Note: This chapter is a pretty hefty lore dump. Next chapter will have quite a bit as well, but should also get back to the main bits.
A few of the lessons I was forced to take were redundant as I often knew more than the tutors who were teaching, such as math and basic science about the world. However there were far more lessons that I gained something from, such as history, geography, and surprisingly religion.
I thought it was strange that they would separate religion and history as from my point of view they were essentially the same thing here. Unlike on Earth, they had definitive proof that Gods, or at least the powerful beings they worshipped, existed. The general consensus of the priests and scholars was that this world was created by five Gods, referred to as Cardinal Gods, though any records of them are too old or damaged to be properly referenced so much of the information on them has been lost. What preserves is that after the Cardinal Gods created the world, they filled it with creatures and then populated it with the races.
The first race were Dragons, powerful existences just below the Cardinal Gods in strength. Typically arrogant, they believe themselves the most superior race, though due to their low reproduction rates they are a rare sighting. There are eight clans of dragons, each color representing an affinity, with white representing non-attribute. Black dragons are thought not to belong to a clan being harbingers of death wherever they go.
The next race to be born was the Spiritas. Beings made of mostly magical power, they are the spirits of the world. They are solitary beings and are rarely seen among any of the other races. The object they are born from decides their sub-type, while typically a Spiritas is born from a natural object, such as a tree or stone, occasionally processed items give birth to a Spiritas. Any item that has a Spiritas attached is a sought after commodity, as they can lend their strength to their wielder.
After them came the Elves, a race that lived extremely long and seemed to retain their youth until they died. They are the least populous race as they don't feel the pressure to leave children behind like the other races. They are naturally gifted with magic and tend to dislike methods of controlling or shaping nature to one's whims. Most Elves have an innate dislike of Humans and Dwarves for this reason. Dark Elves exist as well, though they are thought to belong to the demonic races as whenever a Dark Elf is spotted in another races territory, death and destruction follow.
Soon after the Elves came the Dwarves. They were crafters and usually chose to live among stones or near mines. Contrary to the fantasy novels back on Earth, Dwarves were not a short and stout race, if for some reason a Dwarf was to shave its beard they supposedly looked not that different from Elves. Though unlike Elves, they did not usually appear slender and graceful, rather they had physically developed bodies that were perfect for mining, and their fingers were surprisingly dexterous when they worked to create something. Beards were a cultural symbol for them and often times even the women had long beards.
The next race to be were Therians, a race of beast-people. They are viewed as a somewhat primitive and chaotic race as a whole, who favor combat and violence. Unlike the other races who are clearly defined, Therians come in a variety of shapes, sizes and types. When they breed there is no guarantee what beast-kin will be born, a dog-kin and snake-kin might give birth to one of those, but it is just as plausible to bear a bird-kin. Even amongst the same kin-type there are large differences, some are more bestial while some look like a human with a few bestial details.
The last race to come about were Humans, though I felt the teachers were rather biased as they described their own race, exaggerating the good traits and glossing over the bad. I didn't completely disagree with their statements as I was a former human. The biggest strength humans had going for them was there adaptivity. The other races were stubborn and traditionists, taking quite a while to adopt or try new things, while most humans would switch over to anything that could improve them or their processes.
The races lived in relative harmony for a long period of time. While there were fights and even wars, there had never been widespread destruction against the others. It was until the Invasion that this world faced its first calamity, The Seven Demon Princes. The records from this time are sparse, but this was the era when the Status was created, it was however not enough. While the Cardinal Gods were individually more powerful than the Demon Princes, they were at a disadvantage when they fought as a group. It wasn't until one of the invading demonic races defected and offered a solution that the Invasion was overcome.
The defectors were known as the Forsaken, all that is known about them is that they are a type of undead, and that they claimed the northern most land as their own. Their solution for defeating the Demon Princes was to raise new Gods from each race by sacrificing the existence of the Cardinal Gods. Surprisingly they agreed and gave birth to what are now known as the Seven Mortal Gods and the Seven Divine Trees.
Iustitia, the Dragon, Goddess of Justice and Balance.
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Amare, the Therian, Goddess of Love and Fertility.
Partum, the Dwarf, God of Labor and Crafts.
Caritas, the Spiritas, God of Trade and Charity.
Docere, the Elf, Goddess of Magic and Knowledge
Altum, the Forsaken, God of Ambition and Change.
Tenebris, the Human, God of Darkness and Madness.
I thought it strange that the Human God became one who seemed to resonate more with what could be considered evil, but apparently he had simply gotten the short stick and happened to get the darker parts of the Cardinal God's Divinities. Either way, the Seven Mortal Gods managed to slay the Demon Princes, using their remains to create the Divine Trees, massive trees that protected from other invasions.
Iustitia got the central continent of Kunat, which is the continent I was on the southern part of. Amare got the eastern continent of Melarc. Partum got the northern continent of Ligor. Caritas got the western continent of Jolis. Docere got the southern continent of Furkana. Altum got the land and the north pole, Loim. And Tenebris got the south pole, where the Invasion started, Daemia, as even now the remains of the demonic races vie for supremacy there.
Most of the races chose to live as close to their Mortal God, with exceptions. The humans lived wherever there fancy took them as their God was in the most dangerous land, Dragons refused to bow their heads to even one of their own so they did the same, and of course there was always indivulists or explorers in each race which meant while most continents had a majority race, it wasn't that difficult to find other races there as well. The sole exception was Loim, the Lands of Ice and Mist.
The Forsaken kept their word and helped fight off the demons, but once that was done they hid away in the north and eventually brought about the second calamity.