Tribe of Ancients

*Disclaimer: in Iaddithis, "Ancients" existed already, however, this Tribe of Ancients is completely different and **MUST NOT** be confused with the already existing Ancients!*

## History

The Tribe of Ancients were an advanced civilization that believed in the Trinity of Light, in Caeda, Loria and Dawn. They were highly intelligent and possessed great magical power, and their influence spread across the worlds for thousands of years. The Ancients' counterpart was the Tribe of Darkness, which splintered off from the rest of the Ancients 2.000 years prior to the events of the Battle of the Trinity of Light. While the Tribe of Darkness kept to themselves and forbade marriage outside their group, for fear of diluting their magical powers, the Ancients had great faith in the power of love, and the passion of some became the stuff of legends. 1,500 years before the events of the Battle of the Trinity of Light, a particular group of Ancient sages created the Profeticus Lucis to counteract the grim spells of the Profeticus Tenebrae, whether this book was written by an Ancient as well is unknown.

The Ancients were an incredibly intelligent race that possessed powerful magic, however they lacked physical strength. 3,000 years before the events of the Battle of the Trinity of Light, one of the Ancients circumvented his race's physical limitations by using the Profeticus Tenebrae's spells. Something that should've been forbidden. The survivor discovered that the spells had been used and fueled by the souls of deceased people, and to prevent the knowledge contained in the Profeticus Tenebrae from being used in such a way again and causing another tragedy like the Darkness Uprising, he took the book and disappeared. He later founded the Tribe of Darkness, a group of Ancients who became known for their great power and secrecy. The Tribe of Ancients accused them of stealing the Profeticus Tenebrae, and the idea that they wanted to use the book to enhance their shadowy powers, along with Umbra's ones, joined the true story of their shielding of the book from those who would misuse it.

500 years after the Darkness Uprising, the Ancients became aware that the Profeticus Tenebrae predicted that the previous world would be consumed by the powers of Umbra in 1,500 years' time. A group of four sages, filled with determination, granted by their faith in the Trinity of Light, believed that the power of love could prevent the destruction, and their research led the construction of the Light's Gem, which was meant to destroy the Darkness' Gem. They wrote another book called the Profeticus Lucis to provide the destined Heroes of Light with instructions and guidance in how to prevent the consumption of the world. However, the Ancients' time was limited. After the Darkness Uprising, the Ancients grew fearful of the growing Darkness. Light's Gem was later stolen by an unknown entity and the stability of the fabric of the light wasn't stable anymore. Without the Light's Gem, the Ancients' power and influence began to decline, and by the time the events of Battle of the Trinity of Light began to play out, their civilization was all but lost.

## Members

Several descendants of the Tribe of Ancients could've been encountered before the Battle of the Trinity of Light, for example, Vloeibaar, Kosti, Karma and Flux.

### The Four Sages

#### Vloeibaar

Vloeibaar, who is described by storytellers as "gentle and loving", was one of the four sages among the Tribe of Ancients. He is thought to have created the Light's Gem. He holds the power of Darkness, too, as he was the only one who performed a trip to the Shadow Realm two times, coming back alive. He has the appearance of a mystical being, with a black hood, covering his scar in one of his eyes, with gray and black robes,

#### Kosti

Kosti is described by storytellers to have been quite knowledgeable in the nature of dimensions and worlds, and used this knowledge in the design of the Shrine of the Light's Gem. He is distantly related to Vloeibaar, who looks identical to him and apparently possesses a large amount of the books he left behind. He has the appearance of a mystical being, with a black and gold-ish hood, with gold-ish and black robes,

#### Karma

According to storytellers, Karma was very wise in his time and is even thought to be the author of the Profeticus Lucis, although authorship is also credited to Flux. He has the appearance of a mystical being, with the head of a star, and gray and red robes. Karma is said to be a powerful, dimension-controlling magician, which is similar to Dimensio, a descendent of the Dark Ancients.

#### Flux

The next member of note would be Flux, who was tasked to protect the Light’s Gem some 1,500 years prior to the breakout of the Battle of the Trinity of Light. Compared to other Ancients, he is the only member of the sages to be met by the Trinity of Light. Alongside this, there is debate on whether Flux is responsible for the creation of the Profecticus Lucis with assistance by Alpha or if it were written by Karma. The entity that is now currently Flux takes the shape of a machine with a computer monitor as a head, but was not his original form. .

##### Alpha

Alpha was one of the latest members of the Tribe of Ancients, and was related and very close with Flux, instead of magical powers, he operated with ancient machinery that helped the tribe create various ways of development, some very ingenious, some others not. He has the appearance of a normal human, with the goggles of a scientist, with one red lens, and one blue lens, with a bionic arm, and royal blue robes.

## Traditions

The Tribe of Ancients had a little number of tradition, but they were vastly developed. They had created some events and ideals, however, one that is put on a floor of light is the Darkness Uprising.

### The Darkness Uprising

3,000 years before the time of the Battle of the Trinity of Light, a powerful magician among the Ancients created the first twelve prisms, eleven of which were fueled by Light and Love, and one by the Darkness. He accomplished this by transferring a spirit into a prism that he created for a specific purpose. It has been theorized that the spirits were from deceased people, such as humans. After the magician's own death, his apprentices learned how to make many more prisms based on his original twelve. They became known as Shining Prisms for the Ancients. Through the work of many prisms, the Ancients prospered as they never had before. One day, however, a catastrophe occurred. 1,000 years after the creation of the prisms, the 12th prism cracked, releasing an energy that was unknown to the Ancients. Most prisms were fitting for the spirits, but some believed the spirit of the 12th prism wasn't one of good will, although it was later revealed that the spririt on the 12th prism was not only a human, but possibly the magician's own daughter, who grew ill and perished while he was conducting his research. While her exact motivation is unknown, one theory is that the dark spirit was horrified by how the prisms were used by the Ancients and she used her powers to command the other spirits, contained in the other eleven prisms, to rebel against their masters. Devastated by the loss of the prisms they had become so dependent on, the Ancients found themselves unable to build and rule their empire, and were easily enslaved by the dark spirit of the 12th prism.

In the midst of the ruin, the descendants of the magician's apprentices and inheritors of the twelve original prisms appeared, defeated the 12 spirits that were freed by the 12th, and freed the enslaved Ancients. They saw their friends fall in battle one by one, yet persevered anyway. The last survivor managed to make it to the base of the 12th spirit, however she used her powers of illusion to hide and bombard him with horrific images. The vanquisher of the 12th spirit then discovered the truth thanks to those horrific images: she had been the first prism created, even predating the "original" 11 prisms used before her. She had been created from a human soul by the magician with knowledge he took from the Profeticus Tenebrae, so to prevent another catastrophe from ever happening, the survivor of the fight with the 12th spirit took the book from her and disappeared. He then founded the Tribe of Darkness, which would come to be known as the thieves of the Profeticus Tenebrae, long suspected of using the dark knowledge contained within the book for their own ends, while in reality, they were also protecting the tome from truly evil uses, trying to avoid Umbra's Reawakening.

Despite the hiding of the Profeticus Tenebrae, the Ancients had grown fearful of the prisms, considering the way they were corrupted by the 12th spirit. Their Elders decided to limit the power of all prisms and outlawed their creation. However, as a result of the Darkness Uprising and the unavailability of their powerful prisms, the Ancients declined and disappeared and their technology was, for the most part, lost. Only the eleven surviving members of the original twelve prisms were believed to still be in existence, scattered around the world.

## Relics

The Tribe of Ancients held a great amount of relics that were sacred to them, however, only one has been found so far. Every discovery will be reported in here and documented in great detail.

### Light's Gem

The Light's Gem, known as Caeda's Heart by the members of the Tribe of Ancients, is one of the most important relics other than the Profeticus Lucis itself, as it holds an endless power fueled by the love and happiness coming from the Trinity of Light. Some believe that it might be the only known way for the Tribe of Ancients to communicate with Caeda, Loria and Dawn. The link between the new world and the world the Trinity fought in, against Umbra, might be on the brink of termination, however, there's still something that holds those two together. A shrine could be found around Iaddithis' Realm, the new world, with the Gem closed in a crypt, safe from the outside tragedies.

## References

Tales about the Tribe of Ancients and the Darkness Uprising were heard and sometimes documented by storytellers and wandering merchants.

1. Storytellers' "The Darkness Uprising" story reads:
> *"The spirit within the Dark Prism was not a demon, but rather a human... Is it possible the other spririts were from the deceased?"*
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2. Storytellers' "Creation of the Prisms" reads:
> *"There are no more prisms now, I understand... Well, except for some of the original prisms, who were scattered far and wide... They lie in wait for a new master to arrive."*
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