Introduction

The dalar are a humanoid but non-human species living secretly alongside humans in modern-day Earth. If you're into TVTropes, it's a Masquerade world; the dalar have always been there, just with their nations hidden from human eyes. The dalar are actually quite close to humans, either another subspecies of homo sapiens (homo sapiens dalaris, perhaps?) or another species in the same genus (i.e. homo dalaris). Regardless of which they are, they appear physically quite similar to humans and the two species are genetically compatible enough to have children together.

In the universe of the dalar, there is also a natural force or power called amati. It's magic by another name, but not of the fireballs-necromancy-summoning monsters variety. This force exists naturally throughout the universe, being particularly concentrated in living things. Humans and animals generally can’t sense it and certainly can't manipulate it consciously. This is the primary distinguishing feature between humans and dalar--because dalar can sense and manipulate amati. This allows them to do a number of (seemingly?) supernatural things, which are discussed elsewhere on the wiki.

These two twists on the real world are the foundation to how everything else in the world works. Aside from these (and their effects), everything else can be assumed to function the same way as in the real world.

Meta-history
The dalar have, in one form or another, been kicking around my head since 2004. They started off as your garden variety Tolkien-style elves, in a bog-standard fantasy world complete with hobbits, talking snakes, and flying horses. Over time, however, they've evolved into something that I think is quite different. Yeah, they're tall long-lived magical people, but that’s about it as far as similarities go.

Although none of my stories are posted online, I've written a number of stories about the dalar and their world, primarily focusing on a dalar woman living in the human world who uses her abilities to work for the CIA, but expanding to cover her family and associates too. The stories are sort of a weird spy thriller urban fantasy mashup with a dollop of politics. The worldbuilding started off as just a way to give Alyn a backstory, but over time, things have sort of spiraled out of control. This is the first time I've actually set out to put down everything in one place online, so we’ll see how that goes.