History of the Plains community
History Long Past
The original inhabitants of the plains were elemental beings of gigantic stature, well, to be accurate it was originally a singular being. The Urboral, a grand tree whose roots dug deep into the earth and created the plateau that forms the center of Thiusland as they reached out far and wide. The Urboral was the first plant to grow on Thiusland, of the entire world, and from its seeds grew every plant. However, the tree grew too large and its roots went too deep, unleashing fiery giants from the depths who burned it to ash, aided by the elemental wind that resented the Urboral’s far reach in the sky. The fire and air giants would have burned all the plant’s children too if not for the elemental earth and water holding them at bay, and after lengthy discussions, the elementals came to an accord, to create a group of beings that would inherit from all of them and yet would be fully sovereign to watch over the world as the elemental giants went to the deep end of the world in order not be bothered and not to bother any others.
In this way the giant race was born into Thiusland and found themselves in the large expanse of land that was well seeded for a new beginning. The giants being the first to roam this land felt themselves its masters, and while more creatures came out of hiding when the elementals left, the giants saw themselves as above these other (mostly smaller) creatures and treated them as lesser. It wasn’t until the Bison migrated to the plains from the west that the giants met something they could not lord over. The rivalry of the bison and the giants lasted long but wasn’t overly violent, more bristles than bite on both sides, and defined their relationship for the better part of a century.
It was not until a 5-year drought led the giants to the eastern mountains for a few decades before returning to more flourishing plains, that they gained the humility to see themselves as guests and caretakers of the land instead of lord and owners of it and that the rivalry between the giants and the bisons turned into a bond.
The Recent Past
While the giants worked in their new purpose on the plains for the good for the land there, they did not relinquish their competitive spirit. Giants would see their gardens, farms and herd’s abundance as ways to show their worth to their greater community and even boast of their skills. The boasting grew as their abundance did and giants would fight over the lushness of a garden or the thickness of wool of their sheep, to a point where unscrupulous individuals would bring ruin to competitors to stay on top. The years of peace in which the giants learned to care began to crack as they made caretaking a new form of pride and almost a way to war.
Elders feared this would bring the giants to repeat their history and called a truce. They agreed that to dispel the rampant quarrels and competition, giants who used to fight for the title of greatest gardener would gather together to make a shared and wonderful garden, that the herders would keep the greatest flock of sheep, and care for the largest herd of bison. They would hold their glory as a group, a family, dedicated to bettering the craft to which they were so dedicated to.
To dissuade any encroachment on other families, they agreed to lay border stones to mark their lands and to travel distances apart. Gathering places were put in place and a single common robur tree was planted there. These would become places where families would meet and share stories and songs, with songs becoming the new form of competition between the giants. It was all about who could sing the longest ballads or bring their voices together to create the most exquisite resonance, a harmless way to keep their competitive spirit alive and to grow a rich culture. With this, the plains finally knew peace with a hopeful direction to move into the future.
The God’s Plains
During one arbehn (a meeting of the families), some Shepherds went to meet Farmers at the local robur tree near the heart of the plains and were surprised to find a crying child much too small to be that of a giant’s laying under the tree. The child was completely bald and had burning amber eyes. Confused and concerned, the giants tried to calm the child and found it enjoyed their sheep’s milk, but would only stop crying while it was drinking it. They sent out messages to all the families for who the baby might belong to, inquiring if any humans had been travelling through their lands as of late. Members of all families soon gathered to see this mysterious child and found a need to care for it as it cried incessantly, awakening their competitive spirit to attempt to calm it, make it smile and laugh. Food seemed a great motivator but song seemed to bring the greatest smile to the baby, and so the giants sang for the lonely child as messengers went further to seek humans who might have lost their offspring.
No one claimed the child as theirs but the word had made it to the plains that Gods in the form of children had been found in the West and the North and the giants wondered if their small crying guest could ever be considered a god. Having nowhere else to go, the child was cared for by different families in rotation throughout the year. As they aged, they cried less though still had mood swings and their appetite became more voracious than ever and increasingly specific, a picky eater through and through. As people from other parts of Thiusland would come to see the God of the plans, the current keeper family would oblige to the meeting, but many visitors made remarks on how odd it was that this holy child had become so much part of a regular family instead of treated as the holy being they were.
A big change came when the god child reached maturity, having grown to be independant and wishing to meet others like themself. Happy to oblige, the giants prepared a caravan and traveled to the god of the south, who was from a young age treated as a ruler and holy icon, and who took to ruling naturally. The god of the south, naming themselves the Gilded God, received the giants and their god with gifts, gold, and a feast of the finest foods of the area. They took the God found in the plains under their care, sending the giants back home after thanking them for bringing the child to them. It wasn’t until 7 years later, after all the five gods convened that the time was right, that the God found in the plains could return. They were now named The Ravenous Flame and they marched back onto the green plains accompanied by a retinue of two hundred armed guards and more than a hundred sycophants and servants. The families of giants went to meet this procession, happy to greet their lost child back home but also uneasy about this display of force. They quickly realized that this child had grown, not just in body but also hardened in spirit. The God demanded that the giant families provide them with food and supplies, an offering to their God returned, and required that they be the foods they liked the best first and foremost. The giants were confused but willing to help and set off to the taks, unaware of how much the God would end up demanding.
When the time came for a first banquet held by the God of the Ravenous Flame to welcome their kin, the folks of the plain could not provide what was asked of them for the feast. Simply due to the farmers needing more than they could give that year without depleting their storage. They sent a messenger with the supplies they could gather to explain and to apologize. The messenger was sent back, with their face and body badly burned, and the giants then realized this was not a kindness they were providing but a request they could not refuse. After that moment two things changed for the giants, they created the Presevers family who would oversee the salting of meats and fermentation of fresh produce, which would serve as supplies when they overproduced and would be saved for the days that the Gods demands would exceed what the land could give. They started training in ancient plot magic, usually reserved to the esoteric and curious, to keep the land healthy and more productive as the God reaped it and armed themselves if the need ever came to defend themselves.
The battle against the god and the burning of the plains is chronicled in the second volume of our series, along with the timeline of events leading to the giants being forced to relocate to the caves underneath the plains following the war. The battle now over, the god is dead but the aftermath left by the God’s outburst lay a heavy weight of ash and pain on the central plains. It’s up to those in the community, the families, to come together and build back what was lost and define a new way forward after the age of Pious Rot.