Extinct Races
Aloria has beheld many Races over the millennia of civilizations that have risen and fallen across the many diverse lands. Some have reigned long while others have reigned for a very short time, but all of these civilizations have left some level of impact on the world.
Seraph
The Seraph were an all-powerful civilization within Aloria with many wondrous constructs and powers at their fingertips. Their architecture ranged from great complexes and high towers to long-sealed vaults, all built with white stones and minerals such as Seraphalo and marble. They also made use of extensive wall murals that revealed their many acts and communions with animals, energies, and each other. While no Seraph remains have ever been discovered, their murals clearly show them to be tall and slim beings with narrow eyes, some form of pointed ears, and simple robed clothing. Little else is known about this society as their sites are often guarded by powerful Construct creatures which defend the ancient ruins that somehow generate the energies to form them.
Second Civilization Race
The Second Civilization Race is curiously the most mysterious of all the extinct Races in Aloria, as there is very little evidence of their existence. The only indication of their presence comes in the form of scattered ruins across the east of Aloria, often made of dark-toned stone and rarely more advanced than a few columns and walls. There is no evidence of the Second Civilization's physical appearance as their ruins possess limited art and decoration.
Third Civilization Race
The Third Civilization Race is certainly less mysterious than the Second Civilization Race, but their ruins are equally as rare as their predecessors'. Their only known remains are located on the lethal jungle island of Solangeria, where they are protected by the savage Temple Orphans and other dangers. While these ruins have rarely been explored, it is clear they were a sophisticated people. They built grand temples, walls, and at least one large multi-limbed statue (likely a religious figure) using Lazurite tiling to decorate them. As a result, many assume that the people of the Third Civilization had multiple limbs (two sets of arms), but this is not confirmed in any of their ruins. As a result, until proper research is done, only the barest speculations can be made about their appearance or any other details of their lives.
Meraic
The Meraic, also known as the Fourth Civilization, are possibly more well known than the Seraph due to their unique history. They were an advanced society that greatly expanded their empire from the south of Aloria. They were great engineers, building fantastical devices of crystal and metal that are barely understood even all these millennia later. However, they were as flawed as those that came before them. Their Race turned to Magic even as their scholars tried to warn them of the impending doom such an act might bring. In defiance, these scholars prepared for the worst, and this cult of preparation gripped a large portion of their population. The Tohn Valeer, a network of Vaults and tunnels, were built across their empire, but in the end, nothing could truly save them. The Void invaded and above ground, the Meraic people came to an end, while those who survived underground underwent a transformation into the Maraya of the modern-day. It is known that the Meraic had at least two subraces that were transformed into the El- and Ka-Maraya respectively due to time and Magic. What limited artwork exists of the ancient Race is hidden by the transformed survivors, but largely shows blue-skinned and head-crested beings with great height. Some theorize this might just be a depiction of the Ka-Maraya, as the rarer and higher-up of the two subraces, but like most information on the Meraic, it is open to debate and skepticism.
Drovv
The Drovv are just as mysterious as the most ancient Races of Aloria but suffered an even worse fate as they have left behind almost no proper ruins or knowledge about themselves. All that is known is what the Sihndar speak of them, and much of that is mythologized. The Sihndar speak of the Drovv as a wise Race with long necks who lived in the northern reaches of Aloria as a client state conquered by the Allorn Empire at the end of the Awakening. The Drovv barely fought back and agreed to send tribute south, but they demanded their right to continue an ancient role: as the guardians of the world. They apparently knew exactly what the Void Cycle was (how is unclear), and the Altalar were only too happy to let them involve themselves in such a strange, diverting task. Their warriors were unskilled in Magic and instead were prone to using physical force and weapons for rapid attacks against their foes. Some Altalar came to idolize the Drovv, and, in the final years of the Allorn Empire, a large part of the military-inclined Cult of Dronnal went north to learn from them. Few got the chance, as the Fifth Void Invasion opened right on top of Drovv land and so they were slaughtered. Their last act was to warn the Allorn Empire of the coming doom, though others contend it was more likely fleeing Altalar from the fringes of their territory who delivered this news to distant Daen. No Drovv bodily remains exist today, though the Sihndar honor their teachers, not through artistic praise but action, and so their image only exists in limited Sihndar Hold records or orally from the eldest members of Sihndar society.
Nasha
The Nasha were a Race native to the distant Sundial Isles of the Far West. They appeared to be shy or at least overly cautious creatures as they actively chose not to engage with the Altalar for some time. Eventually, the Race allowed themselves to be isolated to a single island, but in the end, this did not save them from later Altalar enslavement. They were described in the works of Vyasa Vyana (the only surviving author from the pre-Floundering period) as “gliding through the foliage as nature’s wind might,” “marked by scales and slender features with sincerity of thought,” and “able to vanish at will into the bounty of Estel.” They were also reportedly shorter than the Altalar and had a dark green color to their scales and eyes. They died out during the Cataclysm, already limited in number, but are memorialized in Suvial Altalar thought as being closely tied to Estel. It is also believed by some that the proto-Suvial (the first colonists from the Allorn Empire to the Sundial Isles) were heavily influenced by Nashan culture. Their loss is seen as a symptom of the corruption of the Void and the Altalar way of life by the natives of the Sundial Lands (though the Suvial often ignore their own role in bringing the Race to extinction).
Mazo
The Mazo were found during the Consolidation within a chain of underground caves in the eastern half of the Alexandros Mountain Chain. The Altalar who found them reported their crude state of being and general disinclination to approach the Altalar. Eventually, communication was established with an “Elder” who asked to be left alone. The Altalar then left, and the creatures were left alone for centuries until the Grandening. The Race was reportedly quite stout but well built despite their light weight. They also possessed wings attached to their arms and could use them to fly, while their faces were very similar to that of bats. They had grey skin and were covered in black fur. When the Altalar enslaved them, they discovered an unfortunate fact: the Race only lived for at most, twenty years. They also subsisted on raw meat, lacking the taste for anything cooked, and so other slaves around them were forced to watch the creatures eat raw flesh and saw their maws dirtied with dried blood. This gave rise to the myths of giant, blood-draining bats that later became part of Daendroque superstitions. The Altalar ultimately worked the Mazo to death within around a century, though reports of a few members surviving in the depths of their home cave system remained until the Cataclysm. It was then that the mountains above folded in or separated, likely obliterating the species deep underground as the world changed. At the very least, it destroyed their settlements, and the caves that first held them now hold a variety of other hostile life forms, guarding whatever remains of the Race exist.
Ochil
The Ochil are a unique case for an Altalar slave people, in that they were already somewhat sophisticated when the Altalar found them living in far northwestern Daendroc, on the Ollean Peninsula. They, too, were left alone in the end like the Mazo, but they seemed quickly taken with Altalar society and entered it freely, though rarely, for the next few centuries. But during the Grandening, the Race was fully enslaved, and their peaceful community was eliminated. The Ochil had very distinct features that are still known today, though they were quite humanoid in general. They had skin colors from bright pink to pale purple, with vibrant yellow or grey eyes and similar tones to their often long hair on both women and men. This same tone to their eyes and hair also affected the smattering of freckle-like dots along their nose and on both upper cheekbones. Their faces also featured supposedly prehensile small head crests on either side of their temples, which helped them push their hair back out of their face. They also had excessively slim, delicate limbs and were highly experienced in the art of love, while also unable to reproduce with any other Race save their own. This made them highly sought after, either as dancers or sophisticated household servants. This also made them a target for other slaves when, in the months after the Cataclysm, they revolted and freed themselves from their master’s servitude. The chaos of this time killed what few Ochil remained, and the Race is considered extinct. They are curiously also supposedly the source for Maize in Aloria today, as Altalar speak of the “Corn Culture” that was attached to the Race, with the Altalar taking the plant with them when they left after their initial visits.
Giants
For most Ailor, Giants are myths of the Velheim or the fables of Ceardia. However, they were very much real, even if there is a great deal of mystery surrounding them. When or where they came into being is unknown, as some claim they came from a now-lost continent, destroyed by the Cataclysm, or were perhaps originally from Ceardia but migrated east up through Essalonia into The North Belt, where they are last considered to have lived. While their common description as “giant Ailor” is rather broad, it is also all that can be certain. Altalar records were just as vague, and while Ailor myths give them very Ailor qualities, surroundings, even names, most suspect that they had below-normal intelligence. They also could clearly mate with Ailor, as the Bolven Lineage is descended from such unions. It is also suspected that another offshoot of Giants are Ogres, the crude near-humans of tall heights from The North Belt. What ultimately happened to the Giants is unknown, but it is generally assumed they died out some years before the Cataclysm.
Trivia
- The bones of extinct Races are believed by many to be almost impossible to find anymore thanks to the Bone Horror Crisis. If any did exist in the first place, it is highly likely that they are but shards now, or lost among the thousands of other normal body parts that made up (and still make up) Bone Horrors across Aloria.
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