An elder or progenitor race, in science fiction, fantasy, or horror fiction, is an ancient race that not only preceded but helped shape the races that followed, often playing a significant role in the basis of the story. Humanity may have been descended from them, or they may be a different fictional race, such as elves, dwarves, or aliens. 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.
Elder races are typically either technologically or spiritually powerful, as well as wise. While sometimes benevolent, assisting younger races, they can also often be amoral, as in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, where the Elder Gods are indifferent to humanity's "petty" concerns. They are usually presented as having drifted apart from humanity in the present of the story, sometimes as lost empires whose inhabitants either left their former home for a new one, or were destroyed by a catastrophe and only live on in legend, such as Atlantis. They may appear both as enemies, or as allies against a greater threat.
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. Their presence is used in the show "to create an effective sense of the epic", The struggle of humans and their partners to break free from the influence of the "First Ones" is a pivotal climax of Babylon 5.