As written by the Bard Keto in her “Conversations with the Last Landian”.

It is hard to know something if you don’t know it’s past. You can know it as it is, say that a river town is fading into ruin, but without a past one does not know the full story, that the river town has faded due to the shifting nature of trade routes. It was with this in mind that one day as I walked with the Last Landian I asked him of the history of his people. It seemed to me to be a natural point from which to understand how our own world settled into the ruin that seems now to be growing to claim it. As with all discussions of the past, my companion was remiss to share his knowledge with me. Yet, the years have taught me patience in dealing with him and he is, as ever, reliable.

So, it is with confidence that I can say that the Landians at least believed, and with them that is as good as fact, that they were born from their gods, the Seven Sisters. These first Landians came to be within the valley of the Carotark mountains, a spot located within the heartland of Illithiust. Far from the dry wasteland of swirling sands and violent magick of our age, the Carotarks of old housed a verdant valley of unsurpassed bounty. In this idyllic and plentiful land, the early Landians grew into a strong people and the strongest of them, the one whose name would grace the first clan and city of the Landians, was Den. It seems that Den is at least remembered, and once again one must consider the surety that brings coming from a Landian, as the paragon of all of his kind: Deep in wisdom, talented in the weaving of stories, patient in all his acts.

Nothing can be said of Den’s prowess in combat though for in this era my companion is willing to claim that Landians did not know violence. It was simply not yet a concept that had been thought of in the world.

Under Den the first Clan of the Landians grew strong and wise in their understanding of the valley where they resided and the surrounding Carotark mountains. In time though Den would pass away, a reminder to me that one day I must ask my companion how it is that Landians came to know mortality. The descendants of Den would continue to rule but a new era was emerging for the Landians. The surety of the realm they lived in was comforting to many but not all and in time a group under Calelden, a lesser descendant of Den, would lead a group of these curious Landians out of the Valley of the Carotark. Here, at the sole pass out of the mountains, the less curious of these Landians had their fill. They, under a Landian by the name of Kariou, would establish their own clan on the border between lands known and unknown, at the threshold of the safety of their home and the possibility of what could come to be.

Calelden would continue onward, passing out across the great fields of Central Illithiust that he would name the Finnupave, the Rolling Fields.  From there he and his followers would continue west where they would come upon a sight which no Landian before had seen. Calelden, on the coasts that he would name the Finnusar, found the ocean. Here Calelden and his followers would establish his city and clan. In the coming years the adventurous spirit of the Landians of Calelden would explore all of the lands of Illithiust about them. To the rocky cliffs of the Sundallasar coasts to their north and down into the great forests of the Finnurails.  Caleldenians took pride in mapping all they found and in bringing definition to the world that they viewed as wide and wondrous.

To expand their range, the Landians of Calelden would develop the art of the shipwrights and learned to master the sail. To understand all that they found beyond the shores of Illithiust is not even something that the Last Landian could answer but it would drive the next great change amongst the lines of Den. For as the Caleldenians expanded the realm of the known world, as they came to find so many new wonders, they sent many of them back to their kin in the Carotarks. These great wonders would speak to group of artisans who resided still in Den. In a desire to find more wonders to further their crafts another descendant of Den, a woman by the name of Falden, would lead another migration of Landians from their ancestral home. Falden would lead her group past the farms and city of Kariou but whereas Calelden had turned West, Falden took her clan to the East.

No doubt the high peaks of the Hendarks, sharp and jagged in their youth and towering in comparison to the Carotarks, drew the attention of this second migration. While I never discussed the topic, I have to assume that the Landians of the Hendarks would have settled in the foothills first. There they further honed their crafts and came to love the towering peaks of their new home. In time they would have found that their new home held new ores, as well as precious gems, and ultimately the unchanging Illithimar which would change everything in the world. Ultimately, the Faldenians would begin the first of the many great work that they would bring into the world and, just like their kin on the Western Shores, would send many of these accomplishments back to the City of Den.

It is here that the story of the Landians begins its first dip towards darkness. For the heir of Den had now seen two great migrations of his people, and therefore a dissipation of his power. This heir had seen crafts and wonders that he, in his blindness, believed he could not match. This envy, the very folly of wisdom to not see that which he had to offer, would plant the seed for the end of this long age of prosperity and the story that could only end with the destruction of Illithiust.

The roads into the Carotarks, through Kariou’s pass, and to Den were always busy. Many Landian outside of the valley still wished to see relatives or to trade or to just see their ancestral home. Always was this way open until one day the Landians of Calelden and Falden found that a gate has been constructed across the road and that it stood shut. Den had decreed that no longer would the road be free. That those Landians from outside would only be welcome if they intended to return permanently. It was an attempt to consolidate and take power beyond what was being given by respect.

In a better world the Clan leaders would’ve come together, the Wisdom of Den returned and the peace restored. Long was there a chance for this as violence was still not yet a concept in Illithiust, but dissent grew and tempers surpassed wisdom. Who struck first, whether it was by craftsman’s tool, temper fueled magick, the simplicity of fists not even the Last Landian knew. What mattered was blood was drawn, violence was born, and peace was no more.