Some information might be duplicated from one page to another, please bear with me, as things should not contradict even if they are printed twice.
Everyone who comes to the Otherforest used to be a human from Earth. The only way to get to this new world is to be asked, or have someone show you the way. There aren't many people there now, and they like it that way. People who don't like to have fun and imagine themselves doing new and fantastic things don't belong there, or won't have a very good time.
People who come to the Otherforest all travel through a 'doorway' that leads from Earth into a place on the Otherforest called the Hall of Portals. The Hall is a very large and kind of scary building made of black marble. It is very chilly inside it, and dark. Inside, it looks like an art gallery or house of mirrors, because on all the walls are other doorways, or Portals, to all the different places which connect to the Otherforest -- like Earth.
When someone goes through the POrtal from Earth to the Hall, they chance grom being a human being into an elf. Elves are smaller than humans, the biggest ones are still only the size of small adult humans! They have different ears than humans, they are long and pointed. They have only three fingers and a thumb on their hands, and four toes on their feet, so counting to ten is different for them! Elves don't age unless they want to (or they're born there, they grow from being a baby to an adult, but after that they don't grow old). They can be hurt, and might die if they're injured badly, but they won't grow old. The main difference between elves and humans is that elves use magic powers.
Otherforest elves do not speak 'spells' out of books, these magic powers are just a part of the way they are. Some of them have many different abilities, some only have one, but all of them can do certain things. One of these things is called 'sending' and it is the ability to speak to one another with their minds. Another is called the 'magic feeling' which tells someone if they're near something that has had elfin magic used on it, or if someone is doing magic near them. Also, many (but not all) elves can find an animal friend, usually a wolf but sometimes whatever their favorite animal was on Earth, they might 'bond' to. Most elves can Send to their animal partner, and if it is a wolf they can also understand how they speak with howls and barking and whining. More about these wolves later.
The elves and their animal companions treat each other as equals, the wolves are NOT pets! They're friends who take care of each other, who hunt and play together, and who will always be there for each other. If one of them gets hurt or is frightened, the other will feel it in their mind, and try to help. Elves don't "share" their special bond with others, it's usually one-elf to one-bond.
There are all kinds of other magic powers. Mostly, the elves don't think that their powers are 'better' or 'worse' than other people's powers. If someone can do one thing and another person something else, they might be able to do something together that neither of them could do apart. There are descriptions of powers and how people can use them, later.
The elves live in small colonies or village-type places called Holts. The word Holt is actually an old human word meaning "home" (a ferret home is still called a Holt) but since not many people know of this word here it sounds exotic like the elves would be. There are a number of Holts scattered far and wide across the world of the Otherforest, but there are still not really very many people living there.
Some of the people who have been brought to the Otherforst have children there, but this is all just a fantasy story -- they don't REALLY have those children just because they've been written up here. Sometimes the children of real-world parents come along, or sometimes the parents come with the KIDS!
One very different thing about the Otherforest is that time passes differently between Earth and there. For every two months that pass here on Earth, a whole YEAR passes there! So if someone goes to the Otherforest and spends a few weeks there, they can come back just a few hours or even minutes after they left Earth! On the other hand, when someone goes TO Earth, they're missed for a long time on the Otherforest.
On the Otherforest, there are other people than just the elves. These other people are all made-up, they don't really exist, but they make for good stories. They came from other places than Earth, planets which have life and a Portal between there and the Otherforest. Everything on the Otherforest, the trees and birds, fish and animals, and the very water and air, came from another world and was somehow transformed into something slightly different on its way in.
One group of other people are called the Ice Traders. They're heavier than elves but not much taller, they travel in the cold northern lands and on boats all around the world. They don't have magic powers, but they can build things better than any elf can. Another group is far to the west, that are shaped like deer but can shapeshift themselves into upright, two-legged deer-people. They look a lot like deer with antlers and big ears, and clumsy hoof-like feet, but they have the very strongest ability to Send, even better than the best Elf, but they can't do very much else. To the far south, there are flying people, with bird-like features, called Avi (ahh-vee), but they have not met very many Elves. In some warmer areas, there are insect-people called the Hive, who can also Send, and don't like it when elves call them "bugs". They make beautiful music with their own bodies, like crickets, and they weave silk from their bodies for the elves who trade with them. In the southern plains, there is a tribe of bear-like creatures called the Urai (urr-eye). They have four arms and two very thick heavy legs, they look like bears walking, only with more big arms. They have no smell, unlike all other creatures.
Individuals of any of these people might like or dislike elves in general. Of course, no elf MUST like everyone they encounter! But most people try to get along. The Deer folk have had wars among themselves, and the Urai don't get along with the wilder of the elves (because some of them hunt them!) and the Ice Traders are more interested in what trinkets and doo-dads the elves want to trade.
The lands that the Otherforest has are as varied as the ones on Earth. The Hall of Portals is in the middle of a rainforest swamp! There are huge forests of redwoods, big coastal cliffs with great surfing, gigantic grasslands like African savannah, rolling hills and meadows, inland lakes, deserts, deep dusty canyons, tropical islands, tundra, and many more. The elves live anywhere they can find enough food to eat and shelter to live in.
The elves must hunt and kill food, scavenge for meat, pick fruit off trees or dig roots out of the ground. They don't have any restaurants or televesion sets, no electricity at all in fact! They live in homes made by or shaped with their magic, not by cutting down trees -- they are more likely to shape a tree than to ever let it die by being cut down. They are very 'back to nature' people, and they don't like it when something happens to the natural way of things.
The people in each Holt are expected to do something for everyone, like to cook or hunt, to make objects or shape homes, repair clothing, or to communicate with other Holts far away. Everyone does something, but there's usually time for play and fun. Sometimes everyone must gather and talk about a danger or problem -- if some enemy is found poking its nose around, if someone's bond animal has tried eating someone else's bond... Everyone gets a chance to speak, and even if you were a very young kid on Earth, you'll still be listened to in the Holt gather. As long as everyone knows the rules, and plays by them, everyone can be happy and safe.
Since there aren't any radios or tennis shoes or nintendo games on the Otherforest, the elves do other things to keep themselves happy. They play different sports, or ones very similar to those we have on Earth. As long as it doesn't involve some kind of electric power, the elves can probably play it. (They play elfin versions of soccer, basketball, hide and seek, golf, all kinds of familiar games.) But they also play games with their magic powers that we can't here on Earth! They see how strong one of them is, or how far they can fly, or how many things they can shape into, or how detailed they can make something. Life on the Otherforest is just a little different than on Eatth. It's slower, eaasier in places but very difficult in others. Most Earth kids don't have to learn how to make their own leather shoes, they're only taught how to tie laces! But here they can learn if they want to, and sometimes they NEED to. Most Earth kids don't know how to make a plant seed grow just by willing it, but they can plant it in the ground and water it. Since the Otherforest is a make-believe world, anything can be possible.
One of the Holts that is nearest to the Hall of Portals is called "Dare's Valley". It's named that because it is in a valley near the coast, and the leader of the people there is named Dare. She is strong and sometimes seems angry, but she's got a lot of responsibility to keep the people in her Holt happy and healthy.
Near Dare's Valley is another Holt called Fang's Tree, and it is a place that most 'nice' people try to avoid. Fang is the leader there, and he's very mean and cruel. He always tries sticking his nose in the Valley and stealing away elves to live with him, but most times he doesn't get away with anything or any one. There are elves who live in both places, friends to some in each, enemies on both sides too.
To the north of the Hall is the Ice Traders lands. They sometimes visit the elves but not often. Everything else in the world is west of the Hall -- because it's on the very edge of the eastern coast.
