The Ancient World

Every legend on Andolus begins with the Origin, the enigmatic first people, who have long since disappeared. Millions of years ago, a length of time few can grasp, a race of strange and powerful people dominated the world. Very little is known about the forebears of ancient civilization as their only remnants are scattered ruins and miraculous underground vaults.

What we do know is that they had an understanding of science, technology, nature, and mysticism that far surpasses our own. The records found in unearthed vaults taught modern people everything we know of the fabric of reality, the invisible force that keeps existence intact. They called it ‘Resonance’, something that cannot be seen but can be controlled. Resonance creates the rules that all time and space abides by. It is a vibration, a wave of energy and sound, that is constantly correcting the course of time and matter.

The Origin mastered control of Resonance through science and technology. To us, in our limited understanding, manipulating reality is magic: fantastical, barely understood. However, they taught us that reality snaps back to its intended form, eventually. Mysticism might alter the world, but changes will eventually fade and the laws of existence, Resonance, will reassert itself. With Origin technology, changes are made as permanent as one desires.

Despite their incredible knowledge and power, the Origin ceased to exist, giving way to our progenitors some millennia later. Recognized Academic Authorities assert that the modern races existed during the time of the Origin, but were primitive. Once the Origin had vanished, modern people became the inheritors of the world and when civilization developed, the Modern Dominance Era began.

Science and Mysticism

What we know of the Origin lies not in their form, but in their knowledge. They possessed a mastery over science, technology, nature, and mysticism that eclipses our understanding. From their vaults, we have learned of Resonance—an invisible force woven into the fabric of reality. Resonance shapes time, matter, and existence itself, a continuous energy that reverberates through all things, maintaining cosmic order. The Origin understood and controlled this force, shaping reality with precision and intent.

To the Origin, manipulating Resonance was science; to us, it is mysticism. With our limited grasp, we wield their art as if it were magic—a force barely comprehended. We know only that Mysticism bends reality, a temporary transformation, until Resonance reasserts its course, correcting any deviation. For the Origin, this was natural law; for us, it is a glimpse into the unknown.

Legacy of Silence

Despite their mastery, the Origin disappeared, leaving their secrets buried in vaults beneath the world. When they vanished, primitive nomads—humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and others—were left to inherit Andolus. As their societies grew and evolved, the Modern Dominance Era began. Today, we live in the shadow of the Origin, heirs to a power we scarcely understand, knowing only that we stand where they once ruled.

For centuries, scholars have excavated and studied the Origin’s writing and technology, yet we remain in near darkness. All that endures from their era are fragments: technical documents, studies of mysterious forces, and cryptic warnings of entities and gods beyond mortal comprehension. Even their devices, though wondrous, are lifeless and inscrutable, crafted with an intent foreign to our own. What we find is an unrelenting commitment to science and control of reality, but no trace of who the Origin truly were.

Origin Vaults

Their vaults continue to lure the brave and the curious, yet few who enter return unscathed. Their machines, still active after eons, remain puzzles that take centuries to even begin to comprehend. The writings left behind, recorded in an archaic Conveyance known to only a handful of scholars, resist all but the most painstaking translation.

Each vault resembles a tomb filled with strange machines, incomprehensible designs, and the faint echoes of those who once mastered them.

Scholars argue that the Origin designed these vaults not for protection, but to guard knowledge from outsiders. Some speculate the vaults are more than simple storage; they may be sentient, reactive to those who enter. Those venturing too deeply into these caverns often report that reality itself begins to twist around them.