Age of the Ancients

See also: Timeline

It was a time of powerful magic, unbelievable miracles, and within the Shadow Realms the Sha’rek’ta. These beings, now only called The Ancients created a realm full of life during their existence within this realm. These powerful beings were born from the small bits of creation that were trapped within the Shadow Realms. They traveled throughout the Shadow Realms mastering the power they had been given, but unlike those before them (see gods or Titans), they tempered it with both humility and wisdom. They looked upon the Outer Realms (see Divine Realms and Infernal Realms) saw those beings for what they truly are - vowing never to repeat their mistakes.

It was during these great explorations of their realm that they uncovered the secret of the prisons holding the Celestial and Empyrean Dragons. The power contained within the dragons was immense, easily dwarfing their own. Near the prisons, the Sha’rek’ta built enormous cities filled with wondrous devices fashioned from bits of the Eldar and the Shadow Realms itself to draw forth the power of the Celestial Dragons. The Sha’rek’ta used the power of the dragons and their own spark of creation to create life within the Shadow Realms - much in the same way that the Titans created the gods.

From these great cities came most of the life that can be found anywhere within the Shadow Realms. Fae, Great Dragons and many others, both sentient and mere beasts. Each of their creations was given a purpose and a place in this realm so that none would be temped by the un-life of The Chaos.

The power of creation is far too powerful for any beside The Creator to truly use without without consequence. Like all others who arrogantly used the power of creation to bring forth life they brought about their own downfall. With the power of the imprisoned Dragons creating life became so easy that the Sha’rek’ta saw little purpose in any individual life or even any creation. They grew bored exploring the realms and instead sent those they created to explore, while others were left to the amusement of those inside the cities.

Like a puppet master they created large stages where their creations would dance and fight for their enjoyment. Millions upon millions of lives were created, toyed with, and then ultimately destroyed when they no longer fulfilled the purpose of entertaining the Sha’rek’ta. Unbeknownst to the Sha’rek’ta by releasing the power of the Dragons they destroyed the barrier that divided the three realms, which allowed the un-life to corrupt the Shadow Realms.

By the time many of the Sha’rek’ta realized what was happening much of their society was already warring with each other. The blood of their creations was no longer enough as Sha’rek’ta killed each other in order to gain more power for themselves. Those not corrupted by the un-life began a process of destroying each of the Great Cities and the terrible machines that drew upon the Dragon's power. It was a terrible war, but in the end most of the un-life within the Shadow Realms was destroyed and the barrier between the three realms rebuilt, but the Sha’rek’ta were no more.

The Sha’rek’ta who lived in the Great City built upon Miranda were unlike many others of their kind. This is due to the fact that the machine within the city not only drew upon Mir, but also upon her daughter Miranda who was trapped within this world. To draw upon the power of Miranda they built many large Black Gates that would pull power from the Empyrean Dragon and send it to the Great City where the machine that pulled power from Mir resided.

With this power the Sha’rek’ta, who are now only known to the people of Miranda as The Ancients, created life upon this world. They created the beasts of the air, earth and water before creating sentient life. They created the Shoag, Kithkin, Human, Gnome, Centaur and many others long destroyed. Each of their creations was given a pure purpose as caretaker over this world. The Shoag watched where the land met the sea, Kithkin were the hunters, Gnomes cared for the earth, Centaurs upon the great plains, Thunderbirds the air, and Nereids the sea. The exception was the humans, who were created with the power of the Shadow Realms within them - they tended the machines and assisted the Sha’rek’ta.

When the Sha’rek’ta war reached Miranda it found a society already in decay. Each of their creations fought and died in large numbers for their amusement. Still the Sha’rek’ta of Miranda were not willing to share their power with their brethren. As one they rose into the heavens taking many of their creations with them and fought in the heavens above Miranda. In the all of the Sha’rek’ta were destroyed, along with the Great Cities they built, but the Black Gates remained.

The magi were the most skilled humans that assisted the Sha’rek’ta and worked closely with them. They were not given the secret to drawing upon the power of the Dragons, but they were shown how to draw power from the Shadow Realms. When the Sha’rek’ta war came to Miranda many of the Magi went into the heavens to war alongside their creators, the rest of the Magi gathered up all of the knowledge and put them in safe holdings scattered across the world. When the war ended the surviving Magi continued the work of the Sha’rek’ta to the best of their ability. They cared for the other races and used their power to reshape the world to suit their needs.

For the people of Miranda the story is mostly unbelievable legend for there has been no true definitive work that tells of the last days of these ancients. Most scholarly work points to a number of ruins that suggest there was a Great War between a people unlike any that currently live upon these lands; however, others argue that is the result of years of grave robbing and desecration of what little still exists.

Linus Torinu, and scholar from the Irillian Empire, did the best work during the 20th year of Caesar Augustus (Irillian calendar). He refers to the ancients by the more proper title Sha’rek’ta, which means “First People” in the old words of power. He writes that the Sha’rek’ta were threatened by a great cataclysm that blanketed the heavens and shook the earth. For a thousand years they used their power to sustain their life, but it was all for naught. As the power slowly depleted, the people that could defy nature itself succumbed to eternal slumber.

In later works Linus states that several of the Sha’rek’ta could have escaped their fate by fleeing into the outer realms, thereby becoming the gods and devils. However, this is considered by many religious people to border on blasphemy.