My father told me that in the beginning we were not the first, there were others called the Builders who inhabited this world, and their creator returned and lived with them in harmony for many years. Then the time of judgment came upon their world, to some of the Builders, the creator gave them the power to sail among the stars. The ungrateful Builders were left to burn in the judgment of their world. Fire and lightning befell upon them, the crescent orb that lighted their night sky was turned to dust, and only their temples remained as a testament of their presence and punishment.

After the raging firestorms passed, darkness and the cold reigned. Out of the darkness, Evalen was born. A world that was plentiful and fertile filled with flowing water, lush forests, and the great belt to encircle Evalen and light the night sky. And it was good. But the world was void of any intelligence, and the beasts of the wild ruled. And the creator chose creatures to shape them in his image and likeness. This is how both the Canid and Avian race were created, to walk and rule over Evalen and do the creator’s will. Both races were fruitful and multiplied and spread upon all of Evalen. And it was good.

Then after many millennia, the Canids and Avians formed nations and used their given intelligence for both good and evil.  And from the depths of Evalen, the cursed plague was released and many people died from it. The Canids and Avians cried, “Why has this befallen upon us,” and the creator did not answer. The Avians abandoned the land and learned to fly and settled on the islands ruled and fire and molten rock, to escape the curse. And the Canids turned their eyes to the Builders for salvation, and in a temple of the Builders, one brave Canid discovered the silver blood, the Blessing of Eternal life. With her new found power she became the Eternal, and with the secrets of the Builders she created an Empire, The Iron Empire. Some of the Canids who did not take the silver blood, learned to live with the curse and they were no longer affected by it. All rejoiced, the curse was gone. But in its place an even worse curse took its place, it was the curse of the silver blood, the curse of the Eternal and her followers. It was the beginning of the Iron Empire.

It was said that the Eternal began as a Canid just like us, she ventured into the temples in search of the cure to the curse. In one of the many temples scattered over Evalen, she found the silver blood, and the secrets of the Builders, their knowledge left behind, as a testament to their presence and punishment. And she came out that temple, she could no longer age, get injured, or be affected by any curse. She brought it to the people of her village and they were cured, they rejoiced the curse was broken, and praised the brave Canid who brought the silver blood which they called: The Blessing. As they turned their eyes to their neighbors who suffered from the curse, and they gave the Blessing to all of their neighbors, they rejoiced. The curse was broken, and praised the brave Canid who brought them the Blessing.

The time came that all of the blessed Canids praised her instead of the creator. They called her the Eternal; they became a nation under her rule. At one time they coexisted with others who lived with the curse and overcame its effects; The Eternal saw that they still suffered the curse of aging and death. The young nation went forth to all the other nations and tribes and offered the Blessing to everyone, some chose the Blessing and some chose their mortality. For many years the young nation changed and became more aggressive and impulsive to others. In time that nation became an Empire. The brave Canid, who led them to immortality, became a goddess among her followers.

The self proclaimed goddess, The Eternal sought that Evalen had to be cleansed of the curse of death and ageing. The followers of the Eternal, thought it good, and obeyed her every word. Once it was a choice, now it became an obligation. The Iron Empire as the Eternal called it, used the secrets of the Builders to conquer and purify all the nations of Evalen.

In the span of 1500 years, the Eternal expanded her Empire to every cardinal point in search of more follower, slaves, raw materials, and the lost treasures of the Builders. But around 1000 years ago, a nation build upon the ideas of freedom and self-determination. The nation my ancestors lived, a nation that extended from beyond the mountains all the way to the ocean, our ancestors lived in peaceful bliss, until the Iron Empire came and befell upon them. Like the curse did centuries before. There was a great war in which millions of Canids died, for every archer and swords man in the army there was a hundred soldiers in the Eternal’s army.

       The war only lasted for a few days, due to the weapons the Eternal’s army used; weapons that could pierce the Canid soldier’s armor. The war was fought to the last Canid soldier, until the nation was overrun by the Iron Empire. The Eternal walked upon the streets of the capital city and sought that the land needed to be purified.  The Eternal summoned blue fire from the heavens, and a stream of blue fire came down on the capital city, and it was destroyed. The Eternal renamed the place where the capital once stood and named it Dangor.

      Her new found slaves were forced to build a great palace were their homes and farms used to be, yet the Eternal was not satisfied; she ordered the execution of 1/2 of the females, a 1/3 of the males, and the rest had a choice; To live forever in beauty and bliss, to became immortal like her, and they had to do was to give up their will to her, become a citizen of the Empire, join her armies, to purify Evalen in the name of the Eternal, and to worship her as a goddess and creator of all things, or live in misery and slavery, be only mortals, and work till the day of their deaths.

     Some did choose the Eternal’s false promises, but most of the remaining Canids chose the most honorable way to live. For 900 years our kind has been enslaved.