A Brief History: The Beginning

Humans, we are the Fresnali [direct word, no translation, name].
We came to be on your world many [unclear: millennia? centuries? eons? ages?] ago
By means you would not fully understand.
This is where the story begins.

We came to your world with our children.
You were not yet there.
When you came to be
You called us [unclear translation: Dieties? Primordials? Gods? Demons?].
We saw in you [unclear: ourselves? talents? spunk? tenacity?]

You [unclear: worshiped? feared?] us.
You revered our children.
Saw in them the [unclear: embodiments? beginnings? ends? functions?] of everything you do not understand.

[unclear: unit of time] ago, our children had children.
You called those children [unclear: Gods?*]
They loved you.
To them You were Everything.
To you, they were [unclear: protectors? defenders? heroes?]. *possible since the names mentioned in the rest of these etchings are all ancient names of the Gods

Translation of Writing found on the walls of an old Ruin, with notes.
Jasper Duncan, historian

Summary

The "Brief History" Collections of myths is exactly what it sounds like. It tells a brief history of a people lost to time. The people known as the Fresnali, Primordials, or simply 'The Ones Who Came Before' are an ancient an mysterious race that predated humanity though they claim to have lived among us for a time before fleeing to an undisclosed location. Whether they were from earth or not and if not how they got here, is a mystery that is left unanswered by the myths as the Fresnali believe humanity to be incapable of understanding the answer.

Historical Basis

Across many cultures there are myths of a race older than the Gods, though remarkably little evidence of such a race actually existing had been found until the discovery of a series of tunnels leading to a marvelous ruin under a mountain. It's unlikely that humans, or even the Gods, built that ruin as the designs and writings contained within are unlike anything ever found on Earth before.

Spread

The collection of myths was relatively unknown until a researcher published his translations of the myths, drawing attention to the ruins in which they are carved in hopes of preserving them. Now the myths are known practically all over the world.

Variations & Mutation

The original myth has long since been lost, the carvings on the walls of the ruins are, in fact, a translation of the myth into a human language. Which has since been translated many times into many languages.

Cultural Reception

Some cultures, upon the discovery and spread of the myths believed at first that they were a joke--or a clear attempt at undermining their own creation myths. However, many believed the myths to be a good thing, and have been checking translations of their own myths trying to find the earliest recordings, to see if these beings were ever mentioned by their ancestors.

In Literature

The most important book about these myths is the Compendium of Pre-Ancient History by Maki Tomini which collects the writings Jasper Duncan did on the ruins and everything that was found there, including the translations he made of the myths.

Date of Setting

a indeterminate amount of years in the past