History of the Four Islands

***Author's note:** The information here may or may not be canon, I have not decided yet. Within in-universe lore, most of this information is not uncovered until the islands' rediscoveries in about 4000 AT, about 1000 years after the events of the Keghotogh Crisis. Either way, the contents of this page are mostly for my own amusement, which is why you won't find any links to this page anywhere else on the wiki!*

## History

In about 10,500 BT, the Demons instigated the Infinite War with the Angels, and the E'Ash civilization was caught in the crossfire. Millions died, but a few survivors managed to escape to the Four Islands. Very few written records from this time survive but a few clues remain as to the events that occurred on the Islands. The following summaries of each of the islands' histories are based on flimsy evidence, but provide a picture of life during the war.

In about 10,600 BT, the Four Islands sprouted from the sea. Their formation was brought on by the Great Conscience to provide the E'Ash with refuge during the coming conflict.

### Ukohah

Ukohah was settled in an extremely limited capacity prior to the Infinite War. It is believed to have been the island nearest to the continent of Ditarre, and was home to the ancestors of modern Humans. Prior to the Great Resettlement at the end of the War, a few groups of Humans did manage to leave their island. The first group of proto-Humans left around 4,000 BT after an apparent Demon attack and made their way to the island of Noral; mixing with the populations there led to the development of the Dwarves. The second group left the island around 1,000-500 BT and settled the Lune Islands, an archipelago located in Crescent Bay. These were the ancestors of the Metzi people, whose unique appearance and language sets them apart from other Human groups. Why they left the Islands is a mystery; they may have faced discrimination on Ukohah or perhaps evacuated after an encounter with the Angels or Demons. The Metzi language developed either as a constructed language to protect the Metzi from discrimination, or as an attempt to emulate the High Tongue and avoid detection by the Heavenly Races once the Metzi reached the Lune Islands. The rest of the island's population left for Ditarre in about 500 BT.

### Zan Zat

Zan Zat was located several thousand miles off the eastern coast of the Frozen Continent and was the furthest island from the mainland. Its settlers likely came from western Ditarre and the easternmost tip of the Onor peninsula. Evidence suggests that the island was held by Demons, who cruelly governed the population until an uprising in about 8,000 BT. This uprising led to the earliest developments of Orc culture. Orcs didn't leave Zan Zat until around 300 BT, as news of the Infinite War's end reached the island much later. They were led to Penazaduz by Savat, who would later become the central figure of Savatism and fall into legend.

### Sehoha Ataadinua

Sehoha Ataadinua was located to the southeast of Nen Ren, and most of its settlers came from that island. These settlers were the ancestors of the Elves. The island had a unique geography and was split across the middle by a chain of enormous lakes. While Angels and Demons did occasionally attack the island, the greatest threat to its population was itself. The history of Sehoha Ataadinua was marred by wars over control of the lakes and various other civil struggles, leading to the development of a strict, war-like culture. This culture was abandoned by the time the Infinite War ended. Its inhabitants, eager to reach their original homelands in Nen Ren, left the island in 500 BT, but instead landed on the Garden Continent in what would become Ynoforan Country (present-day Nodal and Honsin).

### Noral

Written records of Noral are the most complete of any other records relating to the Four Islands, and offer a clear picture of Noralic history. Noral was located north of the Onor peninsula and was settled primarily by people from there and other areas of northern Ditarre. Settlers first made landfall in the south, but were driven to the north by ecological collapse and the arrival of Angels in the region. The proto-Dwarves, known as Therodi in Noralic records, built an enormous wall to prevent settlement in the south and to protect the population from the Angels. Superstition and fear would surround the wall for millennia. In about 5,000 BT, the Angels left, and in 4,000 BT, proto-Humans from Ukohah landed at the island's southwest. The proto-Humans (known in Noralic sources as *shtranyi*, "foreigners") would become integrated into Noralic society, and mixing between them and the Therodi would eventually lead to the development of modern Dwarves, whose languages somewhat resemble those of the Humans. Dwarves on the island had varying degrees of proto-Human and Therodi ancestry, but likely all were mixed. The Dwarves left the island in 500 BT in two separate groups that would develop into the Mul (>50% Shtranyi ancestry) and the Onor (>50% Therodi ancestry) ethnic groups.