The Ancients

Drawing showing an Ancient along with an elf and a human

**The Ancients** were one of the Three Elder Races, created alongside the Elves and the Humans. Their race is not "extinct," but has effectively been subsumed into human and elf populations. Unlike elves and humans, the Ancients were magically inert, able to withstand the dangerous element winds of the First Days. They lived in a long-destroyed empire that spanned three continents and possessed incredible technology powered by primitive lacrimas. Unfortunately, in a devastating civil war, the Ancients reduced themselves to only a handful of survivors.

## Physical Characteristics

The Ancients were much taller than typical humans or elves - typically standing at over eight feet - and lived much longer. They had white hair, tan skin, and pointed ears similar to those of Storm elves. They were also much more physically powerful, sturdy and strong. Ancient genes are not uncommon in the human and elf populations as they interbred after the Ancient civil war, and those possessing significant Ancient heritage commonly live for over a century or even longer.

The Ancients, uniquely, were completely magically inert. During the First Days, when humans and elves were forced to shelter in the caves to avoid the element winds, the Ancients were building their first cities on the surface. The winds could not affect them at all; their souls were completely closed to the outside world. While they were therefore incapable of becoming mages, this ability allowed them to build their civilization in a hostile world. Due to this resistance, the Ancients had very little, if any, elemental adaptations or subraces.

## Civilization

### Empire

The empire of the Ancients spanned three continents, beginning on Helm and expanding outwards. They built cities out of stone, decorating them with impressive architecture and carving them with murals and depictions of their gods and their people. "Magitech" was also prevalent in their builds, and ancient maglev platforms and large or small automatons can still be found in the ruins of the First and Second Great Cities. The First Great City was built on Helm, and is the primary archeological source for knowledge about the Ancients, as well as where Ancient magical items are typically found. The Second Great City was located underneath the Storm.

Unfortunately, it was not to last. As the element winds weakened and humans and elves began to emerge, the Ancients took their own automations, which they had spent so long perfecting, and turned them against each other. They tore themselves apart in a cataclysmic civil war that razed the lands and left only a few hundred survivors scattered across their empire. The reason why this war took place is still unknown.

### Technology

The Ancients were able to craft strange technology, some of which eludes even modern mages. For example, the Ancients were able to use some arcane method to fold space to their liking, creating bags of holding and even allowing buildings to be larger on the insides. The method was lost when the Ancient empire fell, but many bags of holding remained, scattered across their empire. In modern day, they are very valuable and expensive, as they can be destroyed but not replaced. Many owners will sew a much sturdier bag on the outside of the bag of holding in order to disguise its valuable nature and protect it from tearing or ripping.

Without access to magic, the Ancients had to devise workarounds. They even feared the "cave-folk", and their affinity for the element winds. The Ancients did use magic, but since they could not become mages, they instead created primitive lacrimas. These lacrimas would have to be found naturally purified, and then allowed to charge slowly in elemental hot zones. The Ancients spoke the First Language, but used a different writing system; without knowledge of the runes that can command elemental energy, they had to figure out each rune via trial and error. These lacrimas served as power sources for the things that the Ancients focused far more on: their automatons.

The automatons of the Ancients were highly varied in physical appearance: some are insectoid, others seem to mimic larger animals or even humanoid beings, and still more don't resemble any known creature. The sheer number of these automatons that can be found in the First Great City indicates that they were extremely prevalent in Ancient society, being used for everything from entertainment to transportation - some even appear to be fully decorative, without function at all. The Ancient automatons were also used for war, and their massive war machines can be found far outside their cities, unlike the more domestic automatons. These war machines appear to have been created later, during the Ancient civil war, and while all share the style and craftsmanship of the Ancients, no two are exactly alike. Most have either decayed or been stripped for parts to be reused, but in drier regions, they have remained preserved and will even resurface to cause havoc, following long-forgotten directives. The fact that these war machines have survived and remained functional in any form over the millennia is a testament to the quality of the construction. Ignan Hunters occasionally have to subdue rogue automatons that arise in the desert.

After Erin Ruunaser stopped the Storm and discovered the ruins of the Second Great City, it was revealed that the Ancients had been experimenting with Great Runes. The Ancient pedestal engraved with the Great Runes appeared to have been malfunctioning, likely at least in part due to the influence of the Void Dragon. It is likely that this was the very first time the Ancients had used Great Runes, but no one is sure how they discovered them. The prevailing theory is that they simply asked the God of Knowledge.

### Gods

The Ancients primarily revered a dyad of dragon gods, one light and one dark. They have depicted these dragons in several surviving carvings and friezes, and it appears they had some sort of cult based around their worship. The Paladins, a cult based around the worship of the Ancient's light dragon, remains alive; while many scholars dismiss the idea of a light dragon in the creation of the world, the Paladins do undeniably have some kind of power they receive from their god. The Ancients also believed that these dragons created the Twins, who were also revered.

It is unknown why there are no other known Ancient gods, as their civilization existed for long enough that gods would have arisen from them. It is possible that they fell along with the Ancient civilization, or that they were somehow transformed when humans and elves emerged from the caves.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Three Elder Races (comicaurora.com)
2. ↑ *"Not MASSIVE, they tended to clear eight feet"*: message in #aurora-discussion in the OSP discord server (discord.com)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 What is the natural life span for Humans and Elves (and any other race you want to mention)?... (tumblr.com)
4. ↑ Page 0.1.2 (comicaurora.com)
5. ↑ Seeing as the Ancients were magically inert, did they still show signs of elemental adaptations? (tumblr.com)
6. ↑ What sort of things might be found in the ruins of cities of the Ancients? (reddit.com)
7. ↑ What did the Ancients mostly use their automatons for?... (tumblr.com)
8. ↑ Page 1.6.3 (comicaurora.com)
9. ↑ I’ve been thinking about the ancients and elves, and how the ancients were subsumed into the other two elder races... (tumblr.com)
10. ↑ What are some of the in-universe theories about what happened to the Ancients?... (tumblr.com)
11. ↑ How do bags of holding work in this world, since Erin has one? What rules do they follow in terms of their properties, and how are they made? (tumblr.com)
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Page 1.14.21 (comicaurora.com)
13. ↑ Could the ancients inscribe and use Lacrima? Were they any good at it? (tumblr.com)
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 What did the Ancients mostly use their automatons for? What shapes and sizes did they come in?... (tumblr.com)
15. ↑ So rereading stuff, again, and I found odd that the ancients had elemental runes... (tumblr.com)
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Hey! The folks at the Discord started theorizing about the origins of the Twins... (tumblr.com)
17. ↑ What does paladin telepathy consist of? What’s up with the paladins that’s known in-universe that you can tell us? (tumblr.com)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Did the Ancients have gods? If so, did any of them survive the fall of the Ancients? (tumblr.com)