The Fall from the Stars
On the First Day of Year One of the Common Reckoning, mankind fell from the heavens, cast down and scattered over the world by the Dragons. Few survived. Stripped of our powers and wisdom, the greatest of us died, and our servants were destroyed, leaving only the young and some few of their caretakers. In the first days, many more perished. But we persisted, we survived, we remain, and we grow. One day, we will regain our powers, and we will return to the stars.
Summary
The myth of the Fall from the Stars describes how Human peoples arrived on Derkomai. It is generally acknowledged in all variants that humans are not native to the world. The Elvirim also have legends that describe humans crashing down to Derkomai from the heavens. After nearly six thousand years, most regard the legends as fanciful stories, pointing to the fact that humans can interbreed with Elvirim, Dwarvirim, and even Orkrim.
Historical Basis
The legend of the Fall from the Stars is based on the crash of the landing ships from the expeditionary generation ship Terra Nova. There were twenty-five colonization landing ships, plus two command landing ships. The two command landing ships were totally destroyed, with no survivors. The twenty-five colonization landing ships all crashed as well. Six were completely destroyed and all lives lost, and the others were extensively damaged. All power systems and all backup power systems failed for reasons completely unknown. All AI's and non-sentient computing systems failed. All gravitonic systems failed. Manual flight systems continued to operate, but were not sufficient to prevent the ships from crashing. Without gravitonics to assist in landing, all of the ships impacted the surface of the planet at high velocity. Fortunately, the ship captains had been trained in emergency flight procedures, and were able to steer some of the ships sufficiently so that they were able to make water landings.
When the landing ships crashed, those ships that were able to land in the water had their hulls breached and flooded with water. The Ten Thousand Mothers and Fathers were secured in the passenger holds in the upper decks of the landing ships, with the cryostasis pods holding the frozen embryos in the deck below them. Supplies and machinery were in the decks below the cryostasis pods. When the power systems and AI's failed, all 20,000 of the embryos were destroyed. The crash destroyed nearly all of the equipment and machinery, and what wasn't destroyed was useless without power. After the crash, no electrical, AI, or gravitonic systems were functional, and they could not be restored. Almost five thousand of the Ten Thousand Mothers and Fathers were killed in the six landing ships that were destroyed in the crash. A further approximately two thousand of the Mothers and Fathers were killed on impact or were drowned when the hulls were breached and the ships flooded. Only the fact that the mothers and fathers were on the top decks of the ships kept more of them from being killed or drowned. Of the 21,000 living people and 20,000 embryos that departed the Terra Nova on the landing ships, less than 15,000 remained, and many of them were severely injured. Dozens, even hundreds, after surviving the crash, succumbed to their injuries. Unable to swim to shore, some drowned. Left with just some emergency rations and no shelter, many died from exposure and starvation. Others, however, found new friends and allies, and some discovered new powers.
Spread
The legend of the Fall from the Stars is told with local variations all over Derkomai. It is often part of the stories and legends that describe the founding of some countries and settlements of the world.
Variations & Mutation
In Literature
An account of the Fall from the Stars appears in the first volume of the The Book of History of the Great Sacred Empire. Accounts of the founding of Daskar refer to the founder coming from the heavens to build the city.
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