The First Races

Thanks to Alexis Susani from ArtStation for the inspiring cover art!

"There are hints -- tribal stories, arcane journals, etc. -- that a handful of the mortal races were created at the dawn of the Reshaping, each given a sacred task in the new Divine Order. Humans, elves, dwarves. Genasi, orcs, maybe even Iceborn. Sadly, we have little in the way of verification to tell legend from truth." - Arcane biologist studying at the College of Wizardcraft in Yathra Silthame

In the Reshaping, the Children of Yamma were tasked with bringing order to the Eternal Design that had been planned by Alindr and implemented by Yamma himself. To this end, they created many mortal -- and immortal -- races to aid them in their work. These races, created over the Reshaping and the earliest epoch of the Age of Rebirth, came to be known as the First Races. Below, you will find the mortal races (those that are playable in a traditional TTRPG campaign) have been given in-depth detailing in the form of their own racial articles. Refer there for those races' information (the pocket guide at right gives you the list of playable First Races and quick snippets of their creation mythos).
The bulk of this article serves to give the stories of those larger-than-life races that were created by the gods -- or otherwise spawned during the same time.

Those Who Existed Before

Because Yophas was Reshaped from the ruins of the multiverse that existed prior to the Obsidian War, there were many fundamental entities who existed prior to the Reshaping itself. They are, however, still considered members of the First Races. These species include, but are not limited to: many elementals, most aberrations, some Devils Ultimate, all demons (who rise from the Primordial Chaos, found in the depths of Ix'akroth), most of the fey (specifically archfey and their courts), and certain ancient forms of undeath.
Attempting to categorically list all of the races that existed prior would be a fool's errand. If you're running a campaign in Emaxus, do what you see fit (in all honesty, any campaign set in the present should almost never encounter this lore, at least not in any meaningful manner), and if you're a player, these aren't the playable races! What are you doing here!?

Those Who Were Created

As mentioned above, all playable First Races will not be listed in this article as they will all have their own, in-depth articles regarding almost everything you need to know about them, mechanical or otherwise. Here is where you'll find the lore regarding those non-playable First Races: dragons, giants, and celestials, oh my!

Dragons

When Yamma created Lythaelos, he tasked the Dragon of Fate with bringing back the great dragons of yore. To this end, Lythaelos scoured the earliest versions of Yophas, when much of the multiverse that came before still smoldered. In his search for the remnants of the race he was to bring back, he discovered something: hidden among the infinite dead cosmos of Xeccamund, there was a broken planet. Within, the great dragon Heliestheos rested. With her, eggs of each type of dragon that had come before.
Lythaelos returned and told Yamma, leading him to the planet. There, the two gods attempted to parley with Helietheos. At first, they were successful. Lythaelos gathered the eggs and brought them back to Ipacia, nursing them and bringing the first dragons to Yophas. As the Reshaping continued, and many of these new dragons sought to aid in the work of ordering the planes, Heliestheos was appalled. She watched as her race aided these gods in breaking apart the building blocks of creation into myriad planes -- into a multiverse.
She sought to stop the Reshaping, but was felled by Yamma and imprisoned. Many of the young dragons aided him, and many would die. Only one metallic and one chromatic dragon survived. With a race only just returned once again on extinction's doorstep, Lythaelos blessed these survivors with some of his power, creating the first greatwyrms. He bound them into the Council of Greatwyrms, of which he would temporarily serve as the gemstone greatwyrm until another could take his place.
From there, the dragons were slowly repopulated. Their numbers would continue to steadily increase over the course of the Age of Rebirth, with many dragons of all types -- chromatic, metallic, or gemstone -- rising to positions of power across Yophas. Eventually, a greatwyrm or two of every color would occupy a seat on the Council. Once the survival of the dragons was all but assured, the greatwyrms became less and less active. Many retreated to lairs hidden afar, detaching themselves from the goings-on of the Eternal Design.
It wasn't until the Reckoning that the greatwyrms and their broods were summoned once more. When Lythaelos rallied the dragons for war, all but a handful answered. And all but a handful of them were slain. Few greatwyrms survived, dying in battles with the gods themselves across Yophas. The dragons were not returned to extinction's doorstep, but they were butchered and the survivors were rattled. Since then, different broods largely keep to themselves. Dragons have become internalized, and many younger dragons pursue their own -- at times selfish -- wants. All but the most ancient greatwyrms, those who remember the elder days, still follow their missions, and even those dragons keep to themselves for they were mentally and physically scarred in the Reckoning.

Giants

When Kaedo gifted Isael the Iceborn race, she was utterly awestruck. The sheer tenacity present within those first mortals he gave her was unbelievable. In them, she saw a bright future: a race of giants created from Iceborn blood and reforged to dominate different climes. These giants would protect the mortals that were being seeded across Yophas, serving alongside the dragons in the skies. Thus, the myriad giant races were born: cloud, storm, stone, fire, and hill. Isael granted each of these races a different virtue, enlisting the aid of her siblings at times. They built great empires, aiding mortal civilizations in the earliest days of the Age of Rebirth. At their peaks, giant society was one of the most advanced -- and utilitarian -- civilizations in all of Yophas; a place for every giant and each giant in their place, with little chance for mobility. It is this long-remembered but changed-over-time caste system that the giants still follow to this day: the Divine Tiers.
For a long while, all was well. The giants performed the function they were created for, their empires rising like a tide that lifted all boats. At some point in the earlier days of the Age of Rebirth, there was a great betrayal. The details are unknown, but legends tell that a group of ancient dragons sought the riches held by a vast and powerful giant empire. They decimated the giants, pilfering their wealth and slaughtering countless innocents. From that day on, giants would bear a grudge towards nigh-all dragonkind.

Celestials

The creation of celestials took place consistently and over the course of all of the Age of Rebirth -- celestials continued being created until the very moment the gods died -- for the gods needed much in the way of direct, divine assistance. To this end, celestials ranging from warrior-angels and paragons of divine might to constructs of order and servants of divine will. Any and all celestials that exist now and have ever existed were created by the gods at some point between the Age of Rebirth and the Reckoning. Since then, not a single new celestial has been born -- although, the Chosen in Theussau beg many more questions than they answer.
Celestials vary greatly depending on purpose and even time of creation. An angel made in the Reshaping may bear little in common to an angel made in the Reckoning, save for their purpose. Whether they're one of the Laws created by Alindr to enforce the rules of Yophas or one of Yamma's Archangels, all celestials are alike in origin and fate: if they should ever die on their home plane, they will die permanently. And with no gods left living, every celestial that dies is an irrevocable destiny.

Devils

When the Reshaping was occurring, there were only two archdevils left from the Obsidian War: Xhor'thras and their enforcer, Azre'man. When Yamma found them, he considered simply killing them to be rid of devils once and for all. That is, until he was alerted to Alindr's discovery of gateways to the Primordial Chaos. Seeping through into the plane that would come to be known as Ix'akroth was an infinite pool of raw chaos. From this ocean spewed forth demons. Endless tides of demons. Tides that would wash over all of Yophas given the time and the lack of resistance.
And so, in these two archdevils, Yamma saw a solution: he would grant them a plane, Iduran, where they could rebuild the infernal legions of Hell. The only price for their positions? Maintaining an endless war against the demons, to keep their numbers ever-thinned. He modelled it after the Blood War, as it had been known in the multiverse before, and the two archdevils accepted. Thus, Xhor'thras and Azre'man became the first two Devils Ultimate. Alindr created a system to replenish their armies: evil souls would be sent to Iduran where, as eternal punishment, they would fight the demonic hordes. And so, the devils were reborn. Over time, the other three Devils Ultimate would rise and they would inevitably find ways to strike out from their post but, at the end of the day, they continue to perform their function.

The First Races: A Pocket Guide to the Playable Options

• Humans: Created by Yamma from the energy of Yacrena in his own image, they were meant to be the frontiersmen and settlers of Yophas in its earliest days.
• Dwarves: Molded from stone by Kaedo and blessed with knowledge and fortitude by An'liceth, dwarves were scattered across Yophas to serve as wardens between the planes and Xaecreotis beneath them.
• Elves: Created by a fusion between Syluru and Valereth's strengths, the elves were initially a gift to establish an alliance with the fey courts of Sylthereth and aid them in reordering their plane.
• Genasi: Created by Alindr, genasi were mortals infused with elemental energy coaxed from the corpses of the primordial titans and charged with keeping order in the Elemental Realms during the earliest ages.
• Orcs: Created by Syluru and Isael, orcs were intended to be wardens of nature and civilization and aided in the settling of Yophas.
• Iceborn: Created by Kaedo, who took ancient snow from Laithna itself and infused it with the Flame of Life, then gifted them as a warrior race to Isael when she was first creating the Fields of Glory.
• Gith (pre-schism): Created from the psionic essence of Ipacia by Alindr to be stewards and peacekeepers of the Realm of Stars. (Since all gith now belong to either githzerai or githyanki, the playable options for gith can be found in the Third Races.)
• Firbolg: Created when Syluru animated the sacred earth of Sylthereth, intended initially to be stewards of nature and peace in the burgeoning planes of Yophas.
• Dragonborn: Created by Lythaelos as cousins to the great dragons themselves, the dragonborn were intended to bring the wisdom of dragons to mortal civilizations.