The Creation of the Sixteen Races of the Dagati
Long ago the Sixteen Gods and Goddesses who were the offspring of Dagat, the Earthmother, and Shenjoro, the South Wind, roamed the earth alone. Like laws unto themselves they roamed the all the lands where the Earth met the Wind, staying in one place but shortly. Gradually these sons of the Earth began to learn their powers and mature. The first two gods to make contact were Glyrae and Lenlorac, who came together as man and woman, creating Dragons. Though this creation was powerful it was flawed. The beings were solitary, like their creators and they possessed the greed of one and the wrath of the other. Distraught by their folly the gods cursed their Creation to be cast out from the world of the Gods, to Fly with the Wind and to be encased in the Earth but not to walk regularly upon its surface. Anxious not to repeat their folly and yet yearning to know beings such as themselves the Sixteen Gods were called together to create a new being. The gods bickered and argued over which of their traits the beings would possess, but finally Lenlorac interjected. He suggested that a race be made which contained the traits of all the gods and could become like any of them if it so chose. Thus the Sorveni were created. These tall man possessed both intelligence and strength in equally great proportions and with their Gods to guide and teach them they held the world in their hands. They were people of honor and dignity, with enough ingenuity to solve any problem and with the patience to bring their solution to full fruition. As time passed Lenlorac's suggestion was borne out. Some of the tribes of the Sorvanni drifted into revering some of the gods above others, until every god had their own following amongst men. This was the Aeon of the Earthwalkers, as it is recorded amongst all the races of the world. In this time the Sorvanni fared far and wide throughout Ferenlaien, leaving no people they met unchanged, always for the better.
But Kerial committed his folly. He started by taking a mortal woman named Sajaina as his lover, such was not uncommon amongst the gods and the mortals were usually happy enough to oblige. However he fell in love with her and began to grow obsessed with her impending (to his eyes) demise. One day in her sleep he charmed her into a deep sleep in which she aged at a greatly reduced rate. Kerial centered his entire existence around her sleeping form, living and working around her. Several centuries passed and one morning while gazing upon her Kerial noticed that she had several small wrinkles and her roots had started to whiten. He was smote with the enormity of his mistake. He had lost countless years with the person who meant the most to him. Even if he kept her in this stupor she would still die in only a few more centuries. He contemplated how to keep his beloved alive. But no matter how he tried he knew that she would still be vulnerable to injury and disease, eventually she would leave him and he wound be consigned to an eternity of loneliness. So he hatched a daring scheme, he would call down Jakhath, the Khagan of the Junavari and master of the cycle of Death and Birth. He would enslave Jakhath and force him to make his love immortal. His mind set firm he place an impenetrable dome around his home and set to preparing the ritual.
As the other gods became aware of the ritual taking place they gathered outside the dome and tried with all their might to breach it, but the spell, which was fueled by Kerial's love, was too powerful. The ritual continued on unabated as the remaining gods watched helplessly. They knew, as Kerial should have, that the power over Life and Death was not meant to be held by any hands but those appointed by powers even higher than themselves. They knew that the punishment for meddling in such powers was nothing less than the death of the transgressor and all of his descendents.
As the ritual was completed Jakhrath appeared in the dome, but he was not bound, he was not here to do Kerial's bidding but rather to carry out his sentence. As he pronounced judgment on the enraged god all over the world more and more of the Junavari appeared. They too were there to carry out a sentence. As Jakhrath finished they began to seek out and touch the Sorvanni, since the mere touch of the Junavari is death. All of the Sorvanni were descended from Kerial and thus all the offspring of his hubris must die. The Sorvanni fled into the wilds or barricaded themselves in, desperately seeking to escape their slow, relentless hunters.
As the population of Sorvanni dwindled the 16 gods, including Kerial met in council for only the third time in all history. The gods argued and raged at Kerial for many days as their worshippers died around them. Finally in a rage Karymos, Lord of Intrigue, threatened Kerial and forced him to withdraw his gift, that of luck and intuition, from the remaining Sorvanni. Thus Kerial's ancestry was taken from all the Sorvanni and the Junavari finally ended their hunt, except for Jakhrath, who still pursued Kerial himself.
However without this the Sorvanni became strange and twisted. They were incredibly unlucky in all their efforts and though they had great intelligence they were indecisive and weak-willed. Thus with this first break in the Pact of All Gods so too came the next and the next, each god, dissatisfied with the results of their creation, re-made their worshippers to their own image. Thus were the Sixteen Races born.
However Kerial was not willing to let this happen. With his pride he believed he could preserve the Sorvanni as they were, he believed he could correct his folly. He salied forth to faith Jakhrath in an epic duel which he eventually lost, falling dead to the ground. But lo and behold, only 3 days later, when the mist had cleared and the Junavari departed a great tree grew up in the center of the greatest city of Kerial's worshippers. These worshippers had of course not been changed because no god had taken an interest in them. Within a year the tree started giving fruit. It took another year before a particularly brave Sorvanni plucked a fruit from the tree and ate it. With a single bite from the tree Kerial's gift was given back to him and to all Sorvanni who ate from it. The Sorvanni had been reborn.