The Alarans

The Alarans were an ancient empire dominated by powerful mages who would capture large amounts of slaves and use their magic to change them for more specialized purposes, giving rise to the Slave Races, the modern races of Telar. At some point for reasons unknown every Alaran suddenly vanished, leaving behind clothing, cities, and the Slave Races now without masters in an event known as the Vanishing. Records of the Alarans are relatively scarce despite their presence, as shortly after the Vanishing many of the former slaves were iconoclastic, destroying engravings and burning written scrolls. Today only about a hundred individual pieces of Alaran history remain preserved in Alasa to be studied.

## History

The Alaran civilization began on another continent to the east, though maps of their voyage to Telar or their homeland are nonexistant, descriptions named the land Ulim, and was described as a fertile land of tall trees, abundant fields, and rolling hills. The Alarans were magically gifted, with many of them being natural born sorcerers, though it's unknown if this is a trait of the land they lived on or of the Alarans themselves, this gave them an edge over their neighbors and began swiftly conquering these other peoples, who's names appear to have not been recorded. They had built grand cities and made great progress in their magical art, and through their study they found the art of Fleshcrafting. Through this Fleshcrafting they were able to turn the other human slaves they had conquered into more specialized forms for more specialized jobs, dwarves to burrow into the earth, orcs to serve as footsoldiers, etc. At some point that had altered themselves, with no depictions surviving of what they had appeared in their human forms, but the entire society used Fleshcrafting to augment their appearance. Eventually, after 400 years or so based on current evidence, they had managed to rule over their entire continent, crushing and enslaving all resistance, and decided to set their sights on the sea.

It's unknown how the Alarans managed to bypass the Barrier that surrounds Telar, scholars hypothesize the Barrier only works one way, letting ships in but not out, others suggest the Alarans were magically gifted enough to disrupt the Barrier, or maybe the Barrier only existed after their disappearance, possibly as a result of whatever caused the Vanishing. No surviving writings mention any trouble arriving to Telar, meaning "new land" in Alaran. They landed on the northeastern coast of modern day Alasa and quickly spread from there, their numerous slaves quickly getting to work plowing fields and building homes. Archeological data suggest the Alarans had a way to create fertile land using magic, with writing mentioning offhand about needing to create more fields out of the bare stone, though this ability is seemingly lost. Surviving maps suggest they managed to spread across Alasa, some of North Kentrikoria, and a little into Kaltlan and Goranak, though the cold climate and mountains respectively seem to have stunted progress. For about 100 years they colonized Telar, bringing an estimated 10,000 slaves of various races before an event known as the Vanishing.

None today know why the Vanishing happened, a time when the Alarans across Telar, and presumably across the planet, suddenly disappeared simultaneously, leaving behind clothing, tools, meals, and a large number of newly freed Slaves. Some have speculated the Vanishing is an act of the Gods as retribution for their crimes, others believe some magical experiment backfired, it's impossible to say for certain, as the only ones who could tell all Vanished. This point began the Age of Chaos, in which the Slave Races began spreading across Telar, founding new lands and nations, forming their own cultures without the iron grip of the Alarans. Some today admire the Alarans for their magical prowess, others study the remaining archeological sites to dry and piece together the past, still others curse their very name with spit and bile, most have simply forgotten about them, as it's been nearly a thousand years since their influence was directly felt, yet a civilization that large casts a long shadow, even if that civilization does not exist any more.

## Culture

Surviving texts imply that the Alaran civilization was a Magocracy, with those with the most magical talent ruling above those who had less. Those who did not possess magical ability, such as the slaves they kept, were often seen with scorn and derision, often treated as less than a person and occasionally described as "beastial".

## Appearance

Judging by engravings and other descriptions the Alarans appeared similar to exaggerated High-Elves, standing over 7 feet tall with ears as long as 2 feet, they were generally slim bodied and bore no body or facial hair. If there were differences between the sexes, or if they had sexes at all, it wasn't recorded or depicted, with all references to other Alarans using a neutral they. Their hair was generally kept long, at least shoulder length, and descriptions mention the colors black, grey, gold, and white. Eye color is only mentioned once in a surviving poem stating "Your eyes are like endless pools of quicksilver ... shining like the purest metal", it's unknown if the author meant literally silver or simply grey.

Alaran clothing was often grand and dramatic, with depictions showing them in long billowing robes that envelope the entire body with intricate embroidery. More martial Alarans were depicted wearing chain, breastplates, and more practical skirts that came to about the knees, with curved blades at their waist similar to modern scimitars. Alarans were not described or depicted wearing anything else, so it's unknown if they were only depicted in such ways to flatter themselves or if it was truly the only thing they wore.