TRIBES OF THE OLD WORLD EMPIRE OF TORIN

Although divisions among the citizens have nearly disappeared, three tribes are traditionally recognized among the Torinian people: the Torinians, the Aryalans, and the Rongians. Each tribe traces its origins to the capital cities of the three main regions of their former world. The Torinians descend from the original people of old Torin, a kingdom that became an empire under the aggressive reign of the young and ambitious King Hyberius Torin. Physically, Torinians are distinguished by lighter skin tones, contrasting with the Aryalans, whose skin ranges from light brown to dark brown. Rongians typically possess a tanner complexion than Torinians, and their eyes are often more angular in shape than those of the other two tribes.

In the old world, the region known as the Triangle of Blood lay between the cities of Torin, Aryala, and Rong. It was here that war raged for nearly a decade before Torin emerged victorious. King Hyberius crowned himself Emperor Hyberius and reduced the conquered royal families to servants. Over the next forty years, Torin became the center of the world: people and resources flowed steadily into it, while the other cities withered like unwatered flowers. The Emperor raised his son, Cretes Torin, to follow in his footsteps, training him to be especially harsh toward the empire’s defeated foes.

Within the empire, Aryalans and Rongians were unquestionably subordinate to Torinians in social standing. Only Torinians were permitted to own land or hold positions of authority. To reinforce a sense of Torinian superiority, Emperor Hyberius erected statues of himself in conquered cities while ordering the removal of images depicting their heroes and gods. He hoarded their treasures within his palace as monuments to his own greatness.

In what the Aryalans would later describe as Hyberius’s ultimate act of blasphemy, the Emperor ordered the sacred giant crystal plundered from the Aryalan temple to be shattered and fashioned into adornments for his attire. He was warned—by the Aryalans and even by his own spiritual advisors—that such sacrilege would invite dire consequences. Though the crystal’s true nature was unknown to his advisors, they understood that power can exist most profoundly in the belief surrounding an object. Hyberius dismissed their fears and wore the crystal ornaments during the celebration of his son Cretes’s twentieth birthday.

Whether the calamity that followed was truly the result of the Emperor’s actions remains uncertain. What is known is that on that night, the city of Torin was torn from its home world and hurled into the maw of Felarya. For Hyberius—a man crippled by arachnophobia—the horror seemed cruelly tailored: giant human-spider hybrids known as Dridders descended upon the city, devouring its inhabitants alive. Torinian accounts of that day claim the people scarcely had time to grasp that they had been transported to another world before the monsters fell upon them with insatiable hunger. Perhaps in a final act of atonement, Emperor Hyberius remained behind to help citizens escape the slaughter, while his son Cretes led the survivors on a desperate march through the hostile alien wilderness in search of refuge.

The survivors ultimately settled atop Mount Litocoro, building upon the remnants of an ancient, lost civilization. There, under the leadership of the newly crowned King Cretes Torin, they founded a new Torin City. Though survival in Felarya demanded unity, remnants of old animosities lingered—particularly within Cretes himself, who was determined not to allow his father’s former enemies to gain dominance. While far less severe than in the old empire, Cretes enforced a social hierarchy designed to prevent Aryalans and Rongians from standing fully equal with Torinians. Only after the new Torin City was discovered and attacked by giant harpies were these tribal hierarchies finally dismantled, allowing the people to unite as one.

Generations later, King Cretes Torin came to be venerated as a benevolent ruler and fatherly figure among the Torinian people. This image was promoted largely through the efforts of the giant harpy Ourana, who later became the ruler of Torin, with the support of Cornelius Torin—one of Cretes’s remaining descendants and a serving member of the city senate. Yet apocryphal—or, as some claim, heretical—texts thought long destroyed tell of a far less noble man, one who oppressed those of tribes not his own. These writings were closely guarded by descendants of the Aryalan and Rongian peoples. Daphne Logos, a librarian of Rongian descent, has been repeatedly investigated in attempts to uncover such outlawed texts within her vast collection, particularly given her reputation for allowing no book—no matter how obscure—to remain beyond her reach.