World of Two Moons

The World of Two Moons or Abode is a fictional Earth-type planet featured in Wendy and Richard Pini's comic book "Elfquest".

The second planet of its solar system, the WoTM seems to have developed along very similar lines to Earth (which is "not" referred to in "Elfquest"). As its name suggests, the most obvious difference is that it has two moons rather than one. The larger moon seems to be about the same size as Earth's Moon. The smaller orbits closer to the planet but still has a smaller apparent diameter.

The planet is home to numerous species that are similar or identical to their Earth equivalents, including deer, pigs, rabbits (called "ravvits"), allosaurus, wolves, and - perhaps most significantly - humans.

At the beginning of the "Elfquest" story the planet also becomes home to three other intelligent species when a space vessel in the form of a palace crashes there: Elves with seemingly magical powers; trolls, physically strong, greedy and acquisitive; and preservers, small winged beings that can spin fibers with preserving properties, hence their name.

The elves split up and form several societies (at least six are described in the Elfquest series) that develop for millennia in mutual ignorance and isolation before finally rediscovering each other. The small winged preservers follow one of the elfin groups, but are later sent away and colonise a small forest. The trolls burrow underground and over the course of thousands of years establish vast underground kingdoms in which materialism and greed are the main motivating factors.

Relationships between the four intelligent species are often turbulent and sometimes extremely violent, but it is an undeniable fact that over the centuries the presence of the invaders, despite their small numbers, has a major and generally positive impact upon the planet's development. By the time the humans develop spaceflight of their own, the planet (now called Abode) has a stable human population of about 300 million, a global government, thriving colonies throughout its solar system, and a healthy ecology. (Even counting space stations and settlements on other planets, the human population numbers only about 2.5 billion.) But by then the elves themselves seem to have vanished or gone into hiding (in fact they have resumed their ancestors' former lives flying the Palace of the High Ones from planet to planet), and are regarded as mythical by the human population. Also, a newly arrived alien species, the reptilian, warlike Neverending, has colonized the planet Outerreach (the planet most distant from Abode's sun) and appears to pose a threat to the planet's security.