Elyps (or sometimes elypses) are a role-play term to call your character involvement with other homins. You rise your social credit (gain Elyps) towards others and you can use that reputation (spend Elyps) to get various services from some homins (mostly merchant NPC). It is a form of currency, a role-play alternative to PvP and nation/faction points. It was called Involvement in the past.
What are Elyps ?
Elyps are a virtual currency (they don't exist in the inventory, but their quantity is displayed in the special bag) used to purchase items or services from NPCs. Think of Elyps as timeellipses which enable your character to perform long actions in a very short space of time.
What can we do with it?
Some NPCs will ask you to do them a favor in exchange for sap crystals, catalysts or generic materials. You won't have to do any missions, as Elyps will let you do them in a flash. You can also reduce your death penalty by using Elyps. Numerous other services are available, such as naming and managing pets, engraving allegories (and obtaining Roleplay tags), etc.
How can I get Elyps?
To see how high your Elyps is, see a merchant window or open your character Identity profile (press P) and switch to Advanced stats tab. Click the refresh icon at bottom right to update. There exists several ways how you can rise your "social credit", gain Elyps:
Wiki volunteers find rewards in their special bags, which can be converted into Elyps.
You can donate elyps to your guild, which are used on guild islands.
Note: once you've got 999 guild elyps, you can't have more - that's the maximum. The line reappears as soon as you have less than 999.
Each NPC that offers any services payable with this currency is marked with Elyps icons by his/her name. There are several services how you can use your reputation, pay with Elyps.
There are several services related to your animals you can use by spending Elyps. These services are available by a Stable boy in each capital city or Marauder camp and will register your mount, packer or zig (pet) by the National Registry (role-play name for custom names database). We need to check prices
For Fyros, Matis, Tryker, Zorai, Kami, Karavan, Marauder and Ranger.
Elyps are part of the Storyline project and being actively developed.