In the Beginning…
The elders tell us that Lyras is a world born of magic, and so that magic dwells within all living things. Most chiefly within Lyras herself. We see this magic from the Wells of Eternity, so often said to be the veins of Lyras. If you believe the elders, the world was once little more than a collection of energies. It amassed in one place, the most advantageous point for any single element to be within our universe, but because each sought the same thing the elements were cast into a war of sorts. No one element yielded to any other as they each strove for dominance.
Centuries passed in this manner, with nothing but fire, ice, lightning, wind, earth, water, holy, and shadow at our planet's heart. Indeed, some elders even go so far as to say that Lyras was not a planet in those beginning days. What changed then? They say that through their years of struggle the elements slowly began to have a mind of their own, each attaining some level of sentience. Evolution, we call it. The sentient elements fashioned forms for themselves, some taking forms very much like our own.. And others forms less-so. In these new forms they began to try to shape a world catering to all collectively and to each individually as well.
Doing that began to weaken them, though they did not take notice. Too embroiled in the arguments and the shaping were they. By the time they did take notice they had bloodlines running about on the planet they had created, where water and earth were the ocean and the continents, fire made up the core, wind swirled over the surface with tangles of lightning inside of it, and ice covered the cold northern reaches of the world. Shadow and Holy found their places naturally in those things that the other elements did not touch, but most importantly in the hearts of what the others had become.
Now, I don't know how much stock I put in old wive's tales about the beginnings of our world. They say a great storm sundered the landmass and we were separated from the other continents by the force of it. I'm not sure I believe that, though I know the other continents are out there. It's been years since we've had word from them. It is a nice beginning to think of though, that we were once as powerful as dragons as a race. Still it seems too grandiose. Perhaps, I offer, we simply came to be on a world in which magic plays a part, and from that world we carve our existence and set out to write our tales.
~From the lips of a Trenock scholar.
The Birth of Races
From the races of the elements whom we have come to call the Djinn did civilized races claim their origins. Now, by civilized races do know I refer to humans, Ronso, and Burmecians. There are other races out there who are capable of civility, but few who had joined our established settlements prior to the Sundering.
The Djinn come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as in varieties of power. It's rumored that some of the Djinn who embodied the hearts of the elements still exist today as Espers, but we have not had a summoner on our little continent for several generations, and the last one certainly had no Djinn to call on. But that is neither here nor there in this story, is it children?
<The elder chuckles softly, a wheeze tangling in the sound of it.>
Humans were the preferred form of almost all of the elements. Can you guess why? <He pauses for a time as the children who listen shake their heads no or take wild guesses before chuckling again and continuing in his wheezy voice.> Because the form of a human is so basic it was found to be the most adaptable.
Initially all of the eight elements took a human form, but eventually Water, who was intent on learning the ways of beasts and on emulating them, decided it was better suited as a Ronso. The Djinn of water changed himself, taking the strength of the lion, and the agility. He fashioned a horn for his new form and strong claws, powerful legs and feet and a tail for balance. Blue was the creature's fur, but no surprise that when it was born of water, hm?
Now, I am a Kalshen, the humans who made their lives in the far reaches of the blazing south. Our skin was already dark since we are descended from the Djinn of shadow, but was darkened further by the light of the sun as it reflected on the deserts of Kal'Shanor, and now the dark color carries to our children even if they are born from the Talra of the north, children of the Holy Djinn. We have dark eyes and hair too, and some say tainted features.. But that's superstition talking. There must be darkness for us to know light.
The Talra, you all know, are those who walk among us with skin so pale that even snow would be shamed by it. They were descended from the holy Djinn, and almost never wander far from the practices of their ancestors. A purebred Kalshen would stand around six feet and four inches tall. A Talra… about a foot shorter. <The elder grins at the children who get a rather clear view of the tooth missing in the upper right of his mouth.> Their bright colored eyes and varying hair colors often draw a lot of attention set against that skin so pale.
Then you have the Dahnre, also children of Kal'Shanor. They inhabited the same land as we Kalshen, but they were certainly not our brothers. A pure Dahnre stands around five feet and eight inches. He has hair of dirty blonde and tanned skin. Often eyes of green or hazel peer out from their tan faces. Freckles aren't uncommon on their skin either. They are children of Fire.
The Koltair shared the land of the the Talra and the peaks of mountains for that was where the Ice Djinn settled. Their skin sometimes takes on slight tinges of blue, as does the long black hair they typically have. Their eyes are usually cold regardless of color, and they tend to be as well.
Prelle mixed and mingled in the high places before the Sundering, building grand cities in the mountains that would become occupied by themselves, the Koltair, and the Burmecians. The Prelle don't have a typical skin color. They can be darkly tanned or pale like the snow. Likewise their hair comes in all shades. Sometimes the Prelle are born with golden eyes, and that's been found to be relatively unique among them. It is said on occasion that they are so varied by appearance because of their ancestry. The Djinn of lightning were never terribly uniform in the way they presented themselves to others either.
Burmecians were another race to change their form from simple humans. They too needed claws for their undertaking. The Djinn were not alone in the forms the elements took. There were also Dragons, and the two were at war for a long time. Particularly the element of Wind, who originally wished to fill the planet's core. Fire managed to win over the Wind in the wars of Balance, and so Wind was pushed to the skies. The warriors of Fire were in the form of Djinn and of Dragons, and so the Wind sought forever after to perfect their technique against both. We see this today in the presence of hardened Dragoons among the ranks of Burmecians.
When they broke from the mold they took a form not unlike the Ronso, covered in short hair, with sharp claws on their fingers and toes, and a tail for balance. They closely resemble rats, or at least a mix of rat and human.
The last of the races I will tell you about today is the Moldain. These humans are strong and enduring. They are of the Earth, as one might guess. The Moldain tend toward at least lightly tanned skin and dark brown eyes and hair. Their bodies are usually more muscle bound than the bodies of other races.
<The elder paused, realizing he'd probably bored a number of the children. He sighed after a few moments and waved his hands at them.> Go on, shoo. You've humored this Kalshen long enough, Children.
~A lecture from an Elder of Trenock.
The Sundering
The world found a semblance of balance as the elements rivaled for dominance, each finding their place in the great sphere. Fire for the heart and core, earth for the crust and part of the surface, water to fill the deep trenches of the earth, wind as the cocoon of it all bringing lightning in her bosom. Ice found her place in the cold edges of the world and the highest peaks, and some say in the clouds themselves. Holy and Shadow brought the rest morals and some measure of Light and Dark, of Right and Wrong. Now… not all things which are Holy are right or good, and not all things of Shadow are bad and evil. There is balance in everything.
At any rate, Lyras was one large continent then, the only one, with water caressing her coastlines and filling the rest of the sphere's core. But when the elements had found their natural places, another struggle broke out. Lightning did not wish to be in the skies. It wished to be at the core of the rest, claiming Fire had hold over the sands and the south and that Lightning's influence should be greater.
The Djinn and the races which they had developed into began to battle again, though now they found themselves limited by their forms. No more could they roil and shift, the entire essence of one element colliding with another. They had small points of influence and individual presences of sentience among them. The Djinn were troubled, and in an effort to avoid the destruction of all of their children, they set them to war upon one another… For if the Djinn themselves had fought the balance of Lyras would have been broken and the majority of lives forfeit to that.
They created new children in this time as well. From the Fire there came the first Dragons, the servants of the planet's heart and creatures of great potential. From Wind was born the gryphons, from earth the golems, and so on. Many of the creatures we call 'monsters' today were born during this struggle. The Burmecians were all Dragoons then, singularly focused on the destruction of the Dragons which stood between their elemental Djinn and the heart of Lyras.
A particularly violent confrontation which thinned the numbers of the Dragons and Burmecians alike shook the foundations of the planet. This we call the Sundering. Many races had made settlements and begun to live in relative peace, but the Burmecians knew only their purpose, for their Djinn remained ill-content while others settled. They brought their wrath and anger to the clutch of Dragons, the heart of Lyras at that time, and when they reached it and infiltrated the dragon's nest they were met with great hostility.
The dragons struck the Burmecians down with equal efficiency and a slaughter was felt in the deep caves of the earth. It is said that this was the cause of Arrilen's awakening. The theory runs that she was so distraught over the loss of life she manifested in the presence of the others, taking control of the elements as a whole. Arrilen's tears broke the continent, or so the story goes, sending it to pieces and spreading it over the sphere that is Lyras. Civilization as it was known then was lost to us, and we began anew, separated from the struggles of the Djinn.
It's rumored that Arrilen claimed a number of the Djinn as her servants in her effort to give us structure. She forced them to keep their current forms and to cease in their creations so that they would not inadvertently destroy themselves. Those who serve her now serve Balance, the idea she most represents. And the ideas which brought the Church of Arrilen to power among the humans.
Scattered and divided, the races were forced to intermingle, at least on Casten. Obviously I can't speak for other continents if any even exist. Only in the last hundred years have the waters of the seas grown calm enough that we might consider looking beyond this land, but we've yet to build boats suited to the task. Can you imagine what we will find waiting for us?
Perhaps something to disprove this religion's foolish stories.
~The ramblings of an unfaithful in the libraries of Trenock.
