Quill History

 

Amongst the heavens themselves, an avian species of wyngrew roamed the clouds thousands of years ago. They were simply known to the ground-dwelling Wyngrew of old as “Air Wyngrew”, a distant and mysterious race to those living on the ground.

 

While standard Wyngrew had skin and no wings to speak of, the Air Wyngrew were very bird-like. Sporting hard beaks on their upper jaws, with bodies adorned in feathers. Their arms were almost completely indistinguishable, completely taken over by wings.

 

These wyngrew lived largely removed from those on the ground, living and thriving on an archipelago of floating islands that drifted above. It was there the Air Wyngrew lived, many forming their own tribes.

 

While their customs widely differed, most of the tribes were in agreement on one thing: their ability of Flight made them special. And as the chosen children of Klypirah, the goddess of the winds and giver of their floating paradise, they had certain responsibilities and duties to their goddess.

 

However … exactly what those responsibilities were differed from tribe to tribe, and often led to conflict.

 

The most free-spirited tribe: the Hi’sung, believed that  Klypirah wished for her children to use their wings in exploration and discovery, often visiting the world below. They were quite interested in standard Wyngrew and loved to do trades with them, fascinated by the ground-dwellers different lifestyle and ways of coping with their wingless lives.

 

The Veerde tribe, on the other hand, were far more reclusive and reserved. Their beliefs were that the goddess had given them wings and this paradise to live away from the ground for a reason. They focused their efforts more on self-discipline and life on their islands.

 

Unfortunately, as the Quill populations grew, the islands became less and less able to be self-sustaining. This led to growing bitterness between tribes, and conflicts breaking out.

 

The Veerde were the most competent in conquest, quickly absorbing many of the smaller tribes to their cause and strengthening their hold on the islands.

 

The Hi’sung, while far less suited for confrontation, had a far more valuable influence: Food.

Through frequent trips to the surface, the peaceful tribe was able to trade away oddities of their island home for what the ground dwellers had in abundance: fruit, vegetables, and meats.

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The Veerde and Hi’sung were soon the dominant tribes across the floating island archipelago, both agreeing to an uneasy peace. Neither were fond of the other’s beliefs, but the stubborn Veerde could not deny the need for supplies. The Hi’sung however, needed to appease the Veerde for risk of a civil war.

 

Over time, many of the Hi’sung tribe began to intermix with the standard wyngrew. Soon, all sorts of mixed blood and non-Quill wyngrew alike were invading upon the sacred floating islands, where naturally occurring wind magic kept their lands aloft.

 

Where the Hi’sung celebrated the unity of wyngrew of all types, the Veerde detested the invasion, and many feuds between the two tribes worsened. They swore such sacrilege, opening up the island home to those of mixed blood, would only anger their goddess, and cause grave consequences.

 

The Hi’sung had found a treasure they had not expected in their explorations: family, friends, rich cultures and wyngrew with a knowledge their tribes could never have dreamed of. Surely to turn a blind eye to the world below and what it could, and had offered, their kind was to waste the goddess’ given gift of Flight?

 

One dreadful day, an entire floating island fell from the sky and into the ocean below. Many, many lives and homes were lost. The devastation caused mass panic and hysterics. Tidal waves from the neighbouring shores washed up several port towns of innocent ground dwelling wyngrew, as well as completely wiping out many smaller oceanic islands in the flood.

 

This unfortunate disaster destroyed the peace the two tribes once had, and a war between the two tribes finally broke out.

 

The Veerde claimed that the influx of standard wyngrew had created a weight that the island could no longer support, blaming the new-comers for the event.