I. The Awakening of the Goddess
Long before the first human empires drew maps, and eons before Varyn's shadow dimmed the stars, Orbis was nothing but cosmic dust and silence. It was then that Gaia awoke. Not as a being of flesh and blood, but as the consciousness of the planet itself. The oldest scrolls found in sunken temples tell that her first breath was not of air, but of pure magic.
Gaia did not build the world with tools, but with a song. A melody of elemental resonance that ordered the chaos. She separated the waters from the skies, raised the mountains with a whisper of tectonic force, and ignited the world's core with the fire of her own spirit. It was a golden age where magic needed no wands or staves to be channeled; it flowed freely like the wind, permeating every rock, river, and cloud.
With the stage set, Gaia desired company. Not servants, but observers who could appreciate the beauty of creation. From the bark of ancient trees and the essence of life, the Kweebecs were born. They were not created for war, but to be the gardeners of history. Immortal in their cycle, a Kweebec never truly dies; upon aging, they take root and become the elder trees that watch over the next generations.
"And the Goddess looked upon her work, and saw that the balance was perfect. There was no light without shadow, but shadow was not evil, it was merely the rest of light."
II. The First Children: Kweebecs and Elementales
But they were not alone. Elemental energies, so dense in that era, gained consciousness of their own. Stone Golems walked the mountain ranges like living peaks, and wind spirits danced above the floating islands of Zone 4. There was no conflict between races, for resources were infinite and corruption was yet an unknown concept in this plane of reality.
It was in the Ancient Era that structures which baffle us today were forged. The temples of Gaia, whose ruins still glow with pale light in dungeon depths, were erected not with cranes, but with will. It is said that the Trorks of that time were not the mindless beasts we know today, but tribal artisans who honored physical strength as a divine gift. The dungeons we explore sword in hand today were, back then, libraries of elemental knowledge and sanctuaries of meditation.
The birth of life on Orbis.
III. The Architecture of the Impossible
However, perfection is a fragile state. The abundance of magic acted as a beacon across the cosmos. While Gaia slept, dreaming of an eternal future of peace, at the edges of reality, something began to scratch at the walls of the universe. The Ancient Era ended not with an explosion, but with a shiver that ran down the spine of every living being: the first sensation of being watched.