How the Taru Came to Tarusia

Long years ago, before we were the Taru, we lived in another land. A land made rich and plentiful by the cunning of man and the favour of the gods but mankind was not as strong or as clever as we had thought ourselves. Much power and many great things had been built by delving in the earth to pull forth its strength and power for their own ends and as we dug deeper so the power we gained increased. But we were ignorant and unthinking and did not question where this power came from, nor what might be asked of us in return.
As time went by the earth became weak for we had pulled so much of its bone and sinew forth to build our power and we fell into the power of those who dwell in the depths; those whom the creator had buried beneath earth and rock to keep the gods and creation safe from their darkness; those who we, in our thirst for power and knowledge had freed. As the earth weakened we sought and received sustenance from those powers but at great price. Some were corrupted so far as to be no longer human and they held others in their power, power which they bought with the sacrifice of others.
As they fell further under the control of the Deep Ones the rich and fertile lands began to turn to deserts and the only solution the corrupted ones had was to sacrifice more. They had the power and it was so. Then came the time of darkness when the night was unending and our ancestors fled the land in desperation for terrifying as the might of the sea was, unknown it's depth or breadth it became less terrifying than the horrors we knew were to come.
So in small boats we set to sea. No great sailors were we for those of that trade had been the first to be sacrificed for it was said that they paid heed to other powers than the Deep Ones and the Deep Ones were the only ones to be heeded. Of every ten who set out only one came safe through the seas to Tarusia but a tenth of a multitude is still many we established ourselves in this land.
So we became the Taru; the saved remnant of a fallen people. We remember our fall and it's causes and rejoice that a second fertile land came to us. But it was a land in peril, for we knew of the Deep Ones but the smallfolk of the land did not for they delved as we had done and would not change their ways, they put this land in danger like rats gnawing at the thongs that hold a boat together. We are the Taru and were saved so that this land would no suffer as our former home once did.

Historical Basis

The general principles of the story are true with the desertification of the southern parts of Marivar known to have destroyed a powerful and prevalent civilisation. Whether this was simply a case of over-exploitation of the land creating a dust bowl or more occult in it's origins was long debated, but as more became known of Pshoo the educated student of these matters no longer dismisses the tales of the Deep Ones as a mere figment of the imagination or a fantasy to justify the destruction of the Monkin by the Taru over the intervening millenia.
To voyage by small boat from southern Marivar to Tarusia would be an impressive feat of seamanship and for a people of limited seafaring to have achieved this with 90% losses is held by some with seafaring experience to show that they had the favour of the gods (or were rather more experienced than the legend indicates). It is known that they were competent navigators of the Sea of Strange Lands and the Morivan Sea by the time that the Morivans reached Tarusia but there has been much time for such skills to develop after the migration.