Prologue
	Greetings, dear friends, before my tale begins and the curtain rises, let m set the stage.

	Oh? Who am I, you ask? Oh My, how terribly rude of me. (Ahem) I am Serverious Nouva, Child of the Wolf Clan and scribe to King Altronia, Lord of the Silver Lands, and, of course, your humble servant. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, please allow me to return to my story.

	It started deep in the mists of time, back when all of us were mindless beasts. One day the Great Goddess Alissia came down from the heavens and walked among us. She radiated such an aura of peace and calm that animal, now matter how hungry, vicious, or cruel, attacked her. As She strode over world She gazed upon us all, She saw fierce and bright souls burning in some of us and She knew what must be done.

	She traveled far north to the Crystal Cave and cut Her palm on the highest crystal, which broke off and became the great treasure known as Genesis Stone. Then She traversed the world, choosing the souls that shape the destiny of our realm, those who would need Her gifts, and gently touched them upon the head with Her wounded hand. She spoke these words to us, “I give you form, in order to function; I give you minds in order to think; I give you hearts in order to love; I give you knowledge in order to create; I give you wisdom in order to understand; I give you freedom in order to choose; and lastly I give you Magic in order to aid all My other gifts.”, those words now echo, written in stone, in all Her temples. As the last word fell from Her lips and rippled throughout the world, we were changed.
	Some of us became great beasts, which She called dragons, unicorns, griffons, and the like. Most of us however were shaped to resemble what we would later discover as “humans” (But they are another story) We were both animal and human and were given speech and writing as well as languages to use them on. At first all knew two languages, the One Tongue spoken by all and each clan received a language. With Her work done She departed as mysteriously as She appeared.

	Thus the first age, the Age of Discovery, began. For over a thousand years peace reigned as nations and towns were formed while the clans mastered the gift of Magic. Then somewhere in the 1200’s EA (Era of Allisia) due to a difference in the belief on how to live came to a head between those who wished to build grand cities and those who wished to live close to nature. With that the War of the Tear began. (There were those who wanted no part in the war, some tried to make peace while others recorded the war incase the two sides destroyed each other.) For over three hundred years the War of the Tear rolled over the world like a malevolent wave cast by an ocean of blood and hate. The fighting still continues as, in 1532 EA, both High King Zukari (Who lead those that wished to live in grand cities.) and Great Chief Hazae (who lead those who wanted to live close to nature.) sent their sons into the enemy camp in order to spy upon them and learn their plans. What the two leaders never planned or foresaw was, due to the open-mind and open-heart of youth their sons began to understand those whom they once called foes.

	After a time both sons learned not only of each other, but of their father’s plans. They met in secret many times, talking about the state of the world and their people’s role in it’s suffering. One night, during such a meeting, they came  to a decision - to lead by example. Fleeing both their missions and their war-torn kingdoms they took an Oath of Brotherhood upon the honor and holiness of the Great Goddess Alissia Herself. Sadly, their plan, though well-intended, and their newly discovered Oath served only to spark a new level of aggression and brutality in the fighting. Soon after in 1534 EA, a year after the two sworn brothers fled both armies gathered at the Field of Blood (so named due to the amount of fighting that took place there.) for what promised to be the final battle. High King Zukari demanded his son be returned to him, to be freed from the savage and barbaric ways they have forced him to live. Great Chief Hazae replied that first they would have to free his son from the shackles of greed, blind obedience, and silence to nature they have to unjustly coiled around his son. They both knew their sons were nowhere around but to call upon a battle this severe needed a reason and a royal son held hostage was a good of a reason as any.

	Just as both armies readied their weapons and spells a shimmer of magic rplled in the middle of the field and there was the sons of Zukari and Hazae. They stood there so pround and noble that not a soul dared to move. Clad in their finest clothes they each bore a strange dagger. The son of Hazae bore a dagger made of diamond and the son of Zukari bore a dagger made of platinum, then, to the horror of their fathers, they raised their blades high and cried out, “We will not let our names cause such  bloodshed, we will not allow a lie to cause death, we will not allow hate to change hearts anymore. You say you fight for us, then FIGHT NO MORE!!!) and they plunged the daggers deep into their own hearts.

	The two fathers ran onto the field, as they knelt beside their fallen sons a flawless golden light surrounded them. As the light continued it’s glow a silence so empty and complete that it seemed as if no sound would ever be made again, embraced the world. Looking around they saw all of time was still except for they and their sons. As the light took shape they gazed upon the divine form of Alissia, the Great Goddess, standing before them.

	She was beautiful beyond measure, Her skin was the shade of virgin white, never touched by a single stain. Her eyes were more green and alive then the leaves of the first tree to ever reach for the sun and were so full of compassion that they would melt even the hardest of hearts. Her gown was simple but of such a green that it almost seemed to radiate life, Her cloak was the blue of an untouched and unspoiled ocean and looked as to cascade over and blend into her gown as if it truly was water giving life to the green of the world. Her hair moved and flowed in such a way that one would think it was alive and not even the purest gold or the first ray from a new sun could match it’s brilliance. On Her right hand was the scar from the wound that reshaped the world.

	The Great Goddess Alissa spoke to them in a voice they thought came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. She said, “Why do you weep? It was for an oath upon me and a chance for peace that they died.”

	“No,” said the fathers, “it was for our foolishness that they perished. It was because we continued this pointless war, so long has it waged that we have forgotten why it began. Please, don’t let our sons die for our stubborn and useless pride.”

	A single tear of compassion fell from the Great Goddess Alissia’s eye as She said, “Your words and hearts have moved me. Great is the man who knows when his pride has been folly, greater still is the man who can set aside his pride for the well-being of his children.”. She waved Her hand through the air and time once again began it’s eternal march. Both armies stood frozen in awe and spoke in the slightest whispers at the sight of the Great Goddess Alissia. She raised her hand for silence and spoke in a voice that rippled throughout the world, “Noble leaders of these people I have heard your plea but, know that the Law of Fate has claimed two lives this day. Yet let not your hope die in your chest for I am not death and despair, nay, I am hope and life. Even though not even I can move against the Laws of Fate, I can aid to see it appeased. So Great Chief Hazae take in your hand the Platinum Claw which pierced the heart of High King Zukari’s son, and High King Zukari you do the same with the Diamond Tooth. Now, you must plunge them into your own hearts to satisfy the Laws of Fate.”

	Both Zukari and Hazae looked at each other in solemn understanding, they raised their blades high and, like their sons, struck true to their hearts. The second the life ebbed from them their bodies vanished.

	Alissia again spoke as the two sons stirred and breathed again, not a trace of the bloody wounds that snuffed out their lives. She said, “Behold, with the passing of those two noble warriors the world shall have it’s first gods born of mortal flesh. But know this, I see know that I cannot leave this world, one of My many gardens, unattended. So with that I shall elevate many this day so that, once again, there will be those touched directly by My gifts. But first,” She pointed to a boulder on the battle field, “Najaym!”. The boulder shattered like glass and there, sitting at a folding table with parchment, ink, and quill was a very surprised, frightened, and confused wolf. She beckoned him forward and spoke, “He, born of the Wolf Clan, you who have not chosen a side in this world divided yet you and your fathers before you put quill to parchment, recording every moment. You, oh tale-writer and lore-bearer, chronicler and scribe shall indeed have a role in this world. Forget your name for you shall be nameless”, She produced a mask from the folds of Her cloak, it was perfectly smooth and black as a moonless night, “and take this mask for you shall also be faceless. No, despair not, for even though it seems that I weigh you down your role shall be important. You shall not be a god but you shall be timeless and immortal, you shall be in this world to record it’s history so that it will not be forgotten. Also, you shall choose thirty men and thirty women from among all the clans who shall also wear masks like yours. Throughout the ages they, their descendants, and any others you find worthy, shall aid in your duties. They shall also lend ear to those who wish to speak and advice to those who seek wisdom. But neither you or your disciples, henceforth known as the Scribe Clan, must never record in error, in self-serving falsehood, or to try and change history, for it is their duty to record history not become it.”

	The Great Goddess Alissia turned and pointed north, “You shall lead the clan north, past the Blackreach Mountians to the Valley of Infinite Shadows. Traveling in the secret and hidden ways I shall reveal to you and your clan. You will come upon a city which I have placed there for your entire clan. Once there you shall be taught the secrets of the Tongue That Cannpt be Spoken which is the key to Deep Magic, the very bones and blood of this world. It shall aid you in your endless task to record all the passings of this planet.”

	Two glowing orbs of divine light appeared and began to shape and substance, soon Zukari and Hazae were standing in the field where they fell. Alissia turned to them and began to address them, “This,” She said as She held up a crystal that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, “is My tear which I have shed for My children. It will forever symbolize a great and powerful pact between these two peoples. Hazae, in tradition of your people you shall have a new name since you have died, it shall be Wyld and the people who follow your ways shall be called Wyldlings. Zukari, those who follow your path shall be called the Zukari. Now, Wyld and Zukari, do you swear upon this tear that I have shed for you that neither you or your people shall ever go to war over what beliefs shall be held?”

	“I, Wyld, God of the Wyldings swear it so.” he said in a deep tone.
	Zukari knelt and in a stelly voice said, “Upon the hinir of my now eternal days, I swear.”
	“And to prevent the sorrow of this day from ever happening again do you swear to uphold a sacred edict that statees neither the Zukari or the Wyldlings shall never kill, rstrain, or wound any being that wishes to leave your path to follow another?”
	Zukari and Wyld looked at each other in understanding. They nodded and said as one, “We swear it so.”

	With that the Great Goddess Alissia looked at the two sons and started to speak in a somber tone, “Son of Hazae, you shall take the Platinum Claw as a royal treasure and name your lands after gems. Son of Zukari, the lands of your people shall be named after precious metals and the Diamond Tooth is your royal treasure. Also both of you shall have a memorial, a temple, built in which My tear is to rest. Each of you are to build half of it to symbolize that even though both of your people are different all of you are under My graces. Further more your names are to never be recorded in the story of this day, for it is the idea of peace and the tolerance to other paths of life, not the people who forged them, that needs to be remembered. Now go with My blessings and create your kingdoms to rule with kindness, tolerance, and understanding.”

	When She finished speaking She walked among the Clans choosing those who She knew were destined to serve as gods and goddesses, even those who were not a Wyldling or Zukarian became deities. These were many but such a list of names and jobs are unimportant at the moment, so I shall leave it be for now.

	It would be nice to say that peace reigned forever, but that would and my tale before it even began now wouldn’t it? The Temple of the Tear was built, half coaxed and grown from the very earth by the Wyldlings, half shaped by the Arcane Magics of the Zukari. The Field of Blood was renamed Alissia’s Garden and the Temple of the Tear stood in it’s center. The Zukari and the Wyldlings still had cruel fights and vicious battles, although no open war raged between them. The Tear of Alissia remained in the Temple and the other Sacred Treasure, the Genesis Stone, changes possesion between the Zukari and the Wyldlings. Every four months it is taken to the Crystal Cave at the foot of the Blackreach Mountains to be blessed and to change hands.

	However an unknown foe has other plans for that precious cargo.