Ryzom

Hi everyone, hope you can answer my questions. Spend the entire afternoon reading the lore on the website again

Before the great swarming, before Kami and Karavan... what was the stance of the homins? Did homins stand strong, was Atys well flourished with civilization?

Some say that Kami's introduced homins to magic but some suggest otherwise. Personally I believe homins were able to use magic even before Kami showed up. The plants, creatures of Atys and even the primitives (cutes, Faharar, Gibbai) use spells in one form or the other. So is that right?

I'm sure no one knows how life was on Atys way before the Great Swarming and surely there are homins much stronger than Karavans or Kamis e.g the NPC bosses. What I mean to ask is how flourished the homin civilizations were before everything happened? (Why are the old homins so quite about it?)

I want to study throughly how it was the strength, craft, the role of homins before The Great Swarming and before the Factions.

(( OOC: Basically all of the lore presented to you is coloured by its retelling either by Kami/Kara or the races. Its not a 100% accurate history and changes as the homins' understanding of their past changes (the lore on the main site has changed/evolved since release). ))

(OOC ofcourse) I've never read much about how the civilisations were before the Great Swarming, only that they were much larger and much more advanced than the ones we have today. But how much larger and how much more advanced remains vague.

It is said that the lands we live in now weren't discovered by homins until after the Swarming, so the old civilisations could not have covered the entire planet.

There is no 'before the Factions' though. While there are stories about the first meeting between homins and Kami, everything I've read suggests that the Karavan have been present amongst homins for as far back as homin history goes (probably because it was the Karavan that taught homins writing ).

Lots of Kamis and Karavan died to kitin, so I'm sure homins could kill a few of them too if they wanted to.

And they could kill a few homins if they wanted to. Kami Tolerance anyone?

(All ooc: )

Sprite is right that most of the lore found on the webpage is coloured, biased towards one point or another and everchanging over the course of our stay here. So I wouldn't accept it as undeniable truth. Prime examples are Jena as Kami-superior in the Kamist philosophy (even prior to the Fung-Tun dynasty) now being replaced with Ma-Duk; or the change of Elias Tryton's role during the Great Swarming, from warning the Homin people of the terror the Fyrosians unleashed and offering an escape route to being the cause of the Great Swarming.

But it is those contradictions and changes that add flavor (at least to some extent) and show how either Faction persue their agendas and try to fortify their holds on the belief systems or the way Homins seem to perceive their world through indoctrination. All it takes is a few generations before collective amnesia rears it's head.

Since most of our records of the past had to be left behind or got lost during the Great Swarming, the only thing left that links us to the past is the rare ambercubes or oral history. Stories get added to, changed over the years, corrected by higher instances and it doesn't take long before it only holds very little of what it original was.

Nonetheless there's still some vague memory of what the civilisations used to be like prior to the Great Swarming. Be it wars amongst nations, splendor and wealth of cities and cultures, technological capabilities, spirituality, ...
We can safely asume Hominkind got cast back into a dark age after the Great Swarming and Exodus, slowly trying to rebuild what we once held, but everything under the stern eye of the Factions; possibly reshaping things more to their will as seems so often to have happened in RL as well.

Undeniable indeed is the presence of the Karavan as far as collective memory goes, bringing civilisation and organisation to the Homin people. The Kami apeared only much later and certainly not to the extent they do now. According to older lore there have been other religions as well: The Great Spirit of the Fyros, the Mentor for the Matis (not to be mistaken with Ma-Duk, ...

You are right when you say you belive Homins were able to use 'magic' before the comming of the Kami. To understand where it comes from you would need to read up on the references made by the Karavan on the Draconic Ashes, an invisible substance that permates all live on Atys and changes it, contaminates according to the pure Karavan (which is the reason they wear enviromental suits). The magician trainer on Silan confirms that all Homins have an inate magical capability; no doubt an effect due to being contaminated with these Draconic Ashes. That also explains why the primitives have access to those inate abilities. So one could safely asume that the Kami didn't teach or gave us magical powers, but that they thought Hominkind how to channel and develop that power in the early days.

Unfortunatly no one can really tell you how exactly it was before the Great Swarming, little is given to us, just tidbits. Tryker sailing vessels and large trading ports, Matis that could bio-engineer pretty much everything, Karavia that would rival Pyr in size and height, huge floating cities of the Zoraï, the stern warrior tradition and huge standing army of the Fyros empire, ...

Well I am just gonna delete my draft post, Calel covered every single point I had in mine. I fully agree with her.

Here is a few bits I'd like to share with you, seeing you seek understanding.

The nations were separated in the ancient days. They each had reached a hight of civilisation that we still aren't even close to. For the Zoraï, their greatest accomplishment was the discovery of how to preserve their knowledge and wisdom in amber cubes. Unfortunately, the most important cubes were destroyed, and others were lost. Today only a few cubes are known, compared to that era. It should also be noted that some cubes are kept in custody by sages and not accessible to the general public. A few homins have been granted access to most of the available cubes.

The great swarming forced the nations to work together for their very survival, as their world was destroyed. Thus they signed treaties of peace and cooperation.

It is indeed said that it was the kami who first taught the Zoraï to wield magic.

As for the other nations, I'd better let representatives from each tell you about their accomplishments, and what they value the most.

*grins and boasts foolishly* My uncle Brightblade told me ALL about the old days. back then, we didnt have any fear of the kitin - hell we knew there couldnt be more than a handful of them.. and they were just bugs anyway right? and who needed the kami or the karavan?

Uncle Brightblade always taught us to make our own path.. its the way our ancestor Fyros did it! we were obviously the strongest of the races, and we didnt need to 'contemplate' life like the zorais and their cubes, or the matisians and their trees *here Nightblade shudders.. as he's always been paranoid of trees*, or even the adorable little folks that lived around the water, with their fancy new technology and gear.

but uh.. one day Uncle Brightblade says we were digging in the wrong area of the old lands (his great-grandaddy led that expedition he did) and ran into a few of those bugs. we squashed em, no problem, and kept on digging, but then there was more.. and a lot more!

¬.¬ oops.

we blasted our retreat back home, and my great-great grandaddy headed for the then majestic capital of the fyros (now known as our tiny version of Pyr.. which Uncle Brightblade says is small enough to have fit in one of the Old Emperor's waiting rooms) and warned the wise old men about what happend.

-soo, we went off in search of the blue people to ask them to leave their trees and ask the furry folk they talked to for advice, and we poked at the little lake-people to help us with their fancy gear to take care of the constantly growing threat. they went to ask the pale matisians for help, but then there was this thing with slavery and long noses and stuff and they werent much help until the kitin threaten _THEIR_ fancy homes *NB rolls his eyes*

well, anyway to quit babbling, the kitins soon ran over our homes, destroyed everything, our HUGE cities, killed our families, and ran us into a corner. it didnt matter who was who anymore, fyros shelterd matis, zorai carried tryker, and together we all escaped into the new portals that mysteriously appeard.

everyone went into hiding, there was nothing else we could do! the karavan arrived in their giant ships and the kami nurterd the environment to fight off the kitin threat(effects of this nurturing is still present in different ways.. Kami Tolerance is one of those) and they had the power to destroy the kitins.

for many long years - we hid in faraway lands, until one day the K powers OKd us coming back in. at this point, my Uncle Brightblade was still a young homin, barely of age, and made some of the first homin steps into the world. the sight was devastating. everything was destroyed. empires, cities, beautiful statues, landscapes, trees, everything - it was all gone. our technology and our cubes, which stored the information for such technology, was all destroyed. in our mad run to save our lives, we left it all behind. we arrived to a barren land and did all we could do, rebuild.

and so, thats where we are today. later i personally left hiding to follow in my Uncle's Footsteps, however i've had some trouble keeping a firm hold on him he arrives, then disappears, then he comes back again O.o well, anyway - thats the end of my Uncle's story, take it or leave it

**OOC NOTE:: all of the above was said IC and lots of it was just fun roleplaying, nothing should be taken as totally serious - as we all know how dependable oral histories are, and terms such as 'long noses' 'slavery' and 'pale matisians' and simliiar are all in good fun, if your taking them badly then you need to go take a break (and bring me back some cookies while your at it)

enjoy

(ooc: Rofl, Nightblade, you nut! )

OOC //

*grins and huggles Ky* I think we broke the thread >.>


cutekaori if you'd like i can PM you some lore i've gathered that i believe was not in the main page? *shrugs* it was sent to me and i've gone over some of it.. though it might not be what your asking here- you might enjoy the read

\\ OOC