Age of Giants

The Age of Giants, or the Gianttime, marks the arrival of the voru to Vala. The giants saw a world covered in chaos, spirits flitting about, exchanging forms at will, and mutating the light of Asur into all manner of perversions. Even worse, the dragons had allowed some of Asur’s uncreated light to be stolen by the Scions, who were even then using their new power to carve out realms within the Abyss and make themselves gods. 
The giants were enraged and they began beating spirits into stable forms. The dhurj boiled forth from their hives, believing that the giants’ blundering would unleash the Walking Bones. But the insectmen were slaughtered and driven deep into the earth, their hivelords slain, condemning many of the dhurj to madness. When Mulkarth saw this he roused himself and dealt grievous blows to the Voru, but even the mighty realm-dragon could not destroy them. Instead, Mulkarth was forced to dive into the ocean, and his continent sank with him. 
The sinking of Chent greatly angered the dragons, but the giants continued to hammer and carve at the bodies of Druna, Huld, Ymogh and Xolm. Nyx confronted the newcomers, and after much negotiation, the giants agreed to create mortal beings for Nyx and for her children and set aside parts of Vala for their use. So the giants took Walking Bones and hammered anima onto them, shaping it like clay, and thus the first mortals were made. After creating an ‘eidolon,’ the giants determined to test their creation. They split it in half, one half becoming Kanlin, the other Logha. Kanlin ultimately was the victor in the tests thus became the prototype of the dwarves, the giants’ favored servants. Logha became the prototype for the Ghurs, the ‘Stone Men.’ These were divided among the dragons to be shaped into whatever form they wished. 
Nyx shaped some ghurs into the hesha, Gaumad shaped some into kulroq, Rasvin shaped some into orcs, Seraya shaped some into Ilix, while Ukhraj shaped some into gnolls. Mortus snatched some of the stone men away and hid them throughout the world so that they might one day grow in number and overcome the dragon-spawn. These hidden ghurs became ogres and werebeasts. As for any remaining stone men, the giants placed them across the world so that they might not be too numerous and band together against the other mortal races. The giants used Logha as a prototype and placed skins on eight of the largest stone men. These were the progenitors and protoplasts of the eight tribes of Man. Once the protoplasts had been determined, the other members of the tribe were given a similar appearance, and then left to determine their fates, serving whatever gods they wished. In this way, no god or spirit would have too many followers or too much power, for the diverse tribes of Man would never unite behind a single deity, or serve a single ideal, unlike the other races, which were largely made in an image of a single creator, who was their patron and guide. Two tribes of Man were placed in Alba, two in Altea, two in Devana and two in Tsaiyun. 
Most of the giants believed they were doing the will of Siris. However, one group of giants, the Ilani, or ‘starborn,’ began to question the decisions of their peers. These dissenters accused the Endani, or ‘earthborn’ voru, of corrupting their divine mission. The Ilani were aghast to see how Asur’s light had been stolen and used by so many unbound spirits, children of chaos. The Ilani saw how Anyu held Asur’s heart in her mouth, and how the Firstborn’s blood, flesh and bone had been buried under the continents to feed the many spirits growing upon the realm-dragons. And now the earthborn giants had unwisely shaped all manner of mortal homunculi. It was a terrible blasphemy. The Endani, and all their misbegotten simulacra, had to be destroyed, and then the layers of the world peeled back so that the true voru could recover every part of Asur, ending with his heart. 
The starborn Voru broke away from their giant kin and raised up a great empire called Zakhema-of-the-Stars in the south of Altea, though they dwelled on all continents. Needing their own servants, the Ilani broke open one of the tombs of the Walking Bones and cloaked the Eaters in starlight. The first such creature was named Yekkat the Beautiful, also known as the Radiant or the Ever-Youthful. He was the protoplast for all other maedi. Yekkat was the model for the Azlan, the ‘immortal spirits' or star elves. The earthborn voru, furious at their kin’s betrayal, sent their dwarf servants to destroy Zakhema and the ‘stolen’ bones of the maedi. This was the beginning of the Night Wars.
Category:History