The Tragedy of the Faithless and Childless

In days of yore there were two Ranes -- one of the Urok Kin and the other of the Younger Race. Bitter enemies were the two and each hated the other, though each had more in common than they knew. For both loved their Ranaa more than their own lives, but not more than their pride. Both were childless and were consumed by the fear that they could not have an heir. And, both sought my counsel in this matter and many others.

I take neither side in such affairs, only asking the Urok Kin keep to their land and the Younger Race to theirs. Ever I aided the other when one became too strong. Ever I counsel both sides to peace and negotiated a truce among them. This is the way of Continuity and this is the middle path though few understand it.

I approached the Mirror of Time and besought the answer and saw what must transpire. For neither would bear an heir except by betrayal and this I warned them straightly. There are worse things than to fade into history. The birds rise and fly and die again and no one weeps for their passing. Many have birdlings but none remember them. So it must be with many things and so might it be for you.

But each offered a protest that went something like this, "I have a bitter enemy who must be defeated. If I produce not an heir, then my enemy shall win. I need a son to fight when I can no longer draw the blade."

Neither of the Ranes would hear my counsel, and each went back to their Realms and knew not of the others torment.

Then, by some dark design whose portent I did not foresee, the Ranaa of the Urok Kin and the Rane of the Younger Race, met in peace upon a moonless night. There they coupled upon a bed of stone and there they swore to meet in peace upon a night nine months off.

Thus was the Mirror of Time proved right again. In betrayal was the Ranaa of one Realm was pregnant by the Rane of another. The Ranaa carried offspring within her and among them an heir for her Realm and an heir for her enemy's. But she resented it not and kept her word as lawfully given. Nine months later she returned to the bed of stone.

But the Rane of the Younger Race was full of torment and the deed weighed heavily on his mind. When he saw the issue of his loins and the fruit of the coupling he became murderous and struck the Ranaa dead and slew also the children.

But one survived, which I rescued and raised. Whose heir it was, I could not tell and did not care. Only I saw him to adulthood and called him the Man of Balance. A wanderer was he between two nations and never did I guide his life upon one path or another. For it was fit for him to choose, and he alone.

The Five Epochs of the Vyrum, 1st Epoch

1st Epoch: The Diarchies (1807ey - 2331ey)
From the days of the first epoch, there were thousands of noble houses of the Vyrum. Over all of the noble houses were the Diarchies -- two princes in each province who wielded supreme executive power. 

The Vyrum were still immortal in that time, and could not taste death, unless they were slain. For they had not yet squandered their immortality as had the other Besnir before them. 

While the many houses and their names have fallen into obscurity and nothing is remembered of their deeds, the existence of these houses were kept by the Bards -- learned men to whom all the Vyrum entrusted their knowledge and records. And eventually, all of Erenth would do the same. The Houses were:  

Erythron

Kyanon

Prasinon

Chryson

Argyron

Melaon

Leukon

Prochalkon

Deftchalkon

Trichalkon

Topaon

Amethon

Smaragdon

Krystalon

Zaferon

The Five Epochs of the Vyrum, 2nd Epoch

2nd Epoch: The Republic (2331ey - 2954ey)

The Diarchies gave way to a council of Princes who ruled a great republic under a treaty called the Pax Vyruma. 

In this 2nd Epoch rose the Cavaliers, keepers of peace and justice for their lords. The Cavaliers had tamed and trained the horse and rode them into battle for honor and glory.

It was during the 2nd Epoch that the Vyrum first began to capture the wild humans who then lived like beasts. They washed them and educated them -- teaching them their ways, giving them the gifts of art and architecture, music and poetry. It was the Vyrum who first called them Meni. These humans gained great advantage over their uncivilized kin. They became loyal servants and the tutors of their children. Many rose to great prominence among the Vyrum.

Under the previous races, Erenth had struggled for many centuries. Minor wars were waged as each people strove with the other, but Vyrum civilization brought peace, growth and prosperity. Eventually great works of art and music and architecture were made. The vast metropolises, called Alds, were raised. In time, each of the Alds would become a showplace of luxury and learning.

The Five Epochs of the Vyrum, 3rd Epoch

3rd Epoch: The Principalities (2954 ey - 2972 ey)

The 3rd Epoch dawned with the rise of the Old Ones and the War of the Deep. The republic shattered into individual principalities. 

By unknown means, great powers were released from the depths of Erenth. These were beings of inestimable strength that time had forgotten. They strode across Erenth and flattened its inhabitations, destroying all who opposed them. 

It was the Vyrum cavaliers who led the defense and these were joined by their lords and princes. After a long and valiant struggle, each of the Old Ones were eventually thrown down -- being either slain, or imprisoned once again. However glorious the victory, it had come at great cost. Many Vyrum lost their lives and those few remaining were slain at the Battle of the Dry Rift.

With the loss of their grandest and mightiest, the old order of civilization was imperiled. Even the human Meni outnumbered the remaining Vyrum and few remained of any noble blood. Then by mutual agreement the surviving mothers and wives of the Vyrum nobles took the reins of power from their fallen sons. 

The Five Epochs of the Vyrum, 4th Epoch

4th Epoch: The Matriarchy (2973 ey - 3000 ey)

This epoch was marked by the Great Civil War which engulfed the matriarchy.

Three noble ladies, Tiamet, Praextoria, and Berylia, managed to throw down their rivals and assert themselves as a triumvirate of queens. But among them there was betrayal and sacrilege. In the end, only Tiamet held power. She declared the end of the diarchies and asserted herself as the Queen Mother of All Erenth. Under her rule was peace once more, but also a great sacrilege. In gathering her power she had instituted the practice of cannibalism. 

Lord Drasch was exceedingly angry for what the Vyrum had done. So he cursed the remaining Vyrum and called out to heaven to bring vengeance. The remaining armies made war against the Titans of Heaven, but did not prevail. All of the Besnir were defeated and those still loyal to Tiamet were led away in chains. 

Under the curse of Drasch, the remaining Vyrum became great scaled beasts. Their very visages inspired fear among their former subjects, many of whom drove them into exile, taking their Alds and domains. Therefore the children of the Vyrum, though long-lived, lost their immortality and knew at last what it was to live for a fixed time upon the face of Erenth.

The Time of Strife has been called the War of Four Nations for it involved Northrun, Southrun, Eastrun, and Westrun and many of the races. Revenge and recriminations were waged and entire peoples were destroyed. In this time, the greatest of all heroes was born. He was Prince Ionitoreon, called Io the Great, of the House Shardis.

Though Io the Great was changed as the other Princes had been, he loved justice and sought to win peace once more. One by one he gained the loyalty of all the princes of all the peoples and houses of Erenth. He became the Dragon Emperor of all the known world. But, he contended always with the Faction of Tiamet and the Cult she would inspire, until he was assassinated and was consumed. 

Civilization was at last shattered and the cities unmade. The monuments of the former glory of the Pax Vyruma were cast down. It was said that no stone remained atop another. And all the world fell into the Dark Epoch.

The Five Epochs of the Vyrum, 5th Epoch

5th Epoch: The Darkness (3010 ey - 3300 ey)
During the Dark Epoch architecture was forgotten and art was forsaken. Each of the peoples ruled themselves as they might. Each avoided one another, keeping the borders of the Lands and Provinces as the Vyrum had marked them.

Into this time of darkness came those who are now called humans. They were like children and brutish in those days. They had no skill at farming nor at the making of tools, nor of the crafting of weapons, nor of the bending of Llor. They had neither culture nor civilization, but lived as herd animals upon the plains. Yet, for all that they lacked, Erenth marveled at their fecundity. For it seemed wherever this young race settled that the screaming of children were heard, year after year until their numbers were greater than all the other races combined.

Some of the elder races sought to teach the humans what they lacked. This they did in penance for their failures. The humans appeared to be ready, if ungrateful, pupils and learned quickly from the elders. In light of this many of the learned believed that the Sixth Age had come to an end and the Seventh Age was beginning.

But among the dispersed Vyrum came those who called themselves the Chromos Nesting. They blamed the humans for the loss of the greatest age the world had known. Among them was Chronepsis the Dark. He rallied the dragons about him and sought to destroy the humans outright. He wanted to remove them as a blight from the face of all Erenth, and only those remnant of Metalos Nesting withstood him. And it came to pass that the Great Internesting was waged.

In these two decades of War, great heroes among the Besnir and humans arose, fighting alongside of the Metalos. Dragons of renown fought and died, some heroes others scoundrels. These were called:

• Bahamut the Goodly Wise
• Aasterinian, mistress of play, invention and pleasure -- the herald of Io the Great
• Hlaloreon called Hlal the Bard
• Tamara Lightgiver
• Lendys the Judge.
• Astilabor the Hording
• Chronepsis the Dark
• Faluzure the Deathless
• Garyx of the Flame
• Sardior of Oplios

When the war was at an end. The Chromos Nesting was fallen. None remained that called themselves noble or Prince. Few of any Vyrum were left alive. Those that remained hid themselves from the other races, and especially from humans, and so they remain until this day.

Tersia of the Outlands