ELFs/Story
Last updated 2026-01-02
ELFs, short for Equipment: Living Forms, are little humanoid robots that serve as weapons, servants or companions. They are created by using a pseudo-core made from Soulium.
History
In the Previous Era, a scientist named Dr. EINSTEIN started Project ELF in an attempt to lower casualty rates of human soldiers. The ELFs themselves were combat droids designed to be capable of independent action. Each of them were furnished with a pseudo-core, which was built using Soulium with pre-scripted programs. They also inherit combat data, thus making them battle-hardened veterans at the very moment of their creation. They were also imprinted with three directives in their programming:
- Regard any Honkai as a hostile and defeat them.
- Do not harm humans
- Survive
Mass production line built these ELF by the thousands. Their minds were linked to an ELF AI Cluster Network. This allowed the ELFs to behave organically, learn from their battles, and improve their tactical protocols. The survival directive proved to make their decisions smarter—as they tried to get through battles with the least amount of casualties possible. Project ELF was a huge success and they managed to push back Honkai for quite some time, but the victory left a bitter taste in their mouths. Due to their directives, and their partnership with one another, they began to form a higher intelligence—thus realizing they did not want a life of war. Because humans ordered them to fight Honkai, which resulted in death for some units, they found humanity indirectly at fault. Thus, they started rejecting human orders.
Soon enough, they approached humans in the forms of protest. Humans didn't care much for what they thought, however, and conflict sparked between the two groups. It got to the point where negotiation was necessary, so the government sent out Dr. EINSTEIN. She decided that since they were clearly sentient, they should have the same rights as humans. The freedom to decide one's path and actions was installed as a new directive. Satisfied, the ELF resistance ceased.
But then the 9th Herrscher, Herrscher of Earth, was born a year later. It created a black hole that threatened the entirety of the Mu continent with extinction. Dr. EINSTEIN created a portal to the Sea of Quanta, and Mu, along with its people, became one of the bubble worlds drifting in the Sea. The survivors thought they won, but they soon realized the continent had been so brutalized that Honkai energy was seeping into the soil. The humans would not be able to survive.
In the end, only the ELFs were left on Mu, with humans becoming only mystical beings from their legends.
Manga Story
At the time when Fu Hua was still known in Shenzhou as the Immortal Empyrea, Phoenix, she had a companion ELF named Book of Fuxi, which was given to her by the twins Fuxi and Nuwa before their demise to keep her company. However, as during that time period no source of energy for ELFs existed, the batteries of the little Book eventually died out.
Much later, during her travels through the Sea of Quanta, a scientist named Erwin Reanna Schrodinger lands in the bubble world with Mu and the ELFs. Their leader, Jingwei's Wings, asks her to fix an ancient machine (a computer), at which Schrodinger succeeds but after learning the truth about the origin of the ELFs, she decides it is better to destroy the information so the ELFs can continue living free without any human interference.
Around 2015, an ELF created in the image of Kevin Kaslana appears as the guard of the Second Divine key when Schicksal tries to recover the key. It is said that Kevin created the ELF with 1% of his power.
Trivia
- ELFs available in game are not representative of canon ELFs.
- The ELF Academy anime presents the scenario what if the ELFs visited a school.