~The Creation of the Races~

Before anything, there was The Elder. The Elder was a powerful mass of emptiness. The Elder had no form, no gender, and no real name. It simply existed, and acted as the primordial god to the world.

The first thing The Elder did was create a canvas on which to paint. A world. From the ashes of the dead and decaying stars, it formed land. From the cold, icy comets, it took ice, which melted into lakes, rivers, and oceans. The Elder, unsatisfied with the flat world it had created, struck the world with its mind. The effect was so great, that the world broke down, and reconstructed itself several times over. When the dust over the world had settled, it was covered in vast mountains. Pleased with this, The Elder began creating races.Through trial and error, The Elder created the Elves of the Land, and the Dragons of the Sky. Once again pleased with its efforts, The Elder sat back, so to speak, and observed its creations, giving them a helping hand where they needed it. Once it was convinced that his creations could live on by themselves, it fell into a deep, endless sleep, trusting the world it created to the Elves and Dragons. It is at this point, many thousands of years later, that the current Gods took over.

They saw the world, perfect and godless, and took it as their own. Ignoring the races that existed before they came, they began making their own, in turn.

The God of Earth decided to craft statues of clay and stone, and give his statues wonderful beards of trees and shrubs. Once life was breathed into them, they became Dwarves, short, hardy folk, preferring to exist underground with the ores they envied the earth greatly for, and sported the finest beards in the land.

The Goddess of Water watched the creation of the Dwarves, but didn't understand why he sought for such a rugged race. In her disagreement, she formed the water of the seas into figures, which became the Human race. While they lacked the tough bodies of the Dwarves, their thoughts flowed like water, clear and fluid.

Next came the Goddess of Light. Following the example of the Goddess of Water, she too sought a gentler race. And so, from the flowers of the lands, she created the Fae, frail bodied creatures, with wings and powerful minds, and were naturally talented in using the light from which they were born.

Fourth came the Goddess of Darkness, who reached into the shadows of the world, and brought forth the Trolls, a tough, shamanistic race. They would be gifted in navigating the shadow of their origin, and lack the need to live in light, the area of her sister's expertise.

Then came the God of Air, who mocked the other races for their ways. He took into his hands a feather from the headdress upon his head, and created the Avians, a bird-like race with frail bodies. The Avians were a race that would fly high in the skies. Their sanity, however, was a cost of their freedom, for no Avian is truly sane. Though they may seem normal, every Avian has something about them that sets them off from every other race. Despite this, the God of Air was greatly pleased.

Finally, it came the turn of the God of Fire. While he contemplated what race he should create, an interesting event occurred. The Dragons, the creation of The Elder, left a race of their own: The Draconians. Strong, powerful folk, covered in tough scales, and descending directly from Dragons. Though they were not of his own creation, the God of Fire liked this new race, and claimed them as his own. This action would cause bad blood between Dragons and Gods, which would last until current times, where it still held strong.

And so, with all the races created, and the Gods hidden away in their own realms, with their own guardians, they too, stepped back, and let the world run its course...