David Silverleaf:

Full Name: Detective Lt. David Sindelas Silverleaf
Species: Elf

Allegiance: MCPD, Detective Bureau, Central Division, Precinct 9
Religion: Elvish Monotheism
Social Status: 3 (salary M55,000/yr)

Age: 150 as of 11/11/1999
Eyes: Violet
Hair: Black, long (ponytail)
Height: 183 cm (6'0")

Physical Notes: Slender and athletic; lightly tanned skin; sharp, angular features

Supernatural Abilities: Adeptus Exemptus, "Nature" magic; typical Elven supernatural traits, including telescopic and low-light vision, magic sight, and resistance to mind-affecting enchantments and most transformation magic.

Kate Kitaen's partner. David has lightly tanned skin, long dark hair (which he wears in a ponytail), and deep, serious eyes of a striking violet color. (This is an unusual trait for his race, and he suspects that he has some Fae blood in his background. His family won't talk about it, though.)

David is unusual for an Elf, in that he chooses to live in human-controlled Metamor rather than the traditionally Elvish Quenardya. He finds humans amusing in their mercurial natures -- none more so than Kate herself. He is young for an Elf, and he decided to come to Metamor as the first stop in a journey around the world. He plans to stay here for a while, perhaps fifty or sixty years, and then move on again. He's in no particular hurry, though; after all, he has all the time in the world.

David's round-the-world journey is partly a religious pursuit, in that he is seeking an experience called Epiphany. This is a moment that every Elf hopes he will experience, in which he receives a sudden revelation of the power and manifest presence of the Creator God (whom the Elves generally do not call by any specific name, at least not in the presence of humans). It can happen anywhere, doing almost anything, though it usually comes in times of reflection and contemplation. David, recognizing that humans (like Elves) are made in the image of God, has chosen to experience life among them in hopes that it will help him in his quest to experience this moment of transcendence. While he is often still a little awkward among the fast-paced lives of humans, he is open to new experiences; each new moment, after all, might be an opportunity to see God in His creation.

David is valuable as a Magic Affairs investigator by virtue of both his keen mind and his supernatural talents. Like all Elves, David has an inordinately strong sense of self-identity that makes him resistant to magical and psionic attempts to influence him; most enchantment spells or psychic compulsions will simply roll over him, leaving him unaffected. This sense of self also grounds him in his physical body: transformation magic can affect him, but it must be specifically tailored to affect Elves rather than humans, and the alterations required in the spells are beyond the knowledge or skill of most Street-level mages. While resistant to many magical effects, however, David still possesses the keen magical sight common to Elves; he can see spell effects and auras as easily as a human can see colors, though the Elven perception of these mana fields is often different from that of human mages.

David also has a notable degree of magical skill of his own, though his focus is quite different from Kate's -- and, in truth, different from that of most human mages in the Empire. In a more primitive world he might be called a ranger, or even a shaman; his strength lies in his connection to the powers of nature, both in individual animals and plants and in the quasi-divine beings that inhabit rivers, mountains, forests and other great features of the natural world. David can ask the high nymph of a forest to grant him succor and guide his passage, or a wild bird to carry a message for him, or a tree to tell him of the events it has perceived in its presence. His talents are weaker in the concrete-and-steel jungle of Metamor City, but a surprising amount of wildlife can survive even here ... and criminals rarely suspect that rats, crows or stray dogs can tell anyone anything.