View source for Chapter IV - The Humans

-1-
 
Humans are one of Avendar's most adaptable races, with at
least some humans living in most all of  the land's various
locales. Humans trace their origin to a time following the fall
of the alatharya, with their first civilizations appearing near
the Dantaron river valley. 
 
The aelin provide the first written records of humanity, 
portraying them as savages  'on the border of beginning a
civilized existence'. The aelin generally left the humans to
themselves, though a few tribes seem to have traded with
smaller aelin cities. 
 
Humanity's progress towards a more settled mode of existence
was interrupted, however, by events in the lowlands of
Avendar. The srryn appeared with the magics of fire,
transforming them from a race of itinerant raiders to potential
warlords. The humans were faced with a choice that was
none too difficult to the primitive mind -- ally with the srryn
and their magics, or be driven into forced servitude. 

-2-
 
The humans proved apt pupils for the magics of fire, and with
their aid, the srryn brought upon the aelin the conflict that was
known as the War of Fire. The war at first went extremely
well for the srryn and their human allies, with aelin cities
toppling before the new and destructive magic of fire. 
 
Given time, however, the aelin organized a staunch resisting,
rallying their collection of ancient artifacts to aid them in
battle. At the same time, the new human warlords gained a
keener insight into the motivations of the srryn, and 
were less eager to sacrifice their own people when they
became aware of the srryn's rapacity. So, while the war still
was in the favor of the humans and the srryn, the 
pace and manner of their victories had slowed, giving the aelin
more time.
 
It was this time which was the aelin's salvation. A rogue band
of the humans, dissatisfied with a life of bloody conquest,
departed from the main body of the human forces, daring to
seek protection from the aelin. For their part, the aelin
were willing to accept the rogue humans, who offered aid to
the aelin in defending their cities.

-3-
 
The humans were to prove more useful to the aelin that just
more defenders for their city walls, however. The scholars
among the aelin had access to the  prophecies given in the last
days of the alatharya, along with the most potent
of magical artifacts. Forseeing destruction if any other course
were followed,  the aelin sent the humans among them on a
journey to the frozen northlands.
This journey, now legendary, was made by the humans to find 
and awaken the ancient god Jolinn, Lord of the Seas. The
journey is recorded in detail in other texts [See Tyalin's work,
The Quest of Aramril, or the epic poem of the same
name by the poet Quarentis], but suffice it to say the humans
were successful in their task, and as a consequence brought the
magics of water to Avendar. Along with these new magics, the
humans also succeeding in enlisting the aid of the Titans, who
agreed to return with the humans to fight the srryn.
 
With their newfound allies, the aelin fought a series of
cataclysmic battles, driving the srryn back to their swamps.
The leaders of the humans who had allied with the srryn were
all slain in battle, or executed by the victorious forces.

-4-
 
The aelin cooperated with their human allies in creating a new
human government, with the heroes of the quest situated in
key positions of power. And, truth be told, most of the humans
who had fought with the srryn had  done so under duress, and
even those who had been eager for battle were now in a
position to appreciate the consequences of war. Avendar's
surface had been ravaged by the last battles of the war, laying
waste to fertile lands and inundanting barren deserts.
 
The period following the war, however, was one of sustained
prosperity. The humans established trade with the aelin, who
were eager to have access to the fertile natural resources of the
lowlands. In return, the humans had a fondness for the mineral
wealth of the mountains which were the home of the aelin.
 
Culturally, the humans were greatly influenced by the aelin's
unique style of government (the Republic), as well as the
development of the magics of earth, a gift of the caladarans, a
people who came to the Dantaron valley from the lands to the
east. These factors all lead to the development the first
of the great human cities,  Earendam.

-5-
 
From Earendam grew what today we now know as the
Republic of Earendam. The Republic became a mainstay of
Avendar's political landscape, offering  protection and peace
to numerous human kingdoms, which inevitably became 
incorporated as provinces. With the increasing human
expansion, the aelin seemed more inclined to isolate
themselves. To many, this marked the end of 
the golden age of aelin civilization and the beginning of
human dominance.
 
During the heyday of the Republic, the extent of territory was
vast, stretching from the icy wastes of the north to the
southern jungles, and from the X ocean  in the west to the
mountains of the Rim in the east. What the leaders of the
Republic had no way of realizing, however, was that policy of
unbridled expansion would emperil the very existence of their
way of life.
 
Mining ever more deeply into the Brintors, humans eventually
came upon  the subterranean world of the shuddeni. Eyeless
and unspeakably evil, the shuddeni at first sought to establish
diplomatic ties with the  Republic, attempting to insinuate
themselves into surface life.  The decadence of life in the
Republic proved easily susceptible to the temptations of the
shuddeni, who brought with them the magics of the void.

-6-
 
And, when the shuddeni felt they had sufficiently infiltrated 
human society, they brought their armies to the surface,
passing unseen to a hidden place in the Brintors, where they
began their conquest. Backed by legions of their brute chaja
slaves, the shuddeni also had the aid of various demon lords, 
summoned to wreak havoc among their foes.
 
The first winter of the War of Night marked the beginning of
the shuddeni offensive. Striking quickly, and under cover of
night, they struck at the human cities and settlements in the
Brintors. They brought with them the magics of void, striking
terror in the hearts of their opponents, who were often 
sacrificed to the shuddeni's gods. Taking advantage of the
closing of the passes into and out of the Brintors during winter, the shuddeni fortified their new holdings, taking
advantage of the delay afforded them by the weather to
move the bulk of their armies to the surface.
 
Elsewhere in Avendar, the Republic had to cope with internal
dissent from humans with a vested interest in its fall. The
srryn, eager to take advantage of the new threat, rallied for
battle, harrying human forces as they assembled to deal with the shuddeni menace.

-7-
 
With spring came an escalation of conflict, as the forces of
Earendam met the shuddeni army in a series of  bloody battles.
Unused to fighting the magics of the void and demonkind, the
humans lost the first battles of the war, often forced to flee far
behind their own lines. This continued for the first 
two years of the war, with humans making only marginal
gains against the invaders
 
Given time, though, the humans adapted to some of the
shuddeni's battle tactics. After the second year of war, the
humans began to hold their own in the battles, if gaining very
little net territory. With the coming of aelin warriors from
across the sea, the humans seemed prepared to hold their own
for some time to come.
 
Eager not to become in a protracted war, the shuddeni turned
once more to their dark magics. Calling together the
archmages, the shuddeni attempted a great Summoning.
Whether the result was a magical accident or predestined 
is a matter of debate, but what is known is that the human's
fortunes turned that day. The ch'taren came through the great
shuddeni nexus, bringing the magics of spirit, and doom to the
shuddeni forces.

-8-
 
Battles still remained to be fought, but with the aid of the
ch'taren and their magic, the humans were able to
systematically drive the shuddeni back beneath the surface of
Avendar.
 
After the war, however, the Republic did not possess the same
stength and unity it once had. Various provinces had been
forced to fend for themselves during the war, giving rise to a
patchwork of independent states, each with a charasmatic ruler
who had lead it through the war.Var Bandor, the city nearest
Earendam, severed its ties, recognizing Earendam as a trade
rival without the military forces to make firm its control. In
Gogoth, a king ruled, refusing to turn control of his country's 
rich farmlands over to the tax assessers of Earendam. And, in
the Brintors, the shuddeni still had footholds here in there in
the high places of the mountains.
 
Despite these problems, the Republic continued as the
reigning human institution for the next two and a half
centuries. It was the kankorans who rang the death knell for
the Republic, invading from the icy wastes in the north of
Avendar. Militarily and financially ill-equipped to defend
against what amounted to a full scale invasion, the senate was
forced to withdraw the armies of the Republic to the inlying
provinces. The kankoran horde fought its way to Earendam
itself until it met its final end. 

-9-
 
After this period of barbarian invasion, the Republic
underwent one final  collapse. Coming under the leadership of
a Patrician, Earendam became an independent city state,
finally severing its ties with eastern provinces it could
no longer protect and trade monopolies in the Crimson Sands
it could no  longer maintain. 

For a time, human society completely fragmented, with each
city jealously guarding its holdings against roving bandits. In
recent years, however, humanity, while politically divided, has
gained a certain strength in its ability to cope and deal with
Avendar's other races. Less isolated than the aelin, violent 
than the kankorans, or dangerous as the shuddeni, the humans
have succeeded both as diplomats and as rulers in many
portions of Avendar, leaving them still as the dominant race.