PROMETHEUS vs. EVOLUTION

The current state of knowledge concerning the origins of Man on Orlantia lead most scholars to believe that Man must have been transplanted to the planet about 10,000 years ago. Much of this information comes from the Elves, a considerably longer-lived race, and from the archeological record. No indication of Man's presence can be found to reach beyond the 10-millennium marker. Contemporary religious belief within the empire holds that Prometheus seeded the planet with his creation, Man, placing them there among the Elves and Orcs, both races of which can be traced back archaeologically speaking in some way or another for a million years or better. Furthermore, the same 10-millennium marker holds true of certain other races. Particularly, Dwarves, giant kind, Hobbits, and a few other races all have the 10-millennium marker in common, suggesting a common origin, or at least a similar origin within the history of the planet.

As a strange aside, archeological sources involving ancient records from off the planet have claimed they have astronomical reasons to believe the Gimarian system itself came into existence as little as 25,000 years ago, but this doesn't correspond to the Orlantian archeological record which shows Elves and Orcs to have been there for over a million years.

THE ORIGINS OF THE ALDERAMI

(The Elven Races)

Much of what I have written about Elves is from the point of view of Man, for Man writes most of these histories for His benefit. As DM, and as a man, I will also freely include things that have been lost to antiquity and are no longer known by any race living on Orlantia - including the Elves. The gods may still know and care, but it is information that the gods just don't generally share with anyone and may only likely be discovered by an incredibly interested player. Thus, the speculation I give may be conclusions reached by contemporary scholars or they may be the DM giving the interested reader insight into what really happened - at least as far as I have bothered to write it, so far.

Of all the living races which currently populate Orlantia, only the Draconic races are generally considered more ancient than the Elves, but the dragons are not particularly helpful in writing histories for men. The Alderami, or Elven race, has an ancient tradition of a verbal history, handed down by word of mouth through song and poetry from one generation to the next for several millennia - if not considerably longer - before the written word was ever even considered. Though the Elven race currently employs the written word using their language, this is a relatively recent practice. In fact, there is some indication that the Alderami borrowed the concept of writing from Man, though not the actual language of Man. The most ancient writings ever discovered on Orlantia are Man's and date back roughly 4300 years ago, circa 3500 B.A.E. or -3500 A.E. Since Man's presence in the archeological record stretches back to -10,000 A.E., it is known that he must have been on Orlantia for nearly 6,500 years before he developed the written word.

The oldest example of Elven writing only dates back to about -2500 A.E. - and even that is of the more modern Elven language and not indicative of ancient Elven. Thus, at least in some small corner of the world, Man had the written word nearly one thousand years before the Elves adopted the practice of writing themselves. Still, this means it only took the life span of a single elf to recognize something of worth and make it even more beautiful, for the Elven language is generally considered more esthetically pleasing to those who know both Alderami as well as Trade or Common. The principle problem is that it is much harder to learn the language of the Alderami, so Common is more practical to know.

Elves, you must understand, tend to live more for the moment. They may live for thousands of years - this all assumes 1st edition age considerations rather than the curtailed ages given in 2nd or 3rd edition - but the Alderami are far more concerned with living for the moment than planning for the future - especially considering how impossible it is to adequately plan several centuries ahead. Good friends, good company, good food and wine, good stories, and good music all can be had without writing anything down, simply reaping nature's bounty and living in harmony with the land and its flora and fauna as is natural and proper for all to do. And, as it happily is the case, one's elders will be around for centuries so there is plenty of time for knowledge and traditions to be handed down.

Man, on the other hand, would frequently lose knowledge due to his relatively short life span and so must write it down before it dies with him. Otherwise, it may die out before the next generation can properly learn it. Thus, it isn't so surprising that Man developed the written word before the Elves since it was Man who had greater need of it.

A quick note on the transmutation of languages. Living languages change as generations go on, each new generation perverting it a bit from the previous generation. After only a few generations, new words, different uses of words, shortened words, abbreviations, and a slew of other perversions creep into the language such that a character displaced in time might think a modern person were speaking an entirely different language - and vice versa. This is certainly true of the Common language - a.k.a. Trade Talk, a.k.a. Thari - as it adopts bit and pieces from every culture to help promote trade. It is true of Human and Dwarven languages, and it is true of the Elven language. However, as elves live a great deal longer, generations take far longer to pass and the transmutation of the language of a race with considerable longevity is much slower than the language of shorter-lived races like humans.

IN THE BEGINNING

Reaching back into the misty corridors of time - further back than the written record will allow, even further back than Elven memory can recall - we find the dawn of the Elven race. But not there - not on Orlantia. And it is too dim for even the DM to see or care, but the knowledge this beautiful race evolved on some plane or some other planet is enough for even his needs. It was from here that the gods took what they needed, as they always do. The idyllic plane, this Eden of the Alderami, that isle of life and harmony to which all Elves who have properly lived their worldly existence may one-day return. But there, across the waters, amongst the forests which are not really forests, the seas which are not really seas, and the sky which is not really a sky in any conventional sense of the word, the spirits which Men call the Alderami thrive; yes, there, across the waters. A love of life, an admiration of existence in all its complexity, who can say what a heaven is like for those who dwell there? But from time to time, for knowledge of important lessons or perhaps a chance to improve their spirit itself, the Elf may be reborn or reincarnated into this world - into this Orlantia.

So let's reach back in time as only a DM may properly do and see why this came to be. 25,000 B.A.E. or 25,000 years ago or so, yes, that was when it happened, if the word "when" isn't too misleading. We are at the dawn of the Creation of Orlantia itself; not created for beauty, not created for love, but created for war. A weapon of war, a source of power confined to the PMP and free of the constraints which would forbid the incursion of that which is magic. I have alluded to it earlier. The formation of this small planet around a quantum singularity which was orbiting a small, white star could not have been an easy thing, but the gods could do it, and needed to do it, and did do it.

Space-time itself needed to be warped to bring the materials necessary for this little project. It would be some time before the process was complete, but the god of war, that which is still known today as Ares, could certainly use the power of Orlantia before the job was finished. Victory over the Titans would even require it, if not demand it be so. And with Ares in control of such power, what might convince him to give it up when the war was ended and victory was achieved by that which is still Zeus?

This, Zeus did ponder. A flaw, perhaps? An imperfection within a perfect weapon? And mightn't victory elude the gods if the weapon was not perfect to begin with?

Ah, Pallas Athena, personification of wisdom and deepest reflection of the mind of Zeus - sprang from his head, indeed. The Alderami is such a small thing in comparison to the forces that ran rampant during this war. Such things could and certainly probably would be overlooked in their minute obscurity. Athena did seed them there, on Orlantia, transplanting them from their ancient and idyllic home so they might grow. And they did that, but not in idyllic peace, for the orcs and other less savory races were brought there - part of the weapon's function - part of its inception. Outside of the normal time line, outside the realm of space-time and during the creation and initial use of the planet Orlantia, inside what would be considered an event horizon from all onlookers, a million years or more cut off Orlantia from the outside galaxy in a period known as "Outertime." The entire Gimarian solar system, within these temporal confines, powering the weapons of war while the insignificant, little spirits of the Alderami had what appeared to them to be a million or more years of evolution under a starless sky, save Gimarian itself. The dark time, the blackest nights, a million or more years to them were but a few moments to the gods well outside the contorted fabric of space-time, well outside the event horizon.

And so it went, and the Olympians did meet the Titans in battle, armed with knowledge and power unheard of to the ancient races, and the Olympians cast the Titans down from on high and buried them beneath the surface, the Underdark, their eternal tomb. Still, it took time, perhaps 5000 years or so as mortals may reckon time. And when it was done, when the fighting was over for now and the power of Orlantia could temporarily wane from its awful use, Orlantia did appear from whence it came. But the galaxy had continued to rotate those 5000 years, and the Gimarian system returned to space-time in a bit of a different location. Just moved a little in space, the Gimarian system "magically" appeared in its current, relative location, perhaps somewhat confusing viewers on distant planets in not so distant solar systems with the appearance of a new, middle aged white star where one had not been before.

But a million or more years of evolution had produced some rather surprising results on the planet, and the perfect weapon of war was no longer a purely destructive force. The Alderami had prevailed in their struggle against those known as Orcs and Goblins; they had won, the Alderami, actually turning some of the innately evil forces to the light. Even the most ancient race of dragons had evolved and now included forces of good and light as well as darkness and evil. And the little speck of light that was too small to interfere with Ares before, now was in sufficient numbers to loosen his mighty grip.

Ares looked upon Orlantia, to his mind a planet rightfully his, his weapon of war, his tool, and he beheld the handy work of Athena. He knew his grip was no longer strong enough. He knew he could not maintain it. He knew his plans to reign supreme in war and carnage could not come to fruition without Orlantia under his complete control. And he knew who had done this thing, only she who could have, only her, that one, that Athena.

"Until the end of time," he vowed, "I will never forgive you."

And though no one living - PC or mortal NPC - has the slightest clue as to how this planet came to be named Orlantia, I will tell you.

The perversions of the various languages throughout time are actually quite typical. Though such a phenomenon is more prevalent in the shorter-lived races, such as Man, and less prevalent in longer-lived races, such as Elves, all languages tend to evolve over time. Who would have believed that the "Land of War Against the Titans" could come to be pronounced Orlantia?

Most of those words can find their current form, however, somewhere in the word Orlantia. The simplest is of course, land or lan in Orlantia. A relaxation over the millennium, just emphasizing the d considerably less and less until it might disappear altogether.

And War is there. Like Woden becoming Oden, the father of the Norse gods - which were around, but were not part of this story - the W may altogether disappear as well. War or Wor becomes or or Or in Orlantia. So we already have War Land.

The ti is similarly a remnant of Titan in Orlantia. The long I sound became a short i sound somewhere along the way.

Finally, the a is a rather somewhat larger perversion of the word of or even a remnant of the word against.

And of course, the very order of your verbs and nouns and such change from one language to the next, so the jumble of these things eventually takes us from War Land Titans Of or War Land Titans Against, or a combination of these things, to Orlantia. Now aren't you glad you read this?

Of course I should confess the above paragraph is pure and utter BS. I named the planet something that simply sounded cool. That it would retroactively be written to have been an ancient battlefield or even a weapon of war came long after the name was decided upon and used for years of play. But we needn't tell anyone this little fact, need we?

Since Orlantia was no longer a pure weapon of war, and since the forces of good, light, and love - as well as the forces of evil, darkness, and hatred - ran rampant upon the planet, Orlantia is, in many respects, the ideal setting for a campaign. And should the gods ever need to wield that kind of power again, I'm sure they'll be able to manage it. I just don't know what effect that might have on the planet and its inhabitants. But I digress.

Suffice it to say the Elves, Orcs, Dragons, etc., have at least a million years of history before Man, Dwarves, and Giant Kind, as well as a plethora of other races, all of them only making the scene roughly -10,000 A.E. And what little is known of Elven prehistory is mostly concerned with the period between the end of "Outer Time" - the end of the Titanic war - and the assent of Man. Only 4,300 years ago does actual history - the written word - begin. Still, that's pretty impressively old if you're a human.