Date: Year 0055 of the Firmament Era
Location: The Northern Cradle, Human Domain of Avarra
1. A Whisper in the Dark
Unlike the elves born of song, or dragons born of breath, the humans were shaped not by command, but by a whisper.
Noctyros, the God of Night, fractured and fading after sacrificing himself to hold Chaos at bay, placed his hand upon the untouched clay of the world. His voice was faint, almost broken. Yet what he said changed everything.
"Try."
From that single word, humanity was born.
They emerged not in glory, but in silence—eyes wide, bodies frail, souls raw with hunger and wonder. There were no laws carved into their veins. No harmony tied to stars. No Authority etched into their skin.
They were incomplete.
But in their incompletion… they were limitless.
2. The Northern Cradle
The first humans awoke in the Northern Cradle, a fertile valley tucked between the Blackweald Forest and the Abyros Mountains, near the edge of the River Erosin.
The land was rich in life but harsh in storm. The beasts that roamed it had no pity, and the skies often cracked with thunder for no reason at all. No other race had settled here—neither elves nor dwarves nor beasts. It was too wild.
It was perfect for humans.
They named their first settlement Avarra, which in their tongue meant "Shelter From the Cold." It began as little more than hollowed-out caves and sharpened stones, but within three decades, it became a village, then a town, then something more.
They learned to harvest grain from riverbanks, to trap animals, to build fire not just for warmth, but as symbol. They carved stones with memory. They told stories not of gods they saw, but of the darkness that had spoken once—and might speak again.
3. The First King: Edros the Grey-Hand
Edros was the first to unite the river clans under one banner. He was not strong. He was not wise. But he listened.
The story says that one night, as he stood on the cliffs of the Ebonrise, the stars above him whispered. He heard the name Noctyros, though he did not know what it meant. And he spoke aloud, asking, "What should we become?"
The next morning, he gathered all the clans and declared:
"The world is ours not by power, but by memory. We will become what we choose."
He was crowned not in gold, but in woundcloth, taken from the fallen who had died fighting for survival. He dipped his right hand in ash and swore to never wash it clean. From then on, he was called Edros the Grey-Hand, King of Choice.
His reign lasted forty-two years, and under him, Avarra grew into the first true human city.
4. The City of Avarra
Avarra became the center of early humanity. Built around the cliffs of Ebonrise, it straddled the Erosin River, with bridges of wood and bone connecting its twin halves. The city had no temples—only Hearthstones, placed at every corner, where families lit fires to honor "The Unknown Watcher."
They did not know the gods.
But they remembered the night.
Edros built the Hall of Choice, a long granite chamber where every leader was required to recite their decisions aloud before the people. If the stone walls echoed with silence, it was said the Watcher approved. If the fires dimmed, the people could remove the ruler by vote.
It was not divine law. It was human law—made from need.
5. The Spread of Men
As decades passed, humans began to spread beyond the Cradle.
Southwest, they reached the Vales of Naetherra, where they encountered dwarves for the first time. Trade began: steel for salt, stories for stone.
East, they crossed the Bloodroot Flats and built Haranhold, a fortress-town that later became a kingdom in its own right.
North, they ventured too close to the Gravepine Wilds, where ancient beastkin clans prowled. Many were slaughtered. But some learned to speak with the beasts. From them would come the Totem Tribes, who built no cities but shaped the wind.
But not all humans sought unity.
Some desired more. Faster. Easier.
Some remembered the darkness not with fear—but with hunger.
6. The Breaking of Memory
As faith in the old stories began to fade, factions rose within Avarra and beyond.
A sect known as the Children of Light claimed that the gods had abandoned the world because it was unworthy—and that humanity must build new gods, forged in flame and rule.
They outlawed the Watcher's name. They seized the Hall of Choice. They crowned a new king—Maeron the Fire-Bringer, who forged the Flame Pact: a law that declared fire itself divine and choice a sin of weakness.
Those loyal to Edros' memory were forced out—many fled north, where they became the Shadowbound, carrying only oral tales of the "God of Silence."
For the first time, humans began to divide.
Not by land.
Not by war.
But by belief.
7. The Whisper Beneath
In the ruins beneath Avarra, something had begun to stir.
The old tunnels, dug during Edros' reign to escape the winter storms, had become a refuge for the broken and desperate. Among them was a healer named Malek, born with a twisted spine and eyes that saw too much.
One night, Malek vanished for three days.
When he returned, his back was straight.
His voice no longer stuttered.
And his eyes no longer blinked.
"I have heard the true god," he said. "He does not demand love. Only recognition."
Some listened.
Some followed.
And in secret, the first pact was made.
8. Legacy of Dust
Humans had grown.
They built five cities.
They founded three kingdoms.
They created written language, bronze, stone magic.
They forgot the names of the gods.
They buried the memory of Noctyros under fear and fable.
They replaced reverence with ambition.
But within them burned something no other race held in equal strength:
Will.
And in their unshaped hearts, the fate of the world would turn again.
For in dust and choice, power waits.