The Ancients or the Forebears, were a race of powerful immortal magicians, they preceded the First Mages.
Background[]
In the beginning, the Ancients came.
They traversed the world before all others; preceding even the First Mages, the founders of civilization. Such power had They, that Their influence was fully felt by all of creation. The Ancients were master seers. They perceived, within every living being, a spectrum of destiny; one's path, and its infinite branchings. This was as natural and easy for Them as it is for one to perceive the spectrum of a rainbow.
This ability allowed the Ancients great freedom to do as They chose. Gaze They would through the turbulent channels of time without peril. Apply They did such clairvoyance to satisfy Their insatiable desire for knowledge. They fathomed the unfathomable, and learned the unlearnable. Their abilities were unmatched. Their potential unlimited. Fortunately, They were not unwise. They knew that so long as Their perceptions did not alter the natural path of the cherished world that They inhabited, They would continue in Their entrusted role as its caretakers. Thus, interference in the order of things was made strictly taboo.
"This world is good, for it has not been tainted by selfish action." They said.
For a long, long time, The Ancients remained.
They cared for the world and its inhabitants; nurturing and encouraging the ever-changing forms that were life. Peace and harmony reigned for many an age, and protected well was the world by its caretakers.
They said: "This world is good still, as it has not been tainted by selfish action."
Sadly, however, the trust bestowed upon Them was betrayed... and they were forced to leave the world. And it was all because of One.
One did not hold in such high regard the principles of His peers and felt not the duty that His kind shared. He would not keep sacred the natural order of the living. Repeatedly He manipulated the spectrum of destiny to his own advantage. No regard He gave to any feeling, save His own. To the detriment of the living world, He drew closer His own desired destiny.
The other Ancients, angered by His selfish and callous behavior, moved to punish Him. Within the very stone of the mountains, They sealed Him. Imprisoned, he would remain, until such a time he learned the essence of the natural order.
To him, they spoke: "This world was good, but has been tainted by selfish action. No longer can We remain here. But You shall remain; imprisoned and alone. The cycle of of life, natural order of the living, shall be Your only means of salvation. Only when the Gems of Nature are brought to thee, will You be freed from Your eternal, accursed existence."
Then to Him, They spoke no more.
And thus were formed the three Gems of Nature.
The first was cast into the water, from where all life had sprung. The second was cast skyward, to be consumed by cloud and consciousness. The third was placed beneath the earth, to where the living committed the lifeless.
And the, the Ancients left the world.
Time passed. Yet One remained as He had seen; seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing.
His past slowly ebbed from recollection. In time, He had forgotten His own name. In time, He became It.
Still, It waited.
Though maddeningly dormant, It had retained knowledge of the spectrum of destiny, and knew of one who would, one day, approach: a being... a human being... who would seek his own destiny through what it had long since become.
It even knew what this being would say:
"Greetings. I am King Graham of Daventry."
Notes[]
To the Ancients the Water Gem was known as the Birth Gem.
Ancient Wisdom: The Legacy of our Forebears is a record of all the known information regarding the original inhabitants of the known world. It is a notably thin book.[1]
Its interesting to note that the history of the Ancients and First Ones seems to share certain details of the history of both the Ancient Ones and mystical ancients of MOE. Both the First Mages and the Ancient Ones society existed about a thousand years ago (although Ancients oF KQ2RTS may predate the First Mages even further back). The mystical ancients and First Mages also seem to have prophecies referring to some kind of cataclysmic event (Cataclysm and Ascension respectively). This could be more than just a coincidence and could have been planned intentionally to tie all the various stories of ancients together. This is highly likely considering that both Connor and the events of Mask of Eternity are specifically featured within the story, and tie into Morgeilin's third curse.
References[]
- ↑ KQ3R