Titans

The titans were the first civilisation of Aiaos, a race of massive, elemental beings created to watch over the World. Some were humanoid, and others were not.
Traces of their technology – and a handful of surviving titans – remain, scattered around the world, and the last of their sky cities still sail above the world.
The Titans were the creations of the Old Gods, born of the elements to be the guardians of the Primeval Gods' creation. The first generation were truly colossal beings, while their children were still larger than any Giants. Finding that they could not safely live among the smaller beings, the Titans came together and their greatest artisans combined their skills. Theirs was the first true civilisation on Aiaos, and its legacy still remains in the world, countless millennia later. Traces of their technology, and a handful of surviving titans, remain, scattered around the world, and the last remnants of their sky cities still sail among the clouds. The Earthshapers created vast citadels and mansions and estates out of stone, and the Cloudsmiths made them fly. The Sparkcallers gave power to these cities, the Rainmakers made water flow through them, and the Stormwrights shielded them from attack. Nine great sky cities were forged – Titania, Eurosia, Astraea, Caldaea, Thosis, Aenion, Xandias, Atrea and Mecheri – to be the hearts of the mighty empire of Titanis.

The Fall of the Titans

Accounts of the end of the titans vary, but all involve the Colossus War.
The Colossi came from the Void beyond the Firmament, but never interacted with the Firmament itself. Instead, they and their followers passed through the celestial realm without touching it, without corrupting it, without even seeing it, it is said. Whether they could not interact with pure divinity, or if - as some nihilist theologians speculate - the gods chose to let them pass, this left the skyborne cities of Titanis as the first line of defence.
The first to see the danger were the Titans of Xandias, whose eyes were ever on the heavens. They saw the Colossi approaching, and it broke them. Some fell into despair, others into desperate and terrible action. Many chose death rather than face what was coming, but others rashly sought to embrace what they saw as a new and inevit­able order. They swore themselves to the Colossi, and defiled the Keystone of their city, destroying the elder rune Stjoern and striking the first blow against harmony. This not only destroyed the city, leaving it a drifting hush, home only to the dead, but sent a deadly, psychic shook through the Ord Varun, leaving the Empire defenceless against further panic or treason.
As the threat became increasingly apparent, the remaining titans prepared for war. The finest weapons and the pride of the our fleet were diverted to protect the capital, but whether the Colossi had inside information from Xandias, or just got lucky, their first targets were the forge-city of Aenion and the airship yards of Eurosia. Eurosia lost its storehouses, its limited food production, and the transport hub that linked it to the other cities. Aenion, on the other hand, was utterly destroyed, only its keystone surviving.
The remaining cities, once spread across the skies, come together for protection, and to support Eurosia. This exposed the terrestrial estates, however, forcing the cities to scatter again. The fighting was fierce, and although the titans destroyed many Colossi and fleets of outerfolk vessels, their resources grew thin. Astraea and its academies burned, and the farms of Atrea were stripped away.
As each of the cities abandoned cooperation, the damaged polities of Eurasia and Atrea turned to piracy, preying on the labour of the mortal races and telling themselves that it was what they were owed for the battles they fought. Thosis became a graveyard, and then the curse of undeath siezed its population.
Six cities - Titania, Eurosia, Caldaea, Thosis, Atrea and Mecheri - survived the war physically, but their populations were fatally reduced. Most of the final, decisive battles of the War were fought almost entirely by Forgeborn proxies, titanic automata built in Mecheri, and by the mortals, especially the giants. By the end, the last Titans abandoned the cities to the giants and the new Orden of Titanis.
The Legacy of the Titans