Altar
The Altar is a now extinct species. They used to be very advanced in technology and magic. In their core they were tyrannical by nature towards all other sentient species and enslaved all other species in their time.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Altar were very tall in comparison to all the other species, about 1.8-times as tall as the average human. They had four arms with four claw-like fingers attached to the end of their arms, very different to the traditional hand we know and were able to move their fingers individually from each other to allow precise movements and interactions with objects and tools. They walked upright on two legs, had pale, almost completely white skin, grey scale-like structures covering the back of their bodies from the top of their heads down to their lower back, which also acted as a natural defense, otherwise their bright skin was comparable to human skin. Their face was dominated by their two pairs of eyes, the bigger one in the center and the smaller one more to the peripheral, and a wide mouth with sharp teeth. Pointy ears protruded fro the side of their heads, similar to elves but way longer.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Their diet consisted mostly of meat, any meat, where the only exception was their own species. It did not matter to them if their food was once a sentient being, capable of feelings or emotions. Their superiority meant everything was below them and they did not feel any pity for anything below them.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Altars lived all over the ancient continent Zathara, before The Big Split separated the continent in two parts, that are the reality until this day. Remains of that ancient, now-extinct species can be found all over Zang-Thara, however very rarely and mostly underground.
Civilization and Culture
Average Technological Level
Altars were very advanced in their magical abilities and technologically. Their magical affinity lead to most of their technology being powered by magic. These advancements were used to manifest their superiority among the sentient species and to enslave every other race.
History
About 1000 BS the Altar empire started taking form and began colonizing the whole continent of Zathara. Their natural superiority, magical affinity and technology was used to dominate every life form on the continent. Their reign was a cruel enslavement of the freshly forming communities of other sentient species that just began to form. They purposefully ignored the Creator and his will and decided to trust in their own strength. When they saw that the other species, even though dominated and enslaved, outgrew them in numbers over time due to shorter life cycles, they decided to actively cut them down. In 37 BS they started by eradicating the Gnomes, because they had the fastest life cycle and were the quickest to grow. None of the other species dared to oppose the Altar due to their superiority and they thought that they themselves could never compete. Everyone thought that as long as it was not their fate, they would not have to worry.
When the Altar started to go for the Tigrans in 25 BS, the Tigrans realized that they would never stop, but instead wanted to eradicate everyone. So they called upon the other species to help in their fight against the oppression. The first ones to join in with the uprising were the Nagarians, then the other species joined in and fought against their slavers in every part of the continent. This started the Split War, which raged for 25 years, from 25 BS until the Split. In their despair the enslaved species called to the Creator and He blessed their fight for survival. After 17 years of continuous war with huge causalities on the sides of the enslaved species in 7 BS the Creator called out a Tuatarian as a prophet to lead the enslaved species. Though with huge losses the combined forces of the enslaved species under the prophet managed to push back the Altar to their capital. There the prophet foresaw his death in a catastrophic event but also the victory, so he encouraged to push on. So close to victory nobody else believed something catastrophic could happen or their prophet could die.
But in the capital the Altar created something so powerful and evil, a weapon of unprecedented power and brimming with magical force. It was never tested and a final effort of the Altar to turn the tide of the war. While the combined army of the enslaved species marched towards the capital, the Altar leader ordered to activate that super-weapon. When it seemed to draw more power than anticipated, the magic-engineers wanted to turn it off again, but the leader ordered to go through with it. One can see this as pure coincidence or the work of the Creator himself, because never before had a malfunction of that size taken place in an altarian machine. The weapon drew more power from the magical field than ever before and released all that energy in a giant beam, that incinerated the whole army of the enslaved species, along with their prophet. Not only every living thing was burned, but stone was melted and seawater evaporated, leaving behind The Big Split, that separated the ancient continent of Zathara in two halves, Zang and Thara. The weapon itself blew up in an explosion so big, it eradicated the whole capital and the surrounding area, taking the majority of the Altar population with it. This event is known under the same name as the geographical mark it left, as The Big Split, marking the beginning of the current time calculation, 0 AS.
This catastrophic event had a devastating aftermath: whole ecosystems were eradicated, the ocean around the capital was heated up, huge masses of water were rushing in where the beam of the weapon left nothing behind, the climate was changing due to this sudden change on a geographic scale. Suddenly all the species had to fight for their survival, because everyone suffered huge losses in the Split War and now the ecosystem of the whole continent was changing. Another big effect of The Big Split was the sudden loss of the magical field. Because the weapon drew so much power from it, the magical field was depleted in one moment and only slowly regenerated over the following centuries. The ones being hit by that the most were the Altar themselves: not only did they lose the majority of their population and their capital, but also they lost their magical abilities, because the field was depleted. Just as everyone was beginning to organize themselves in 7 AS the first Hunt happened. The Swarm had been feeding underground on a food source that was deeply affected by The Big Split and began to decay. The desperation for their own survival forced these creatures to the surface and hunt for anything living. Again the ones being hit the hardest were the Altar, who, without their magic, were almost defensless against the sheer force of a hungry Swarm. Additionally to The Swarm, the other sentien species began their conquest against their previous slavers and built armies to hunt the rest of the Altar. The second Hunt occurred in 14 AS and then became more often, after 70 AS it became a annual event, making the remaining species take elaborate precautions to survive it.
The longest lasting Altar settlement was attacked in 89 AS by the now free species which resulted in a breach in the wall. The Hunt in the following day eradicates all life inside the town, marking the extinction of the Altar, who were completely eradicated by the events, their history forgotten and lost to time.
Every now and then a previously undiscovered Altar ruin is found, mostly underground. Due to the sheer destruction of The Big Split, not much is left of this once-great civilisation and their powerful magical machines.
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