Post by Nightwhisper on Sept 10, 2015 0:35:11 GMT
Some of you might be wondering right about now what this series is all about.
If that's what you're wondering, then you've come to the right place.
This thread is a place where you can learn more about the series or, if someone says something that you don't understand (like a term from the book), you can look it up here. If the word you are looking for is not listed, then feel free to ask a question. If anybody who has read Keeper of the Lost Cities and sees that a word is missing, please let me know and I will add it ASAP.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION (spoiler free)
Keeper of the Lost Cities is a book series by Shannon Messanger. There are 3 or more books (I'm not 100% sure). It would help very much for you to read the first book at least, but if you don't want to, that's fine.
The series sets place (primarily) in the Lost Cities, a series of Elvin (yes, Elvin as in elves) cities. These cities can only be accessed by elves, and the humans don't know that any of them exist. There are human legends (like Atlantis) that actually exist in the Elvin world, but most of the lost cities are complete secrets, and even if they do have legends about them, they tend to have different names (except for Atlantis). The elves also speak a different language: the Enlightened Language. Every elf knows it immediately from birth. There are two main groups for elves: those in the nobility, which is basically royalty, and those in the working class, elves who primarily just make and sell things to assist others. There are rarely any crimes committed- when one is, there is a tribunal, which is basically a hearing in front of a council. Councillor is the highest position- and they don't just decide if an elf is guilty or not. They also decide which academy young elves go to. The best academy is Foxfire (if an elf wanted to be in the nobility, they would HAVE to go to Foxfire), and the worst is Exillium. There are undoubtedly many others, but they are not directly mentioned in the book, so you can make up your own. Students at the academies are called prodigies. Teachers are Mentors. There are 7 sessions (classes) each day, and PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The 8 sessions are Elementalism (learning to bottle and memorize elements), the Universe (learning to bottle and memorize stars/starlight), Metaphysics (fancy elf science), Multispecisial Studies (learning about other species), Alchemy (making potions and etc.), 1 other that I can not for the life of me remember, and Ability Manifesting (trying to discover your ability- see dictionary for 'ability'). Once an elf discovers their ability, they are switched out of ability manifesting and into a session teaching them how to use their ability. If an elf has more than one ability, they may switch out one of their other sessions for ability training as well, though I don't believe that is mandatory. All elves have nexuses (see dictionary) and most often pathfinders (see dictionary). Anyway. Random fact time. Elves are vegetarians. Elves never die of old age, and don't die particularly often for other reasons either. An elf's ears get pointier as they get older. All elves in the nobility must wear fancy clothes and capes, and all working class elves wear tunics or casual dresses with no capes. ALL elves have blue eyes.
That's about it.
DICTIONARY
Ability- every elf has at least one ability. It is triggered around the age of 13 and is kind of like a super power. It varies from elf to elf, and it is VERY RARE for and elf to have more than one. Abilities will be listed in the dictionary.
Empath- an ability. Empaths can feel others' emotions by touching them- and can sometimes sense strong emotions by simply being near another.
Inflictor- a VERY RARE ability, one of the rarest. Inflictors can inflict pain on others.
Telepath- Telepaths can read minds and transmit mental messages into other's heads. While most elves can perform some sort of telekinesis, Telepaths are even better at it. They can also prevent their mind from being read by other telepaths (blocking). There are rules for telepaths though- they can not read the minds of elves without permission. Telepaths also have several special jobs that will be listed below (though not every telepath has one of those jobs).
Keeper- A very powerful telepath with excellent blocking skills- they are told top secret information that is too confidential to even write down. They must have a photographic memory in order to remember the information.
Washer- powerful telepaths who wipe the memories of others when necessary.
Mesmer- THE 2ND RAREST ability. They can basically hypnotize others and make them do anything they want.
Polygot- rare. Polygots can speak every language, even if they didn't learn it at all.
Descryer- Descryers are incredibly rare and can sense potential.
Vanishers- Vanishers can disappear and reappear at will, though sometimes they just vanish on accident.
Conjurers- conjurers can conjure things. As long as they know where it is, they can make it appear anywhere.
Technopath- Technopath's are incredibly good with machines and can make any machine work the way they want.
Froster- Frosters can freeze things.
Pyrokinetics- pyrokinetics are THE RAREST. Pyrokinesis is forbidden- they can control fire, but there are some types of fire that they can not always control.
Flasher- flashers can manipulate light in any way they want, and can even use light to heal others.
Nexus- a nexus is a sort of wrist band that all elves must wear for some time. It is to make sure they don't fade away when leaping. There is a meter on a nexus that tells the wearer's concentration- when the meter is full, they wearer is strong enough to keep themselves from fading away without a nexus.
Pathfinder- in a way, pathfinders are fancy portable cars. They look like magic wands in a sense, rods with a crystal at the end. The color of the crystal decides where it will take you- blue takes you to the forbidden cities, others take you to Lost Cities. Each pathfinder has a certain number of facets- each facet takes the user to a different place.
Forbidden Cities- human cities. Elves are forbidden to go there without permission from the council.
Leaping- light leaping. Basically light travel. To leap would be to use a pathfinder. If a pathfinder is a car, leaping is basically driving.
Fading away- while leaping, elves are sort of cast into an inbetween space for second before reaching their destination. If an elves concentration is not high enough, they could fade away. If an elves concentration is equal to or lower than one half, they run the risk of entirely fading away. Sometimes elves partially fade, and that can usually be healed over a certain amount of time (depending on how faded they are).
Prattles- prattles are a candy that is similar to caramel. Each candy comes with an animal pin. The pins are made of various metals, and some are very rare. However many of that animal there are in the Lost Cities, that's how many pins there are.
Enlightened Language- the Elvin language
That's about all I can think of. I'll alphabetize the dictionary soon to make it easier. If this still didn't help, feel free to PM me (nightwhisper) or post a question (here or on the help board). That's all!
If that's what you're wondering, then you've come to the right place.
This thread is a place where you can learn more about the series or, if someone says something that you don't understand (like a term from the book), you can look it up here. If the word you are looking for is not listed, then feel free to ask a question. If anybody who has read Keeper of the Lost Cities and sees that a word is missing, please let me know and I will add it ASAP.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION (spoiler free)
Keeper of the Lost Cities is a book series by Shannon Messanger. There are 3 or more books (I'm not 100% sure). It would help very much for you to read the first book at least, but if you don't want to, that's fine.
The series sets place (primarily) in the Lost Cities, a series of Elvin (yes, Elvin as in elves) cities. These cities can only be accessed by elves, and the humans don't know that any of them exist. There are human legends (like Atlantis) that actually exist in the Elvin world, but most of the lost cities are complete secrets, and even if they do have legends about them, they tend to have different names (except for Atlantis). The elves also speak a different language: the Enlightened Language. Every elf knows it immediately from birth. There are two main groups for elves: those in the nobility, which is basically royalty, and those in the working class, elves who primarily just make and sell things to assist others. There are rarely any crimes committed- when one is, there is a tribunal, which is basically a hearing in front of a council. Councillor is the highest position- and they don't just decide if an elf is guilty or not. They also decide which academy young elves go to. The best academy is Foxfire (if an elf wanted to be in the nobility, they would HAVE to go to Foxfire), and the worst is Exillium. There are undoubtedly many others, but they are not directly mentioned in the book, so you can make up your own. Students at the academies are called prodigies. Teachers are Mentors. There are 7 sessions (classes) each day, and PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The 8 sessions are Elementalism (learning to bottle and memorize elements), the Universe (learning to bottle and memorize stars/starlight), Metaphysics (fancy elf science), Multispecisial Studies (learning about other species), Alchemy (making potions and etc.), 1 other that I can not for the life of me remember, and Ability Manifesting (trying to discover your ability- see dictionary for 'ability'). Once an elf discovers their ability, they are switched out of ability manifesting and into a session teaching them how to use their ability. If an elf has more than one ability, they may switch out one of their other sessions for ability training as well, though I don't believe that is mandatory. All elves have nexuses (see dictionary) and most often pathfinders (see dictionary). Anyway. Random fact time. Elves are vegetarians. Elves never die of old age, and don't die particularly often for other reasons either. An elf's ears get pointier as they get older. All elves in the nobility must wear fancy clothes and capes, and all working class elves wear tunics or casual dresses with no capes. ALL elves have blue eyes.
That's about it.
DICTIONARY
Ability- every elf has at least one ability. It is triggered around the age of 13 and is kind of like a super power. It varies from elf to elf, and it is VERY RARE for and elf to have more than one. Abilities will be listed in the dictionary.
Empath- an ability. Empaths can feel others' emotions by touching them- and can sometimes sense strong emotions by simply being near another.
Inflictor- a VERY RARE ability, one of the rarest. Inflictors can inflict pain on others.
Telepath- Telepaths can read minds and transmit mental messages into other's heads. While most elves can perform some sort of telekinesis, Telepaths are even better at it. They can also prevent their mind from being read by other telepaths (blocking). There are rules for telepaths though- they can not read the minds of elves without permission. Telepaths also have several special jobs that will be listed below (though not every telepath has one of those jobs).
Keeper- A very powerful telepath with excellent blocking skills- they are told top secret information that is too confidential to even write down. They must have a photographic memory in order to remember the information.
Washer- powerful telepaths who wipe the memories of others when necessary.
Mesmer- THE 2ND RAREST ability. They can basically hypnotize others and make them do anything they want.
Polygot- rare. Polygots can speak every language, even if they didn't learn it at all.
Descryer- Descryers are incredibly rare and can sense potential.
Vanishers- Vanishers can disappear and reappear at will, though sometimes they just vanish on accident.
Conjurers- conjurers can conjure things. As long as they know where it is, they can make it appear anywhere.
Technopath- Technopath's are incredibly good with machines and can make any machine work the way they want.
Froster- Frosters can freeze things.
Pyrokinetics- pyrokinetics are THE RAREST. Pyrokinesis is forbidden- they can control fire, but there are some types of fire that they can not always control.
Flasher- flashers can manipulate light in any way they want, and can even use light to heal others.
Nexus- a nexus is a sort of wrist band that all elves must wear for some time. It is to make sure they don't fade away when leaping. There is a meter on a nexus that tells the wearer's concentration- when the meter is full, they wearer is strong enough to keep themselves from fading away without a nexus.
Pathfinder- in a way, pathfinders are fancy portable cars. They look like magic wands in a sense, rods with a crystal at the end. The color of the crystal decides where it will take you- blue takes you to the forbidden cities, others take you to Lost Cities. Each pathfinder has a certain number of facets- each facet takes the user to a different place.
Forbidden Cities- human cities. Elves are forbidden to go there without permission from the council.
Leaping- light leaping. Basically light travel. To leap would be to use a pathfinder. If a pathfinder is a car, leaping is basically driving.
Fading away- while leaping, elves are sort of cast into an inbetween space for second before reaching their destination. If an elves concentration is not high enough, they could fade away. If an elves concentration is equal to or lower than one half, they run the risk of entirely fading away. Sometimes elves partially fade, and that can usually be healed over a certain amount of time (depending on how faded they are).
Prattles- prattles are a candy that is similar to caramel. Each candy comes with an animal pin. The pins are made of various metals, and some are very rare. However many of that animal there are in the Lost Cities, that's how many pins there are.
Enlightened Language- the Elvin language
That's about all I can think of. I'll alphabetize the dictionary soon to make it easier. If this still didn't help, feel free to PM me (nightwhisper) or post a question (here or on the help board). That's all!