Acarians

The **Acarians** are a race of humans who primarily inhabit Acaria and most of Western Europe, they are the ancestors of Elves, having emerged from humans in the forests of Southern Acaria around 36,000 years ago. Acarians are on average shorter than humans and have longer hair in the case of men, long and pointy ears and lack of facial hair, and unlike the pale and blond Elves they have a darker skin tone and primarily have dark or brown hair.

The Acarians primarily follow Lonatism, a religion that revolves around nature and that seeks to connect humankind to it, Acarians have a higher ability with elemental magic due to their following of Lonatism, they also have on average more than double the magic ability that of normal humans.

## History

### Origins (~36,000-27,000 BM)

The Acarians first emerged in the forests of modern-day Byértonn, there they found the ancient Anclórtarian Fountains and developed their magical abilities and physical characteristics, the early Acarians would settle around the Fountains and form upper palaeolithic societies uniting themselves in large tribes composed of circular-shaped villages, these early tribes would form the groundwork for the formation of Lonatism as they united in search of connecting themselves to nature. The Acarians would begin spreading past the Byértonnian Valley in a period of 5,000 years from 35,000 to 30,000 BM, spreading as far as the marshes in Cataloquía, some would also cross into Claudia, which of whom would become the Elves.

Throughout the following millennia the Acarians would slowly evolve technologically, magically and physically, before reaching their modern-day form by around 27,000 BM.

### Rise of the Catapráquiann Tribes (~27,000-2,000 BM)

The Acarians would begin to form more advanced societies around newly found fountains across the Acarian region, these societies would develop further their magic and slowly learn to purify it, this would lead to great advancements both technologically and culturally, and the hunter gatherer culture of the Acarians would begin to turn more sedentary with an early form of agriculture with the upkeep of Belátasis Berries that grew around the fountains as they entered the mesolithic period by around 16,000 BM.

With time larger societies would begin forming by 10,000 BM, primarily around the Byértonnian Valley and the Tagórtonnian Delta, the largest of which would the Catapráquiann Tribes in the Byértonnian Valley who emerged with the arrival of agriculture in around 6,500 BM, these tribes were united under their shared culture and faith, and would begin to form a system of hierarchy as larger and more prosperous tribes began to overpower their lesser counterparts. This would lead to the invention of proto-writing from around 5,300 to 4,500 BM as the Catapráquiann people would begin to grow in population, territory and power.

Catapráquiann society began to grow and they would begin to narrow down to less and less tribes as they grew in strength with the introduction of copper by 4,000 BM. This would lead to the legendary King Asártumur to lead the Catapráquiann to conquer the Tagórtonnian Delta and lead to the raids of Calto Cutola from around 3,083 BM to 3,040 BM, this period also saw the advent of writing in Acaria.

The Catapráquianns would unite the south of Acaria under one culture with the deeds of Asártumur, and the Catapráquiann culture would begin to spread northwards through the following millennia, before shattering into many different cultures in the north as it reached Cataloquía. By this point larger societies in the south united under one ruler would form, notably the Iémarann, Aturnnigan and Velipúrtans, these civilisations would propagate agriculture and would wage war with large magic armies, and soon the Acarian Bronze Age would begin by around 2,000 BM.