When the world was first made is was a maelstrom of fire, molten rock and poisonous gasses, in this world nothing could live, it needed to be tamed.

Four beings were charged with taming the world and making it in to an image of their liking where life could flourish, those four were Garda of the fire, Oceku of water, Urwl of the earth and Huraka of the air.

Each of the four was a mighty being, capable of shaping the world by will alone, each with dominion over one of the elements and who’s task it was to shape it as they saw fit.

In the beginning the vision was unified and the four worked together to shape the world in to a place of beauty and wonder but in time each started to see things differently and thought that their own version of the vision was the right one, each tried to impose its thoughts and ideas on the others until the four bickered and fought constantly.

As with mortal wars the landscape was affected by the wars between the four, as they fought the world reshaped itself depending on who had the upper hand and any given time. Works of pure beauty were created and destroyed in the blinking of an eye and the world was once again a maelstrom of primeval forces. But each of the 4 was evenly matched against its fellows and none could beat the others.

The four created beings of themselves to aid them in their fight but in doing so weakened them selves accordingly, their power was still vast but each had a few who served them utterly.

However, despite the wars between these vast and incomprehensible beings, living things began to grow and evolve and the first of the sentient races emerged from the chaos. Many were snuffed out before their existence had really begun simply because they were caught in one of the never ending wars between the four but some survived by methods entirely their own but all suffered greatly because of the war of the 4.

The world existed like this for millennia, creation and destruction reigned and the world was as chaos.

But amidst it all some life still flourished and some grew old and wise, deciding that something needed to be done to end the chaos.

The mortal races plotted and planned but there was no way in which the four could be battled and defeated, the mortal races simply did not have the strength.

Then with a level of scheming and cunning never before seen in the world a plan was hatched and the preparations put in place. Alliances were forged between the sentient races and armies raised in preparation of the event.

One race did not take part in the preparations, history is unclear as to why they were excluded from the plans but the race was know to be reclusive and did not take part in the affairs of the other mortal races they were known as the Dark Ones.

When the day came the mortal races fed misinformation to the four regarding the plans of the other 3, information that enraged them. Each of the four went looking for the others and a mighty battle raged with each throwing everything they had at the others. Days went by and the battle raged but eventually the four were spent, having given their all in the battle to avenge the slight their believed the others had wrought against them. Only when the armies of the mortal races attacked did they understand the trap that had been laid for them and for the first time since the early days of the world the four stood as one to face the attackers.

Not alone did the four stand, as the mortal armies attacked the Dark Ones also rode out but they sided with the four to oppose the other mortals. This one act earned the Dark Ones the undying loyalty of the four and their followers.

Even with their powers exhausted the four were a terrible foe and with their mortal allies at their side even more so. Most of the mortals that took to the field of battle on either side that day never left it. But eventually the four were defeated and the Dark Ones driven from the field and in to exile.

With the four gone the world settled in to a calm where the lands no longer changed at the warring of the four.

What was not know to the general populace was the four were not destroyed as most of the mortal races believed. Their forms were destroyed but their essences remained and were taken from the field by the Dark Ones. The four were simply too powerful to be killed as easily as that.

The four were however vastly weakened in this state and their powers would take eons to restore to the levels they had been at their peak. Their essences were hidden by the Dark Ones so no-one could every locate them, at least that was the theory.

The destruction of the four released massive amounts of energy in to the world, the beings of the four gathered this energy and fled from the mortal races. To avoid pursuit they even fled our plane to fine a home for themselves where they could regroup. They infused their new homes with the energy they collected and more of their kind began to emerge and populate their new homes.

The animosity between the offspring of the four still remained however, and before long they came in to contact with each other in their new home and the battles raged once again.

The destruction of the four and the exile of their offspring forged links between their home and ours. The essences of the four still remained on our plane and their offspring on another one meant that the transfer of power between the two planes became possible.

Each of the different types of offspring ruled over their newer, less powerful brethren, guided them in their paths and prevented others from taking advantage of them.

Many millennia passed and the politics of the offspring’s new home became ever more complex but thy never forgot the treachery of the mortal races or the loyalty the Dark Ones had earned and so they controlled the flow of the powers between the planes so only those they allowed could use it.

What was unknown to all parties at the time is there was yet another race involved in all this. One, which served the purposes of none except themselves. Without the intervention of this race, the mortal races could never have prevailed over the four in that mighty battle, yet not even the mortal races they had helped knew of this or that they had received their help.

The power of the four was so great it drew others like a beacon. However, these others wanted the power for themselves. They knew the four could not be destroyed but their essences could be captured and their power used for their own nefarious purposes. The involvement of one of the mortal races on the side of the four had not been foreseen by this race and they lost their opportunity to claim the essences once the battle was over. But they patiently waited until their chance came again.

Over the thousands of years, this race waited. Eventually they found the essences on a remote island of the world. The island had been seeded by the offspring of the four with races who would guard the essences from intruders, these defenders had no idea of what was being asked of them and were unprepared for the attack when it came. Fortunately the Dark Ones had used some of the power granted to them by the offspring to protect the essences from any who would try to use them.

When the race tried to take the essences they were thrown back out to the vile depths from which it had emerged, once again they had been denied their prize.

The island on which the essences had been placed was destroyed in the process, in a period reminiscent of the days the four walked the earth the power released lashed the island and changed it forever. The race seeded there were taken in to the homes of the offspring for shelter. While under the shelter of the offspring they changed them and made them so they could better resist should another attack came. When the island stabilised they were returned but their old home was no more and they themselves had changed.

The essences had been discovered and had to be moved. The mortal allies of the four devised a clever plan to conceal the very nature of the essences so they no-longer drew unwanted attention. They concealed the essences within a living tree if great power. The power of the tree masked that of the essences and was bolstered by their presence. More guardians were set to look after the tree, guardians who had the aid of those the Offspring had created before and the home of the tree was quickly fortified and protected to resist attack.

Out in the depths of existence, the race that had been denied the essences twice waited still. This race changed radically, becoming something new, something even more menacing but it never forgot, and when a careless Khemrir experiment allowed them once more to access the world they took the chance. The could no longer sense the essences but the knew they were here and it was only a matter of time until they found them.

The world suffered under a type of warfare never seen before, this race of outsiders were the opposite of everything the world stood for, its very presence meant corruption. Such a race as this could never be allowed to seize the essences. With power that great in their hands they could never be stopped and would lay waste to everything in their path. Whatever this race had been before, they were now T’cra.

And stopped they were. The red-green lord himself put his life on the line to see it happen. One life does not seem much until you realise that he had seen the four battle one another with his own eyes. He had seen the mortal races rise against them. He had seen the Khemrir and the Kraan grow from those races that defied the four and seen these outsiders try to take the essences before. Twice he had seen them defied, and he made certain that they would be denied a third time.

And denied they were, it cost the red-green lord nearly everything he had, his armies, his power and nearly his life but he would have sacrificed that too if it meant the T’cra would be denied. Once the battle was done and the T’cra defied once again, the red green lord left used the last of his power to leave the field of battle. He and his people were exhausted. He had known that this would be the last act his race would be able to take in the evolution of the world for they lived long and reproduced rarely their numbers would likely never be again what they were before the battle.

Before he departed he left his wife to look over the world, to watch for the T’cra’s return and to see the newer races did not repeat the mistakes of old.

The Spirit Elves or Grand Elves as they were also known were left to protect the tree. For a while they were a part of the world, trading with other cultures and the like but after a few people attempted to use the power of the tree for their own purposes they decided to hide themselves away so the tree would remain safe.