who they considered did not contribute to society and were taking away valuable food sources. The night, which would be known as Winters Men, shocked many humans and the Fae leading to the Fae announcing their existence to the Human Elphame.

The introduction was a rocky start with many upset that the Fae had not made themselves known sooner, but that populous animosity was quickly replaced by appreciation of the technological advances and relief from the famine the Fae provided.

Human Elphame are now beginning to assimilate with the Fae population and some have even returned to Earth.