Lost Isles- History of the Aoru of Lost Isles


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	Aoru History .

	Note: Aoru history dates back 150,000 years. The most ancient aoru history is incorporated into their religious lore. The oldest surviving written records date back to 5,000 years or so. However, the aoru are meticulous record keepers, and a segment of the priesthood is constantly copying over old manuscripts, so that the information may be preserved forever. In this way, the aoru claim to know their history from the most ancient of times. However, some doubt the absolute authenticity of these earliest records. It is impossible to say, the other races of the isles claim, whether these recopied histories have been changed slightly from one copy to the next. All of the ancient histories are written in an archaic form of Sen, which is even more obscure than modern-day Sen. Recorded aoru history begins with the coming of Iru, and the introduction of Lai. Last names are lost to antiquity, except those of the most recent histories. The Golden Age of Lai 150,000 PT: The aoru believe that they were created in their most perfect form, by Lai, as guardians of the three worlds, air, water and land. The Lai created the aoru, and Iru, one of the first aoru, taught them of the Lai and their place in the three worlds. There is no information about who Iru was: just that one day, Iru came to the earliest aoru, and showed them the way. Iru’s hands touched one male and one female and one child, and these became the balancing religious leaders, and were sent to oversee their worlds. The first priest: Esser, who ruled the first world, of Air. The first priestess: Aame, who ruled the second world, of Water. The first holy child: Iismo, who ruled the third world, of Earth. The positions then became known as First Priest, First Priestess, and the Holy Child. During this time of aoru history, all civilization was based around religion. There were more priests and priestesses than at any other time in aoru history. Only the First Priest, First Priestess, and Holy Child were required to be celibate, being as they were, the closest to Lai. Being celibate during their tenures as leaders, new religious masters had to be re-ordained whenever the former leader died or came of age. Ruling figures were chosen and ordained by the priest class of that particular world. Aoru lifespans were recorded to average around a thousand years. Maturity was considered to be reached at age three hundred. The First Priest and First Priestess had to be three hundred years or older to be ordained to their posts. The Holy Child could be any age when ordained, but had to give up his or her post when they reached three hundred years of age. It was forbidden that a Holy Child could go on to be a First Priest or Priestess, but he or she could continue to serve in the priest class, or make the decision to leave the priest class and marry and have children. It was not at all uncommon for the children or grandchildren of a Holy Child to become First Priest or Priestess further down the line, since those bloodlines were considered “touched by Lai.” It gave a family much political and religious power to have a First Priest or Priestess or Holy Child in their lineage. In these earliest days, Esser went to the mountaintops of northern Komadas, to rule over the first world. He brought Lai to the peoples of the air, and a third of the first aoru population followed him, to establish the aoru stewardship over the first world. The temple-palace of the first world was an architectural wonder of towering spires and graceful arches, and catwalks and soaring walls made of sparkling, glass-like filament. It is said that the Lai that resided in Esser’s spirit brought clarity of thought and an absence of negative mental disruptions. Many scholars consider this the highest form of Lai, the purest and closest to the fourth world, which is yet to come. The First Priest kept the largest following of scholars, and established most of the rituals and traditions that have survived and been passed down through the millennia. The ancient home of the First Priest was known as the city of Vio. Aame went to the Great Lake Apiini (now called Sanchu), where she and her followers built elaborate structures in and over the water. Lake Apiini was the seat of power for the second world, the world of water, and from here all the waters, both fresh and saline, were governed. A third of the first aoru population went with Aame, and established the aoru stewardship over the second world. Her temple-palace was said to be built entirely of coral and shells brought to her by her second world citizens. Aame could breathe equally well in both air and water, and spent as much time in her underwater rooms as she did the upper rooms. Hers was a world of mutability, emotion, and dreams. It is said that the Lai that resided in her spirit would give people great visions, and help them discover the deepest love within their own hearts. Aoru often traveled to the second world when they were spiritually bereft, or grieving, and let the transformative powers of the First Priestess cleanse them and help them be reborn. The Holy Child Iismo settled in the most ancient of all Aoru cities, Jalmeri, which scholars believe was located in the fertile forested lands east of the mountains in northern Komadas. The city of Jalmeri was famous for its gardens, and it is said that the gardens of the temple where the Holy Child resided contained plants and flowers of every type known on Oheia. There were no plants that could not grow in Jalmerian soil, and in those days, there were no toxic or poisonous plant substances to be found anywhere. The Lai contained within the spirit of the Holy Child brought fertility and growth and health. The chronicles of the time report that the Holy Child lived in a mammoth temple-palace, made of gold, natural stone, and wood. Each level was open to the air and covered in soil and made into a garden. The gardens were filled with all of the creatures of the third world, with which the Holy Child and his playmates would run and frolic. During this time, the aoru flourished, and the worlds were balanced in harmony. In the course of a thousand-year lifetime, a typical aoru female would bear a child every two hundred years until she reached age eight hundred, when she would no longer conceive. The aoru race spread across the island (and across the world according to Aoru lore). And so it was for fifty lifetimes….
	The Corruption of Lai Note: No modern day scholars can quite agree on what first started the corruptions. Records seem to indicate that there were signs and portents in many places, which should have forewarned the aoru of the turbulent times ahead. However, because the aoru had grown and expanded across the world (Komadas), and communication was slow, none appear to have made the connection. Thus the corruption grew and spread unchecked. Various records have been salvaged from this transitional period, and when viewed from a modern day context, it is quite obvious that something was amiss. The story of Vinar is the most complete history still extant. 100,000 PT: The First Priest of Vio, Vinar, broke with tradition and took a wife, who he decreed was First Priestess over the first world of Air. He also taught his priest caste that the priesthood of Air was superior to those of the second and third worlds. Prior to this, there had only ever been one First Priestess, who was always situated in the religious seat of Lake Apiini. Any of the air priesthood who eschewed Vinar’s new Way were cast out of the mountain city of Vio, and so did the word of Vinar’s unorthodoxy spread. Vinar claimed that the Lai took him in the nights, and bathed him in religious ecstasy. He claimed that the earliest teachings of Iru had been tainted by the misdirected intentions of the original First Priestess Aame, who in her thirst for power did not wish to have the First Priest rule over her. Thus, Vinar said, Aame claimed a regency of her own within the second world. Vinar alleged that Iru had all along intended for the First Priest to rule all the realms, with his holiest of holy families: his wife as the First Priestess, and his children as the holy children, and inheriting his title at his passing. This philosophy was embraced by the segment of aoru who lived in Vio, as resentment had been building by the perception that much of the actual power of the aoru was centered in Jalmeri, with the Holy Child. The world of air felt that they had been tucked away, out of sight, out of mind. Over the next three hundred years, Vinar was in open rebellion to the ancient teachings of Iru. He assembled a small army to safeguard his borders, where there had never been borders before, and claimed all of the mountains of Komadas as his domain. This effectively trapped the First Priestess in her Lake temple, as she was surrounded on all sides by mountains. She cried out in protest, but was dismissed by the mountain peoples, since Vinar no longer acknowledged her as First Priestess. Instead, Vinar “gifted” the second world to his wife, Enjia. No one quite knows what Vinar would have done then. At the age of 860, Vinar became the first aoru ever recorded to have been murdered. He was murdered by the hand of his own wife, who then claimed to be First Priestess of both Air and Water, and set her two sons as generals of her army. Meanwhile, in the great Lake Apiini, a blight was noticed on the scales of the rainbow fish which inhabited the lake in enormous shoals. Not much was made of this, since the First Priestess was able to heal the fish with a touch. However, no such infirmary had ever been recorded before. Also, many miles away in Jalmeri, the Holy Child refused to sleep, crying of nightmares whenever she tried to rest. Healers came from all over the third realm to bring the Holy Child restful sleep, but nothing could stop the nightly terrors. In the city of Vio, self proclaimed First Priestess Enjia issued orders for the execution of the First Priestess of Lake Apiini, saying that she was a heretic to the new order of Lai. She sent her eldest son, Heineris, and his small militia, to Lake Apiini to gain control of the seat of religious power. She then set her younger son, Uulo, in a newly created position of power in Vio, where she could keep him close at hand and manipulate him to her will. She declared Uulo the first King of the Realms, and named herself the First Priestess of the Realms. Heineris arrived in Lake Apiini and found the aged Priestess ill-prepared to fight off his well-trained armsmen. He slew her and tossed her body into the lake, and sent the head back to his mother in Vio. When Heineris learnt that his Mother had raised his younger brother to the position of King while he was off at war, he flew into a rage. He ordered his armsmen to kill as many of the people of Apiini as possible, before they themselves were overcome. Heineris escaped the mobs that ran through the streets and canals of Apiini. Heineris returned to Vio and confronted his mother Enjia, whom he eventually killed out of anger and betrayal. With his mother removed, it was easy enough to execute his brother and take the newly created throne. Heineris provided a monumental shift in Aoru politics, in that he forever separated politics and religion, setting himself as King of the Realms, and choosing a priest of his own liking to lead the people in spiritual matters. Though the first corruption of the aoru spirit happened in Vio, it was the second world which first began to plunge into chaos. Up until this time, even the first world of air had been left relatively untouched by the changing politics of the aoru stewards. However, when Heineris tossed the defiled body of the First Priestess of Water into the Lake, the water dwellers were outraged. The most intelligent civilizations that lived in the water sent out messengers, which traveled down the western river towards the ocean. Word spread quickly throughout the second world. Their aoru guardians had fallen, and the Lai was corrupted. The second realm began to pull away from their contact with the rest of the world.
	90,000 PT: Over the course of the previous 10,000 years, the descendents of Heineris had ruled the mountaintops and Lake Apiini, but their grip on the first and second worlds was weakening. The water realm had entirely pulled away from all aoru contact. Komadas was battered by great waves, and tidal changes sent many of the marine animals to different waters further away. In the Lake itself, water dwellers took over the ruins of the once great temple-palace, and the creatures tore what remained of the city to rubble. The aoru that had survived massacre ordered by Heineris all fled over time. They either made it over the mountains into the still relatively stable forestlands, or stayed on the mountaintops and blended into Vio society. Vio was not a totally evil kingdom. After the reign of Heineris, the kingship was hereditary, and descendent rulers were good and bad in turns, according to their nature. However, their domain was in constant stress. There was unrest among the denizens of the first world, and the water realm was in open revolt. To make matters more complicated, the controlling priests and Holy Child in Jalmeri were putting great pressure on the kings of Vio in an effort to bring them back into the traditional Lai fold. Vio was having none of it, making claims that the Holy Child was no fit ruler for the aoru people, spiritual or otherwise, and pointed to its own kingdom and religious council as models of how progressive aoru should structure their society. 88,000 PT: Thus begins the war for the second world. The creatures of the seas, lakes and rivers slaughtered any which came near, whether aoru, bird, or land creature. No person or realm was safe. The second world showed their contempt for all life not of their own realm, and many waters became poisonous to the land and air creatures. During this time, the waters formed great whirlpools, massive tidal waves slammed into the coastlines, waterfalls pulverized the rocks and lands beneath them, rivers dove underground and compromised the integrity of land formerly used for farming and forests, and smaller streams and pools dried up. During this entire period, no aoru dared go near the water, lest the creatures within grab them and kill them. The only safe water was the rain that fell from the sky, and even that was questionable as unrest built in the first world. During the reign of Aukii, the fifteenth ruling descendent of Heineris, tension between the city of Vio and the first world escalated. Aukii ordered the denizens of the first world to mobilize into an awesome army unseen anywhere before in the three realms, to wage war with the water creatures of the second world. To achieve his ends, Aukii engaged in despicable acts of brutality and violence. People of the water were slaughtered and the rivers ran red with blood. Even his own aoru were afraid, and many despaired that the Lai had abandoned them forever due to the evils of their rulers. 85,000 PT: The army of Air descended upon the second world. Whipped on by Aukii, the air realm released its fury upon the lakes and oceans, and mass slaughter was everywhere. Aukii is said to have died of bitter, hated old age in his 780th year, and his daughter and successor, Empi, attempted to continue the war after him. Empi did not have Aukii’s force of will. Moreover, she came to the throne relatively inexperienced. She soon lost control of the frenzied air assault. Freed from their aoru bonds, the army of the first world visited mayhem on Vio and Jalmeri. Storms, the like of which had never been seen, raged across the land and ocean. Tornados, lightning, air walls, and flooding destroyed the land, as the two armies of the first and second world ravaged the island of Komadas and beyond. Up until this point, the third world had been outside the drama. The Holy Child still held sway in Jalmeri, and the aoru in the forests and land continued to nurture their charges. However, the creatures of the third world became easy targets of the unrestrained aggressions of the air and water creatures, and suffered greatly. Still, the Holy Child and the priest class begged their people to remember the Lai, and practice compassion and non-violence. Emissaries were sent to Vio in an effort to create an environment for diplomacy, but the situation had become too far degraded. When the emissaries got to Vio in 82,500 PT, they found a broken city, and no one left alive. Much of the populace had fled the wars and gone down into the forests to be harbored by the people of Jalmeri. 80,000 PT: After an elite guard of winged nagas killed the Holy Child in Jalmeri, the aoru became caught up in events completely out of their control. All three worlds descended into chaos. The third world blew apart, the beasts and creatures rampantly attacking and defending; at last freed of the Holy Child’s influence, and able to lash out at the armies that had plagued them for ten thousand years. Earthquakes shook Oheia, and mountains rearranged themselves. Magma pools underground erupted to swamp over former lakes and rivers, and volcanoes rose out of the ocean and bedrock alike. The realm wars lasted for many thousands of years, and many creatures died out altogether. For their part, the aoru did their best to survive, scattering across Komadas to find safety in any sheltered corner or crevice they could.
	The Dark Age of Lai 80,000-65,000 PT: Wars rage. During this time, the surviving aoru huddled together in small bands, riding out the earthquakes, tidal waves, firestorms, and tornados. In the midline of Komadas, a massive mountain was rising miles high into the sky, a giant volcano unlike any ever seen before. The aoru dubbed it Omatsu, meaning “Forsaken.” Omatsu reshaped the landscape with constant eruptions and lava flows. The aoru lived modestly, eking out their existence in caves and crude shelters in the wilds, and resurrecting the old Lai values and teachings of Iru. The aoru spent much of their time recording these teachings and what they knew of their history and the path to their own destruction, so that it would never have to be repeated. Caves across Komadas still bear evidence of this period. Records from this time indicate that the aoru suffered disease for the first time in their history, and their lifespan rarely reached past six hundred years.
	The Rebuilding 60,000 PT: Slowly, the world stabilized. There were still storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods, but these became less common with each passing millennium. The remaining aoru emerged from their caves and sheltered havens. They witnessed a world changed. They had regained the Lai, but lost their stewardship over the three realms. Each realm now ruled itself. Having nowhere else to go, the aoru made their way back towards their old homelands. Where the once beautiful and lush gardens of Jalmeri grew, now there was an abomination of twisted trees and carnivorous creepers. The aoru barely made it out of the dark forest with their lives, confused and afraid of what their former world had become. Over the next several thousand years, the aoru made their slow way over the mountains, finding them as inhospitable as the eastern forests. They passed over Apiini Lake and the devastation there, and at long last settled into the hardwood forests of the northwestern side of Komadas. The aoru believed that their downfall stemmed from the blend of religion and politics, and thus founded their new society with a strict separation between the two. A king was chosen to lead and organize the people, King Ailo, and a High Priest was chosen to guide religious life down the path of Lai, the High Priest Ilmar. The aoru began to rebuild a city, which they named Panja, using the rich resources of hardwood found throughout the western forests. 55,000 PT: The new city of Panja was abandoned. Predators and beasts from the surrounding forests attacked not only aoru traveling to and from the city, but ventured often into the city itself. The aoru encountered wave after wave of overpowering ground creatures, and it seemed that Panja was always either just recovering from an assault, or currently in crisis mode due to harassment by land-dwelling monsters. At a loss for where to go for safety, the aoru built up, into the trees. 53,000 PT: The tree city of Piiya was founded. 53,000-45,000 PT: The aoru were steadily rebuilding, creating a thriving city in Piiya. The arts and tradeworks were brought back into daily aoru life. An aoru guard was developed and trained, to protect the people from the dangers roaming the forest floor below. The monarchy remained hereditary, and the aoru found themselves under the rule of a string of steady, secure leaders. Though the aoru lifespan continued to shorten, most not seeing beyond their 500th year, the aoru found pleasure in the simple, good life they had regained. Scholars, priests and healers focused their energies on attempting to halt the illnesses that continued to plague the communities, and finding a remedy for their shortened aoru lifespan. 43,000 PT: Among the basically peaceful aoru, a new movement started to sweep through the more restless citizens of Piiya. The leader of the movement was Ekkori, and Ekkori believed that the aoru were dying and ineffectual, degenerating through their own apathy and passivity. Ekkori believed that power begat power, and that unless the aoru rose up and reclaimed their rightful rule over the realms, the aoru would die. After Ekkori’s death, the movement continued to fester in the hearts of the aoru, and gathered followers.
	The Splintering 40,000 PT: A terrible disease swept through Piiya, which was believed to have originated from infected birds who left their droppings across the public areas of the tree city. Fear became widespread that the first world was not done decimating the aoru, but eventually this theory was ruled out as the birds themselves died of the plague. One in fifteen aoru died from the disease, hurting an already struggling population. Many more were disfigured for life, scarred by the open sores that had opened up on their bodies from the illness. This was the last straw for the Ekkorites, who by this time were lead by a vociferous, charismatic, and passionate leader named Tiilgian. Tiilgian proclaimed that the time had come, and that if any aoru wished to return to the old ways, they must follow her out of Piiya. This precipitated a great emigration of fully thirty percent of the population, who dared the dangers of the land to journey towards the south… south to Mt. Omatsu. Tiilgian believed that Omatsu was the well of all power on Komadas, and that if the aoru were to reclaim their power, it would start with the fires of Omatsu. The exodus headed south, and the renegade aoru renamed themselves the Poru. 30,150 PT: A rare three moon eclipse occurred, bringing with it severe tidal stress on the oceans and the molten rock below Oheia’s surface. Mt. Omatsu underwent a period of violent upheaval, exploding and erupting continuously over the course of the next decade. Smaller volcanic geysers sprang up all over, and fissures were opened in Oheia’s crust, allowing rivers of magma to pour out across Komadas. A molten chasm ripped open the forestland of northwestern Komadas, and set fire to the trees. The aoru had time to escape with their families, and salvaged many of their possessions and records, taking refuge in the foothills. The fires raged until most of the forests in that region were destroyed. For the next thousand years, the aoru made do in their cavern homes, as they helped reforest the land. The aoru preferred a special white myrtle tree in which to build their cities, and took special care to cultivate these trees all over the northwest side of the island.
	The Golden Age of Aoru (or The Second Golden Age) 27,500 PT: The city of Goi founded. As construction began on the new city, the aoru families moved back into the forest trees. Goi was built close to the mountain cavern retreat of the aoru. The aoru were still very skittish, and wary of being caught without protection. They nurtured the forests closest to their caverns, and moved into them first. Goi is, in modern times, the most ancient tree city still standing. Goi contains the oldest surviving records of ancient times, as well as being close to the caves that once sheltered the aoru, where history, lineages, and art were recorded on the cave walls. Though this was a time for rejoicing and renewal, the aoru race continued to decline. Their lifespan rarely reached beyond 390 years. Though most females continued to give birth to two or three children in their lifetimes, sustaining their population became a new concern among the aoru. Roughly one in ten females was infertile, and no cause could be found for their childlessness. 25,000 PT: Aoru send exploration teams over the mountains into the Dark Forest on the northeastern side of the island. The first team sent across never returned. A second team was sent out about a hundred years later, and it never returned. The aoru were certain that a threat was building on the eastern side of Komadas, and were determined to learn its source. Over the next three hundred years, five more exploration and scouting parties were sent east, and some few aoru managed to return, bringing with them reports of horrors and terrors that made little sense. All of the aoru who returned from the east had been transformed into shaking, nervous people, and their mane was changed to a snow-white color. Many of the returned aoru eventually left Goi, and went to live the remainder of their days in the old caves nearby, saying there was “no safety in trees.” These aoru were called “snow tops” by their fellows, and never really understood. Expeditions into the east would not begin again for many thousands of years. 23,800 PT: Scouts located a particularly large and healthy forest of white myrtle to the south of Goi and the western river. In 23,500 PT, construction began on a new, more spacious city, more thoughtfully planned out than Goi. This city was named Piiya, after the old aoru city that burned to the ground nearly 7,000 years before. Over the course of the next thousand years, the aoru made Piiya the jewel of Komadas. They constructed aqueducts to bring in water, and great towers in the trees and catwalks and vertical buildings stood out like white gems in the green forest backdrop. Many gardens were planted in the treetops, most of which are still hanging from their arboreal platforms in modern times. Over the last 7,000 years, many arboreal towns were founded throughout the northwestern forests. However, only Goi and Piiya emerged as major cities for the aoru. 22,000 PT: Aoru developed their free-roaming animal herding style, which allowed them to maintain large groups of deer and boar in their forests, without fences or huge tracts of grazing lands. Though the aoru healers and researchers were unable at this time to find causation for the declining lifespans of their people, their studies and knowledge came in useful in keeping their food sources plentiful and multiplying. Gardens flourished, and the wild game was always adequate to feed the city aoru. During this time, a hybrid vegetable, called jabor, was developed. It grew well in shallow soil, and was thus able to be grown in garden boxes anywhere within the tree city. 22,000-14,500 PT: Aoru culture thrived, but the population continued to decrease a little with each generation. By 15,000 PT, roughly sixty percent of all the smaller towns scattered throughout the northwest had been abandoned, the aoru migrating to larger cities like Goi or Piiya for protection and companionship. The average aoru lifespan was 275 years, and one of every eight aoru females was barren. During this time, many priests taught that the aoru failed in their duty to the Lai, in letting the three worlds become out of balance, and that they were no longer needed in the third world to keep order. Aoru began to feel that the coming of the fourth world, and their own ultimate demise, was drawing near. 14,500 PT: A glowing red fireball was seen in the sky over a period of three months before crashing into Oheia. The aoru noted atmospheric and tidal changes around this period, but did not know where the fireball landed. They took it as a sign that there were terrible and difficult times ahead, and set about reinforcing their armies, and training many of their youth in the ways of hiding and ambushing land creatures from their perches high above in the canopy. These preparations helped the aoru protect themselves from trollish raiding parties, which could have resulted in many deaths, if the aoru had not been so well prepared. The aoru drove off the raiders from their forests, and though less intelligent creatures still wandered into the aoru woods, most of the intelligent denizens of Komadas steered clear. 14,000-8,000 PT: By this time ninety percent of all outlying aoru towns and villages had been abandoned due to the decrease in population. The few smaller towns that survived served as way stations for travelers going back and forth between Goi and Piiya. Despite the fact that the aoru were slowly dying off, or maybe because of it, the arts and crafts of the aoru reached heights never before seen. Music became an important part of daily aoru life, and it was said that there was no sound on earth for which an Aoru could not create an instrument to reproduce. Leatherworking was also mastered, and the aoru were able to create all manners of textures, qualities and thicknesses, and dressed themselves almost entirely in leather. Using green, black and brown dyes, the aoru created clothing that allowed them to blend in almost perfectly with the forest backdrop, making them expert trackers and hunters.
	Age of Contact 8,250 PT: During a scouting trip to the northern tip of the island, aoru scouts witnessed the landing of a sea vessel on the northeastern side of the island. Curious, the scouts hid in the safety of the oaks and pines ringing the Dark Forest, and observed the large people within the ship disembarking and exploring. Later the aoru were to learn that these strangers were the tarushi, giants from the island of Adu. It was noted that many of the giants did not return home on their ship, their bodies and bones left to feed the crawling, carrion eaters of the Dark Forest, where no intelligent aoru would ever dare to tread. The scouts carried their observations back to Goi and Piiya, and the visit was recorded in the Aoru history books. There was much speculation about what other peoples may live in the world, where they may have come from, and whether they would be able to help halt the slow decline of the aoru race. 7,500 PT: By this time, the average aoru lifespan was two hundred. One in seven female aoru were unable to bear children. For the first time in its history, the ancient city of Goi was not filled to capacity, and there was plenty of room for the families that the aoru began to fear would never come. 1,000-500 PT: Giants made landfall on the northwest side of Komadas, the land of the Aoru. Contact was made, and relationships were developed over the next five hundred years. The town of Bimi was founded in a sheltered bay in the northwest of Komadas. Bimi was built to provide a port for the aoru and tarushi trade relationship. Regular trade ensued. Goi’s population was now only at seventy-five percent, and almost all the villages were abandoned in the north. Piiya continued to thrive, but saw no growth. Life expectancy was 150 years, and one in six aoru females could not bear children. 400-300 PT: First contact with humans was made. Humans explored north along the Hebi river, where they encountered aoru scouts. The aoru and humans each quickly understood the non-aggressive intentions of the other, and eventually, the first humans were brought to Piiya. The aoru gave a lot of aid to the humans during this time, as the humans were newly washed onto the shores of Komadas, and had very little knowledge of the island, or access to resources. The aoru gave humans tools to help them build, and seeds and cuttings to plant for food. Many speculate that if it were not for the aoru, the humans would have died out within two generations. A small band of aoru went south with the humans, to assist them in building their new home. The aoru were perplexed by the human desire to build their structures of stone on the ground, and urged the humans to build up in the trees. However, the humans preferred their earth-bound dwellings, and failed to see the benefits of building in the trees. 400-100 PT: Constant trade between the two cultures enriched them both. Despite experiments in crossbreeding, the aoru lifespan topped out at one hundred years. Certain that Lai had sent the humans to Komadas to strengthen their race, the aoru remained open and friendly with the humans, and assisted them in rebuilding their city of Saotan after a series of earthquakes brought ruin to Old Saotan. 100 PT: During a terrible time in the human history, naktul raiders came to Tsume Bay, intent on bringing Komadas under sway of the naktul empire. The humans were excellent warriors and defenders, but would have succumbed to the bloodthirsty naktul if it were not for the timely aid of the aoru. Piiya sent a small army of its finest warriors down the Hebi in fast moving boats, and arrived just in the nick of time. The naktul were repelled and Saotan was again safe. Some of the aoru stayed behind and relocated in Saotan, to assist the humans in their way of life. However, many of the warriors returned to Piiya with a small group of human females. The friendly relationship between the two races was sealed.
	The Twilight 100 PT-952 CC: The aoru continue to decline, their lifespans equaling their human neighbors (between seventy-five and ninety years). The aoru people fall back on their belief in the Lai, certain now that their end times are nearing, and that all is preordained and there will be no turning back. The best each aoru can hope for is to live a glorious life in full service to the Lai, to follow the teachings of Iru, and to defend their treetop cities for as long as possible against marauders or invasion. Piiya continues as a bustling center of culture up in the north, and the humans enjoy the rich leathers that sail down the Hebi. The aoru musicians are the finest on the island, and it is not uncommon for bands of aoru to travel between Goi, Piiya, Saotan, and the smaller human towns, entertaining and performing as they go. Some of the more adventurous aoru have even taken to the sea, sailing out from ports like Saotan or Bimi to explore other islands and other cultures. Though it is publicly accepted that the aoru will eventually die off as a race, and that it is the will of Lai, there are still those who nurture the hope inside their hearts, that they may find the elixir of life for their race. These aoru journey far and wide, to strange lands, experience new healing techniques, and sample many new substances in their efforts to find the secret to aoru longevity and to bring their people back into a state of glory.