History of Aerios

In the far northern lands, where the moon lasts the longest, Selûne created the tall and beautiful elves. Greatly saddend by the fall of the Kalashtar, Selûne sought to create a people of compassion and love who would not turn on their brothers. Thus the elves were born in song under the moonlight and with the essence of the Faewild, their first memory is of the Moon Mother singing to them of the loss of her firstborn children and of the virtues they must follow to avoid this fate. She taught them of the beauty of moonlight and its reflection of nature, she taught them joy and compassion. It is for this reason that elven cities are always entwined with nature and the Fae.

If you asked a Firbolg where his people came from he will tell you a story of the humble giant druids. Long ago a group of stone giants grew tired of dark caverns and unchanging mountains. This group took their families and left the mountains in search of something better. For years they wondered at night with nothing to guide them but the light of the moon, then one day the giants came across a hidden glen with a beautiful waterfall in the center and a large open sky filled with stars, and at the center, the moon was the biggest they had ever seen. The stone giants were so awed by its beauty that they came to the waterfall and drank from the water, then their leader asked the moon who she was and why she had brought them there. The moon revealed herself to be the Maiden and She Who Guides, she told them that she saw them lost and wandering and sought to guide them to Purpose. She brought them to this glen so they may find rest and live here in peace. The stone Giants were beyond grateful, for they felt this was the calling that led them out of the mountains, the begged the Maiden for her blessings for they wished to be stone giants no longer. The Moonmaiden was pleased with them and so sent a drop of moonlight into the waterfall and said that any who drank from it would be changed in her name. Thus the Firbolg were born and changed into druids of the Moonmaiden and though some leave as she directs, most remain to protect the Glen of the Moon.

The giants of old have been around from the beginning of Aerios, even before the Kalashtar. No one is certain which or if the deities of Purpose created them, what is known is there was a time when the giants were allies with the Kalashtar. In this time great friendships were formed and some created attachments beyond this. Thus the race known as the Goliaths were born and became a permanent bridge between these two. When the Kalashtar began fighting among themselves, the goliaths and giants were torn as to whom to support, for both had become family. A handful joined in the fighting, but most removed themselves and retreated to their homes in the mountains. When the years passed and the Kalashtar destroyed themselves, the giants wept for their passing and swore to never again grow attached to mortals. Yet the Goliaths could not accept that all of their Kalashtar parents had died and so the tribes left in search of them. Today Goliaths remain nomadic, but they like to settle near villages where they trade their strong fighting ability for goods and medicine. Some tribes also contain Kalashtar, the few who remained after the fall of the empire. Collectively the Goliaths do not follow any one of the deities but more see them as a whole, the deities of their Kalashtar forebearers, yet some tribes have been known to follow the beliefs of the nearby villages more closely.

Xan Yae is the goddess of balance and death. She watched as her fellow Purpose deities created races in their images, each serving a different purpose according to the needs of their deity. Yet Xan Yae was disappointed in all of them, for none of them seemed to create a balance between the deities most simply were an extension of will. So Xan Yae created humanity a short-lived, average-sized race of individuals who modeled no one, not even herself. Their one trait was freedom, the freedom to choose to be anyone, to worship any deity, to live in a city, to wield any power. Some were smart and others laymen, some were greedy and others generous, some were ambitious and others lazy. In all things humanity was balanced and could take on the traits of any of the other peoples, they came across.

The Tieflings were created as a mockery of the Purpose races. The combination of mortals and demons, most were begotten through slaves and hidden love affairs for power. Eventually, these people caught the eye of the Purpose deities who were angry with the Opposition's interference with their peoples. These orphaned children wandered Aerios with no one willing to take them in or allow them to enter the cities. For a while, many lived in dark forests and became druids of evil others joined the cults of their demonic forefathers. That is until Selûne learned of the Tieflings and their mistreatment. The goddess of compassion she ordered her followers to find Tieflings and make them feel welcome in their homes. In time the Tieflings grew to see followers of Selûne as friends and many migrated to her cities, later they would also begin following Mystra as Selûne showed her their potential for magic. To this day Tieflings are little more than tolerated in places outside Selûne and Mystra's influence, but in places under their protection, the Tieflings are seen adopted brothers and sisters of Purpose.