Humans

**Humans** are a species of beings that originally resided in the land of Xadia until their exile to the western half of the continent, later known as the Human Kingdoms, that lasted for a thousand years.

## Biology

Humans can have any skin tone, hair color, hair texture, eye color, or any other physical feature seen in real-world humans. Humans are not born with magic, but some can cast spells through the use of dark magic or by controlling Primal Sources within their environment with the right Primal Stone. However, if a human somehow manages to form a connection with the arcanum of a Primal Source, they will be able to use magic without a Primal Stone. According to Ibis, a mage of the Skywing Elves, it was unheard of for a human to learn an arcanum until Callum forged a connection with a Primal Source.

Offspring of elves and humans are possible to be conceived, though unlike crossed elven offspring, they would not refer to themselves as "hybrids". It is currently unknown if said offspring would be born connected to a Primal Source like their elven parent. The only known elf/human hybrid is the Being created through artificial means by Aaravos and Viren, and although he has a connection to the Star Primal like his Startouch Elf father, he has never been trained to harness its powers.

## History

2000 years before the birth of Azymondias, the human city of Elarion was founded near the Border of Xadia, marking the "Rise of Elarion". Due to harsh weather conditions leading to famine, the city would initially face a time of struggle and starvation, leading the citizens to suffer. Pitying their situation, the unicorns of Xadia wished to help them, as they did not believe humans deserved to suffer just because they were born without magic. Despite being warned by the elves not to trust the humans, as they believed that they would have been born with magic if they were meant to use it, the unicorns gifted a few wise humans powerful stones containing vast energy, called Primal Stones. They then taught them how to draw runes and speak in Ancient Draconic, the language of the dragons, in order to cast spells. This era marked the turning point in history for humanity. Humans began building great civilizations, developing the arts, thriving and growing. However, one day a mage named Ziard came into possession of a powerful staff, gifted to him by a Startouch Elf named Aaravos, whom he referred to as one of the "Great Ones", which led him to the discovery of dark magic.

Around 1200 years before the birth of Azymondias, during the reign of Sol Regem, dark mages and their followers began to hunt and poach magical creatures throughout Xadia, for they needed fuel for their spells: A griffin's talon, a feather from a Moon Phoenix, any part of a creature where magic was concentrated. Perhaps the most valuable and sought- after prize of all was a unicorn's horn. Eventually, the humans hunted the unicorns to extinction.

After yet another 200 years, Sol Regem met Ziard on a mountaintop near the city, where he presented him with an ultimatum: Give up dark magic or witness the destruction of Elarion from the mountaintop. Ziard refused, believing that Sol Regem was bluffing, only for the Dragon King to respond by promptly flying towards the city. In a desperate attempt to save Elarion, Ziard attacked and blinded Sol Regem with his dark magic but was killed in the process, and Sol Regem destroyed the city. However, due to the intervention of Aaravos, a few of the city's inhabitants survived and fled Elarion.

Following these events, Luna Tenebris, the successor of Sol Regem and new Dragon Queen, declared the humans to be a threat to Xadia. Though initially wanting to exterminate humanity like the rest of her race, Luna Tenebris was convinced by the daughter of an elven leader to banish humanity instead, and thus ordered their exile to the western parts of the continent and dividing it, a day which was later known inside Xadia as "Judgement of the Half-Moon". The new era of banishment became known to humanity as "The Mage Wars", where humans began settling in the western side of the continent and powerful mages began rising as warlords, battling for resources and land. This went on until eventually the five Human Kingdoms of Katolis, Duren, Neolandia, Del Bar, and Evenere began taking shape over the decades and centuries.

Besides the humans that learned the ways of dark magic, it was revealed that before Callum there were a few other human primal mages in the ancient past. However, they are so exceedingly rare that almost all information about them were lost.

Years later, King Harrow of Katolis led an expedition to Xadia to retrieve the heart of a Magma Titan to use it in a dark magic spell that would end the famine that has besieged Duren for seven years. The group acquired the heart but at the cost of the Queens of Duren and Katolis. After several years had passed, the Katolian High Mage Viren convinced Harrow to use unspeakable dark magic to slay the Dragon King Avizandum to avenge his wife Queen Sarai, and to destroy his unhatched egg. However, the egg was secretly stolen by Viren, who hid it in a secret chamber underneath the castle of Katolis.

### Book One - Moon

During the night of a full moon, Xadia retaliated back on the order of the Dragon Queen Zubeia, by sending Moonshadow Elves to kill King Harrow and his son, Prince Ezran. Although the king accepted his fate, he sent his sons off to safety. As the elves invaded the castle, the young princes came across one of them named Rayla. While trying to escape using a secret passage, the group came across something they thought was gone forever, the egg of the Dragon Prince.

Realizing that egg was not destroyed but stolen, the princes at first attempted to show the egg to the assassins, to stop the king's assassination, but without success. Knowing that their father could not be saved, Callum and Ezran left with Rayla on a mission to return the egg to Zubeia in hopes of ending the war.

### Book Two - Sky

The egg hatched into the Dragon Prince and was named Azymondias. Meanwhile, as the group continued to Xadia, Callum tried to learn magic on his own while trying to tell Ezran of their father's demise. Back in Katolis, Viren tried to rally the other kingdoms into fighting against Xadia, but met no support. He encountered Aaravos and started taking his advice to use fear instead, which caused him to be arrested for treason. Through the use of dark magic, Callum made his own connection to the Sky arcanum, which allowed him to perform magic again. Knowing of their father's demise, Ezran decided to return home to Katolis, taking his place as King while Rayla and Callum continued their way towards Xadia.

### Book Three - Sun

Trying to stop a potential war between the nations, the group had trouble on both ends. Due to Viren's deception, Ezran, now as the new king, had a hard time adjusting to his role, especially having to deal with an angry Prince Kasef, who wanted to fight. Despite trying to spread hope, Ezran abdicated his role leading to Viren taking the throne. With that, Viren rallied the other kingdoms into forming an army against Xadia, which then marched towards the Storm Spire.

Meanwhile, knowing the Border was lost, Amaya saw fit to destroy it but in her attempt to do so she ended up captured by Janai and her soldiers as well as being taken to Lux Aurea for questioning through Kazi as a communicator and her warrior spirit she started to earn her enemy's trust. Leading to the general quelling her hatred towards the elves and work on stopping Viren when he arrived in Lux Aurea.

After several troubles during their journey, Callum and Rayla arrived at the Storm Spire and reunited with Ezran, who fled with the help of Soren, who had changed sides after witnessing his father's cruel actions towards both Katolis and Lux Aurea. Once the group arrived at the top of the Storm Spire, they learned that Zubeia's suffering threatened to take her life. To make matters worse, they learned from Soren that Viren was leading his army of darkness to the Spire, aiming to kill Zym. Wanting to end the war once and for all despite the numbers of enemies against them, every ally agreed to stand and fight against him, with some gathering help for the battle. With humans, elves, and dragons fighting side by side, they claimed victory over Viren. Afterward, united inside the dragon's lair, the allies joyfully witnessed Queen Zubeia finally awaken and reuniting with her son, leading to an era of peace. Unknown to them all, the dark mage and his daughter Claudia are still out there, with a new evil stirring.

### After the Battle

After the battle at the Storm Spire, humans and elves entered an era of peace between their nations, in which little changes contributed to welcome a new time of coexisting. However, not all of them seem ready to just forget the conflicts of the past just yet.

### Book Four - Earth

Two years later, humans and elves continued to enter a state of peace between each other's nations. However, this peace was strained by individuals disagreeing with the presence of each other's species in their homelands.

### Book Five - Ocean

Although humans and elves continued to coexist and tolerate one another throughout Xadia and the Human Kingdoms, some elves began to form alliances with those who wished to see humans driven out of Xadia by force.

## References

1. ↑ Creator Q&A – r/TheLastAirbender on Reddit
2. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 8: "Dragonguard"
3. ↑ Official Discord Q&A - Elves (Dec 08, 2022)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book Five, Chapter 9: "Infantis Sanguine"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Book One: Moon (Novel)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 San Diego Comic Con 2019 - CartoonUniverse Details
7. ↑ Elarion's Midnight Star Poem
8. ↑ Book Four, Chapter 7: "Beneath the Surface"
9. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 1: "Sol Regem"
10. ↑ Book Four, Chapter 6: "The Drakewood"
11. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 6: "Thunderfall"
12. ↑ Book One, Chapter 2: "What is Done"
13. ↑ Book One, Chapter 3: "Moonrise"
14. ↑ Book Two, Chapter 9: "Breathe"
15. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 5: "Heroes and Masterminds"
16. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 7: "Hearts of Cinder"
17. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 9: "The Final Battle"
18. ↑ Through the Moon
19. ↑ Book Four, Chapter 3: "Breathtaking"
20. ↑ Book Four, Chapter 4: "Through the Looking Glass"
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Book Five, Chapter 3: "Nightmares & Revelations"
22. ↑ Book Five, Chapter 6: "Bait & Switch"