Exodus

Days of yore, left to ashes and memories forlorn - never to be spoken of again.

Exodus is part of the Yaraga's history, before times they called themselves "people of earthen blaze" and lived far away in the heat of North, in a land of dense rainforests and grumbling volcanoes. Where earth breathed fertile ashes, fires and smokes, and fangs of steep cliffs fading into hazy golden sky.

Exodus is divided into several periods, called ‘Ages’. Each Age in a part of history, that made race that left their cradle and set out on a journey without purpose, what they are now. Chasing hope when sky of gold turned silver blue for the first time.

Such are the Ages of Exodus.

Age of Ashen Dawn

This Age has it's name after snow that first touched the rainforests of the North.
In silence, with no wind heard, rare snowflakes fell from the misty skies....

On this day the part of history that shall one day be known as Exodus... began.
It was then, when cold began to crawl towards new borders - and northern life became more and more bleak.
Northern Yaraga began to move into the South, setting the beginning to the great pilgrimage of the race towards the warm South.
Ruling clans that counted on their craft of bone began gathering flesh and blood - and monsters made of it to help them, as living ones grew more and more weary of cold, so difficult to deal with.
Those creatures had no mind of their own and were more akin to golems - bones, flesh and obedience to their masters' voice. They gathered food, watched over homes of those alive, helped their survival.

Along this time, those who led sedentary lives were left to wither behind...

Age of Frozen Tears

Following guide and decision of Ramal the Fire-Eyed, first among the living, "people of earthen fire" set off on their journey - and left their homeland behind, forever.
Ramal was not of ‘strong blood’, which will be once known as ‘Hazim’, but he lacked neither strength, nor wits - and people followed him. Thus, first ruling Arrot lineage appeared.

Proud race became nomads.

At that time, those who did not wish to leave their homelands, stayed behind.
Monster-servants carried belongings of their masters, giants of flesh guided their way, bearing great banners and braziers to light treacherous path ahead.

Thus, memories of what remained far in the North began to fade....

Age of the Blackthorn

This Age roots into other Ages and its days stretch almost to the very end of the great pilgrimage.

Yaraga were quick to resolve disputes and misunderstandings through ‘aggressive diplomacy’, relying on actions much more than words. Many were not averse to violence, even if it was ‘honourable’ - but were looking for gains, for changes, for power to claim - for something they could not have before.
This terrible period of history is marked by a great number of blood-stained days, especially among camps and frontiers.
In these days, those who watched over themselves first and foremost, not others, were weeded out - and with that, new ideas, new foundations gave their first sprouts.

New thoughts about what ‘we’ are.

Neighbor's life suddenly became valuable, monsters were creeps to scare children no more, but instruments of power - Hazim shared bread with Arroth outside chieftain's lavish tents for the first time.
And secrets of the Bonesmiths were no longer secrets, for entire fate of those nomads rested on them.

Age of Tame Eyes

This Age marks times after the Age of the Blackthorn - when a race, hardly the same as before, found itself near the Heaven's Veil, a vast mountain ridge far to the South.
At that time, remaining Yaraga were rallied with neighbour's life value - and despair, replaced by acceptance of inevitable.
Snows chased them, and faith in a happy ending was no more.
During this Age, whole race was divided into aristocracy, who shared with others without much joy; Gudra, who step away from the others as they had always been slaves - and all the others, a mixed bunch of Arroths and Hazim, who relied on ‘craft of bones’.

Age of Bowed Head

Their path stretched along the Heavens' Veil, to a passage between mountains, later called ‘Mar Sheteran’ - and braved it.
Here Yaraga found verdant green lands of a vast continent, which shall bear name ‘Agan’ - ‘land’. Here Arzuli, native to these lands, welcomed nomads with kindness and warmth, to Yaraga's much surprise - and let them claim Northern part of the continent, where they themselves did not live.
Here those, who neither did wish to perish in the Age of the Blackthorn, but nor would accept a new master, chose shackles of slaves - and were finally cast away, later founding one of the Great Cities, Orveigg.
By then Gudra caught up with their erstwhile masters - and offered their help as well, even if their common history was that of slaves.

Proud race that called themselves "descendants of earthen fire", unbent, narcissistic, fierce...
...in what little was left of them, Yaraga stood on their knees in humble grace before those who offered help to the outcast strangers -  without asking for anything in return.

Such is the end of Exodus.

Days of current Age bear name of Crimson Dusk.

Once settled, Yaraga offered Arzuli, their saviors, their own help and everything they could ever give - and two races lived side by side ever since, along with the strange Ullatrashi and the full-fledged Gudra compatriots.

Many of the race's aristocrats travelled west, claiming unfriendly marshlands of the West, named Hazeme. "Pre-historic", former ‘aristocrat’ rulers, Hazims, got their name after these lands.
At the same time, remaining leaders of two nations secretly decided to get rid of all references and chronicles of the past, for not to repeat said past that had almost brought them doom before the Exodus.
Yaraga are still aggressive, fiery, craving authority and power, just less willing to sacrifice the whole world to blaze in their pursues - any bit of yore, any mention of a ruling family lineage can explode into a strife for supremacy by right, kinship, possession. No one wanted to risk the future, especially in a foreign land.
And thus, they carved out and reduced to ashes all mentions of past, now referring to themselves as ‘present’ and ‘former’.

Hazims, who ventured West, destroyed remaining monsters from the Exodus, and divided their secrets among remaining clans, which became known as Seven Families of the Crimson Rose (or Families of the Blood Vine).

They took their secrets with them and were not to come to the Eastern lands uninvited - lands now known as the Great Cities, who made a pact not meddle in the affairs of the Families.
Agreement of a peaceful co-existence happened on a split bridge - Yaraga gave Arzuli right to use any fertile land in the North, that Yaraga cultivate, at any moment. And as a proof of their intentions (and power), they cracked soil and rock underneath western swamps overnight, freeing masses and masses of water into tremendous cavern system underground. Caves and caverns, now known as Talvu, mother of all rivers - and West turned into a temperate steppe from a rotten swamp. 
Above the raging torrent, descendants of Ramal and fifth ruler of the East of the time, Ariya, touched each other's hands and concluded neutrality, standing on the wreckage of a bridge - and decided, that the Rose holds its mysteries, Great Cities - theirs. Monsters remain in the West, wonders of Echo studies are for the the East.

Great Cities arouse - and a royal family, Dynasty of the Sun, took root.
Yaraga, looking back to the Arzuli, honour the sun as an image of life and care.
Race calls itself, referring to the race after the Exodus, more and more.
Unfamiliar golden rays of the setting sun and the longing for lost roots, a piece of something never to be replaced and so dear, gave this Age its name.
As living ones contemplate the fading of their roots, Yaraga call themselves "us".

 
Age of Crimson Dusk is approaching it's end as a new one is on the horizon - one to be called Age of the Wretched Sun.