The First-parents multiplied and prospered, and with the threat of the Nishpari gone, the population of each race quickly grew. The civilizations of the races soon dotted the land on every major continent, but the races were deeply divided and refused to associate with one another. Instead of the cooperation and cross-breeding that The Ancient One had hoped for, the First-parents of each race had taught their posterities to avoid all races other than their own. Over time, isolation lead to distrust, which lead to animosity, which lead to aggression.

For you see, when The Ancient One created the First-parents he had gathered them all together to tell them all of the wonderful gifts he had given each race, and the traits he admired in each of them. But although he spoke his praises to all of them at once, each of them heard only the praises they wanted to hear.

The First-parents of humans listened to The Ancient One’s words as he said how he fashioned them after his own people, and had given them the gifts of curiosity and ingenuity. These gifts would help them to be leaders and innovators and ever push the boundaries of possibility. But the other First-parents ignored those words and did not hear them.

The First-parents of elves listened to The Ancient One’s words as he told them how their race had been inspired by a beautiful graceful people who lived in trees and loved nature. He told them that he had given them gifts of swift, agile bodies, sharp eyes and even sharper minds with long memories and long lives. But the other First-parents ignored those words and did not hear them.

The First-parents of dwarves listened to The Ancient One’s words as he told them how he had known a sturdy and stalwart people who used rock and ore to ensure that everything they built was sturdy and stalwart enough to withstand the weight of their enormous world. He told them that they had been given the gifts to be durable and steadfast, with resolute wills that did not waiver under pressure, just like the people he so admired who shared their name. But the other First-parents ignored those words and did not hear them.

The First-parents of orc listened to The Ancient One’s words as he told them of savage jungles and how he had tracked and hunted in the company of the people he had modeled them after. He told them that he had given them the great strength and cunning that those people had needed to compete on such a savage world, and had even given them the same beautiful green skin. But the other First-parents ignored those words and did not hear them.

The First-parents of goblins listened to The Ancient One’s words as he told them of a people so tenacious and enduring that they managed to prosper in some of the harshest environments on one of the most rugged worlds he had ever visited. He told them that the gifts he had given them of resilience, perseverance, and versatility would allow them to not only survive, but to adapt and thrive in any circumstances. But the other First-parents ignored those words and did not hear them.

So it was that the First-parents of each race believed that they and their children were superior to every other race, for their ears heard only the praises they wanted to hear. The First-parents taught their children how to use magic the way that The Ancient One had taught them, but instead of sharing the magic for the sake of protecting themselves, they did it so their races would maintain their supposed superiority over each other race. The use of this magic accentuated each race’s gifts, but also their differences.

Over time the animosity between the races became so great that any perceived offense was seen as a justification for the First-parents to command their children to seek violent retribution, and the battles between the races were constant. Since the First-parents were impervious to such conflicts, it was their children who suffered. It is likely that this cycle of violence and bloodshed would have continued indefinitely if not for the intervention of the Celestial Guardians.

The Celestial Guardians separated the five races to different parts of the land and set magical boundaries between them. After that they searched for The Ancient One and found him journeying through the land creating all manner of creatures, plants, and other forms of life that he was infusing with magic. They went to him and reported on the conflicts and bloodshed between the five races. The Ancient One was grieved to hear of the violence and he was frustrated that his work in cultivating magic had once again been interrupted, but he was also confused that such a thing could happen. He asked the Celestial Guardians what they saw with their golden eyes of truth.

The Celestial Guardians told The Ancient One that he was confused because he did not see his children the way they saw themselves, and they did not see themselves the way he saw them. For The Ancient One saw his children as many parts that made up one great whole and that each part depended on each other part, while his children saw themselves as only themselves and each other was seen as an other and an outsider. Instead of seeing that which made them similar, they saw only that which made them different.

The Ancient One wanted to help his children overcome their conflict, but he also wanted to continue his work of planting and nurturing more magic throughout the world. Then he thought of a plan that would allow him to accomplish both desires at the same time. He would continue to create life that was magical in nature, but instead of creating them in the forms of magical beasts and birds and other forms of life, he would create them as magical races. He would give them thought and reason like the other races he had already created, but they would be wildly different from one another and incapable of intermarrying and mating. In this way, The Ancient One hoped that the first five races would see more clearly the similarities among each other, and learn to embrace the beauty and variety of their new brethren.

The Ancient One set to work on this plan with a passion. Instead of drawing inspiration only from peoples he had actually encountered in his journeys, he drew ideas from the myths and folklore in stories he heard growing up, as well as the legends and stories of the other worlds and cultures he had visited. He magically combined the forms of humans and other races with the features and aspects of animals to create the satyrs, centaurs, harpies, merfolk, minotaurs, and others. He incorporated the aspects of vegetation to create the nymphs, mycoids, kapres, and nature spirits. He even created amalgamations of the elements themselves with races such as fiery ifrits, djinns of the air, and watery naiads. Some were created much larger than the first races, such as giants, trolls, cyclopes, and ogres. Others were created much smaller, such as brownies, gnomes, and leprechauns. Some were composed almost entirely of magic so they hardly resembled the first races at all, such as the faeries, which The Ancient One was particularly fond of.

For each of these new races, The Ancient One created another pair of First-parents to multiply and watch over their respective posterities. Into this endeavor, The Ancient One poured out his magic, his creative fervor, and his adoration. As each new race was introduced into the world, he hoped that his children would begin to see themselves as he saw them. But it was not to be.

Instead of seeing the endless variety and coming together, the First-parents saw the new races and divided further apart. The elves saw the nymphs, satyrs, and merfolk and said “These are beautiful and graceful. They will be our kin and be like us, and we will ban against the others.” The dwarves saw the cyclopes, golems, and minotaurs and said “These are sturdy and steadfast. They will be our kin and be like us, and we will ban against the others.” The orcs saw the trolls, ogres, and ifrits and said “These are strong and ferocious. They will be our kin and be like us, and we will ban against the others.” The goblins saw the harpies, mycoids, and djinns and said, “These are tenacious and persistent. They will be our kin and be like us, and we will ban against the others.” The humans saw the centaurs, gnomes, and fairies and said, “These are creative and inventive. They will be our kin and be like us, and we will ban against the others.”

And so the new races were divided against one another, and the divisions between races grew wider than ever. With a myriad of races and civilizations to watch over, it became difficult for the Celestial Guardians to maintain peace, and conflicts spread over the whole face of Reulla. The Ancient One looked over the world, hoping to find satisfaction with his creations, but instead saw only pride and pettiness and strife.

The Ancient One’s heart was heavy and his mind was weary. He had labored so long and so hard to shape Reulla and the life upon it to create a world that he could be proud to call home. He had poured out his magic, creativity, and love in abundance, and yet the behavior of his children yielded him nothing but shame and sadness.

With no more ideas of how to proceed, The Ancient One decided to leave Reulla and return to his journey among the stars again. He reasoned that perhaps if left to their own devices long enough, the different races of Reulla would learn to overcome their differences and petty conflicts. But as he prepared to leave for worlds beyond, he was visited by the Celestial Guardians with a warning, for they had seen with their golden eyes of truth the devastation that would occur if The Ancient One left Reulla.

Despite The Ancient One’s exhaustive efforts to cultivate magic on Reulla, the energies he had poured into his creations had failed to take root, magnify, and thrive as he had intended. All magic on the face of the world was still his own, and if he left, that magic would leave with him. The Celestial Guardians assured him that the magically dependant faeries would be the first to perish, and over time all of his later creations and races that relied upon magic to sustain their existence would eventually dwindle and cease to exist.

This news so unsettled The Ancient One that he personally went forth across all the face of Reulla to see for himself. Everywhere that he encountered magical races, creatures, vegetation, and all other manner of magical creations, he saw that every one of them was sustained by his own magic, just as his servants had said. Not even the smallest fireweed or moon mite could live for long if his magic was withdrawn from them.

The Ancient One asked the Celestial Guardians how this came to be, and they told him that it was because the magical energies he had given to his creations had only ever been consumed, rather than being nurtured, grown, and returned to the world by those who had received them. The chief example of this wasteful use of magic was the First-parents. They used magic to enhance themselves and equip their children for conflict, but they forbade their children from exploring, creating, or magnifying the portion of magic they had been given, lest one of their children should ever endeavor to become mightier than they. Upon penalty of death, all of the First-parents had outlawed the growing or changing of magic among their races. And magic will never endure in any environment where it is stagnant or contained.

The Celestial Guardians told The Ancient One that if he would see his magic take root upon Reulla, then he would first need to reclaim the magic and immortality that he had given the First-parents and utterly remove them and their oppressive rule from the face of the world. Though he saw the truth of their words, The Ancient One refused to believe that the only solution was to destroy his own children. He resolved that, as he had done with the Nishpari, he would find another solution that did not require him to kill his own beloved creations.

And now, my patient audience, we reach the portion of my tale that will sound both the most familiar to you, and yet perhaps the hardest to believe as well. For you see, the inspiration for The Ancient One’s plan finally came to him many years later when he observed a brilliant, ambitious, and impertinent young elf named Caster.