This page gives an in depth look at various histories from the novel. This will inevitably contain spoiler information, so be careful what you want spoiled for you and what you don’t.
Maruva ~ Maruva started out just as any other planet, a group of gasses and dust, which slowly culminated and compressed into a planet. At its core, an energy was produced as the planet formed, and unlike many other planets, there was an abundance of this energy. There was so much that when a solar flare event occured, it altered the energy and produced two consciousness. One, a rather kind and balanced mentality, always working to keep things equal, and another that preferred chaos and inequality over peace.
These two consciousness were connected and yet separate from the energy and each other. Soon they found out they could use the energy to create anything that came to mind, but at the moment it was created, both sensed it and could touch it before it came to exist. This meant that, should either of them ever want to, they could change the others creations before it became reality. It became an unspoken rule that neither of them would ever do this to the other, however nothing lasts forever.
As time passed, the two consciousness watched as the world flourished before them. Plant life grew and grew, until the kind consciousness Dethy could stand it no longer. The world was unbalanced and plants ruled the land, overgrown and wild. So Dethy created the first herbivores to put the world back into balance. Of course the other consciousness, Azire, could not stand the peaceful intentions of Dethy, and created the first carnivores. Although this balanced the world, Azire overlooks this time and again as its creations rival Dethy’s and cause problems for them.
This went on for thousands of years, Dethy and Azire going back and forth, creating new and different creatures. Dethy even created omnivores to further balance the world once carnivores became too abundant. It was not until Dethy created the Somera that things changed. The Somera are what we would call gryphons. They are highly intelligent and empathetic, however they lack speech. They respect the balance of nature above all and their actions are always focused on maintaining that balance. This was too much of an extreme for Azire to handle, and they decided that one extreme deserved another.
Azire had decided to create the Takar, otherwise known as dragons. These dragons were meant to be vicious, bloodthirsty, and apathetic creatures driven only by desire and need. They were to be the top of the food chain with nothing ever able to rival their strength and viciousness. Not everything goes to plan however, and this is no exception.
At the moment of creation, Dethy saw what type of creatures the Takar were meant to be and could not allow them to be created as intended. Dethy decided instead to give them a strong sense of morals, a decent level of empathy, and a sense of right and wrong. Dethy never took any aspects away, they simply added aspects to help better balance the Takar in the world, but this was enough to upset Azire. Never before had either of them altered the other creations, and it was not something Azire would forget.
The world had struck a balance that the two consciousness could not easily break. Nothing they came up with could easily rival the Takar, and even if it did, it always unbalanced the world too much. So, the two consciousness grew bored. All these years their creations had served as a form of entertainment for the two, keeping them content. Now, with everything so balanced, nothing really changed. So they began to discuss why they each created what they did and why they acted the way they did. Azire specifically asked about Dethy changing their creation. Of course, no answer would satisfy Azire and they always felt Dethy was in the wrong for meddling in Azires creation, so Azire set out to prove who was right.
Azire came up with an idea that each of them would create two consciousness with limited powers, both for entertainment, and to settle their debate about meddling with each others creations. These lesser beings would be able to create or alter anything they found in the world to use in a battle against one another, including physical bodies. They would then battle as two teams, until their physical bodies were too wounded to continued, or outright died. Of course this never killed the lesser beings, and because of their intelligence and creativity, every battle ended in a stalemate.
Again, this went on for many years, and eventually, Dethy and Azire both showed signs of losing interest. Afraid they would lose what life they had been given, one of the lesser beings had an idea of their own to entertain Dethy and Azire; the Furmuth. The Furmuth would be the ultimate entertainment; reckless but always striving to survive, intelligent but at the same time dense, logical yet also strangely random. There would be no way to predict the outcome of any situation that involved the Furmuth unless Dethy, Azire, or one of the lesser beings intervened. Dethy and Azire both greatly enjoyed this idea, but decided the Furmuth were not enough to provide adequate entertainment forever, so they asked the other lesser beings to each make their own race.
This was the start of the four races, an entertainment to last a millennia. Not everything followed the path they set forth, nor did Azire forget Dethys changes to their creation. Azire made their own changes over time, regardless of Dethys wants or intentions, and lead the world down a path which eventually leads to our story. From peace, to creating and recreating balance, to nearly creating an unstoppable force, to now. A random, chaotic set of creatures which would entertain Dethy, Azire, and the lesser beings for untold years. Welcome to Maruva.
Vanira ~The founding of Vanira dates back before the war with the Assara. A group of Furmuth left the rest of the races, searching for a home of their own. They traveled far, nearing the coast before finding a location they agreed on. A large hill, surrounded by trees at its base, was to become their new home. It had plenty of wild game, vegetation, and fertile land for farming, with a beautiful view of the horizon.
It was decided, this would be their home, so everyone went to work. The elders managed the younger, able bodied adults and adolescence as they gathered wood to build homes, tilled the earth to make farms, and gathered materials and food from the forest. With everyone working together, Vanira quickly took shape. In a matter of months, each family had its own home and farmland with a town hall at the crest of the hill overlooking it all. The town was built and life was peaceful, until the war with the Assara.
Word of the war came mere weeks before Vanira was affected by it. At first only one or two Assara came to Vanira trying to force their will onto its people. With what time they had, the people of Vanira had prepared and defended themselves from the lone Assara. The battles were hard fought, and Vaniras people won, but only just. If several Assara attacked at once, they would surely fall.
Sentries were posted in the forest to warn the town of approaching Assara. The people began gathering supplies to leave at dawn. The Assara however had other plans. They caught a sentry and forced him to tell them where the other sentries were. The Assara hunted and captured all but one who narrowly escaped. He reached town just before dawn, but the townspeople could already hear the thundering footfalls of the quickly approaching enemy. The people of Vanira had to hide. Now.
The townspeople could not outrun the Assara and no one could think of a suitable place for everyone to hide. Panic started to set in until a young girl quickly ran into the group and proclaimed that she knew a secret place big enough for everyone to hide. With time running out and having no other options, they followed the girl to the mouth of a small cave entrance. A young adult quickly ducked into the cave to examine it. Several tense minutes pass as the townspeople listen to the sounds of their homes being torn apart, the Assara destroying everything looking for them. The young man returned looking relieved and tells everyone to hurry inside. The townspeople begin filing inside one by one, the last of them ducking inside just as the Assara found them.
The opening wasn’t large enough for the Assara to enter, but they could easily change that. Just before one of them made a new hole, another Assara told them it was a waste of time. It would be far easier to ensure they die in their hiding place than to go in after them, so they sealed the cave. The townspeople were trapped with little food, no wood for a fire, no suitable drinking water, and no way out. The townspeople quickly lost hope and accepted their fate. Unbeknownst to them however, one of the lesser gods had been watching and decided that this would not be their end.
Several days after being trapped, the war with the Assara had ended, all of them disappearing without a trace. The creator gods, Dethy and Azire, gave the lesser gods permission to intervene where they saw fit, as long as balance was maintained. The lesser god Sitas was ecstatic to hear this and immediately went to find a way to help the people of Vanira. She searched all over and saw only one way out without revealing her presence; a narrow channel of water leading to the sea. The channel was too long to swim on a single breath and there were no air pockets to be found. Sitas wondered what she could do to help them but couldn’t find anything that wouldn’t reveal her presence, until inspiration struck.
An Aderi swam past her mid-thought, a frog-like creature that uses its legs like a tail after propelling itself. If its legs could be a tail, why couldn’t a Furmuths? Sitas mind began to race with the possibilities until they found a way to help the people of Vanira without being noticed or upsetting the balance. She would give them the ability to create a tail and breath underwater. All she had to do after changing them was to convince them that it was always possible. So Sitas changed the Furmuths lungs and gave them the ability to shape shift in bodies of water.Now the Furmuth’s legs could turn into a tail and they could breath underwater as well as on land. Sitas had one more problem to address, she needed to show them how it was done.
Sitas came to the townspeople in their dreams that night, trying desperately to show them their new abilties. Most of them didn’t pay attention to their dreams while others thought it was just wishful thinking. It wasn’t until Sitas came to a rebellious young man did her plan succeed. After the dream the young man wanted to try what he had seen but was told no. Determined he waited until most of the others were asleep before he crawled into the nearby water. Then he focused, picturing what he had seen in his dream until something happened. Light engulfed his legs and he felt his body change. Once it was finished the boy screamed in delight, waking everyone who then rushed to see what had happened.
Everyone that rushed over now looked at the boy in stunned silence. The young man had changed, just like in the dream they all had had. His legs were now merged into a scaly, shimmering fish tail with large fines at the end and a smaller fin on his backside. The young man focused his mind again, this time on his normal body and shifted back. At first no one believed what they had saw, attributing it to another dream or hallucination. The young man pleaded with everyone that it was true until finally, his father decided to try it himself. He focused his mind on the image of himself from his dream, but when nothing happened people gave up what little hope they had been given.
The young man however wouldn’t give up that easily. He jumped back into the water and showed them again and told them it only works in the water. He began pushing and pulling his father towards the water until he finally got in. Then the young man jumped into the water with him, then closed his eyes and focused on shifting. His father did the same until the water shimmered again and both of them ha changed. The young man pulled his father excitedly and swam underwater with him, traveling down the long canal, his father too stunned to react. They were swimming through the canal. They were swimming through the channel faster than he had thought possible and emerged out in the sea not half an hour later. They swam to the surface of the water and saw a beautiful beach before them, clear sunny skies, and open plains perfect for a new home. The young man’s father gleamed with happiness and pride, throwing his son into the air before going back through the channel to the eagerly awaiting townspeople.
They explained how to shift and swim to the others before telling them about the location for a new town. Everyone was excited and in disbelief. They may have lost their original town, but now they were free from the grip of despair and certain death, with new freedoms to enjoy and a new town on the horizon. A town where everyone would always be free, a town called Vanira; Freedom.
Alcera ~ Alcera had humble beginnings, starting before the war as an inclusive town built on unity and collaboration. All races were welcome and together they built a lovely town with plenty of room to expand and enough resources to allow it to grow. Alcera flourished until the war nearly brought it to ruin.
After the war Alcera could hardly be recognized. Much of the city had been turned to rubble, its surrounding plains and farmland utterly devastated, and the local ecosystem completely wiped out. Despite all this the citizens of Alcera chose to rebuild and hold onto their once great city.
Despite their efforts there was only so much that they were able to do. Alcera’s Oluvan and Makara population chose to return to their home cities, leaving the Furmuth citizens to rebuild on their own. Without the assistance of magic it was only a matter of time before the city would be rebuilt. Feeding the city however, that would be an entirely different problem.
The scars of war around Alcera ran deep. The once fertile farmland was now barren and nearly lifeless, unable to support the growth of anything but the most resilient of plants. What few crops were hearty enough to grow on the land could not produce enough food to support Alcera, even with its diminished population. Once dedicated citizens of Alcera began to lose hope and chose to move elsewhere. Only the citizens most committed to reviving Alcera remained. Their unwavering love and dedication for the city would become the key to raising Alcera to its former glory.
One of the lesser gods had watched Alcera rise and admired the city and its people. As much as the lesser god wanted to intervene during the war they would not break the rules of the creator gods. Seeing Alcera crumble deeply saddened the lesser god but as they watched its citizens fight to restore their city, the lesser god chose to fight for the people they cherished.
The lesser god sought out their creators and implored them to rescind their rule of never interfering and allow them to bless Alcera. Initially the creator gods refused; they believed allowing this would make the mortals less entertaining. The lesser god argued that intervening in subtle ways could increase how much they enjoyed watching the mortals. They continued their argument, explaining that as long as the races remained balanced overall, small blessings and miracles could create more entertaining situations.
Dethy and Azire both debated on the merits of this idea. The thought of having new and varying situations unfold in their world was tempting. Blessings could create wealth and prosperity while curses could create despair and desperation. Allowing the lesser gods to intervene in these ways would inevitably create conflict, leading to more battles between the races. The creator gods found the first war highly entertaining and the prospect of similar situations arising was too tempting to pass.
The creator gods decided to allow the lesser gods to curse and bless the mortals however they saw fit. As long as the lesser gods did not do anything that would favor one race over another they were free to do as they pleased. The lesser god then returned to Alcera and considered how best to help its citizens.
They chose to bless the land surrounding Alcera, restoring it to beautiful plains and fertile land. The blessing would also ensure that the crops would always provide enough food to sustain the city regardless of its size. Having blessed Alcera the lesser god watched as the city slowly returned to glory. Former citizens began returning, the city expanded as new citizens took up residence, and the city once again became known for welcoming any and all people to join in their bounty.