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Hunting is persistance. That's what mother would always say. The oldest, simplest, and purest kind of hunting was persistence hunting... just keep chasing your prey until it is too tired to run anymore. Then you close the gap and stab it with a sharpened stick. I was little more than a foal when I made my first successful run and took my first doe. She may have been young, but so was I! I earned my name that day, Eberline. Versatile, able to learn easily, fine when in harmony, capable.
Trapping is the next evolution of hunting, naturally. Far more expedient to put sticky lime on the branches of a bush, and then bait the branches with seed your quarry liked to eat. Birds land and get stuck, throw your nets over the bush, and you can readily pluck yourself a veritable harvest feast. Snares and nets may only yield rabbits and squirrels, but that was a damned sight better than starving so long as you had patience enough to wait for your reaping.
After mother breathed her last, I knew it was time to go find my own way. A fatherless child has no ties, no name to honor. If I were to have any legacy, any noteriety, I would have to track it down myself. So I came, and I will pursue.
Before the Kings
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Thousands of years ago the establishment of the Gods and Godesses came into power on the World known as Ateraan. These beings evolved from a choatic strife between what was known as the Oracle and the Enemy. Legend says that the Gods at the time were known in three realms. One being the God of the World itself, a Spirit known as Ateraan and caretaker of Nature. Another was of the Darkness, the God of Shadow endowed with power and known as Dahkoar. The third was a Woman of Light, a being of empathy and known to her followers as Waylumi.
Prophets, Religious Leaders, Philosophers, and Keepers of the Lore have sometimes disagreed on the origin of the Deity and even on the Chaotic war, but one thing that has stayed consistent is the tale of the Guardians. It is said that in Ancient times the Guardians were four beings set apart by the Oracle of the Cosmos to stand as watch keepers against the return of the Enemy. These beings were known as the Guardian of the North, The Guardian of the South, the Guardian of the West, and the Guardian of the East. Each were endowed with special relics and power to form a barrier against creatures of another dimension.
As time passed the location and knowledge of the Guardians fell into mystery and were not seen for centuries and only spoken about in stories by adept bards or written in ancient tomes by scholars.
The 1st Year of the King
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In the 1st Year of the King, over a thousand years ago, it is written that the Legendary Retter were throughout the land and some say they were knights of the Guardians to go forth and keep order while establishing a more powerful group of men and women against the time of the return of the enemy.
Many argue over this as it is well known there were Retter both Dark and Light and they even quarreled among themselves. Despite this, the fact of Retter is true and the advent of all races of powerful beings became clear. Guilds of power sprang up in the form of Mages, Shaman, Druids, Warriors and others that lent power to those special persons that had some form of inner core spirituality. History declares that these persons were gifted by the Oracle to be champions and it seemed clear that many were. But again, this has become a topic of contention as many beings both good and evil seem to have been given this gift and battles have been fierce between them.
The Year of the King 1510
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Decades passed and with them a change in times and seasons, power, and history. Nations and Cities rose up to establish order upon Ateraan. After the turn of the 16th Century in the Year of the King, the Great Migration occurred with the city states throughout the Southland growing with the Darmahk becoming one of the most prominent.
It is said those gifted with the power earlier disappeared into legend and new beings were born with this inner ability. They prospered and throughout the land beings of all manner of skill and power lent their abilities to varying Guilds, Clans, Religions, Cities, and Nations.
The Warlord became well known and gained in power calling himself the King of the Southland and attempted to put all Cities of the Southland under his iron fist.
For seven years prosperity reigned and it was written that the purpose of these years was for preparation of the most dangerous and mighty battle against Ateraan: The Return of the Enemy.
It was at the end of the Year 1517 that the Warlock of Teciann arrived to warn of this grave peril coming to Ateraan. Without the Guardians the world would surely be lost and he called upon four individuals to take on the Mantel of the Four Guardians. They were known as Shora the Waylumi, Kyte the Commander, Warg the Warrior, and Ramketh the Dahkoar. In a mighty battle of epic destruction the Four Guardians fell, but in falling established a ward that would be the catalyst to a heroic victory for the others born of the gift.
The Year of the King 1518
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In the following year a strange occurrence happened as the gifted ones who had won the war disappeared off the face of the land. It is unclear what happened during this time by the rumours say that they left to usher into a new era of strength and prosperity. Whatever the case it is clear that they leave a mark of history upon this world as this new era begins.
Scholars and Philosophers have called this new era:
After the Fall of the Guardians
You may also wish to stop by the Druid Library.
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