#i wish we could communicate across the void but alas i fear we are so far adrift we cannot even share a language. it shall remain a mystery

[batsplat]

as someone who keeps an eye on academy boys growing up, just throwing out some random info<3

luca said he’s pretty good at tennis, and all i know is he’s a one-handed backhand player. pecco mentioned this summer that he often plays tennis in the winter, i’m guessing he means during the offseason. he said he hired a coach and takes three lessons a week. of course he’s one of those guys who got more into tennis because of jannik sinner

please ALWAYS throw out some random info

luca having a one-handed backhand makes sense because like. i genuinely don't think there's anyone else on the grid who is more one-handed backhand-coded than him. he very much comes across like a one-handed backhand type of guy. anyway i bet I could take him. and ohhh i didn't know that about pecco, that's really sweet!! i mean the taking tennis lesson obviously, not the being a sinner fan thing. have had to develop an extremely high tolerance for riders delving their toes into tennis opinions after Certain Beloved Riders keep posting instagram stories (?) about australian open finals that send me into a deep depression. not expecting them to have enlightened takes but they just keep rooting for their countrymen (very much only men #lmao) and that just has unfortunate implications given where they're from. alas. did see musetti was at the qatar grand prix chatting to pecco when he should have been on the practise court to support his child, which is at least marginally better taste in players. and pecco taking tennis lessons is nice

[tanadrin]

Of the many worlds

"There are some--and forgive me if this question seems a bit silly, perhaps you get it from new species all the time--but there are some who worry that with this discovery, with first contact, we humans will struggle in the future - that in understanding ourselves to no longer be alone, we also understand ourselves to no longer be special. Do you find that's often the case when a world discovers it's actually part of a greater interstellar community?"

Ambassador Molkudai cocked his head, putting on an almost quizzical expression; though the interviewer had been warned repeatedly that trying to read human expressions into the alien face was a recipe for misunderstanding. The Ambassador was not unexpressive--his long, narrow face had a kind of elegance, ended in soft lips that moved according to a fixed set of expressions that no doubt were of great significance to those who knew him well, and his large, bright eyes, though they were entirely inhuman in their particulars, nonetheless seemed to impart an electric, curious gaze at everything around him. He sat, awkwardly large, on the soft armchair across from the interviewer, his heavily-muscled, many-limbed body mostly statue-still, except when he made some small gesture for emphasis, though these seemed always to come at strange times and for strange reasons. Resting in one ear was a little electronic device which, the interviewer had been told, was a kind of translator. t was to this he now seemed to be listening.

Molkudai made another quick, fluid gesture. "I am afraid I find the question difficult," he said. His English was slow and heavily accented. Despite the translator, the interviewer was told, the Ambassador had had to learn English like everyone else. What was the point of the thing, then? But for eight weeks of study since first contact, he was doing remarkably well.

"Why do you fear you are lesser, for not being alone?"

"I suppose lesser isn't the word I would use," the interviewer said. "Not diminished in our capacities, only in our... rarity? Our value?"

The ambassador paused to listen to his translator again.

"I am not certain I understand. The concepts are a little strange to me, I think."

"We can move on to another question, if you'd prefer?" They'd already had to do this a few times. There were some questions people insisted on asking questions that even the interviewer--who was a journalist and a TV presenter, not a scientist--could have told them would just be confusing and frustrating for everyone involved. Religion, Earth politics, perceptions of Earth culture. I mean, honestly, they had landed less than three months ago--they barely had enough time to form an opinion on the weather, even *without* the language barrier. "Another issue of vocabulary, perhaps."

"No. Not at all," Molkudai said. "I mean, the question is perfectly intelligible to me. It is an issue of... values."

The interviewer perked up a little at this. The ambassador and his colleagues had been surprisingly cagey on their own values and beliefs in all their interactions with the humans so far--perhaps some kind of Prime Directive thing?

"You are creatures of rarity, yes? Creatures of loneliness-in-the-world?"

"I'm afraid I have to admit that this time I don't understand, Ambassador."

The ambassador fiddled with his translator for a moment.

"Scarcity economics?"

The interviewer raised an eyebrow. He knew what the aliens thought of their economic system, anyway.

"No, that is not the term. Infernal device!" The ambassador plucked the translator from his ear and slipped it into a pocket. "Useful for some things. Not others. Forgive me. It is... a help-of-memory, for words I do not know. We use them also to translate the things that are beyond language. Habits of the body, of the expression, of gesture. And for simulating the minds of aliens."

"Are we so strange?" the interviewer said, smiling.

"Yes and no. And this is what I mean. You are not so strange to me, an arnovate of the motile stage. Not much stranger than are most of my alien colleagues. Your body, your language, your psychology is that of a savannah-runner, a family-clan-maker, a gatherer, a live-young-birther, conditioned to life around your yellow sun, in a place where the trees fail and give way to grasses. You are not so far removed from that past that that is where your mind yet rests, just as I am not so far removed from the foggy swamps and the glowing nights of my ancient past--and where my most ancient kindred would have died of heatstroke and dehydration in an afternoon in your ancestral environment, yours would have succumbed instantly to the crushing pressure of mine. Yet even across bodies developed for such different places, and minds developed for such bodies, and cultures developed for such minds, we may speak. How very fortunate."

"With some help from technology."

"Less than we might hope."

The interviewer laughed. "Quite so, quite so. But this goes back to my question, I suppose: you and the other ambassadors have said that life out there"--gesturing vaguely up at the ceiling--"is very diverse. A dizzying array of species and worlds and cultures, many at very different stages of development. Cooperating, or at least not constantly fighting. In our own stories, we've often fancied ourselves unique, in some ways. Perhaps superior, at least in the narrow things we particularly prize. I guess we've had only other Earth animals to compare ourselves to. But I'd lay odds we must be quite average compared to the rest of the universe."

"Rarity, scarcity. Value in rarity, that is what I mean. Savannah-hunters, still! Mindset of fear of winter, fear of starvation, fear of loss. Must a thing be rare to have value? Is a star less brilliant for being part of a shoal of jewels in the night sky? I think not."

"Forgive me, but that seems a rather anemic platitude."

"Perlin noise."

"What?"

"Apologies. My mouth races ahead. Bear with an explanation, please.

"There are mathematical ways of generating pseudorandom noise; one such quick and easy method is called in English 'Perlin noise,' I believe. To the human or arnovate eye, the underlying mathematical formula is invisible. It is unpredictable, for we are, in the grand scheme of the universe, quite mathematically stupid, though perhaps if we were cleverer it would seem no more random than a list of the natural numbers, who next value can be quite easily inferred. Yet for all the randomness of such noise, it is not diverse. The pattern-recognition capacities of our brains, though very different in how they operate, would both be quickly bored by an endless sea of Perlin noise. No two regions would be quite alike--but none would be dissimilar enough from the others to justify our interest.

"You fear, maybe, that because the universe is filled with life, there will be nothing in the end to distinguish a human much. That here, on this world, are other savannah-hunters who give birth to a small number of live young; here on another world, city-builders struggling with the consequences of rapid industrialization; here, on another, and throughout our region of the galaxy, others unlike you in some details but like you in enough generalities that Earth must necessarily be nothing more than a footnote in the history of civilization.

"I wish to emphasize to you how utterly and entirely mistaken you are. Your error cuts to my heart like a spear of grief, for in it I see, I think, some of the ancient loneliness and privation of your kind. Out of it, you are accustomed to giving value to rarity, to prizing gold as much for its uncommon occurrence as for its shine. Alas! your view of the universe is too watery, too thin."

"It's not just about rarity, is it?" said the interviewer. "It may be a human value, but I don't think it's a foolish one, to want to feel like your life has purpose. What, in a vast, crowded cosmos, can any individual human hope to contribute in the way of math or science or art that hasn't already been done a million times before?"

The ambassador laughed--well, did whatever his version of laughing was. "Not at all a strictly human feeling. Yet I am delighted to inform you, you are still in error! Hmm, how to say..." He seemed to think for a long moment.

"I am no physicist, but my physicist friends inform me that, though often elegant and beautiful, the laws governing nature contain great depth and sophistication. And as you observe, the universe is vast--possibly infinite. Let us for argument’s sake restrict ourselves to a finite universe. A bounded one, even if it is in practical terms bounded only by the horizon of our best telescopes and the swiftest beams of light.

"For all the diversity of the configuration of matter and energy within this vast but finite universe, the term 'infinity' might still reasonably apply. For between the Big Bang and the death of the last star, no human, no arnovate, no machine intelligence of the highest order, could compute the total interesting configurations of matter and energy within that volume; to say nothing of the uninteresting ones as well.

"And even attending to the iron laws of physics, the merciless laws of physics, the tyrannical cruelty which requires our ships to limp at relativistic fractions across the voids between the stars, life may arise in an astounding variety of conditions. To be sure, chemistry favors some configurations over others. Worlds that teem with life are confined to a narrow band around long-lived, stable stars. Worlds on which that life masters steel and fire and interplanetary travel must have conditions which favor metallurgy and orbital flight. All true, all true. Constraints toward a common middle, perhaps. Limits on diversity.

"But oh, how foolish we are to suppose that even in that island in an island in an island of possibility there is in any practical sense a limit!  Within those confines, the configuration space of environments, of biology, of evolutionary solutions to environmental problems, is still vast. Vast beyond reckoning! And of everything *else* that ensues--of minds which are built on these evolutionary substrates, of cultures and languages built on those minds--the scope of possibility blossoms outward yet again. Beyond exponential. Finite, maybe, in some austere and philosophical sense. Not in any practical one.

"You are thinking of the living worlds as banks of snow, yes? Fields of perlin noise. From far away, all the same. I shall tell you how we see the matter.

"Your sun was picked out as a candidate star for habitable exoplanets in the 102nd stellar survey from the star Daiamirra, and the presence of an oxygen-bearing world in the habitable zone confirmed two hundred and seven years later, when the first survey ships were able to get close enough to take careful readings. The instant this was confirmed--protocol at the time dictated at least five transits, though the scouts were overeager, and observed only three--a message was transmitted back to the Contact Institute to prepare a mission.

"When we received that message, every world around Daiamirra celebrated for seventy-four days. We declared the holiest of holidays, one that would be commemorated for all time. We sent word of our discovery to every inhabited star system within reach; even now, centuries since, I expect that that message is still winding its way from star to star, and I assure you, as certainly as I know that one and one is two, on every world that that message is received, the most solemn and the most joyous rituals are observed; the most abject thanks given to whatever gods are worshipped.

"And Earth is not unique in that respect. For each of the ten thousand living worlds, it has ever been the same. But even being one among ten thousand, it shall never be said Earth is not rare, or Earth is not beautiful. Its rarity and its beauty is utterly undiminished, though it is set against ten thousand planets equally rare and equally beautiful. And for each new world we find, our hearts are moved to joy and grief at once: joy, that we are so much less alone! Joy, that the universe contains such wonders in it! Grief, that they are so far away; that until our swift scouts and our alien gifts reach them, they shall believe themselves unknown, or forgotten.

"I know of no world even remotely like Earth. And I have studied thousands of worlds. I know of no world of brilliant blue skies where vast leviathans sing slow songs beneath the waves. I know of no world where the moon sometimes is framed by the sun as a burning ring, let alone where this event is so common that every tongue on the planet has a word for it. I know of no world of deep misty jungles where nonetheless ancient stone cities were raised, of no world where the silent can speak with their hands, of no world that burned two cities with nuclear fire then never used that terrible weapon again. I know of no world which, on visiting their satellite, left behind a message of peace, to whatever traveler might pass by in some distant day; I know of no world with your wars, and your sorrows, and your triumphs, for all these things are yours and yours alone, and I marvel, I revel, that I have lived to learn of them and see them.

"There is no world like yours. There is no people like yours. There is no world like Daiamir-Sho, with its towers that pierce the atmosphere; there is no world like Utashanna, whose forests are perpetually burning; there is no world like Farren, high above a deadly pulsar, whose people have never seen the sky; there is no world like Cairasten, all whose deserts are replaced by endless flowering meadows for one day every hundred years. And oh! You do not know of the lives of the saints of Irenost, the holiest martyrs in all the galaxy; you do not know of the joy of Ucaren, who redeemed a world from death; or of Palas, who bargained with the gods for the sake of all Creation, or of her sister, who crowned herself with the pains of hell to save her. You of course have your own tales and your own histories--but so does every world, and they are alike only in that they are as full of beauty and horror and triumph and ruin as yours.

"Earth is not a grain of sand on a beach. It is more like... a moment of time, within all the moments that make up a life. Nor do we, of the stars beyond, overlook its souls: for in microcosm, every soul is like a world. Like a world, a soul is vast, and full of things which are beautiful, and things profane.

"There is a ritual--once unique to the world of my home, but I have endeavored to commend it to others, and so I shall now commend it to you, and all who are listening. The ritual is thus: choose an arbitrary instant in time. Now, say, as my hand strikes the arm of this chair. In that moment, somewhere--on Earth, on Daiamir-Sho, on Utashanna or Cairasten, or somewhere yet unknown to us--a new soul has come into being. You do not know its name, its future, its family, or its condition. You know only that it exists. But that is holy. That is a thing of joy beyond all words. Hold that solemn and that joyful thought in your mind; carry it with you like a warm, comforting jewel. You may perform the inverse as well, of course, to mourn the dead whose names you do not know; to mourn the dead who will be forever forgotten. But you must remember, if you do, that they did live; and without all such lives, even the forgotten ones, we would not be here to seek one another out, to speak, to share our fates, to look up when the sun is hidden from view, and to observe the shining stars."

[universe-encyclopedia]

Elves, The Heart of Magic

“This realm, it seeks to break us, doesn’t it? I remember looking out from my perch and seeing nothing but darkness, nothing but a symbolic death to what had once been dotted with shining beauty. It had taken us long to realize that we were, in fact, being invaded. When the hell was dispersed, and peace seemed a reality, we learned more. We adapted. Stronger, still. I was, oh, one-hundred years old at that point. But, then the hell came back, this time from men and women I considered friends. So I sit here and meditate, and wait: when will my elvish adaptation reveal its head once again?” - Kelvaas, the First Myth

Should one think of magic, the first race to come to mind will most often be the elves -- of old or new, it does not matter. Mastery of magic has often come easily to elves: they originated many systems of magic that carry on to this day.

The measurement of magical potency, corruption, and likelihood of chaotic force incursion, to name a few. Humans often dismissed elvish practice as mystical heresy, that the Gods wished to keep mortals away from magic.

Through trial and error, the elves have grown a culture devoted to both the chaotic and orderly understanding of the forces that forge magic. The best and the worst of this come, as with all races, though what cannot be denied is elves are proud of their lineage, and long spans (so very long, in fact, that there has only been a handful of kings and queens to the Royalty on their home planet of L’zarra, in over six-thousand years).

                                                        Appearance 

Similar to humans in general build, smooth skin and hair on their head and, in men, on their face. However, throughout their body it is void of hair -- unlike humans, who very well may end up with it on other parts of their body.

The average height of males is around 185-200 Earthen centimeters, and weight 60-70 Earthen kilograms. Females on the other hand, make up an average height of 180-195 Earthen centimeters and 55-65 kilograms.

Besides general physique, ears are the most revealing aspect of elves: pointed, and varying based on the spread nature of elves. It is not known what has altered this over the years, though it is likely random in nature. The average length of elven ears is 6.5 Earthen centimeters. The variance is defined by elves in culture.

Should there lay a prominent sharp point, it is a distinguishing factor of royal blood, a descendant of L’zarra; furthermore, should they point upwards more so, it is another sign of royal blood.

The Reclamation elves, separated from their home for so very long, have also received odd general alterations: their physique is more akin to humans, bulkier and even taller than the standard elves. Their ears, however, are shorter, 4 Earthen centimeters, and entirely flat, or very little point. Some scholars harshly theorize it is because of ‘lesser blood’ being spread among them. A more curious theory is that there has been experimentation with half human/elf lineages. Of this, the Reclamation has not revealed, and it is seldom expected for that to ever happen. 

Beginning History 

When the formation happened, elves were the most aware, even more so than the humans, of the changes. Where there was once nothingness in the sky, stars appeared. Mystics among the elves read them to understand the fate of their people. They say what they perceived as ‘flat-eared savages, dedicated to the shedding of elf blood.’ They feared the Gods had abandoned them, so they sought salvation at the center of their home, Earth.

When they arrived and settled, elves had started spiritual exploration of the Universe. They had awareness of forces that would not be of prominence for many hundreds of years later: other races, elemental magics, even the breach at the very center of the Universe. It was then that the humans interrupted them.

In a swift action, elvish resistance had began without instigation on the humans’ behalf. On the contrary, humans had been weary of the elves. The reading of fate, however, was all that was needed for combative leaders of the elves to strike out, and try to enslave the magically inept humans.

The elves viewed them as disorganized, ugly, and stupid. Though, what they had not accounted for was the sheer number of humans that had struck back. The tribes that had once been weary of each other, from the north, south, and eastern parts of Earth, had banded together and obliterated the elven assaults. Magic had made no difference.

That was until elves forged a greater understanding: their potency, and adeptness to magic grew. With the need for defense, and offense, magic became a weapon as much as a tool. For a time, the center of Earth was secured for the elves, and they continued their commune. L’zarra, the King of Elfkind, attempted to make a pact with the humans.

The pact was a necessary act, the King insisted. Leaders of defense for the elves disagreed: specifically, Wizardos, who had spent hundreds of years before even the formation of the Universe exploring the capacity of his mind. The already quantifiable small elves grew smaller, divided by a passion to make peace or subjugate the humans.

Far too late, the elves became aware of a gathering storm approaching them: the orcs. Already they had obliterated the zorikan on their world, and now they sought Earth.

Alas, the twilight had breached Earth and left their damaging mark. The elves could not defend the ensuing onslaught of the ancient twilight, they could only understand them as descendants of demons, and their magic not capable of being understood by the elves.

Had it not been for the arrival of orcs, surely the elves would have been dwindled to numbers almost ensuring their demise. Swiftly, an alliance was formed between the human, elf, and twilight forces. They could only dent the orcish armies, however, for they held support from unknown entities: the Deep Darkness.

This was mortal kind’s first encounter with demons, at least on Earth. Elves had prepared, however. They knew to remove the head of the orcish beast: their leader. Shai-Zon, he was known as, the elves’ spiritual exploration had been essential to the salvation of Earth.

Kelvaas, a loyal guardian to the Royalty, and magical master, had worked with human and twilight forces alike to steal valuable intelligence from the orcs. Among him was Marilyn Rist the First Legend, Vaarmo the Harbinger, Rosari of Space, and Testra of Time. He became known as the First Myth. Together, they were heralded as the Four (as Vaarmo was not distinguished as one of the Ten until much later).

It was not long before tomes were recovered that elevated a simple human, Rosari, to understand something foreign even to elves: space magics. The art of teleportation, and the manipulation of matter. For merely two years she trained with Kelvaas as the armies of human, elf, and twilight, fought mercilessly against the orcs.

The combined power of Kelvaas and Rosari had sped up their journey from planet to planet; a tedious process, truly. Kelvaas used all his power to scout the Universe, as the elves had done on Earth. He searched for habitable planets, even if only briefly, and Rosari dedicated her power to moving them all -- all fourteen of them total -- towards their destination.

The Four were successful in their purpose, and returned to Earth as heroes. Kelvaas dedicated himself to training any and all races in magic, and even spent his time negotiating with the twilight to gain their knowledge. He was cut short, however, as his dear friend, Marilyn, the First Legend, had been slain.

Kelvaas watched in dread as elves were segregated, and it seemed obvious more death was coming. It was to be the Myth encouraged his new King, L’voros, to broker a deal with the humans: to allow them to leave Earth. The elves would find a new home, away from the conflict, away from the humans.

They were granted this with little resistance, the humans had little care to share further space. Away they went, away to find a new home. Kelvaas lead them, along with his dozens of adepts in space magic, they searched. When finally they settled near a decade after their Exodus, they named their new home L’zarra.

Spread of Elves 

Elves had taken to their home with some reluctance at first. L’voros had little of the charisma or leadership skill skills his father, L’zarra held. Kelvaas urged L’voros to hand leadership over to his far more capable sister, L’reeta, but L’voros denied this, and lead nonetheless.

Curiously, on the world they had settled on, there had already been a race living underground: the zuuni. The small race had ‘claimed’ the planet, but were friendly to the elves, and even willing to “sell” it to them. This lead to a most odd occurrence, which is obeyed to most accurate historic texts: before this deal, L’voros had been known as Lu’voros, and L’zarra, Lu’zarra. Quite literally, the zuuni negotiated a letter of the Royal Family’s name, in exchange for free reign of the planet, and coorperation with zuuni -- once zuni.

The elves found the zuuni odd, but much more willing to be worked with than the humans. An economy was formed based on zuuni ideology, and politics and military means became a focus for the elves. Peace was secured for the elves for many years, slowly the influence of the Royal Family spread, and when it came that the noble race organized the best magic-users to bind the demonic seals, the elves were happy to contribute.

Early on, the elves were eager participators in the Universe. Though, during the great breaking of seals, they had less faith in the other races, and retreated to isolation. Elves eager to continue sparking curiosity, exploring magic, and starting new civilization left the Royal Family’s isolation, and had began other civilizations anew.

The most notorious of which is the Reclamation, formed by the elven supremacist, Wizardos. Ascended, and immortal, he led a movement of elves dedicated to policing magic across the Universe, and claiming ownership to people or items of extreme power. It had taken near a thousand years before Wizardos was ousted, and new leadership was secured, and a more hopeful future for the Reclamation, though what that entails has long been speculated, for the Reclamation too has been reclusive for long.

Beyond that, scattered elven colonies are somewhat rare. Often they are mixed race, barely distinguishable as ‘elven’ if only in origin.

Elves Now 

In recent times, it has become evident more than ever that elves are not bound to serve only the Royal Family. Furthermore, the Royal Family themselves have accepted that it is not necessary to accept only elves into their society -- however, their reclusive nature has been in periods of disappearing, and reappearing, with most recently evidence of alienation being present.

Before this, there was a fragile balance: the elven Royalty (composed of either a leading King or Queen and Royal Council) held legislative might in the Universe. To an agreement, the Cyron were to bring executive might, and enforce what the elves deemed necessary. Though, with recent conflicts, this balance has been disturbed: war is not brewing, but spite, spite likely perceived as in the very blood of the two mortal adversaries.

The council seldom agrees anymore, and even with war on other fronts (worldly or otherworldly) inbound, the elves show little sign of providing their strength.

“It was then I realized the power of magic, the true nature of what it meant to be an elf. I used to teach my students a simple morality: do not say you are better than the other races without proof to back it up. They won’t believe you, anyways, and that is perfectly fine. You won’t believe yourself when you say it either, which teaches an essential lesson. When it come to the Universe, only two things are undeniably true, and that’s life and death.” - Mazra Yen, of the Reclamation