Great Migration

The migration of Humans from Umesh in the far west across the Savage Ocean into Ettrea that ended during the The War of the Elves and the Giants .
There are no written records of the Great Migration. Scholars have pieced together a coherent account from various oral traditions. All of these traditions hold that men were fleeing some great terror in the far west - remembered only as 'The Horror' .
Some men attempted to fight (or possibly fix) the Horror using lore and knowledge. (The men of ancient Umesh may have had knowledge far in advance of the men of the New Empire.) However, these attempts failed. In fact, these men were the most affected by the Horror but also least likely to flee.
The men and women who fled were the people who least understood the technology of their society. Their flight across the continent of Umesh was a long one. There was a period when the Migration halted - for a year, several years, decades, maybe even centuries. This was a period of decadence. Some traditions even mention temptation by Devils. During this decadent period, the Horror was perceived as a less pressing threat.
A messenger from the west broke the migrants from their decadent slumber. He said that he was the only survivor of those men who had remained in the west. The Horror was real, it was really terrible and it was coming. And so the Migration began again.
The migrants arrived at the City of the Dormouse People but were denied entry because they were "too big" (possibly because they were too many). Since the Dormouse People appear in no other legend known in Ettrea, some sages have theorised that they were actually Halflings or maybe Gnomes. The migrants (several thousand humans) camped outside the city. (It is possible that this is a story from just one of the groups on the march.)
Then the legends talk of a mysterious lone traveller arriving from the east, telling the migrants of a pleasant land on the other side of the ocean, safe from the Horror. (There are all sorts of wild theories as to who this lone traveller was. None of them are considered likely by sages.) The migrants continued eastwards on their journey until they reached the shores of the ocean.
This was a time of reuniting as the various tribes that the migrants had separated into on their march each arrived one-by-one at the ocean. A farmer unearthed a "golden book" which included instructions for the construction of ocean going ships from large trees. This book was shared widely. The fact that the legends refer to the discoverer of the book as a "farmer" suggests that the migrants stayed in this coastal region for at least a year, maybe several years. During this time, many ships were built. Some of these ships are said to have been built using significantly more advanced techniques than the bulk of the fleet, possibly techniques learned from the "golden book", or maybe remembered techniques from the pre-migration Umesh civilisation.
Around this time, other "golden books" were discovered. However, most were either melted down for jewellery or were kept secret by those who found them.
Eventually, enough ships had been built to carry everyone across the ocean. The crossing was very difficult. At least one third of the ships sank on the long voyage (including all of the more advanced vessels) and all written lore was lost. This was a time of great suffering - illness and hunger. The migrants called this ocean 'The Savage Ocean'. But almost two thirds of the ships did manage to reach the eastern shore.
What followed is a period known to historians as the Landing Era. Historians disagree on how long the Landing Era lasted, with estimates ranging from a few years, or at least a few decades, to several centuries. No written records survive from this era. Possibly, the skill of writing had been lost. The Wessmen settled on the eastern coast of the ocean, far from Ettrea and the Old Empire. Their civilisation was relatively primitive, but over time their farming techniques improved and their population grew. There is a legend from this period that tells of a single old human woman - possibly a witch - called "Khakun-Re" was already living in this land when the Wessmen arrived.
The Wessmen's first encounter with the Old Empire was with Mountain Dwarves from the Atlan Mountains . There was much cultural interchange between the two groups - the dwarves providing metals and technology, the humans providing agricultural produce and textiles. A complex culture emerged (which the dwarves kept secret from the High Elves of the Empire). There was a strong focus on the number five - family units, buildings, land divisions, currency - all in units or multiples of five. This was a time of plenty for the Wessmen. The men and dwarves lived separately but met four times a year for festivals and cultural interchange.

The end of the Landing Era is marked by the Year Without Summer when the Wessmen fled into the basalt caves near their farms to escape the falling ash and foul air.

The Year Without Summer was followed by a terrible plague. Some say that the plague started in the caves and some that it fell with the volcanic ash. But the most common theory at the time was that the plague came from across the ocean. Some even remembered the tales of The Horror and feared that it was still chasing them - and so once more the Great Migration set off eastwards. Most of the Wessmen crossed the Atlan Mountains into Ettrea and the lands of the Empire.

Most men who arrived in Ettrea took service with the Old Empire in return for land. The Elves needed more troops to fight against the Giants. However, some men refused to serve the Elves. Chief among these were the Siggs, the last tribe to cross the mountains, who settled in the wastelands in the northeast of Ettrea (what had been the . Others crossed the Black River into Viltland. Some sailed across the Caltsee and settled in what is now Wendar. Others took service with the Giants. Those few tribes who remained west of the Atlan Mountains are the ancestors of the men who now call their land Pak Dhuul .