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Pre-History

An ancient mythology

The story of the world of Dirt is one of legend, supposition, inaccurate and biased reporting and plain guesswork. 

The origins of the intelligent peoples of Dirt in particular is the cause for much debate, exacerbated by the intentional erasing of large tracts of history by large dynasties over many millennia and the lack of importance many have placed on recording or memorising history.

Despite the long-lived nature of the Dragon and Calliston people, history that one might think would be easily recalled has been forgotten or misremembered within very few generations.

Much of the blame for this lamentable situation has been put on the continuing issue of small and fragmented populations and the destruction of society as dynasties have collapsed.  Often this has lead to low birth rates, high childhood mortality and bad education. The problem with literacy is often cited as a central cause.

In particular, Oran Helting believed that any written history was by its very nature deceitful and ungodly and his later followers destroyed most authoritative works.

The history below is therefore constructed out of manuscripts discovered at the Abbey.  It is strongly advised that this should be viewed as a mythology, rather than a true representation of the facts.

BH

Warning:  This page really does contain some rather large spoilers, especially when it comes to a couple of very critical characters.  Don't feel bad about going and reading something else!

Open if you have read "All three series!"

Earliest Origins

The true origins of the flora and fauna of Dirt, from the tiniest mite to the greatest of beasts, is a subject that is yet beyond the knowledge of even the most respected of academics and must, I believe, await for the future when our understanding of our world is more complete and less tortured and corrupted by our propensity to wallow in myth and superstition.

In the most ancient of writings, it is supposed that the world as we know it first came to being around fifty thousand years ago. This is a most unreasonable assertion, but with no evidence to the contrary, we shall start there.

It was in the fair lands of Angyn that the First People emerged.  Though of different forms, they shared a true kinship so that the largest of them, the first dragons, could claim the smallest as a brother or sister. So diverse were these of one family that some were six limbed as others had only four.  Two faces had these souls also, the face of the draig and the face of the humanoid. Within each of the four was a flame:

Draig Dechrun carried the flame of power.  The Draig Wen carried the flame of being.  The Fela-Geir carried the flame of wisdom.  The Fe-Geir carried the flame of understanding and honesty.

Although they were few, the four flames of the first people spread over the land of Angyn and lived peacefully with the land for countess millennia. 

But the Draig Dechrun with their mighty wings, became wanderers and they travelled the world of Adela, the name they gave to the world of Dirt.  They brought from their journeys tales of lands populated by nothing more than primitive beasts.  They told of four lands: the lands of ice in the north and south which they named Hoar North and Hoar South and the continents of the East and the West which they named Dwy-Earde and Orl-Earde.

For many thousands of years the four flames of the First People roamed and learned and loved their world and were content.  As time passed, from the loins of them were created three new lesser creatures, bright of mind and full of hope; the Dragon, the Human and the Calliston. 

The Exodus

To these three new races, the Draig Dechrun became mothers and sought to give to them their own lands.  So they transported all the humans and many of the dragons and callistons to the east and west lands and there they made their homes.

So different were these bright new races to the first people and they grew and prospered and spread across the lands while the First People on their land of Angyn diminished and remained small in number.  And yet, as the First People were full of power, the new races were only full of joy.  Very few had true talents aside from one small species of Draig who showed deep empathy with a body and was named the Draig Bach Iachawr, or small healers.

For millennia the new races prospered and as they became more numerous they built new societies, great cities and the lands of the east and west flourished.  But as time flowed on, differences between the peoples and even within the peoples developed, and they argued and warred.

The Bringing of Wisdom and Understanding

At this time none but the Draig Dechrun had travelled to the new lands, but now the Fela-Geir and the Fe-Geir travelled on the backs of their great brothers and saw the lands for themselves.

They were awed by the new races and their achievements, but much saddened by the disagreements between them.  And so, they proposed a new council on the land of Gydaynis, an island in the sea between the lands, where understanding and accommodation might be found.

The council would be made up of five groups:

  • The Fela-Geir, the long-lived with human faces, who would be called "Ancients" and would bring wisdom from their many years
  • The Fe-Geir, the short lived, the female of whom could link all and bring understanding
  • The Humans who lived but a short life, but had many sons and daughters
  • The Dragons who lived long and saw the world from on high
  • The Calliston, who lived long and had an empathy with the land

At the head of the council would be one chosen from the Fe-Geir and who was called the Cwendrina.  She would hold the council together.

As time passed, this council brought peace to the lands.  The Cwendrinas brought calm, wisdom and understanding between all while leaving each of the peoples to rule themselves.  

Many of the Fela-Geir and Fe-Geir went out into the lands and became part of the communities, especially those of the humans that they most resembled, even though the Ancients had six joints as did the Draig Dechrun.  Many mated with the humans and those of the ancients that did so were called Fela-met-Geir and often had fewer powers and became healers and other magicians that would be able to find lost items, or navigate the wind and the seas.

Although many of these forgot their origins, some of the healers did not and became the Voices that would commune with the Ancients and the Cwendrina at the Neuath on the mountain of Gydaynis.

The Forgotten Time

As the millennia passed, so the connection between the first land, Angyn and the new lands of the east and west was forgotten by all but the first peoples.  And then even many of those forgot Angyn till knowledge of the first land was held only by the very few.

The ancients that had joined with the humans died out and their descendants forgot their origins.  The Fela-Geir and the Fe-Geir became less numerous. Only the Cwendrina and the Draig-Dechrun held the secrets of their origins.  But the lands were strong and mostly peaceful, and those few believed that to forget was wise.

Only one ancient, Earlin, believed otherwise and in desperation he carved his knowledge into stone and scroll and transported them to a mountain retreat in the Black Hills.  Here, he and other Ancients recorded what they could and kept the histories as best they could, but much would still be forgotten and Earlin himself vanished.

The Modern Era

At the beginning of the modern era, around twelve thousand years ago at the time of Earlin, an illness plagued the First People in both Angyn and the two continents.  Called the Aedlun Accen, the birthing sickness, it affected the Fe-Geir and Fela-Geir especially. sometimes killing, but more often causing a loss of fertility.  The population of any of pureblood was decimated and only those who had human blood in their ancestry were left untouched. 

The council of the Cwendrina was weakened and any remaining association with Angyn broken.

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