The world was as wild and vast as it was beautiful. Birds of all feathers navigated the winds, fish large and small swam the channels of the oceans, and animals both fierce and cunning roamed its great open lands. But there was discord in the world, beast fought beast for territory and food while flying behemoths cleared great swathes of ocean life in need to sustain their own. During this period of chaos, great amounts of energy were released in titanic clashes of the unrestrained creatures, and began to congeal into formless masses of emotions and energy, each bearing a disposition relevant to that which birthed them. These “spirit” beings gave in to the overpowering nature of the energy that created them, clashing with each other in horrifying displays of pure destructive power and emotion. Each time a spirit would falter, it would be devoured by a stronger entity, merging the essences of the spirits, gaining in strength and also, awareness. All the while, fragments of spirits lost in combat scattered and absorbed into the soils of the world.
This period lasted for over one thousand years, reshaping the land into its current state and reducing the population of beasts to near extinction levels. The few remaining spirits had at this point gained rational thought and personalities and began to notice the world around them. A few of the more intelligent spirits saw the scarred earth, barren seas and heard only the sound of anguish and rage carried in the winds and knew if the battles continued, there would hardly be anything left in the aftermath. Gathering together, these intelligent spirits realized that while they had put a hold on their hostile nature, other spirits had embraced the inherited rage and now used their intellect to manipulate the creatures of the world into visions of their own.
These malevolent spirits spread aggression and hate wherever they chose, caring only about what cruel entertainment could be garnered from their instigated conflicts. The rational spirits saw a number of their own devoured during attempts at peaceful interaction with the aggressors, and abandoned the hope for a peaceful end. Determined, the gathered spirits then went on the attack, assaulting the remaining hostile entities, defeating those that would have the world arrive at an abrupt and cataclysmic end. The conclusion of the onslaught gave the few remaining spirits greater power, having devoured the hostile forces and subduing the malicious tendencies that they harbored. Very quickly, the victorious spirits noticed they had gained the ability to converse directly with creatures that closely resembled their nature, as well as being able to grant some of their own power to creatures of their choosing.
The remaining six spirits once again convened to decide as to how they would use these new found abilities, and produced The Contract. Under this contract each spirit took the title of Aspect, and was charged with choosing an Advocate to bless with power and assist in creating a balance amongst the remaining species of the world. The Contract also enabled The Aspects a measure of control over some of the development and growth of their contracted species. Under the guidance of the Aspects and their chosen, the seas slowly began to flourish anew with life, the winds filled with bird song rather than sounds of battle, and the land regained the luster lost from countless battles. The surge of returned life also rekindled the spirit fragments that had fallen to the earth during the great battles, and as such, many centuries passed during which the world erupted with life. New forms of creatures arose from the land soaked in spirit essence, each one taking its place under the Aspects’ Contract. One such creature that arrived toward the end of this period was the Human.
This new race puzzled the Aspects, as most of the creatures in the world had limited range of thought and emotions, humans had a wide variety of complex emotions and the capability for higher intellect, each differing from the next. This range of variation made the Aspects unable to interact or interfere with humans, and at a loss as to how and where this species could fit in the contract that they so painstakingly preserved. Even worse, the Aspects began to notice that the new species quarreled amongst themselves, much like the beasts of old. New energy was released upon the world, exuded from all manner of human emotion and with no Contract to channel it, began to eat away at the Aspects’ control.
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The Aspects, frantic to find some way to bring the new race into the Contract, began to lose control of their charges as man’s reach spread. As the weakening of the Contract worsened, the creatures subdued by the power of the Aspects turned once again feral and aggressive. Faced with the onslaught of creatures no longer passive to the newcomers and far more powerful than themselves, humans began to gather together and learn. Some created tools to help defend each other, and others used tools to create the first Walls. Innovation lead to prosperity. They built great Walls around themselves, encompassing areas large and small, to keep out the creatures of the world and allowing the people to continue to build knowledge of the primal yet beautiful world beyond.
This stalemate also had its own unique effect on the world. Human essence mixes and congeals with the energy once strictly controlled via The Contract. This began to happen across the world as each individual settlement grew and flourished, hidden safely behind their Walls.
Each community began to grow unique cultures, customs, and technology fit for their needs. In the cooler areas of the north, humans learned to use the lands own heat to keep their homes warm and the streets alight. In the arid southern lands of a large continent, humans learned to search for water deep underground, some even finding these oasis as a fit place to live. In the gargantuan forests just off the coast of a small continent, humans built expansive caged walkways beyond their Wall, hidden amongst the thick canopy, making trade and travel safe for all in the area. In the plains lands most prominent across the world, humans harvest the steady winds to assist in various ways, some to ease the burden of farm labor, others use large mills to generate their own energy, easing many aspects of their daily lives.
Having developed a sense of security within the Walls, humans began to look beyond their own borders and into The Wild. While some ventured out in search of new or strange materials to aid in tool synthesis, Hunters began to find sport amongst the beasts, hunting and harvesting the creatures for whatever could prove to be valuable. Hunters became a symbol of strength for each community as they carved paths through The Wild in search for rare prey.
During the time humans lived, died, quarreled and loved within their Walls, the ever increasing amounts of human essence interacted with The Contract, already hulking creatures to grow once more to massive proportions, and other smaller creatures began to develop awareness and build tools of their own, as well as rudimentary to surprisingly advanced societies scattered throughout “The Wild.” While the control over the contracted species weakened, the Aspects discovered that certain members of the human populace had begun to hear their voices. Rare specimens such as these where discovered to be incredibly effective vessels for the power of the Aspects and once more, the six convened.
An argument arose as to how the Aspects would respond to possible human Advocates. Some seeing the ability to interact directly with the humans as a perfect opportunity to try to communicate and guide the humans safely into The Contract. Conversely, the other Aspects thought that giving their power to a race unregulated by The Contract would only hasten the degradation of their influence.
A deal was struck that each Aspect would go to an area of human influence and begin to interact with the humans as they saw fit. Every human generation they agreed to meet and discuss the differences between each territory and its overall effect on the Contract. An island located in the central sea was chosen as their meeting place and the northern areas of the world would become an area of no influence for the Aspects, allowing them to use the humans there to judge the impact of each Aspects impact.
150 years and six generations pass, the Aspects influence continually forced primal essence produced by humans out their territory and it had begun to converge and have a dramatic effect on the northern region of the world.