Chapter IV - The Humans

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.