Story

## Dawn of Time

Before terra or the sun, or the moon or the stars, there was Ichor. Seamlessly woven into reality and occasionally supplying a spark. A spark that became a bang that echoed through time until planets swirled into place and stars alighted the darkness stretching throughout space. Eons passed and Ichor would continue to snap and flare at random intervals, springing forward life on uninhabitable rocks, only for it to quickly fizzle out.

Eventually, a spark met a planet so perfectly placed in the starscape --as if by fate-- that Ichor mixed intimately with molten terra; young and incredibly volatile.

So, when the primordial seas settled, rich with nutrients and minerals, Ichor was already present and able to provide the first breath of life. It bloomed and divided across the land, warmed and nurtured by the nearby sun. Continents formed and danced across the earth's surface, with life matching the terra’s turbulent waltz and shifting forms to colonize the land and air. Thus, Soleria was born, teeming with living things but kept in check by the terra’s capricious elements.

As the world eventually settled into a relative calm, there was time for a single lifeform to arise, striving and reaching for a higher purpose.

## Rise of the Horse

The horse arose from the grasslands of Soleria, beginning as simple beasts congregating in herds and bands. Perhaps it was Ichor’s subtle guidance that touched them, or simply the nature of evolution, but the minds of equids began to unfurl and expand to accommodate greater thought and knowledge. Early in their budding intelligence, horses learned of their own natural, but minor, emanation of magic. They named it “aura” and recognized it as unique to the individual, but did not yet understand its source. Soon the horses would realize they could utilize their aura like a spectral hand to manipulate the world around them, and they dubbed this ability “telekinesis”.

With their telekinesis, or ‘teke’, horses were able to create and work with tools. They built structures, tilled the earth, and forged written word. The horses began to diversify in their cultures and values, spreading out over the continent of Soleria to claim land for their people. Each civilization delved deeper into magical exploration; developing practices and studies unique to each society. As the equids began to specialize in how they used their magic and what sort of magic they utilized, it began to influence their form.

Those who worked the magic of earth found their hooves split and tines sprung from their brow.

Those who flowed with the magic of water found fins begin to grace their skin,

and those who drifted with the magic of air found feathers speckling their visage.

Further still, did the people specialize, shifting and changing as they secured their niches.

The earthen folk began to differ in their ways, splitting into two civilizations.

Some burrowed into the earth and turned inwards, focusing deeply on the power of the mind and thought as a channel of magic. To illuminate this path they began to command light.

A horn of singularity, skin bejeweled, the people in the mountain became the Unicorns.

Others did not search downwards beneath terra’s crust or within their own minds, but instead turned to the life that sprang in abundance around them and within. They discovered that aura was not unique to horses, but a feature shared by all manners of life and rejoiced the connection. With this, they sought to love and understand both nature and the bodies granted to them.

Antlers that branched like their beloved trees, and whiskers to heighten the senses, the people of the wood and field became the Kirins.

The people of air commanded drafts and winds, able to float and drift, but found the high skies tantalizingly out of reach. Falling into their emotions and desires, they learned to decipher their capricious nature and brandish them to fuel their magic. Air was channeled easily through this method, but so was it well suited to flame; so they too learned to bend and mold fire.

Wings eventually stretched from their withers, fulfilling their quest for true flight, and the people in the skies became the Pegasi.

Those who swam and traversed through the fluidity of water intertwined themselves with the thirst for knowledge. Bearing witness, they saw their core element’s ever-changing state; eager to fit a provided vessel or expand to fill a void, but not easily controlled or harnessed. Present in all of life, as if a mirror to Ichor itself, they sought to understand the interconnection and absorb water’s mastery of transfiguration.

Scales to guard their mortal form, gills to give liquid breath, the people of the depths became the Hippocampus.

## Age of Realms

So the societies raised towns, cultures, and traditions; but they also named the realms of their people.

There was Ithlon, Realm of the Unicorn, nestled in the cradle of mountains. Their towns follow the alpine valleys and glacier-fed streams upwards until the lush, flowered meadows meet the grand mountain’s face. There they built a great bejeweled gate that governed entrance into their capital of Prismallon, the glittering city. Deep in this sprawling metropolis tunnel lies a branch into the earth, connected by gem encrusted pathways and walls, with many enchanted to bloom with light. Within its largest and foremost chamber lies the Geode Palace, neatly pressed in the recesses of a massive, gleaming geode embedded into the wall of the cavern. Rare as natural deposits of ichoranite are in Soleria, the precious stone is abundant in the mountains of Ithlon and can be seen in streaking veins along mountainsides and within the walls of Prismallon. Mining and gemcraft --as well as light manipulation and imbuement-- became the main works of these people.

Down the mountain, where the forest begins to thicken, was Velia, Realm of the Pegasi. The icy streams that descend from the Itheleon mountains soon become rushing rivers by the time they enter Velia. Long ago glaciers had marched down from the north, leaving deep scars upon the land as canyons and towering rock formations; finding these, the rushing waters continue to cut them, chiseling away the stone walls as it runs to the sea. Tracking the glacial and river cut channels to the lower elevations, the trees once again thin and become displaced groves amongst grasslands and chaparral.

Early in their history, the pegasi and unicorns formed an alliance.

Southwards was where Ilaidun, Realm of the Kirin resided.

Far away to the northwest, guarded by the frigid sea and fenced by ranks of mountains and a desert, lies Mohiul, Realm of the Hippocampus, hidden away.