THE RED WAKE

CHAPTER 36-37

 (CHAPTER 36)  INTERLUDE

From: The Crile K'ashil's Chronicles Of Dissent.

The descendants of the Asa had recreated Firstworld in a multiplicity of images. Over thousands of successive generations, their mental abilities had been refined, sharpened. On the strength garnered by these powers were constructed mighty Dynasties. The strongest of these "Castes" or K'ashils, were those of the dark, bloody- natured Ket and their mightier enemies, the Emen.

For thousands of generations, these near immortals ruled Firstworld, increasing and fine tuning their own powers while suppressing those of the five Lower Houses. Eventually, every individual would belong to one of the seven Houses.

Each Yloi occupied a niche suited to that individual's abilities and greatest strengths. But the Yloi were a people set firmly upon a path of conquest and domination. Their aggression was inbred, a great storehouse of potential, focused upon the acquisition of power. The drive toward conquest led them to attack and absorb every other sentient race upon Firstworld. Until in time, the Yloi ruled without challenge.

In the time known as the First Epoch, hundreds of centuries before the Yloi expanded offworld, swarming like locusts across their galaxy, the Ket were the most warlike, their great minds deeply engaged in the practice and cultivation of the Jhexadren synHarm, literally "Dark Mysteries."

These Mysteries contained the black Arts, sorcery, necromancy, called Huriya by the Ket. The Ket used their mastery of these Mysteries to war against the Emen, hoping to bring them under their shadowy influence.

The Emen were amoral, devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and hegemony. While some of their number tread the path of the Jhexadren syn Harm, investigating the Mysteries in order to further the reach of their control, the Emen were largely occupied with exploring the realm of the mind. They had cultivated the natural powers inherent within their minds, becoming like unto great sorcerers themselves but mainly shunning the Jhexadren syn Harm.

In the First Great War between the Ket and the Emen, the Emen were able to subdue their dark brethren through the use of these powers. But the Ket had taken many victims from among the Emen and for a while both Caste-Houses were greatly reduced.

And much of Firstworld was damaged by the Great War. Both Emen and Ket retreated to their respective quarters to heal, and plan for the future.

It was during this recession that their servants among the Lesser Houses gained a measure of ascendancy. Centuries of carefully controlled breeding by the Great Houses had ensured that the Lesser Houses would never equal them in power. But still were they Yloi.

The Crile, servants of the Emen, and the Fend ai Vex, who served the Ket, were the next Houses to strive for control of the planet's resources. As the Great Houses licked their wounds, the Crile and Fend began their own struggle for power. This struggle began the time known as The Middle Epoch.

Even in that dark time, the Crile-Caste were students of the sciences. They made study of the physical world as well as the laws that governed its existence. (It was a Crile scientist who would discover the secret that would give the Yloi the ability to reshape worlds.) The Crile also endeavored to unlock the metaphysical mysteries. They were the great philosophers and sages of the Yloi. Even the mighty Emen often consulted Crile Scholars to glean Truths about the nature of reality. It was from these early Crile explorations, these philosophical seeds, that their own eventual decision to turn away from the path of conquest would evolve.

The Crile of the Middle Epoch believed that the ways of Emen and Ket represented two extremes; opposing polarities that must certainly pull the Yloi race apart. But the Emen and Ket were far more powerful than the Crile could hope to become. They were the Masters.