*1. Plot & Setting

[FennecFyre]

Long-yet-required-reading, sorry...

~*~ 

Five hundred years ago, we were destroyed by the wrath of a god. 

In the beginning, there were only the Five Siblings: Gaia, the Earth Mother, Arinek, the Forgemaster, Tethys, the Sea-Mistress, Zephyr, the Sky-Lord, and Kronos, the Timeweaver. Gaia raised the continents from the abyss, carving mountains and valleys and covering the planet with foliage. Arinek forged the great jewels of the sun, moon, and stars, and adorned the still-black sky with them. Tethys caused the oceans and rivers to flow forth, nuturing and destroying the world as she pleased. Zephyr wove the great canvas of the sky and created the weather, creating a work that changed as his fickle mood did. But when Kronos tried to contribute to this new world, he only created the endless flow of time, dooming all things to dust while making way for new creations. 

They looked upon the world and found it beautiful, but empty. Gaia formed the first creatures of the land from clay and stone, sending them to scatter across the continents. Arinek, wanting to leave his own mark on the world, took the curve of the crescent moon and the sun's fire and created his own beast. He named it Feline, and gave to it the jungles and deserts. Be wise and strong, he told Feline. And always will a fire burn in your heart. Tethys, never to be outdone, created Canine, weaving frost into it's mantle and water's endless movement into it's tireless stride. You will adapt and survive wherever you may go, she told Canine, for water's ability to change will always be with you. Canine took the plains and forests and frozen nights as it's home, guarding it jealously against Feline. Zephyr, determined to make a creature that would trump his siblings, formed a creature with wings like the cirrus clouds and beak and talons like lightning. He deemed it Gryphon, and gave to it the high places of the world, the mountain peaks and rainforest canopies. The sky will be your birthright, he said to Gryphon. Rule it with cleverness and pride. Kronos wished to create his own creature, but found nothing left to create it from. In a sulk, he decreed that these creatures would feel mortality as the planet did.  

The three who had created the new animals protested to Gaia, but she could not bring herself to punish her brother when he felt so unable to contribute to the world. She attempted a compromise: Arinek, Tethys, and Zephyr could create three more special beings, but these would be mortal as well. Arinek produced his work first, a stout, bipedal being that loved to delve into the ground and was a master of smithing. He dubbed it Dwarf, and it quickly formed a friendship with Feline, who also coveted metals and gems and loved caves. Tethys, intrigued by the idea but appalled at it's short stature and gruff disposition, created Human, who was as flexible and adaptable as the water. Human and Canine, who were both frequent travelers and yearned for the closeness of a group, bonded together and helped eachother to hunt and guard their land. Finally, Zephyr created a slender biped with pointed ears like wings and a nimbleness unmatched by any, and named it Elf. Elf loved the lush and green places of the world, and carried itself with a pride that caused many others to avoid it, but made Gryphon take notice. Pleased with how their creations befriended eachother, the gods allowed the beasts and bipeds to form special bonds with eachother, a linking of the souls that would strengthen both bondmates.

And so the three sentient races became the six, and they grew and spread and prospered. The gods ruled over the world, providing benign council and guidance. Kronos, however, remained displeased. The mortals loved and worshiped his siblings, while he was hated and feared, and seen as the bringer of death.  

Kronos had had enough. 

His plans were nearly undetectable at first. He targeted mortals first, bribing them to his side with promises of power and eternal life. Then, he moved on to spirits and the great beasts, securing alliances in exchange for land, power, life. Next, he turned to the denizens of his afterlife, ensnaring the weak-minded and restless and turning them into shades. Years went by, his army grew, and when it was strong enough, he marched on the living world, not as Kronos the Timeweaver, but as Necrot, the Death-King. The kingdoms, prides, packs, and clans were unprepared for such an onslaught, and thousands died. A hasty alliance between the three factions was formed, and Necrot's army met it's first opposition. The battle raged for years, claiming uncountable lives. The three humanoid races were nearly wiped out, and fled across the sea, abandoning their four-legged brothers. Arinek, Tethys, and Zephyr joined the fight against their sibling, protecting their respective followers, while Gaia begged and pleaded with him to cease his assault. He refused.  

Gaia had no other choice. She and her siblings pooled their energy for a last resort, and struck Necrot down, ripping him apart and leaving nothing but his barest essence, which was sealed in a prison of stone deep underground. But before they could remove all trace of his powers, he invoked his own curse: that the three remaining races--the canines, the felines, and the gryphons--would lose their racial memories, their magic, their common tongue, their very sentience. They would live as mere animals, mindless beasts like the prey they hunted. With their final scraps of power, the remaining four siblings managed to affix a limit to the curse, ensuring it would abate, but only after five hundred years. Exhausted, the four sealed themselves away to rest, leaving their creations to struggle on their own. 

And so, for five hundred years, the world was silent. No forge-fires glowed in the night, the great cities crumbled and rotted, the species fought among themselves, unaware that they had once been friends, and the gods and the great war were all but forgotten. 

But as promised, the curse eventually came to an end. It was a crisp winter dawn when the canines, felines, and gryphons of Ilrea realized that something was different. Their perception of the world had sharpened. Their minds had quickened, and they began to think and feel like they never had before. Perhaps most shockingly, they discovered that the screeches, growls, or roars of another species suddenly seemed as clear as spoken words to them. But it was not a complete renaissance. Their rich histories and knowledge of magic was virtually gone, remaining only as snippets in legends, and the gods remained a dubious myth. And there were those who were unhappy with this new consciousness, and wished to go back to the simplicity of beast life. But others wish to embrace this new future, and to write their own passage in Ilrea's long history. 

~*~ 

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MY CHARACTER?

• Characters born after Winter, Year 1 will not remember the Awakening, but may learn about it, of course.
• Characters who experience the Awakening and subsequent return of the gods (which has yet to happen) will require some time to have complete control of their powers, which may initially manifest in any way.
• Nobody knows anything about the war at the moment. Knowing a legend about some great, unknown cataclysm is allowed.
• The gods are more-or-less dormant at the moment, and may only be known about in stories. A character is allowed to worship different gods or none at all depending on their history.
• Winter, Year 1 is the first season that the three would be able to communicate. Character backstories should not really include frequent friendly contact with another of the three if they were born before this time.
• Characters born before Winter, Year 1 cannot come from groups with overly complex ranks, rules, or structures. Remember, they were pretty much animals.