[1] While in some cases, whether they currently exist is unclear, in other instances, members of an elder race still inhabit the world, either openly or in secret.
In order to hide their existence, they may make use of a wainscot society, inhabit a parallel universe, only visiting the current one occasionally, or disguise themselves as a fool, deity, magician or trickster.
As such, the elder race is usually presented as far older and more decadent than the younger one, and who are undeserving of their status of ownership, or themselves deserve to be owned in turn.
[3] In the Babylon 5 TV series, the Vorlons, representatives of order, and the Shadows, Lovecraftian proponents of chaos, are elder races manipulating younger species throughout history in a surrogate war of ideals.
[2][4][5]: 223 [6][7] Their presence is used in the show "to create an effective sense of the epic",[2] while their actions later in the series subvert the expectation that they are wiser than the younger races.