The Progenitors

The original masters of reality, sources of ancient wisdom older than any other

Those who came before

Before the races of Zheng-Kitar came into fruition, before the first Výtrúl formed their hives and colonies, and before even The Six Great Ancestors sacrificed themselves to bring about the Advent of the Spirit Kings or the first Sapphire Elves learned the ways of Kinetic Magic, there were The Progenitors - the beings who came before who mastered the ways of reality long before any of the mortal races would lay claim to do so.
These Progenitors range wildly, from lowly bottom-feeding fish that travel along the ocean floor to singular, mighty demigods who have long since fallen into myth; what they have in common is that they are an ancient source of wisdom(if they yet live) that many on Zheng-Kitar look to for guidance and direction in their craft, be it arcane magic, nature magic, or any kind in between. However, some of the Progenitors, be they races of monsters, beasts, or even singular people, have long since fallen into endangerment or outright extinction...while others still have hidden themselves away or otherwise made themselves unfindable by the populace at large for reasons that are only known to them...making many of these Progenitors beings of rumor and myth, that many only speak of in hushed whispers.

Beings of ancient wisdom

Though beings of unbelievably ancient age and unfathomably vast power, the Progenitors are, perhaps most importantly, sources of ancient and profound wisdom - as beings that existed long before the dawn of recorded history they yet carry knowledge, techniques, wisdom, and the like that the mortal races have either forgotten or gone unlearned by the world at large. Because of this, many often try to seek out the progenitors that are tied to their specific type of magic or that are keyed to their specific Element they find themselves aligned to in the hopes of finding them and learning things that will either give them the power to overcome obstacles they are facing or give them the wisdom to overcome a hurdle, mental block, or tough situation they have found themselves in.
Though finding them might well be a terrifying journey all in and of itself, finding one of the legendary progenitors, when one is truly in need, could well give one the strength, technique, power, or wisdom to overcome whatever struggles one finds themselves facing in their lives.

The Progenitors

Arcane Magic

Progenitor: Warlock Bugs
Status: Alive and Plentiful
Description: The Warlock Bugs are a species of blind, bottom-feeding fish that travel along the ocean floor, following the leylines that crisscross the world of Ea to feed off the Atlen that thrums through such concentrations of Magical Power. These original masters of arcane magic were the first to demonstrate an ability to take in Atlen(Mana) and shape it into forms to suit their needs, and their mastery of this technique, even so many millennia after the mortal races discovered them along the ocean's bottom and mimicked their Atlen Intake abilities to create Arcane Magic they have many secrets and untold wisdom to discover - as an intelligence species, they are incredibly haughty and arrogant, but are altogether simple and content to live out their lives intaking and releasing the Atlen which they feed on for nourishment and to interact with the world around them.

Alchemy

Progenitor: Sentient Slimes
Status: Alive and Plentiful
Description: The Sentient Slimes, even now, remain a wholly mysterious people - though they are believed to be the original masters of Alchemy this mastery is not believed to be a conscious one, as they evolved to constantly change and adapt their slimey bodies to suit their needs in a variety of situations. Able to change the fundamental makeup of their bodies in response to their own will, external stimuli, and a host of other unknown factors, the Sentient Slimes and the first proto-alchemists that used their own bodies to distill pseudo-potions and concoctions full of magical power were what inspired other more intelligent races to attempt to mimic these form-changing properties and apply them to other materials - creating the ancient study of Alchemy. And while, unlike some of the other progenitors, they may be lacking in conventional 'wisdom', they yet have many secrets to discover and unlock - and remain an incredibly mysterious species.

Bardic Magic

Progenitor: The Witch Kings of Bhorsis-Razghûl
Status: Unknown. Defeated twice and sealed away both times, but supposedly will return eventually.
Description: As the inventors of Bardic Magic, The Witch Kings of Bhorsis-Razghûl are progenitors of the most evil and vile sort - inventing the ways of Bardic Magic in their vile, heretical sanctums as a tool of unspeakable evil with which they planned to defeat the forces of good and destroy The Spirit Kings and all who followed them, they wove their sonorous songs and chants of power from their black citadels with such power that, at their height, they were able to crack the bodies of The Spirit Kings and end the golden age that began when The Six Great Ancestors gave their lives to let The Spirit Kings incarnate on the material plane to save Zheng-Kitar from extinction. Though they have since been defeated and sealed away, enterprising storytellers, songweavers, and the like co-opted this system of magic and codified it into a system able to be used for good - though many on Zheng-Kitar have reservations about it, considering its vile source and very nature of channeling the Blackspeech, vile Language of the Witch Kings, to enact real and potent change on the world by channeling The Lattice and its Magical Power through words of arcane might and power. Though undoubtedly carrying unfathomable wisdom and ancient power, the Witch Kings' knowledge is that of a vile and bastardous sort - one that no sane mortal creature should seek out, lest it corrupt their minds, bodies, and souls as it has countless millions over the millennia.

Nature Magic

Progenitor: The Kami
Status: Alive and Plentiful
Description: The Kami, guardians of the natural world, are a race of unfathomably ancient beings created by The Old Gods themselves that were originally intended to serve as guardians to those parts of nature that could not protect themselves, and to all the areas that The Old Gods themselves could not reach. Ever since their creation long ago, Kami have proven remarkably adaptive and have spread and grown to take on all sorts of shapes and sizes over their eons of life - from guardians of the most mundane trees to massive incarnations of entire mountain ranges, jungles, and more. These beings, as the original form and guardians of the natural world, were the first to bestow the knowledge of how to find and tap into the Natural Atlen that dwelled within fonts of nature such as forests, mountains, rainforests, and the like onto mortals such that Druids, Rangers, and other servants of nature could draw power from it to weave beautiful magic in service of the natural world. Even now, so many millennia later, Kami still thrive across Zheng-Kitar, though they do not reveal themselves lightly - many are shy and distrusting of mortals, but to those who can find them and seek them out, they will find the Kami as unfathomably wise, if not somewhat reticent beings that, when persuaded to bestow some of their wisdom, can give the strength and wisdom to overcome many of life's barriers.

Divine(Patron) Magic

Progenitor: The Father / The Wusheng(Inheritors of the Father's Will)
Status: The Father is long deceased. The Wusheng, council of the Five who recieved his teachings, carry on his will and remain alive and active.
Description: Perhaps the most mysterious and recent of the Progenitors, The Father is a being of which altogether little is known - during the Advent of the Spirit Kings in which The Six Great Ancestors gave their lives to give The Spirit Kings bodies through which they could incarnate onto the material plane and save Zheng-Kitar from certain extinction, many flocked to the banner of The Spirit Kings to serve them as clerics, paladins, and all manner of divine spellcasters. The Father, however, was the first being who pursued a different path - one of service to The Spirit Kings, but one that was subtly but importantly different than the ways of other more normal divine casters; This way, dubbed 'Patron' Magic(A subset of Divine Magic), was popularized and made widespread by The Father as he became a sort of personal 'agent' of The Spirit Kings, working to enact their will in personal and direct ways in exchange for more personal gifts or promises - selling his soul and eternal future in exchange for the power to alter his destiny and the world around him. Though he passed away, he was succeeded by five ancient Witches and Warlocks that would form "The Wusheng" - a council of five beings of power that, even now, are believed to work in the shadows carrying out and furthering those who pursue the paths of Patron magic such as Witches, Oracles, Warlocks, and the like...those outcasts in need of assistance, ostracized for making deals with the unknown.

Kinetic Magic

Progenitor: The Sapphire Elves
Status: Extinct
Description: Though they were the original masters of Kinetic Magic as one of the first three original races made by the New Gods(AKA The Yema) at the dawn of reality, the Sapphire Elves were made to serve as the immortal wardens of reality - to exist eternally and ensure the other races did not tear apart the reality which the Gods had worked so hard to create. To this end, they were incredibly in touch with the world around them - able of hearing the voices of the elements to a degree that no other race since has been able to match. Able to manipulate all Six Elements as easily as breathing, the Sapphire Elves were wise and powerful beyond their years - having been around since the beginning of reality, they achieved undescribably wondrous feats and marvels of construction and engineering, from their wondrous organic sky-cities made of living wood and trees and plants and stone to their Kinetic Technology that was designed to harness the power of Kinetic Magic. Though they were exterminated by the Yema around six thousand years ago, their teachings live on in the ways of Kinetic Magic that has spread to most all the people of Zheng-Kitar, who carry on their legacy of living in touch with the natural world and seek their wisdom in the few ruins and scraps of their empire that remain, buried in the earth...

The Kinetic Beasts

Though the Sapphire Elves are the progenitors of Kinetic Magic as it is codified today, the Kinetic Beasts are a series of six species that hold an innate, intrinsic mastery over one of the elements and serving as the 'masters' of a particular element. They were believed to have spawned at the dawn of time to embody a certain element, and both uphold and embody everything that element stands for and as guardians of all it represents. They are wise and powerful, though not always kind and welcoming, and are consequently sought out by many in the hopes of attaining the knowledge or power to overcome life's struggles.

• Fire
  
  
  Name: Cherufe
  Status: Alive and Plentiful
  Description: As the living masters of fire, Cherufes make their homes in the caverns of active volcanoes, where they have not only adapted to survive in these extreme conditions, but actually thrive in the pools of molten lava found therein. The cherufe’s unique physiology lets it feed off of radiating heat, providing sustenance for the creature as well as mending its wounds. These creatures, though reclusive, embody the element of fire to the utmost, and are beings of riotous passion and tyrannical desire - often enacting their will over nearby populaces to uphold, protect, or establish a certain 'law' that it believes it is beholden to carry out. Despite their nature as one of the legendary Kinetic Beasts, many adventurers make a habit of hunting the beasts due to their incredibly zealous personalities which are in many cases mistaken for tyrannical beasts to be put down - meaning many Cherufe are reclusive and unwilling to engage in contact with others that is not reverent awe or fearmongering.


• Water
  
  
  Name: Krakens
  Status: Alive and Plentiful
  Description: As the legendary masters of water and overlords of the world's most inscrutable oceanic depths, Krakens are a legendary species well-known and much feared by sailors and all seagoers for their overwhelming power and towering egos that often accompany cruel but highly creative intellects. Massive, powerful, and able to manipulate the forces of water at their whims, Krakens embody everything the element of water represents - Krakens hold an overwhelming sense of unity with their home clutch or familial unit and are some of the most passionate defenders of home, family, and community as can be found on Zheng-Kitar, but are often capricious and xenophobic, seeing other races and cultures as lesser and destroying or bringing ruin to them unless tribute or sacrifices are made in their name. However, despite all their overwhelming power and ever-changing natures and personalities, they have the potential to be some of the most steadfast guardians and most trusted friends or allies if one can earn it - they make excellent partners or mentors for adventurers or wanderers who find themselves travelling often, though dealing with the massive egotists is often a dangerous venture in and of itself.


• Earth
  
  
  Name: Badgermoles / Bulettes
  Status: Badgermoles are an endangered species. Bulettes are alive and plentiful.
  Description: Though Badgermoles are the original progenitors of the element of earth, they are unfortunately in danger of extinction in the modern day - the beasts were long ago the subject of much experimentation and overhunting on the part of mages and other casters who used them as subjects of cruel experiments designed to 'improve' them and make them into more mighty and awe-inspiring beasts...and while these experiments can be said to have succeeded, turning the giant furry beasts into massive burrowing monsters with hide as thick as armor plating, it also made them unfathomably cruel and infinitely hungry. These 'bulettes', cruel mockeries and 'improvements' on normal Badgermoles, have since spread all across Zheng-Kitar in the intervening milennia. Badgermoles themselves are blind and simple beasts who rely on Earth Kinetic Magic to move and make their way in the world, burrowing out cavern homes beneath mountain ranges and living as beasts - while Bulettes display more intelligence and are not blind, they roam about over great areas hunting any who dare to move in their hunting grounds...though they will almost never target Badgermole warrens, as if mistaking them for their own species. Though both species can serve as subjects of wisdom and study for those who wish to seek them out, Badgermoles are the true and proper Progenitors of earth, though they are much harder to find.


• Air
  
  
  Name: Skywhales
  Status: Endangered and few in number. Raised by desert nomads in secretive hatcheries to protect those that remain.
  Description:
Perhaps the most awe-inspiring and wondrous of the Kinetic Beasts, the skywhales are the masters of the element of air and embody all which it represents - they are free-spirited and altogether gentle beasts that are content to wander and soar across the sky in herds, leaving the cares of the material world behind them as they fly and play in the skies like children. Few things can compel or control one of these gentle giants, as their own free-spirited natures are incredibly strong and make them very hard to control - instead, one must hope that a skywhale will take to them and 'bond' to them, as such a bond will inevitably last until either the death of the Skywhale or the being it bonded to. Unfortunately, they have, much like the Badgermoles, suffered from overhunting by adventurers and sailors who either hunted the beast for the accolades and fame gained by bringing one down or for the blubber, oil, and miraculous 'skysacs' present in their bodies that allow for flight when treated in the correct ways. So large and enormous are they are rumors persist of Skywhales carrying entire temples nad villages upon their backs...though now, in the modern day, such things are little more than myth. They are protected and fostered by several clans of desert nomads and Urqet tribes, who raise the infant beasts in secretive temples that serve as hatcheries safe from the reach of those who would hunt them.

• Light
  
  
  Name: Imperial Dragons
  Status: Alive, but few in number. However, this is attributed to their own difficulty with producing offspring rather than hunting or mortal intervention.
  Description: The majestic and powerful dragons of Zheng-Kitar, though they come in many colors and varieties from the majestic Sovereign Dragons, rulers of all things good and the skies above, to the black Underworld Dragons, guardians of the cycle of souls, Dragons are the Progenitors of Light and all it represents - protectors of good, masters of magic, and bringers of hope, they are beings whose souls shine brighter than any mortal, and are the most regal and powerful of all the world's beings that are blessed with both incredible mastery of magic and highly powerful and lethal physical bodies both. Possessing a sense of morality stronger and more unbreakable than the most virtuous of mortals, Dragons fly about and serve as the guardians and guides of the world and all its denizens, Dragons uphold the forces of the cosmic balance and all that which Light represents - it is they that combat the forces of evil on the largest scales unfathomable by mortals, it is they that drive back the darkness wherever it appears, and it is they that seeks out those who defile magic itself and repair such 'tears' in The Lattice such as Dead Magic Zones and the like. They rarely interact in obvious ways with the mortal world, though many claim they walk in secret among its denizens...


• Void
  
  
  Name: The Ikaga
  Status: Alive, numbers unknown
  Description: Though they are the progenitors of void, the Ikaga are by far the most mysterious and unknown of all of the Progenitors and Kinetic Beasts alike - they do not reveal themselves to the mortal world except in extreme cases, and even their numbers and goals are wholly unknown, as are their personalities. What is known is that they are perhaps the oldest of all the Kinetic Beasts - they are believed to be a species brought into existence at the dawn of reality, perhaps even independently of the gods themselves, born to safeguard and uphold all that the element of Void represents as immortal, nigh-invincible protectors of the constants and cycles of reality such as time, death, nature, and the like. They are rarely seen, but are believed to be the most powerful of all the Kinetic Beasts and possibly even the Progenitors themselves - each Ikaga, sworn to uphold and protect one of the universal constants, acts as cold and unwavering enforcers of these constants, acting as the source of the myths of the "Grim reaper" and many more as they appear before beings across reality, killing those whose time is up, those who break the constants they protect, or for any number of mysterious reasons mortals are not privvy to. Their wisdom is said to be nigh-infinite, their power unfathomable, and though they are nigh-impossible for mortals to find, they are believed to be capable of speech - the few who have survived encounters with an Ikaga or its minions claim that these bringers of death spoke to them in a deep, unearthly voice like nothing in the material realm, dispensing wisdom that, should one comprehend it or survive to utilize it, will likely change one's life forever.

Type

Religious, Divine Host

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