Host: Hello and welcome. Today we have a very special guest from the new and exciting story called Magnifica. Please join me in welcoming the heroine, Lia’na of the White Water Clan.

Lia’na: Lien ni, it’s wonderful to be here.

Host: So Lia’na how are you today?

Lia’na: Very well, lien ni!

Host: Now I’m curious, what exactly does lien ni mean? Is that thank you in Elvish?

Lia’na: Yes, that’s correct.

Host: Ah see, you learn something new every day. So Lia’na, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Lia’na: (brushes her hair back behind her pointed ears) Well as you can see, I’m an elf. I come from the White Water Clan which lives on a small reservation up in New Hampshire. There are about 20 of us all together.

Host: Only 20? Why so few?

Lia’na: Well unfortunately my people have been ravaged by disease for several thousands of years. Our numbers have dwindled down to less than a thousand. As a result, our clans are scattered all over the planet, but the numbers in each clan our few. Even the number of clans has dwindled over the years. The Black Rock Clan, the Ice Wind Clan, among others have ceased to exist in the last two decades.

Host: So your people are dying of disease? Including you?

Lia’na: Thankfully not anymore. My people saw the extinction of our race coming and following the discovery of our race’s existence around the time your second World War took place, we decided to come forward and ask for help from humanity. Your kind had become advanced in the ways of medicine and science. In exchange for your help… we gave your people historical texts and artifacts that dated back over 15,000 years prior to your earliest recorded history. That turned out to be a mistake.

Host: Why?

Lia’na: To understand that, I’m going to need to go back a little bit. You see, there was a time when elves, dwarves, and humans lived in harmony in a society now commonly referred to as the Alliance. Our technological achievements equaled those of Ancient Rome… the major difference was the presence of magic.

Host: So what like witches and wizards?

Lia’na: Sort of… we referred to them as enchanters. Only humans were able to possess such power. The abilities came from an unusual gem called the Lux Mundi. It was a large monolith, rumored to be solid diamond that was orange in color. Latest historical analysis indicates that the diamond came to Earth from the asteroid belt, following years of being exposed to the Sun’s radiation. We can’t explain what happened, but the atomic makeup of the diamond in addition to it’s radioactive nature altered the genetic makeup of certain people with the right traits and brain functions, giving them supernatural abilities.

Host: What happened to them?

Lia’na: Well, there’s truth to the saying that absolute power corrupts, absolutely. Only one of every thousand children were born with the gift. Those that were, viewed themselves as superior… especially since the genetic makeup of elves somehow negated the Lux Mundi’s abilities. Elves were not able to become enchanters and our mere presence near the crystal seemed to damage it. Wars for superiority began to tear the Alliance apart. The dwarves were the first to discover the Lux Mundi and viewed it as a holy relic. They built a shrine to it on the crash site, which is now known as Mount Vesuvius. Thousands were slaughtered over control of the diamond. The Elven elders at the time came forward and preached against the fighting. Those that were not killed, called on all Elves to break ranks with the Alliance. A group of several thousand marched on Vesuvius and went before the diamond. Several of them willingly sacrificed themselves and used their blood to break down the diamond.

Host: Your blood?

Lia’na: Elven blood is far more acidic than humans’ is. The plus the fact that we seemed to negate it’s abilities, made us likely candidates to destroy it. The crystal collapsed into several small pieces which became extremely hot and sank deep into the Earth. We don’t know how, but the result was a massive explosion that turned a small hill into the Mountain that we now know as Vesuvius. It’s said that only a fraction of the elves who went after the Lux Mundi survived. Not long after, our people began exhibiting unusual symptoms and an illness on our skin. Our people tried to isolate the people who had the disease, but they failed and it spread like wildfire through our people.

Host: So that’s why there are so few of you left.

Lia’na: That’s right. Because we didn’t know if humans or dwarves could be infected, inter-species mating was forbidden. The dwarves viewed the destruction of the Lux Mundi as an offense to God and ended their participation in the Alliance. They broke off into several groups and burrowed deep underground in search of the remains of the Lux Mundi. They burrowed so far down into the Earth that there would be no contact with humans for many thousands of years. Our people, fearing what would happen as the result of this and wanting to tend to our own, fled the Alliance and hid in the most remote corners of the world, leaving humans to essentially start over. Your people broke off into tribes and spent thousands of years fighting among yourselves. Almost all knowledge of the Alliance was lost to the sands of time for humans and you began to rebuild. It wasn’t until ancient Sumeria that your people actually started organizing into societies again. Giving humans knowledge of these events opened the door to racial bigotry and blind hatred of our people. Many viewed us as the reason that the world is in it’s current state, like we were the cause of every bad thing that happened on the planet.

Host: But some good came of it.

Lia’na: Yes, thankfully the more educated of your people deemed us a protected and endangered species and worked diligently to find us a cure. They failed to do so, but managed to come up with a vaccine that would prevent the disease from being passed from mother to child.

Host: Ah, so your race was saved.

Lia’na: Not quite… the damage from the disease that we called the Ulium was done. It damaged our genetic makeup to the point where procreation became difficult. Only one in five Elven children are born female. That is why our numbers continue to dwindle. The result of this means that now, the moment a female is born, she is immediately betrothed to a male mate which she must then marry at 18. She has no say in the matter.

Host: She can’t say no?

Lia’na: In a way, she could. If she has a friend or another male that she finds more suitable willing to fight for her, then she can ask him to issue a challenge. If that challenger wins, betrothal rights fall to him, at which point he can choose to keep them or release her.

Host: That doesn’t really sound fair.

Lia’na: It’s not… and I don’t really care for the person whom I’ve been betrothed to. I petitioned the Elder Elven Council for permission to postpone my marriage because I wanted to go to college. I wanted to study medicine and try to fix the genetic damage done to our gene pool. The elders agreed, not knowing that I had no intention of going to the Elven University in Holland.

Host: Why not?

Lia’na: I wanted to get out and see the world. I wanted to get to know people and see things beyond my clan’s land.

Host: How did that work out for you?

Lia’na: My clan’s elder, Masarabi nearly threw a fit when I told her that I was leaving. She said that people would despise me and treat me like an outcast… I’m sorry to say that she was right. I originally went to a school in the central part of the United States, after getting a government scholarship that amounted to a free ride. I spent much of my time hiding in my room out of fear. Eventually, I transferred up to Arcanus in Boston. I figured that, given the state’s history of being more progressive, I’d be more welcomed and it was closer to my reservation in New Hampshire.

Host: Was that any better for you?

Lia’na: So far… not really… I mean people aren’t as vocal about their personal biases, but they give me a wide birth for the most part. I spend a lot of time alone.

Host: I’m very sorry to hear that, I sincerely hope it gets better for you. Not all people are like that.

Lia’na: Oh I know, I’ve met a few good ones over time.

Host: So I noticed the gem you’re wearing. That’s very ornate, is it Elven-made?

Lia’na: Lien ni. It’s an artifact that has been passed down my family from woman to woman. It’s rumored that the orange gem is a piece of the original Lux Mundi.

Host: That’s… extraordinary. It’s a wonder it’s not in a museum or something.

Lia’na: The Elven people keep our artifacts close… and it’s just a rumor anyway, there is no real way to confirm it.

Host: What would happen if it came into contact with someone who met the right genetic makeup?

Lia’na: I suppose that it would give that person the powers of the enchanter, but it’s such a small piece and it’s been around humans before without something like that happening. Like I said, it’s probably not even real, but it’s all I have of my mother.

Host: Oh I’m sorry, your mother is no longer with us?

Lia’na: No… and neither is my father. They both died shortly after I was born. They were two of the last victims of the Ulium.

Host: So what are you up to now, what are your plans for the future?

Lia’na: Well I’m working on becoming a doctor as I said before. My major is premed with a focus on genetics and it’s my hope that once I graduate, I’ll be able to get out of this arranged marriage sham and work for the betterment of my people.

Host: And we wish you the best of luck. Thank you for joining us today.

Lia’na: Lien ni for having me!