First Age

## Songs & Clans of Eirethune

Eirethune’s history begins in the songs of the clan
bards.  The songs are still song around
many of the taverns and campfires of current day Eirethune, and they have not
changed much.  Eirethune’s civilization
began in clans of many races, covering hill and mountain, wood and valley.  The clans were initially single-species for
the most part, but the relationship between the clans depended more on
geography or wealth.  Clan raids were
very common, although for the far majority of instances, the raids were not
genocidal.  It was easier for a warlike
clan to periodically prey on an agrarian clan’s wealth, rather than try to
change their own ways and become an agrarian clan themselves.

## The Madur & Khalid-Ka

Although there are many different races in Eirethune, the races were further divided by geography and language.  There were many different clan tongues which each clan used, but eventually there was a common means of expression between them as nomadic clans moved about and communication became more important.  The nomadic movements of clans were widespread, but there was a distinct barrier which the clan movements never seemed to cross.  This barrier was a line from Icereach through the northern steppes south of Kharin Dûn and Kazden Dûn, and straight south through the mountains to Eastlom.  To the west of this line, the clans and their primitive common language was known as Madur.  To the east of this line, the clans were known as Khalid-Ka.  There was also a division racially between the Madur and the Khalid-Ka left over from God-Time and the Schism of the Kanthune.

The **Madur** were comprised primarily of the following species:

* humans
* elves and halflings
* all manner of mix in-between

There were still clan tongues, but the mother tongue, Madur, was spoken by each of the clans regardless of race or location. Although most remained on their side of the border, there was one instance of nomadic clans crossing between Khalid-Ka & Madur, and that was a group of clans known as **The Tainted**.

The **Khalid-Ka** of the East was primarily composed of the following species:

* humans
* orcs
* dwarves
* gnomes
* everything that they could be mixed into

Indeed there were giant and tiny sized versions of each of the races and their mixtures which were also considered Khalid-Ka.  In addition to species-based division, the other main division in the Khalid-Ka was based on their choice of habitation.  There were the people who lived underground, known as the Ka, and the riding & nomadic people of the steppes, known as the Ûr.

### Shade Folk

There was also a strange race among the Khalid-Ka known as the Shade Folk.  The Shade Folk are semi-corporeal and rarely pay attention to any creature outside of their realm.  They appear as translucent humans or elves, who can float, fly and disappear from sight at will. Some believe them to be undead, but it is more likely that they just live between planes of existence, although they are most aligned to the physical plane of Eirethune.  The Shade Folk clans during the First Age kept to themselves and would move and hide elsewhere if they found themselves crowded by other clans.

It is also thought that the Shade Folk are creatures from the time prior to the creation of the Kanthune.   There is a belief that in the early ages when Eirethune was being populated with beings other than the Guardian Gods, there were spirit creatures abounding.  Most of these spirit creatures were minions of the Guardian Gods themselves, created to inhabit and enjoy the realms of each of the guardians.  During the Schism of the Kanthune, these spirit creatures were affected as well, and then became the animals and creatures of Eirethune.  However, it is believed that even today there are original instances of these natural spirits found in remote woodlands, mountains and other places distant from the world of man and orc.  The Shade Folk are believed to be the sentient humanoid analog to these original spirits.

No one in recent times has ever encountered the Shade Folk. Elvenkind believe them to be real, but hidden, like the Fey; yet other peoples believe them to be completely fictional - creatures created as part of ancient stories to color the narrative, rather than actual beings that could have existed. The people of contemporary Eirethune believe the Shade Folk to be no more than tools to explain the unknown to people who don't want to discover reality. Not even the Fey have seen the Shade Folk. After all, references to Shade Folk are more common to nursery rhymes and children's games than any moments in history.

> "Don't look under your bed, there's a shade crawling up to tickle you!"
>
>

> "When you look in the dark of the forest, and see a light dotting about, it's the eyes of the Shade Folk blinking at you"
>
>

Of those who believe the Shade Folk are real, they believe they still live between the material plane and others, but somewhere in the great Steppes of the Ûr Lords in the far northeast, or perhaps in the desolate barrens and empty ancient ruins of Vendratti. The shamen of Kastgor believe they have brought the Shade Folk into their dreams and rituals from whatever planes that were near their dreams, but whether any of that is true is unknown.

### The Tainted

The history of *The Tainted* is completely unclear*;* however, the results were very distinct.  *The Tainted* was comprised of all of the Dark Elven clans that were present in Madur.  The reason for *The Tainted* to resettle was primarily because the other clans in Madur pushed them out, either through force or through species-biased abhorrence.

At some point millennia ago, there was a tale told of clan treachery sung, where one dark elf killed his half-elven cousin over a gem found on a hill.  This song was expanded to tell the story of how a dark Elven family invited their half-Elven brethren to their clan, and then subsequently ate them.  This song was further expanded to tell the story of a dark Elven clan who would make friends with neighboring clans and then eat them; and the dark Elven babies would spring forth from their feces and become adults in only one day.  The songs continued to be embellished, perverted and spread like wildfire throughout the lands of the Madur.

The problem was that the Dark Elves were always insular, preferring to keep to themselves.  They would trade, or raid, or help the clans immediately around them, but only if they knew them well.  For the most part, the Dark Elves were the only races to live deep underground, and to hide from their neighbors in such antisocial ways.  The isolation of the Dark Elves did not help to dissuade the uneducated clans who had never traded or communicated with them.  As time went on, raids against the Dark Elves almost became a sport.  When this began, many of the Dark Elven clans elected to resettle.  When they found that the unfounded hatred for them was prevalent wherever the Madur was spoken, they continued their trek east, until they came into the mountains of the Khalid-Ka, where no one had heard the tales. There are still Dark Elven (Drow) clans in the west, but many more remained in the east, in the seclusion of dark, uninhabited hills away from the civilized west.

It is said that that the Tainted were the only ones in the Eastern Steppes who interacted with the Shade Folk in any sort of way.  They were kin in their feelings of not-belonging to anything around their own. It is also said that through their interaction, the mysterious race of the Aeodans were created.

## Links

Chronology of Eirethune

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Next Up...Second Age: Age of Expansion