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Ankerans are the dominant species on the planet Ankeros. Over time, the Ankerans evolved into three sub-species, the Epions, Malens, and Pelosye. Each race separated for generations evolving different capabilities. These differences led to greater separation and several wars, slowly growing into a tenuous cooperative as they increased trade with one another. Much of their history before the First War has been lost to time, coming instead from myths, legends, and religious texts.
Ankerans were once a single race. A tribe located at the heart of the main continent on Ankeros, which they called Malenor. Every few generations, a child was born possessing strange powers. They could move objects with their minds and sometimes even change its’ shape. The elders of the tribe believed that the power came from the same energy which granted life to the universe. They called this energy the Vitae or “lifeblood.” The early Ankerans worshipped those blessed by the Vitae and became known as the Children of Vitae.
As the generations passed, the population of the Children of Vitae grew, as did their abilities. Where they were once worshiped and led mostly ceremonial lives, many grew tired of such existences and felt they deserved to become the leaders of the tribe. The elders objected but held no control over the powers of the Vitae. The tribe became enslaved to the Children overnight. But even the Vitae’s abilities were not strong enough to defend against a coordinated revolt by the slaves. The rebellion was stamped out hard as the leaders of it were publicly executed. The remaining Children of Vitae decided to cast out all Ankerans not blessed with power into exile.
The exiled Ankerans wandered as nomads from place to place in search of a new home. Eventually, one group decided to settle in the heart of the jungle to the northwest. There were vast amounts of resources for them to thrive on, but the jungle was filled with large and dangerous predators. The group took shelter in the Cliffs of Pelanost, burrowing into the rock. It took great acrobatic skill to enter and exit the cliffs, but no predators could reach them. Several more Ankerans traveled south to the plains. They took to the land and rapidly changed from a nomadic hunting/gathering culture to an agrarian one developing and growing a special mixed breed of vegetables known as epion potatoes, which proved resilient against both drought and flood.
The Children of Vitae closed their borders to all outsiders for millennia. They called themselves malens after their ancestral home. Their religion was born from the study of Vitae and its place in nature, and their society focused on honing their abilities. This included the practice of carefully arranged marriages to produce ever more powerful offspring. One of the pairings resulted in a child bearing a navy blue gemstone in the center of his forehead. The priests dubbed him the child of destiny, Solinus, sent by the Vitae to rule their people into a new age. The first malen monarchy was born under the leadership of King Solinus. The king had dozens of wives, and every child he fathered was born with a magestone as they came to be called. Those with magestones possessed more than three times the power of Vitae energy as those that did not. Since every malen in the modern age has a magestone, the implication is that every modern malen is a descendant of King Solinus.
The pelosye, named after the cliffs that brought them shelter for generations, stayed high in the trees to hunt. Their ability to soar through the forest with ease made them deadly to all prey they sought. From their backs, transparent flaps formed, increasing their airspeed and giving them the ability to glide and maneuver between the trees. These buds grew out into full wings over the millennia. The hunters took to the sky and soared over their domain with a warrior’s might.
The nomads who settled in the south enjoyed the warmer climate and discovered improved methods of agriculture. They no longer needed to hunt for food or wander from region to region. They invented many various tools to aid them and make their lives easier, including enhanced farming equipment, a primitive form of plumbing for running water and sewage removal, and defensive weapons. Scientists and inventors were the most valued and admired professions parents could want for their children. They took on the name of the starchy vegetable, which saved them, becoming epions.
Each of the three races remained isolated from one another, free to develop and expand their culture independently. So many generations passed that most believed the other cultures to have perished long ago. With the ability of flight, the pelosye rapidly expanded their hunting grounds seeking more exotic game at greater distances from their homes. When the first pelosye crossed over into epion territory, the sight of a flying Ankeran frightened a local farmer, who used his crossbow to shoot him down.
The farmer took the body to the main village for the scientists to study. They performed an autopsy, cutting into the Ankeran to examine the anatomy of his wings. When the pelosye hunter failed to return, a massive search took place. They scoured the jungles further south until they reached the epion village. After a brief exchange of dialogue, the epion scientists attempted to apologize for the incident and offered the remains to be taken home to his family. Seeing their kin’s body desecrated, the pelosye took it as a vile act of aggression from barbarians that must be responded to with force. They killed the scientists involved and declared war on the Epion Nation.
The epions were quick to respond. Using advanced weaponry such as crossbows, trebuchets, and composite metal shields, they launched a fierce campaign against the pelosye in response to the attack. The advanced weapons had a lot of early success, including the destruction of the pelosye’s main food hold. However, those early successes were quickly driven back by the sheer number of pelosye warriors, which promptly overwhelmed the epions, who lacked the hunting instincts of the pelosye. Their forces pushed the epions back to their homeland and razed their village to the ground. The epions surrendered, and the pelosye annexed their territory, banishing every last epion from the land.