No one knows exactly how Tilandrial came to be. Many believe Tilandrial to have always existed, with no beginning and no end. Others say everything on Tilandrial has a clear beginning and end, from the lifespan of a single individual to the overall survival of a species such as the Sphinxes, so why should the world they live on be any different? Everyone agrees, however, that the Sphinxes, the first truly magical beings in all of history, helped to create everything in the world. Their origin story is up for hot debate amongst the philosophers who so dare to speculate. The story of the Arches is known better. It is known the reining Arches were created by the Sphinxes, making these dragons just as knowledgeable as their creators. It is generally agreed upon that the Arch of Natura, who's first name was Blodwen, was created first, since nature surrounded the Sphinxes. Over the course of time, eight Arch dragons in total were created; four male, and four female. It became clear in due time that each dragon excelled in the magic of one particular of the eight elements: water, fire, air, earth, light, shadow, metal, and nature. Essentially intuitively, each of them became the embodiment of the particular element in which the excelled.
Even though the dragons were content with themselves and the Sphinxes as their only company, and the Sphinxes themselves were very pleased with the dragons they created, the dragons saw their Sphinx creators becoming bored with their world. Sphinxes do not die of natural causes, but are extremely slow to reproduce, and at this point in time there were few Sphinxes into converse with. The eight dragons conferred for sometime on how to solve this puzzle. Coming to the agreement the Sphinxes needed sentient entertainment, the dragons soon uncovered the spell to create new life. The spell was originally for creating dragons, so they tweaked it based on ideas the eight of them agreed the new creatures should have. The result was a bipedal creature about three feet tall with green skin. Proud their magic was a success, the dragons presented the new creature to the Sphinxes. The general response was less than desirable. The Sphinxes thought the creature grotesque and reprehensible, promptly ignoring any of the creature's attempts to communicate. Saddened, the dragons let their creation wander Tilandrial of their own free will, unwilling to destroy something they worked so hard on. The creatures wandered around Septentrionalis, where they had been created, and eventually settled in The Obex Mountains. They developed their own language distinct from anything the Sphinxes or dragons spoke, and called themselves Tochdakhmüthí. Every other sentient species called them Goblins, after the Sphinx word for "green." Since the goblins kept to themselves and rarely ever interacted with any other sentient species except the dragons, they were the only species not to feel any major effects of the Great War.
After the perceived failure of the goblins, the eight dragons conferred again on how to improve the creature creation spell. They agreed the creatures should be able to use magic, but disagreed on what they would look like. Should they make bipeds, or should they try to emulate the more glorious forms of the Sphinxes and dragons? Eventually, it was agreed that bipeds were less a drain on their magic, and started to rework the spell once more. The new creatures were slightly taller than the goblins, had a peachy-colored skin tone instead of green, and more range of color to their hair, from a dark brown to a pale yellow. To the delight of Arch Seighild, Arch of Chalybs, and Arch Toloc, the Arch of Terra, the new creatures showed a propensity towards using metal and earth magics. To the delight of all the Arches, the Sphinxes were amused by the new creatures. It had been theorized the Sphinxes originally took to the new creatures, who were termed dwarves, because their skin tone more closely matched the skin tone of the Sphinxes. To this day, no one has been able to prove such an idea. What is known is the Sphinxes loved how skilled the dwarves were at finding valuable gems and precious metals. The longer the dwarves mined the gems and metals, the less likely it was for a dwarf to be born with the ability to touch an element besides earth or metal. In time, they lost the other six elements completely. While this upset the six Arches who felt a little left out, the Sphinxes did not mind; their only care was to have the dwarves find them more valuable items. Additionally, the dwarves began to worship the Sphinxes as gods, much in the same way they did the Arches. Many scholars believe this to be the starting point of the downturn of the Sphinxes. During the Great War, the dwarves became exalted above all other species for their skill in crafting armor and weapons. After the goblins, the dwarves had been around the longest, and as such were the most skilled in the nuances of crafting with metal. By this time, most of the dwarven species had completely disassociated with the Sphinxes and made weapons and armor exclusively for the Arches, which many believe to be one of the key reasons the Arches won the war. After the war, the dwarves confined themselves to the various mountain ranges of Tilandrial so they could be closer to different building materials, gems, and metals. The dwarves became so used to living underground that many felt exposed without a roof over their heads. Their caverns became highly decorated with beautiful stone masonry inlaid with all kinds of gems and gilded with metals. Dwarven architecture became known throughout Tilandrial as the finest money could buy. To show one was truly rich, one would only hire a dwarf to build. Their prices are steep, but the finished product will be one to last for millennia.
While the Sphinxes were perfectly content with the worship from the dwarves, the Arches wanted to test their magic again. This time they would make a creature that could and would use all eight elements, and creatures the Sphinxes enjoyed as well. Once again, the eight Arches conferred and changed their spell to their specifications. They were getting quite good at manipulating their magic so that there would be less of a change to produce something unintended. This new species was the most diverse yet. Their skin tone ranged from deep ebony to a pale ivory, their hair and eye color ranged the entire rainbow, and even though the range of height was much wider than both the goblins and the dwarves, their average height was the tallest yet. They also showed a high proficiency in all eight elements, even though not every member of the species could use magic. The most unfortunate trait, one the dragons had not accounted for, was their incredibly short lifespan.Still unwilling to destroy any of their creations, the dragons let the new creatures, who called themselves human, roam Tilandrial. They showed a high propensity to adapt to almost any climate, settling in the coldest tundra and the hottest deserts with equal veracity. Those humans who were highly skilled in one particular element formed various cults to worship their patron Arch. Those who showed no skill in magic whatsoever started to worship the Sphinxes. These humans believed those with magic should not flaunt it, and detested those who could use magic. While turning their worship towards the Sphinxes may seem a little peculiar, the humans rationalized by reasoning the Sphinxes rarely ever used their magic or showed it off like the dragons. The Sphinxes, now called the Old Gods or Ancient Wise Ones by their human worshipers, became almost possessed with the idea that they were in fact gods. the dwarves saw this shift as a bad omen, an dwarven worship of the Sphinxes waned as human worship increased. Humans quickly propagated throughout all Tilandrial, quickly becoming the most common species. During the war, it was discovered humans could be most easily modified through magical means, and became the progenitors of three different species. Humans were also the only species that were represented equally on both sides. Only after the war was over did the remaining Arch, the Arch of Aquas, Ananda, see how truly diverse the humans were. They had settled practically everywhere on Tilandrial and had the most diverse cultures out of all the created species.
The Arches, after conferring for a long time to see how they could further improve the creature creation spell, cast said spell once again. This time, the creature was less varied visibly than humans. They all had one skin tone, a very pale peach. They were taller than all previous creations, but the range of height was very limited. Their hair tone ranged from a very light straw yellow to a pale brown. However, their life span was longer than any previous creation, and all members were able to touch into the magic. Unfortunately, they were only able to access four elements: nature, light, air, and water. the dragons, after making sure the new creatures were physically unable to touch the other four elements of metal, shadow, earth, and fire, came to the conclusion that they had reached the limits of the spell. They surveyed what they had created and deemed it good, and hid the spell away. The new creatures they created found themselves drawn to nature in all forms, even if they were not touched with Natura, and created two different names for themselves depending on what element they excelled in: Elf if they were touched with water or light and Fae if they were touched with nature or air. Every other creature just stuck with the overall term "elf" for it was impossible for a non-elf to tell the difference between a Fae and an Elf. The elves did spread across all of Tilandrial, although they tended to stick to dense forests and other areas far away from human settlements. As the years passed, the elves collectively felt there was no purpose to their existence other than existing. That ideal soon changed. The dragons, although extremely long lived, were not immortal. The Arch of Natura, Blodwen, first of the dragons, died of old age. All of Tilandrial mourned, and those of the various Natura cults felt especially lost. Their guardian was gone; what were they to do? A group of Natura touched Fae who loved to travel came across the largest egg ever discovered on Tilandrial. They cared for it as best they could, but it still took years to hatch. To their surprise, a baby dragon hatched from the egg. Immediately, the elves presented the dragon to the remaining seven Arches, who were pleased but not surprised. They knew instinctively that the Arch of Natura would be reincarnated, although their conscious brain did not understand that feeling until that very moment. Believing to have found their true purpose for existing, the elves raised the new Arch until she was old enough to retake her duties. She was named Blodwyn to honor the previous Arch of Natura. During the war, the elves fought exclusively for the Arches, and found that it profoundly changed their species. Before, they had been peaceful creatures, just wanting to learn all they could about Tilandrial. After, their urge to travel lessened, and mistrust of all outsiders amplified. Most elves confined themselves to the most impenetrable forests of Tilandrial, with only the bravest still wandering in search of Arch eggs.
Now, the elves, humans, dwarves, and goblins had spread across all of Tilandrial. Small skirmishes were breaking out between settlements, forcing the dragons to fly far and wide to stop all of them before they got out of hand like with the goblin war. The Arches soon agreed upon taking over a smaller territory to govern over themselves, instead of having all eight fly over all of Tilandrial. Eight continents for eight Arches, and the matter was deemed settled. However, the dragons soon realized their solution caused a different problem. Since they were now each in charge of a separate continent, that meant they were spread out more than they had ever been before. Communication was exceptionally difficult, for although the Arches were mighty in their magic, they were not all-powerful. Something had to be done. The Arch of Spiritus, Knylia, thought that tweaking the creature creation spell once more would solve their problem. This time, she thought she alone could simply alter an existing species, for this would be a much smaller drain on her magic. Knylia consulted with her Fae followers, wanting her new creation to be a surprise for her brethren. They happened upon the idea of flying messengers, ones who could not only fly messages between the Arches but also from the various settlements to the Arches, thus helping keep the peace. Knylia decided to test the idea on her followers, since they all were skilled in the element of air and would adapt the quickest to flying. As she cast the spell, her followers gained graceful butterfly or moth wings, and the Spiritus Priestess herself was graced with beautiful bird wings. Elated her idea worked so wonderfully, Knylia sent the newly termed Faeries to the other arches. The other seven loved the new creatures so much that any faerie working directly under a particular Arch was granted control over that Arch's element. The spell Knylia had cast unfortunately decreased the lifespan of the faeries, but the dragons granted them a new gift. Because of their unwavering loyalty to the Arches, the faeries were granted with new life after death. They became nymphs, or nature spirits, The faeries soon discovered the spell gave them another gift besides flight: telepathy. Since they still contained some of the elf sense of superiority, the faeries made an arbitrary rule to only use the telepathy between themselves and the Arches. Even still, the faeries still considered the use of telepathy without a good reason to be rude, and as such, that particular gift saw very little use until the war. Telepathy proved infinitely useful in guiding troops and doing recon. The war changed more than how the faeries used their telepathy, however. Faeries used to be playful with nature, their element, and the various denizens of Tilandrial. Since the faeries were so close to the dragons, they saw every part of the war, horrors, bloodshed, and unnecessary death. The entire species became war-minded, with those who controlled metal, fire, water, and darkness being affected more. Those who served Dunstan, the Arch of Obscurum, were warped the most, thanks to the Sphinxes' influence. Even now, those faeries who become touched with darkness are shunned by others of their species, perhaps even more so than the aversion found in the rest of the species of Tilandrial. Due to being used for espionage during the War, the faeries became overly distrustful of anyone, faerie or non-faerie, and the mistrust led to them becoming the rarest species in all of Tilandrial.
As time went on, and faeries became more abundant, those not in direct service to an Arch found themselves with much spare time. They became drawn to the various animals that lived in Tilandrial, horses in particular. The companionship was limited; after all, horses could not converse on the same level as faeries. Remembering how their species got started, they started to wonder if they themselves could change once species into another. Faeries spread the idea telepathically, and soon it was all the faeries could talk about, pouring over spell tomes and trading ideas in the hopes of discovering how to grant the horses with true sentience. They collected, invented, and combined various spells, making sure it was absolutely perfect before testing it on their friends. Once they believed it finished, all the faeries from around Tilandrial gathered together to cast it, knowing the spell would take immense power. The spell was a success, granting the horses with intelligence and altering their appearance slightly. Their hooves became cloven, like a goat's; their tails changed from being just hair to looking more like a lion's tail; and from the center of their forehead grew a single spiral horn, the container for all their magic. The spell came with an unforeseen cost, one that nearly killed all members of the faerie species. The spell drained the faeries of almost all their magic. The dragons, thankfully, discovered the source of the immensely large center of magic, and were able to lend their nearly bottomless wells of magic to the spell, saving both species. Once the spell was finished, the eight Arches wove a new spell, one that erased the creation spell from the mind of the faeries and also planted many myths and legends of the dangers of casting such a spell. The new species, which the dragons themselves termed unicorn, roamed all of Tilandrial with their faerie companions. The unicorns had a natural tendency towards healing, and no matter what element they could control, all of them had the power to heal. Originally, the new species could touch all elements, but as the unicorns learned more about their healing arts and their empathy for any living creature grew, they lost certain elements. Fire, darkness, metal, and earth were seen as destructive, and the unicorns lost any ability to touch these elements. This did not change which faerie they associated with, for unicorns felt a unique bond with the species that created them. During the war, they chose not to fight, instead becoming the healers for those fighting for the Arches' cause. After the war, they confined themselves to areas where there was little influence from the species that fought for the Sphinxes, becoming mostly solitary creatures rarely seen by any who were not unicorn, faerie, or elf.
Before the war started, elves who lived on the continent Sinistrum started to worship the Sphinxes. These elves already did not follow the norm, for they lived on a large expanse of plains nearly empty of trees. They named the area Drow Lak-ek Neev, which translates to "Empty Sunlit Plains." By the time the Sphinxes took their turn living on Sinistrum, the elves already had darkened skin to protect against the dangers of the sun, and blonde hair bleached almost white by the same sun. As the Sphinxes magic perverted the land, so too did the magic start to change these elves. Their already darkened skin turned black as night, their hair lightened to true white, and their eye color changed to dark violets and blues. Physical appearence wasnt the only thing that changed. Skirmishes, almost unheard of before the Sphinxes settled on Sinistrum, flaired up between tribes almost daily, and some turned into actual battles. Typically, these kinds of disagreements would be instantly broken up by the Arch in charge of the continent, but Dunstan was becoming ever more corrupted by the Sphinxes and did nothing to stop it. Eventually, his faeries stopped coming to him at all when the elves started fighting. The other Arches, by this time, had become entrenched in the idea that they look over their own continent only, and interfere only if the Arch themself asked for help. Even the pleading of the Obscurum faeries did nothing to sway the opinions of the Arches. They did nothing to help the elves. Slowly, as the need for violence rose, these elves saw a shift in their magic as well. They lost their touch to water, light, and air, gaining fire, earth, metal, and darkness. Natura was the last to be lost, but as their environment around them degraded, so did their love for nature. Around this same time, the elves started building an enormous city, becoming more and more obsessed with material goods. Each tribe claimed a section of the city, naming the section after their leader. Eventually, only those of the leader's family line could live in that section of the city, or "house" as it became known. Fighting amongst the various houses continued, but it became more sophisticated, more displays of power rather than one on one fighting. There were less battles and more assassination attempts and political battles. The city's ruler was decided by the strongest house, who always elected their own leader. Turnover and takeover was common, and the lead house changed constantly. Those city elves decided to differentiate themselves from their wimpy cousins, calling themselves "Konza Drow Lak-ek Neev" or "Those of the Empty Sunlit Plains." Others simply called them "Drow," knowing how empty they really were inside. During the war, the leaders of each house formally set aside their differences in order to defend their Gods in the honor of battle; but, in reality, Drow from different houses could not fight in the same battlement, such was the nature of their hatred. After the war, Arch Ananda, the only Arch to survive the war, wanted to rid Tilandrial of anything the Sphinxes and the Arch of Obscurum had created. However, the Drow species had become so numerous that she could not do it alone. Grudgingly, Ananda pardoned the Drow and allowed them to live, but she kept a close eye on any Drow houses built on her continent. She did not want another war to flair up.
During The Great War, other species were created solely to fight. Dunstan was the first to attempt, coaxed on by his Sphinx overlords. He gathered some humans who fervently worshiped him, thinking he could use a version of the spell Arch Knylia used to create the faeries. He, however, did not want a benign species - this was war, he wanted a fighter. Searching his continent for a creature that could survive the poisoned and degraded land, Dunstan came across a pack of wolves. Impressed by how well the pack worked together to bring down a creature much larger than themselves, he brought the wolves back to the temple the humans had built for him and the Sphinxes. He gathered his test subjects, placed them and the wolves in the courtyard of his temple, and cast the spell. The result was a human with heightened senses and better fighting skills, and an eagerness to work with their fellow battalion. As with all magic, there were unintended consequences. Dunstan had cast the spell at night, when both moons of Tilandrial; Redigo and Maioribus; were full. The moons did not often have coinciding full moons, with Redigo being full more often than Maioribus, and Dunstan believed his spell would be most effective when both were full at the same time. The next time Redigo was full, the altered humans underwent a transformation. They turned into something that looked like a mix of a wolf and a human, which stood in its hind legs and had immense upper body strength. They were much stronger in this form than their human form, but could not use any magic in this form. The Sphinxes decided this was a fair trade-off for their greatly increased strength and declared the spell to be a success. As the war went on, other unintended consequences made themselves apparent. While in their wolf forms, some of the altered humans, now called lycanthropes, attacked their fellow unaltered soldiers. Those who survived the attack found that they also turned into a humaniod wolf, but only during the full moon of Redigo. Those who Dunstan cast the spell over originally transformed when either moon was full. Eventually, these two kinds of lycanthropes formed two subspecies: The Mericus, those who changed under both full moons, and the Caninus, those who changed only under Redigo's full moon. The Mericus thought of themselves as the "purebreed" lycanthropes, seeing the Caninus as lesser
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