Post by Bluestorm on Jan 14, 2018 16:58:54 GMT
The Origins of Eldyr
In the beginning, past, present and future were all one, blazing together in the fires of Creation. And from the fire came chaos, and from chaos came the Old Gods, and they stood within the molten fire and danced. The movement of their feet moulded and shaped the fires into the world we stand upon, and the touch of their hands upon the barren stone of the earth caused life to spring from it, and from the jubilant cries from their throats came the names of every thing, and thus the gift of language. But still they danced in the haven they had made, until, exhausted, they collapsed, and gave us their last gift: as they fell to the ground they had shaped, their souls became one with all of the things and created magic, the force that moves all things and connects all things.The Races of Eldyr
The Elves were stronger and larger than the Vimeni, but they feared their weapons and fled, making their homes in the forests. The Centaurs, meanwhile, sought the open Peragun Plains, where they could run free and far.
When the Vimeni’s great catastrophe occurred, few survived. The Gnum of the Dragonspine Mountains were the only ones who did, and they came down from the mountains a broken people. They took up their home in the swamp; the only place left to them, for neither the Elves nor the Centaurs would help them.
The Great Desert remained empty, but some of the Elves explored into the North, and settled there, among the icy hills.
The Vimeni
There existed many years ago an ancient race from which are descended the gnomes we know today. These beings are known as the Vimeni by us, for their real name is lost to time; few words of theirs have lasted through history to us. One of those is the word from which we believe the gnomes too gained their name; Gnum, meaning community.
The Vimeni were masters of their craft, constructing marvels of technology that we today cannot hope to replicate that have withstood the tests of time, even today, and can be uncovered in Eldyr if one looks hard enough - especially their weapons. And it was these very weapons that led to the Vimeni's downfall.
For as the Vimeni mastered their terrain and built from the riches of the earth, the most useful metals and stones and minerals were ever more prized; and from their want of metal grew jealousy of those who had it, which grew to hatred. Any co-worker coming from another province was a thief, coming for your diamonds and steel; every apprentice merely there to gloat over what machines they could build and you never would.
The hatred gave way to a war that reshaped the island, as the weapons of destruction they built to protect themselves they used on each other, mad with paranoia and lust for power. Almost all the Vimeni on the island were annihilated within days of the war starting; the handful of survivors cast off their terrible weapons in disgust, vowing to bury the secrets of such artefacts with the dead, and to let the last ones rot away for all eternity. So, from the ashes, came a new Gnum; the forefathers of the gnomes.
The Early Elven Dynasties
The Elves of the Pinewoods began as a tight-knit, small group. Their leader was an elf named Tirelas Icarin. Against the harsh winters of the Pinewoods, he led them in the building of their first city, Icara. It began as a tiny town, but as the community of Pinewoods elves grew, they expanded and built outwards, and the camp became a walled village. Tirelas’ son, Kael Icarin, expanded the village further, building cabins and the first wooden keep. But the Elves were not skilled builders, as the Vimeni had been, and did not know how to work stone, or smelt metal, and their village was built of pine logs, and their weapons were wooden spears.The Icarin Dynasty ruled the Pinewoods and Icara for hundreds of years, until the attack of the Centaurs.
Meanwhile, the elves in the Haran Rainforest were not as unified as their northern cousins. As soon as they reached the forests, they split into clans, waging bitter war on one another.
The clan of the viper, the clan of the leopard, and the clan of the hawk, they called themselves, and for years they fought and killed one another. No clan could gain an advantage against another, as they were perfectly evenly matched.
The Early Centaur Dynasties
The Centaurs made their home in the Peragun plains, and lived in relative peace for many years, under their ruler, Alanni Kadaris, and his descendants. They built Ryaina, the azure city, next to the great Lake Tinar.
The Early Gnommish Dynasties
The Gnum of the Dragonspine Mountains entrenched themselves in the Gnummish Marsh, building the collection of hovels that became Gnumton. The ancient Vimeni had no leaders, but the Gnomes elected theirs; mayors to run the town. The Gnomes had no want for war, and no need to fight, spending their days farming and hunting marsh snakes.