Age of Ancients
Far past the recordings of time, through the swirling mists of unknown tales and legends, the Age of Ancients is an era where myth becomes fact. Long ago, before the continent of Selera was split in three, a great race of elemental gargantuan giants roamed this mortal plane. Today, scholars and historians often refer to them as the "Gaians," the ancestral predecessors to the giants. They are more commonly known as the Titans. It is unclear when the gaians officially became the giants, but among giant kind, they fondly refer to the first giant ancestor as Ymir. Whether Ymir was the first gaian or giant remains to be seen, but whatever the case, he is the supreme deity in the pantheon of the giants.
Over time the super-continent of Selera began to split apart, whether by natural, super natural, or outside means is unclear. Some attribute the split to a giant earthquake that shook the foundations of the earth. Others say that every time the gaians fought one another, the land would split apart bit by bit. Elven bards often sing of tales that involve a great war between dragons and giants, the ending result being the continent's split. At the end of the day it is all unclear, the split resulted in the creation of the continents of Laurentia, Gondwana, and Altaia. But Laurentia and Gondwana would still be conjoined by the Landbridge of Lagash at this time in history.
Before the sundering of Selera, the gaians would somehow morph and change into what we now call the giants. When the first giants appeared in Edda, they divided themselves into a strict hierarchical structure called the "Ordnung." In this ordering, the giant races would be ranked by their power and importance. At the top of the Ordnung, are the Storm Giants (Uvarjotun). Next are the Cloud Giants, then the Fire Giants, and after them would be the Frost Giants. Below the Fire Giants were the Stone Giants, and lastly, the Hill Giants became the lowest members of the Ordnung. It is believed that the deities of the giant race--such as Surtr, Thrym, and Grolantor--were either the first giants of their respective subspecies, or like Ymir, gaians that the giants look up to with a certain awe and reverance.
The giants spread out across the rest of the world, residing in their respective territories. The storm giants dwelt atop the mountains and in their ocean halls deep beneath the sea. The cloud giants built their mighty sky fortresses, taking residence above the clouds. Both the fire and stone giants delved deep into the earth, making war upon one another until the stone giants were driven away--many believe they fled to Altaia as there are no reports of stone giants living in Laurentia or Gondwana. Lastly, the hill giants took the rugged hills, hunting, feasting, and gorging as Grolantor intended. This would all change with the arrival of the elves in the year 346 A.A. (Age of Ancients).
It is agreed upon in the historical community that the elves are an otherworldly race, originating in a realm most commonly known as the Feywild. The veil between their world and the mortal realm grew thin and emerging from their old home, the elves were led by Corellon Larethian and his chosen. His chosen, were four other elves of great power known as Lolth, Rillifane Rallathil, Deep Sashelas, and Sehanine Moonbow. In leading the elves to the mortal plane, Corellon taught his elvish children that he and his chosen had made this world for them to live in. During the Great Cataclysm which shaped the world, Deep Sashelas took power from the Plane of Water to bring forth oceans, rivers, and lakes. Rillifane Rallathil raised the earth from below, the water seeped into the earth causing plants, trees, and grass to grow. While Sehanine Moonbow took light from the Plane of Fire to create the sun and moon; and finally Lolth took her blanket of darkness to cloud the sky creating night and day. From the trees, Corellon would create the elves and give them life. This world, was a realm built for them.
From here, Corellon and his chosen led their people to different parts of the earth where the elves would make their dominion. Deep Sashelas would lead his followers to the coasts, where they would become the Aeredh, or Sea Elves. Lolth would take her people to the gloomy forests of the northeast, where the trees gave them coverage to where the sun's rays could not find them. Here, Lolth and her people became the Moredh, the Dark Elves. Rillifane Rallathil would lead his own people to the timbered forests of the southwest, and here they would become the Wood Elves, the Crenao. Finally, Corellon and Sehanine Moonbow would take their remaining followers and teach them powerful magic within the rest of the world's woodland forests. These elves having been directly been influenced by Corellon himself, are known as the High Elves, or the Aretedh. Once the elves had taken their residence, their gods simply disappeared. To this day, the elves await Corellon's return, they believe he has returned several times, reincarnated into elven beings that are simply known as his "avatars." With the departure and absence of their gods, peace would not visit itself upon the elves.
High up within their sky fortresses, the cloud giants took notice to this new race that had come to populate the earth. Wishing to extend their control and dominion, the cloud giants sent forth all manner of winged creatures to harass the elves. From rocs, to griffins, manticores, and harpies, the cloud giants told the elves that they could keep their animals and pets away for a price. If the elves couldn't produce the correct payment, tribute, or gifts, then the cloud giants wouldn't promise that they could keep their winged "pets" under control. Reluctant and with no other choice, the elves relented.
This transpired in the year 793 A.A., and it wasn't until 1304 A.A. that the elves had, had enough. After centuries of extortion, slavery and repression, the elves finally rose in rebellion. The elves launched their uprising and the conflict became known as the War of Giants & Elves. The war waged for a little over 300 years with the elves making gains in assaulting the cloud giant's various sky castles, during the war, a hero would arise among the elven people. This hero was Ehlark Venhorn, and he was declared to be an avatar of the god Corellon Larethian. Ehlark led the elves in the latter half of the war, which eventually culminated at the Citadel of Ulentor. Ulentor was the cloud giant's last bastion of power, where Ehlark led a siege of the fortress that ended with his duel against the cloud giant king Golyat. Golyat was cast down and the war had ended. The elves had gained their freedom, and the cloud giants were broken.
Even though conflict between the elves and cloud giants had ended, it was not the end of war throughout the rest of Laurentia. Deep underground, word of the elves overthrowing their cloud giant overlords, had reached the ears of the dwarves. The dwarves claim to have entered the world in the year 250 A.A., almost one hundred years before the elves. Naturally, this is hotly contested between both races. The reason why the dwarves said they hadn't made their presence known, was because they themselves were enslaved by the fire giants. Even though the elves believe they came before the dwarves, they acknowledge that the gnomes are possibly older than them in terms of their arrival upon Selera. This is quite contradictory, as gnomes and dwarves are related. According to dwarven history, when the dwarf god Moradin breathed life into his children, they were almost immediately enslaved by the fire giants and used for menial labor. When word had reached underground that the giants above had been overthrown, this gave the dwarves hope. Rallying together, the dwarves drove the fire giants out of the mortal plane, with most of them retreating back to what they called "Muspelheim," their realm of fire. Scholars believe this is the elemental Plane of Fire, where the fire giants are waiting to come back and destroy the world, led by their god-king Surtr.
After the fire giants were defeated, the dwarves finally emerged from the underground in the year 1700 A.A.; after their emergence, more races seemed to be making their presence known within the mortal plane. The dwarves would then go to create their mountain halls within the mountain ranges of the Caledonian Mountains, Blue Mountains, Iron and Dark Mist Mountains. While this transpired, the dwarves came into contact with a race known as the goliaths. They appeared similar to the giants, but were different in that they were smaller and much less aggressive. Historians pinpoint the emergence of the goliaths around the year 1742 A.A.
With the cloud giants overthrown, the elves were free to solidify their hold in the mortal plane as Corellon had intended. The High Elves created their kingdom of Heaseon, the Dark Elves with their kingdom of Galadhos, the Wood Elves went back to their forest home known as the Timberlands, while the Sea Elves created their coastal kingdom of Lindon. During this time, the elves had built a great city known as Calgaladhon, the City of Light. The city was completed in the year 1932 A.A., and it was dedicated as a holy site to where no elven kingdom could claim lordship over it. This would prove to be folly. As the city's name would suggest, it was a bastion of hope, light, and power, that was coveted between the high elves and dark elves. Nobody knows how the feud between the two subraces began, but the city of Calgaladhon was at the center of it. This led to the First Great War between the elven peoples, which is also known as the Kin Slaying.
The war would last from 2120 A.A. to 3117 A.A., with the city of Calgaladhon switching hands at least seventeen times during the war. What brought the war to an end, would be the arrival of Corellon Larethian's second avatar, Shenarah Holatris. Shenarah was able to broker peace between both sides, and now the exact location of Calgaladhon has been lost, making many wonder if it had ever existed at all. Regardless, Shenarah Holatris had brought peace between Corellon's children. The elves were so impressed and in awe of her wisdom, they made her High Queen of all elven kind. Thus, the line of High Kings & Queens was established over the elves, which lasts to this day. The reason for this being that the High Kings & Queens have the blood of Shenarah in their veins, and since she was the second avatar of Corellon, it is the blood of Corellon himself.
About a hundred years later, a new race would arrive upon the mortal plane. The race of mortals known as humans. The humans had a much shorter lifespan compared to that of the elves. This wasn't something the elves were not used to as they lived longer than the dwarves, goliaths, gnomes, and others. But, the elves didn't expect the humans to be coming in droves, and didn't expect them to multiply in the numbers that they did. Much faster and more rapidly than elves and dwarves. The two races first met with amiable relations, as five human tribes made their way north across the Land Bridge of Lagash from Gondwana, and into Laurentia. These five tribes were the Wendlas, Hugas, Gifthas, Hetware, and Waegemundings. These humans were eager to make new lives for themselves in settlements for their people and families. Shenarah Holatris allowed this, and ordered the elves to make way for land that was suitable for the humans.
But what she and the elves also didn't expect was the insatiable hunger that humanity has for itself. The humans came in more and more numbers. Growing faster than their settlements could contain them. They requested permission for more lands to be granted to them, but the elves claimed that they were being greedy, and would confine them within restricted borders. With no other options presented to them, the humans decided to push back just like the elves had done to the cloud giants in centuries past. This resulted in the Second Great War, which pitted the human tribes against the elves, while the dwarves and other races would remain neutral. The war culminated when Shenarah Holatris and her elven mages called forth the sea, destroying the Land Bridge of Lagash, sending it to the bottom of the ocean, forever separating Gondwana from Laurentia. Some might argue that the humans won as each tribe was able to gain a piece of Laurentia for themselves like they had originally intended, but they suffered great losses in the process--as did the elves. This would only set up future conflicts between the peoples as both of their memories would run deep. With the arrival of man, the Land Bridge of Lagash being no more, and the war being over, the Age of Ancients had officially ended...
by Rebecca Guay
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