Rí Talmann

History
The Rí Talmann roamed the earth millenia ago, connected deeply to the earth. They drew their power from nature and life itself, constructing cities as tall as mountains and forts as strong as the hills they were built on. However, despite toiling above and below ground, quarrying the hardest of stones and mining the rarest of gems, they never mastered the use of metals. It was this that caused their downfall.

When man came to the shores of what would become the nation of Ardair, born from mud and dust in the south of Hamaji, they brought with them bronze. At first, man and the Rí Talmann lived in harmony. Man taught them the art of smelting, and the use of metals in beautiful ornaments and jewellry. The Rí Talmann taught man of magic, and of the great tales of the world.

This led to a golden age on the Áegic Peninsula, a combination of man's practical skills and the fine literary tradition of the Rí Talmann. Here, magic and metals were combined to form fantastic weapons, defending their lands from invaders to the north and across the sea. A class of humans who became skilled in memorising the tales the Rí Talmann told and indeed their own tales emerged, known as the druids. To this day they remain scholars and respected advisors in both spiritual and temporal matters.

However it was not to last. More men came to Ardair, and as the population grew so too did a resentment between mankind and the Rí Talmann. New settlers from continental Ortus brought knowledge of iron, and found it burned the Rí Talmann's flesh to touch. With this in mind, they challenged the three Rí Talmann kings of Ardair over the right to rule the peninsula. A duel was arranged, the winner of which would take all of Ardair above ground, and the loser of which would take all of Ardair below ground.

The great hero of men, Úarlam thal Dairian, and a legendary mage of Rí Talmann whose name is lost to time agreed to battle atop the hill of Ríaigh. The mage fought with a spear of enchanted wood and bronze, a product of powerful magics that would curse the blood of one pierced by it to boil until the person fell dead. But Úarlam's was of cold iron, the bane of the Rí Talmann, which burned right through their flesh and drained their life. For three days the two fought, until eventually the mage collapsed in exhaustion. Úarlam cut him into three pieces with a single blow of his iron sword. Defeated, the Rí Talmann retreated below ground.

Below ground, they remained strong, if isolated. With their strongholds built into hills they maintained trade with the surface, but otherwise they remained entirely restricted to their great halls of stone deep within the earth. Forming grand cities and creating great heroes and mages of their own, drawing power from the stone they lived in, the Rí Talmann regained all strength lost in their war with men. They even mastered metalwork, creating a copper alloy as strong as iron and crafting jewels finer could be imagined. They drew the power to enchant them from the stone surrounding them and the metals running through the rock.

But life underground comes with its own dangers. They had lived in three huge cities carved into the rock, Eibhia, Bainin, and Lithar, each ruled by one of the three Rí Talmann kings. Eibhia and Bainin both fell, being so close to the underworld they drew demons that destroyed every trace of them. In Lithar, the stone that supported the roof of their massive cavern beneath the surface was woven with protective spells so that any demon that entered had to first defeat the city's champion. For years the city survived in this way, until they appointed the best champion in their history. Fhian, nicknamed the iron-toucher for her ability to tolerate the agonising burn of cold iron for dares and challenges, was hardy and strong. She defeated the city's many challengers with such a spectacle that she drew massive crowds that applauded her fights. Her domain was not enchanted weaponry and elaborate curses, but a magic that pulsed through her very veins and gave her phenomenal strength. Anything that passed through Lithar's stony doors would be torn apart and destroyed by her bare hands.

However, her talents were less suited to challengers skilled in less subtle magics. Those who could use magic directly influence the world, to lift things with their minds or enter the mind of another etc., were to be handled by the city's second champion, Aengor, for this very reason. But when Damar came to Lithar, a demon with great magical power of this sort, Fhian lusted for battle and forbade Aengor from taking her place. She was a prodigy, she did not fear Damar. But this was a mistake, and Damar defeated her. He destroyed Lithar, the last population of Rí Talmann, and drained all its people of their life. Centuries of dwindling came to a rapid and violent conclusion as the Rí Talmann were completely wiped out in a single act.