According to the documents, as well as the legends, Aosda was at its height about 16000 to 18000 years ago. The Aosdic scholars and wizards had at the time built a near perfect kingdom. Cities, spanning miles, built of gold and other rare metals floated in the sky. The Aosdics had also mastered most of the metaphysical arts, and used them everywhere. Power crystals, which absorbed energy, then transferred it to an alternate form, kept these massive cities of gold afloat. People lived somewhat peaceful lives, basking in the greatness of their cities and magical powers. Their scholars and magiks users worked very hard to discover and know all knowledge, and for thousands of years Aosda flourished.

What many scholars do not realize is that the Aosdics had a dark side. While the average citizen, and many of the scholars, were living quite happy lives in their floating paradises, the ‘lesser’ races, or the slave races were hard at work in forced labour, under the powers of mind control, to build new cities and expansions to cities on the surface of the earth. The crystals that powered the city were supplied by the souls of some of the people of these races, and many sacrifices were made to keep these crystals from losing their power. Mountain People, kobolds, and even other human ‘mundanelings’ were kept under mind control, and forced to work against their will. Apart from a few gladiator battles that were witnessed by all, the average Aosdic citizen never knew about the slavery, or where their wealth came from. Nobody really cared, either… as long as the gold and the wine flowed, why should they have?

Perhaps the least known about race are the mountain people, or the Tuatha de Tem, or "Earth Children". Those of them that exist nowadays are very rare and usually shy towards human beings. The major distinguishing feature about a mountain person is the tail she/he will have. It is a long monkey like tail used for balance, and as the legend goes, keeps the mountain person connected with the natural world. The colouring of the tail depends on the individual person, but it usually has colours from gold to dark brown. Often, a mountain person’s tail will have spots on it.

Mountain people are said to be the founders of what are known today as monks. Using only their bodies and the natural energy around themselves known as ‘chi’ or ‘nochd’, mountain people are extremely adept and powerful at hand to hand fighting. They also tend to be more physically stronger then normal human beings are (it is possible for a trained fighter monk Mountain Person to wrap a two handed gladius sword around a common warrior’s neck), and seem to be far more in tune with their natural surroundings then most human beings are. Legend has it that each Mountain Person was bound to an animal on the planet, and that they were protected by this animal all their lives. Some mountain people could in fact actually shift forms into their animal guardian if the need was ever to arise.

However, despite all this, the mountain people have not thrived as one would think they would. This is for a few reasons. The first reason is the ancient mountain people (as we know them) were mostly whipped out due to the battles against darkness. Second, pregnancy for females of their race is far more difficult and longer then human beings. Mothers have a strong chance that they may die while giving birth to children. It is not known why this happens, but it prevents the number of mountain people from ever growing too big.

Mountain people, despite being shy, tend to be peaceful. There are quite a few mountain people living around the areas of Undine and Suomi. Some of the braver mountain people have lived in and around human civilization, though most like to keep their tails hidden from prying eyes. Few (like myself) actually show their tails to strangers.

It is also possible for a mountain person to become an aisling, because they are directly related to human beings.

(I am, in case you haven’t guessed already, a mountain girl Aisling myself, which is why I am writing this about us).

The Mountain people, surprisingly, have lived in peace with the Kobolds over the years. Although the Kobolds remain bitter towards all the things man kind have done over the years, they consider mountain people a woodland creature, and thus treat them like woodland creatures. The ‘enlightened humans’ as the Kobolds refer to the mountain people, consider them likewise, and as the millenniums have come and gone there have been virtually no incidents between them. Since they are both are peoples of the woods, the mountain people and Kobolds tend to have no hate towards one another, and have no need to fight. However, goblins (their sometimes allies, and sometimes enemies) have been known to try and attack mountain people, but usually without success.

They consider normal human beings, however, "The Corrupted" and despise humans. They believe, religiously, that human beings are mostly controlled by the Darkness (the exception to this is the Aisling, whom they believe is a bringer of light to the world). This has lead to many animosities between humans and Kobolds over the years, involving countless Kobold and humans dead due to conflict and raids of villages. Their religious sacrifices of children to their Gods is believed to be part of their retribution against corrupt human beings, though why innocent children would be sacrificed is beyond me.

(More information about information about goblins can be found in the Loures Library)

the Pattern Walkers, though. They were the elite soldiers of the Aosdics charged with defending the lives of the slave races from the forces of darkness, and rampant creatures. They seemed to also derive their powers from the spaces in between worlds, and were able to slip into and out of reality using hidden techniques. Despite not knowing whom they served, they were loyal and strong soldiers, and obeyed without question. The modern day pattern walkers still fight the dark creatures, but don’t have slave races to protect any more.

It is likely they were founded by the Aosdics, and were to defend the slave races from the forces of darkness. However, the average Pattern Walker was of a "lesser race" born on the surface of the earth. They were picked of the finest gladiators, fighters, and workers. Many Mountain People and human beings were selected as Pattern Walkers. Both male and female persons were eligible. The Walkers themselves didn’t know their purposes, but they fought on the purpose that they were defending the light against the dark, and fought valiantly.

However, during the final days of the conflict between light and dark, they were used as assassin squads against those of light. The Pattern walkers began to question their dark masters, and eventually turned against them. Legend had it that Neparos, the Maiden of Flame, was a Pattern Walker at one time in her life…

Where the Pattern Walkers disappeared to during the great purging of the earth is still a mystery today…

For thousands of years the Aosdics strived for perfection, and mastery of their world. The lust for power, glory and intellectual ascendancy is what brought down the once great race. The legend goes that through experimentation into the great beyond that the Aosdics opened a massive portal to Kadath itself, thus bringing down the civilization. But why would the Aosdics, the wisest race ever to walk our planet, decide to take such a risk and be overwhelmed by darkness?

That answer is not a reason, but a person: Reibecca Shi. Rei was a wizardess scholar who longed for eternal power and glory for Aosda. She brought about the widespread slavery of peoples, and knew of all the evils going on behind the scenes of the great civilization. However, what was not known is that she was tempted by the dark powers that be. Promising eternal life for herself and her civilization, the Dark whispered in her thoughts of an octogram, that when built, would ascend the Aosdics to a god like existence, the eternal power of dream-scape. This was to be done by building crystals of all human emotions. Then, lining them up in a perfect octogram, all emotions were to be cancelled out, chaos and order nullifying one another. When these conditions were met, the path to ultimate power would be realized.

Rei managed to convince the leaders of the civilization to begin research and construction into such an octogram, with promise of eternal life for themselves and their civilization they were easily tempted. For hundreds of years the scholars researched and constructed what would be the gate to eternal power. This was all done with Rei overseeing the research and construction. The power crystals of the human emotions were created, than slaves were mostly used to power them. It is said that the crystal of Sgrios and Ceannliadir hung over every forced gladiator battle that ever took place, slowly absorbing the energy that would be needed to power the crystals of war and death when the time came.

Finally, after centuries of hard work, the octcogram was near completion. Over eight days of calibration, the crystals one by one were put into place around the massive octogram. As each crystal was put into place, the octogram started to more and more faintly glow…

Finally, the last crystal, that of Death was moved into place, and the horrors of darkness were unleashed upon the world…

Only Rei knew that this would happen, and she engineered it to serve a dark master…

A tale, handed down in the Kobold culture, and somewhat in the human culture that was once only considered a myth, is an account of the end of the Aosdics and the first all out conflict between light and darkness. A Maiden mountain girl, with the spark of light, ignited the fires that purged Temuair of all darkness nearly 18,000 years ago. Had no one had fought the way she had, all life would be under the cloud of eternal darkness and nightmares. Now, translated and retold through the help of the Kobold Shaman, is the story of Neparos, the Maiden of Flame, who fought in the name of Dannan…

Reibecca Shi searched out for Neparos’ daughter first, and eventually found her. She went, and attacked the village that Napie was being looked after. Despite the people in that village being skilled fighters, she quickly swept them aside. Finding the child crying in a crib, Reibecca began to cast a spell with would return the child to it’s very point of conception. A master monk, fearing for the child, focuses and ignited an energy blast that struck Reibecca in the back as she was mid way through casting the spell. Instead of killing the child, Reibecca sent her through the voids of time… (and as legends go, to appear much, much later in history…) Reibecca Shi, annoyed by this annihilated the man who struck her.

Those who survived the horrors and destruction brought about for greed of eternal power were for ever changed by what happened. The Mountain People, affected by that plague, were then no different then human beings. Some mountain people, despite these odds, managed to survive over the eons, but in secret. The Kobolds, bitter of human kind’s toying with powers beyond their comprehension, were soon enemies of mankind in general. They still worship the ancient Earth Sea gods, and traditionally believed that the gods must be pleased through the sacrifice of human children to pay for mankind’s foolishness. The mundanes are but shells of what the Aosdics once were, and most of the powerful knowledge that was known has yet to be found. As for the pattern walkers, it is unknown what their fate is after that fateful day, though many have re appeared in more recent times.

It has been proven that time and time again history goes in cycles. First, that of building a civilization, then the advancement of, and finally the destruction of the civilization. This has happened for both the Aosdics and the Hy-brasyl civilizations that have come thousands of years before us. While we, the Aislings, may possibly create a utopian world someday, if we are foolish the dark forces of the world, together with temptation will destroy us all. If we are indeed the true Aosdics reborn, as many believe we are, then we must be cautious to avoid making the same mistakes in the past. The time of judgement and a great war between light and dark could happen within our life times.

As for myself, I have learned a great deal about whom I am and how those before me fought to defend against light, and humbly hope that many others will benefit from this knowledge.