Elfins

Two elfins, Xuhuai and Fengxi.

Elfins (妖精 yāojīng) are fictional fantastical beings, on which the stories of the Xiaohei universe revolve around. They appear in all the media, including The Legend of Hei movie, The Legend of Luo Xiaohei webseries and the Lanxi Zhen webcomic.

Origin

Elfin deity Laojun explains the elfin Seed Theory to his apprentice, a human named Li Qingning.

Elfin is a name given to certain organism because of the way they’re created.

In the world of Xiaohei, there are countless spiritual essences that can’t be seen with the naked eye, everywhere in the world. These essences are divided between material and natural essences. Material essences are that which makes up all material existence. Natural essences, also known as living spirits, are the embodiment of life itself. . They are the spirits of life, and the basis of all living beings. Compared to material spirits, living spirits are more difficult to make sense of, so many intricate details about them are still scarce.

Elfins Luozhu, Fengxi and Xuhuai watch Tianhu being born from a gathering of spirits

Sometimes, living spirits get together on their own and become bodiless fairies. As they absorb and change, fairies combine with material essences and develop different kinds of bodies, which are Elfins. What makes an elfin an elfin is not the capacity to use spiritual abilities or to live immortal lives. Every living being can acquire these abilities through cultivation, including humans. What makes an elfin an elfin is that elfins are born from amassing spirits. Elfins are born out of the gathering of spirits, created by the very world that is Heaven and Earth. Every individual is unique, and very few of them are ever able to reproduce. Very few with such a capacity have ever been found.

A minority of plants have souls. Certain plants with powerful souls can cultivate a spiritual body and become elfins, but only after hundreds of years of spiritual absorption and concentration.

Elfins believe in the Seed Theory, wherein every elfin is a seed, and all life that exists in the present descended from ancient elfin offspring. Going through countless transformations in endless time to become the vastly diverse beings, numbering in the tens of thousands, that we see today, including humankind. For them, the precursos to humans was probably an ancient great one. Seeing as from her time to the present humans are still capable of occasionally producing individuals with outstanding cultivational achievement, she must have been an extremely powerful figure.

After death, one's living spirits will disperse and return to nature. These living spirits will then become new living beings. In the formative process, life continuously absorbs living spirits from nature to cultivate its spiritual awareness, which leads to the creation of a soul. In exceedingly rare circumstances, if a soul is powerful enough to remain undispersed after the death of its body, and happens upon the opportunity to be absorbed by a newly formed living being, then it would more or less retain its previous cognisance. Though, strictly speaking, such a soul would not have experienced complete death in the first place.

Characteristics

Elfins Luo Xiaohei, Xuhuai, Huahu, Panjing, Luozhu and Tianhu alongside the human Wuxian.

Since they’re born from the union of essences, elfins have a natural talent for controlling essences. The key to controlling essences is one’s spiritual space. By cultivating, the properties of one’s spiritual place change. Every life form has their own spiritual place, and that every time one breaths, they’re absorbing essence.

Elfins have a natural talent to manipulate essences. However, any normal human could reach the level of one if they trained and cultivated for more than ten years. Elfins are beyond that point from the moment they’re born. Because of that, few humans have ever tried cultivation, and even less in the highly technological era that is the XXI Century. Despite of this, there are some really talented humans that have surpassed elfins in their abilities. This is partially related to the size of your spiritual space. The space of a normal person has roughly the size of a basket ball. An elfin like the one named A-Gen has a space about the size of a football field. There are six types of spiritual abilities one can perform. Every being is naturally inclined to one or two of these types. For more information about this, read the article about the Six great systems.

Elfin-related incidents are seen on the news a dozen times a year. Many elfins live isolated, and those that live between humans have to hide their identities, so most of their activities remain hidden, except for flashy events every once in a while. Still, some elfins use their powers to prosper in the human world, sometimes becoming famous or millionaires.

Elfins can’t get sick. They can talk and understand humans, birds, and animals. Elfins are able to shape-shift changing between a more animal-like form (their true-form) and a human-passing form, if they choose to do so. This, however, must be learned, so it is difficult for young elfins or elfins who have never tried to do it.

As long as creatures exist somewhere, elfin will exist there as well; that’s why every nation has its own myths and legends. Most elfins in China abide by the law, and in other countries, coexistence is the mainstream, but there are also nations ruled by elfins. They often seek representatives among humans, and citizens also treat them as their faith. Most other nations have treated elfins as fiction to lessen their impact. Humans are now committed to technology, and walk on a different path from elfins. Nobody knows which path is the correct one. Elfins do not have a significantly better grasp on history than humans do. Humanity's myths and elfins' legends are intertwined, they inspire each other, influence each other. They barely know much of history from thousands of years in the past, let alone ancient times.

Elfins are capable of creating life. The most common form of this is a doppelganger. Many spiritual types will create a soul in their Spirit Realm with independent cognisance. Connected, yet separate. A lot of elfins will even naturally have a doppelganger existing within their Spirit Realm. If not innate, this type of ability requires the expense of immense time and energy. These don't count as offspring. The existence of a doppelganger is based on one's Spirit Realm, which is why they can only remain as such. Even if they have their own will, they are still not self-sustaining individuals. They will disappear with the death of the original elfin, and thus they cannot be seen as a method of procreation.

Spirit Reapers

Humans are a shortcut to elfin cultivation, but depending on one’s method of cultivation, there are different ways to go about it. Some require the consumption of human flesh, others only extract living spirits, and some only have an appetite for souls. Spirit Reapers refers to elfins who consume living spirits. They are also the least well-regarded among all elfins. Seeing them it’s terrifying. To cultivate by consuming living spirits is a path of no restraint, and the fastest there is. The temptation of a continuous increase in spiritual energy is though to resist, so the elfins who do so take, and take… gradually losing their sense of self until they become Spirit Reapers. That’s why Spirit Reapers are usually very strong. With their power, they can even start taking living spirits from elfins. They are under Yangming’s jurisdiction. It falls to her due to a rule established during a war many, many years ago, that says that whenever Spirit Reapers emerge, she’ll be responsible.

History

Elfins coexisting with humans in ancient war times. Elfin Xuanli helps a human named Li Qingning inside elfin deity Laojun's Spiritual Realm.

In the past, what are now cold concrete cities used to be places of extraordinary power. Lots of elfins were born there, and their presence made forests grow lush and strong. It was a paradise, but then came the humans. They cut down trees to build houses and feed their fires. In time, they became part of the forest. At first, the two groups coexisted in a balance, and humans revered and respected elfins.

During these times, elfins established an Elfin Guild, which offered lodging and benefits for the elfins, in exchange for them following some rules. One of this rules was to not interfere in human wars. This rule was placed because, to elfins, humans, animals and spirits belonged in the same category. They knew it was impossible for all beings to be equal, and that humans, animals and birds always put their kind first. Elfin can talk with humans, birds, and animals, so for them, they all have the same importance.

However, after the industrial revolutions, humans evolution accelerated. With their advanced machinery and faster birth rates, humans began to destroy the forest, move elfins out of the way, and stopped believing in them, losing connection with spirituality. The forest turned into cities, and spiritual energy became much scarce. A lot of elfins chose to leave, but others decided to fight against the humans. Some elfins formed an Elfin Guild to assure peaceful existence between humans and elfins. This Guild fought against the anti-humans elfins, managing to defeat them. While the Guild believe they maintain a balance, the anti-human elfins think the balance is unfair, and that, if things don’t change, humans will dominate elfins.

Elfin Kings

Elfin Nezha, who used to be an Elfin King.

Elfin King is a title among the elfin realm. The two most famous kings are probably Wukong and Nezha, due to them being included in many novels. Elfin King usually refers to an elfin who has conquered a territory, but in the XXI century, no one’s been given the title in a long time. Nezha never mentions he was once an Elfin King because he’s already been given the title of deity.

There are 87 recorded Elfin Kings in history, and none of them are named Folan.

Elfin Guild

Elfin Kali, director of the Guild Hall in Linxi

The Elfin Guild is an organization created by elfins with the purpose of helping elfins live in the modern world, coexisting alongside humans in a pacific way. It consists of a series of branches all over the world which serve as homes and grant benefits to elfins. Besides that, the guild imposes some rules over the elfin’s behaviors. The guild offers guidance for young elfins but they also help old elfins adapt to the modern world.

The Elfin Guild was founded by four elfin deities: Laojun, Nezha, Yanming and Emperor Yan. The Guild has branches in all mayor cities, and it provides services specifically to elfins. In ancient times, it used to simply be a series of inns, but in the XXI Century it also gives them free financing to live in the human world.

There are plenty of humans that know elfins exists, but many others don’t accept them, so the guild prefers to maintain secrecy. It was okay before the XXI century, but humans became too powerful, and being known by them became dangerous. Some elfins that refuse to disguise as humans live inside the buildings of the Elfin Guild, resisting assimilation into human society. However, plenty of spirits love cities and the variety of lifestyles they provide. They can live in whatever form they want provided they follow one key rule: keep a low profile.

Elfins in the guild believe that humans are just like elfins: they're not all bad or good, and sometimes it's hard to distinguish the two, complex as they are. Despite some harshness in the past, in the XXI century, the human-spirit relationship has finally reached a delicate balance, a balance the guild believes they have to work to protect. Some elfins don’t like being around humans. For example, an elfin that lived in a cave had to see it turned into a human tourist atraction, and is now unable to return to it. It was deep in the wilderness, and he lived there for hundreds of years. But that elfin still believes in peaceful coexistence, because finding a place out of humanity's reach nowadays is impossible. Other elfins love humans and their creativity. A lot of spirits at the Guild are obsessed with them, and find them interesting.

Most of the Guild branches are in cities. Long You city is home to 10 million people and 500 spirits.

Rules

Guild Membership Card

In order to receive guild’s benefits, elfins have to comply to the guild’s rules. They are: you can’t kill other elfins and you can’t show yourself to other humans; and if you allow yourself to be summoned by the guild, you get even more benefits. The Guild also forbids elfins flying over a city.

The guild allows some elfins to hunt down humans, but they are exceptions. Some elfins, like the man-eating leopards, can only get energy from eating humans, so the guild has no reason to stop them. The only thing they could do was regulate their hunting so they only targeted evil-doers, and they had to bring every one of their preys to the guild before killing them. The guild tries to give them information about evil or damned people. However, the Guild doesn’t interfere when humans hunt down elfins. They can’t take away a man-eating elfin’s right to live; man-eaters are victims as well. Man-eaters are not liked by many elfins, not to mention humans, and they have no other options. The guild lets them hunt on their own because they can’t have human food hatcheries.

Executors

Executors, or enforcers, are powerful beings tasked with keeping the rules of the guild in place, enforcing punishment and catching people who break them. Enforcers are similar to law enforcers, like elfin helpers.

An executor’s daily life is extremely dangerous. A human executor named Wuxian designed a series of missions to test if his apprentice, Xiaohei, would be able to perform as an executor. The tests were: 1. complete the hardest task in deity Laojun’s Book of Vows. 2. get in contact with a human and 3. complete the hardest task in the All Living Creature’s video game. There were further objectives to complete, but Xiaohei failed at the third one, so the rest are unknown.

Structure

Elfins hidden among humans in modern society. Seen in the image are elfins Fu, Jiuxian and Quingqiu.

Every Guild branch has a center, a place where elfins can get the location and information of every other build branch. The center is a space fluctuation, which they can use to teleport to the other branches. It shows as a giant map that has multiple points, every one representing a guild branch. Above each point its a color that indicates the branches’ function, and small dots indicating how many elfins are living there.

All branches use human employees. Every branch shares their money will the other branches, allowing them to pay their employees. Directors are free to grab many things from the branches, like money, space, magic weapons or spiritual tools.

The Guild Hall in Lingxi’s city is managed by an elfin named Kali. He became director because he knew how to get money: he did it by selling trees that grow there. Unlike most wood-type elfins, Kali is able to produce trees that last long. His trees are completely natural plants and will keep growing on their own. A good tree can cost a fortune. At the guild center’s map, Linxi’s branch is marked with a gold circle, because they manage finances. They can’t simply create more money, or gold, instead of having to sell trees, because creating more money would destroy humanity’s financial systems, so the best long-term solution was to follow the human’s rules.

All Living Creatures

One scenario inside the All Living Creatures game

All Living Creatures is a virtual reality game designed by a elfin deity named Laojun and distributed by Kali. It was created by the Elfin Guild in hopes of introducing elfins to humans and reintroducing humans to elfins. Preparations for the game had been finished at least four years before its launch. It has been implied that the entire game world might actually be somebody's spiritual realm.

The game allows players to experience life as different living creatures, from elfins to birds, frogs or humans. It also allows humans to experience easier cultivation and magic manipulation. As a virtual reality game, the player's will controls the creature they're playing as. In-game, they have a greater stamina and more abilities than in real life, but they are also subjected to certain limitations of the species of their playing character, such as bird players being unable to talk to human players.

The guild made the game to make money. Its rigid rules, however, were not designed to make money, but to make the world as authentic as possible. However, because of the advanced nature of the game, not making money on it is impossible. Because there’s a cap on the number of possible players, Kali wants to have high-quality players. People who give up are not his target audience, so it’s better if they leave.

For more information about the game, check the article for All Living Creatures.

Laojun's vows

Books of Vows

The Laojun's vows are a series of tests created by the elfin deity Laojun, in which all elfins can participate. These vows were made through the centuries, and Laojun promised prizes in exchange for completing various tests. The vows were written down in a series of twelve volumes known as Laojun’s Books of Vows. The official challenges are also known as The Twelve.

However, since the official books were too complicated, many unofficial guides were created about the challenges. Once Laojun stopped making the official books, fan guides were released. Some of the fan guides have names like “Manual To Understand The Twelve Books”, “Easy Challenges”, “Uncompleted Challenges” or “Challenges That Can Be Repeated”.

Whenever a vow is completed, Laojun has to inform of the news online, in order to keep everyone updated. Stealing the rewards of the twelfth volume of Laojun’s vows from the hands of the winner was allowed. Due to Laojun having a long, immortal life, he often forgets about his own vows, creating complications for those who wish to complete them.

Some of Laojun's vows are:

• [No. 237] Whoever is able to collect all of the city plate decals will be awarded with Jinxuan Pills.
• [No. 238] Whoever can win three games in a row at Doushuai Palace will receive a statue of Laojun.
• [No. 239] [Thirteenth year of Wuxian] Whoever is able to catch a chicken of white feathers and dark bones will be rewarded with Wuji Baifeng Pills..
• [Twelfth volume] Anyone who manages to take the Shining Pearl outside of Laojun's spiritual palace would get to keep it, or to return it to Laojun in exchange for one favor. This was the hardest task of all of Laojun's vows.
• Whoever forced Laojun to fight would be rewarded with the Xuanqing Pill.
• Whoever entered the Suoyu Palace would be rewarded with the Qingling Fruit.

Elfin Forums

The Elfin Forums are a private website that only elfins can use, which allows them to communicate with each other and share information. The forum has around 3000 registered users, who are all very active. The forum has a section dedicated to Laojun’s Book of Vows, where users can see what vows have been completed. Laojun is obligated to update any info on that regard in order to keep the competition fair. In the general section of the forum, it is possible to learn about the lives of Elfins, such as some that use their powers to prosper in the human world, sometimes becoming famous or millionaires. The elfin forums also has a lot of information and discussion about All Living Creatures. Kali, who manages the game, communicates with the players through the forum.