When the world was young, there were but a few gods who sought to keep balance in the world, each focusing on certain aspects of the world. In his ancient world at first there were only the animals, but after a time Kanara sung the elves into being and Kaloth created the dragons (most believe that he did so by impregnating a powerful serpent).

In this ancient world, the primordial magics were strong, asnd the elves sang in the forests, and the dragons frolicked in the seas and in the air. Even the later addition of pele's people, The Dwarves, living in the mountains, and creating their metalworks did little to disturb this harmony.

The reasons are unknown. Some say it was love (for her people or merely for a few of them), some lust, others merely a cold, calculating plan to make her people stronger, but it is known that Kanara interbred with her own people, enough so that to this day many hold at least some of her divine blood.

These offspring, like the dragons, possessed a nature beyond that of mere mortals. In time they learned to wield it in ways that could reshape the world around them. The uninitiated call this magic, and those who possess such power mages.

With age comes wisdom, and with wisdom, prudence. The first mages had neither age nor wisdom. They used their powers in ways that disrupted the balance of the world, ultimately causing a great cataclysm where seas boiled away, continents shifted, rich forests became deserts, and areas of powerful, untamed magic ran amok.

Centuries later, when the chaos subsided the world had changed. Many of the elves were gone, and nearly all the dragons. The lands had reshaped themselves into a tamer but perhaps less beautiful shape, and the chaotic mages had warped many of the fauna into strange new creatures. Some were hideous abominations such as the Otyugh, while others were a mixture of two creatures such as a Griffin. A few seemed to be animals that had developed into what are now called the younger races.

From moles came the Gnomes. From pigs the Orcs. From cats were born the Catpeople. Humans seemed to have come from apes. It was Thanatos, normally the most indifferent of the gods, who took the younger races under his wing, and gave them his blessing. He said that though they would now number their years in decades rather then centuries, that would only inspire them to do great works in their limited span.

With the cataclysm also came a new generation of gods who appealed to many of the younger races. Some claim the younger gods were born out of the magics of the cataclysm, others believe they were Elves and Dragons who ascended to divinity by mastering their divine nature.