Zhalfir

## Backstory

In an unnamed plane parallel to ours there exists a planet called Uphril, which is inhabited by a race known as the Annai Thari. Long ago, life developed on Uphril at similar times, but on two continents separated by a vast ocean. For most of the planet’s history these two races lived independently of each other and without knowledge of one another.

One of these races was the Annai Thari, which inhabited Uphril’s northern hemisphere. The Annai Thari are the spawn of the Queen Mother Ignith, the first and oldest of them. This race is gifted with psionic powers and its members are highly intelligent. They usually have between 4 and 6 arms, with a number of fingers varying between 2 and 8 on each hand.

The other race was the Xyr. Inhabiting the southern hemisphere, these beings were much less intelligent than the Annai Thari, but also much stronger. They reproduce sexually, unlike the Annai Thari, and are proficient in all manner of fighting. The majority of the Xyr worship an entity known as Tagron the Creator. They believe this war-god created them and the entire world, and that he will one day come back and lead them on a voyage to conquer the entire universe.

The first contact between these two species occurred when Soom the Explorer first crossed the Great Ocean on a ship of his own creation. Not being aware of the existence of another race on this planet, Soom and his crew became angry, as they felt like this inferior race was unjustly inhabiting the land given to the Xyr by Tagron. They returned across the ocean and related their discovery to their peers.

Sensing Soom’s murderous intent, the Annai Thari related the occurrence to the Queen Mother, who immediately began organizing an army of their most capable psions to defend against the inevitable Xyr invasion.

Back in the South, Soom was made captain of the Xyr army, and became known as Soom the War-Bound. The preparations for the invasion took two full years to complete. During this time, the Queen Mother’s elite trained constantly to defend their home.

When the Xyr finally arrived, they proved to be much greater in number than the Annai Thari had anticipated. While nearly all Xyr sailed into battle, only a few elite members of the Annai Thari were there to defend against them. The remainder were hiding underground, masked by the Queen Mother’s protective shields. The Annai Thari were slaughtered at once, and the Xyr destroyed whatever structures they found, until nothing was standing. Once satisfied that there were no Annai Thari left, they sailed back home.

After the slaughter of the First War, the Queen Mother prophesised a Second War to come, in which all the remaining Annai Thari would perish. At Ignith’s behest, they began developing a machine that would be capable of transporting the entire race to a different plane, away from the savage Xyr.

After 10 years, the machine was nearly ready. Tests started being performed, but the machine required incredible amounts of energy to operate, and it released massive amounts of radiation. The Xyr, aware that there could now be other races on the planet, had been keeping watch for any signs of other life, and kept sentries scattered across the ocean. Some of these sentinels were alerted by the radiation, and reported back to Soom. Enraged, Soom once again assembled his army and returned to the northern hemisphere, where he expected to find a new ruling race. What he encountered instead were the remaining Annai Thari, who had escaped him 10 years ago. Angry at having been deceived, he ordered his army to exterminate all the remaining Annai Thari. The whole race turned to a frantic rush for their lives. Most were unsuccessful, but one engineer named Zhalfir, who was at the time performing tests on the machine, realized what was happening before the Xyr could find him, and tried using the machine, even though it was not ready. Surprisingly, it worked, and Zhalfir was transported across planes. To his knowledge, he is the only surviving Annai Thari.