Brief History

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Back in the days when Egypt was still young and the pyramids were being built by slaves' blood and tears, there was a group of human priests and priestesses that worshiped the eight great powers. These worshipers were called the Dasi. The Dasi was lead by a woman named Maeve. Below Maeve was two women named Kiesha and Cjarsa. Maeve and Kiesha were pair bonds, lovers. Maeve and Cjarsa worshiped Ahnmik, and Kiesha worshiped Ahnamirak. Ahnmik and Ahnamirak were there when time began, they are sister essences, both kin of Ecl. Ahnmik and Ahnamirak both consisted of two oposite sides; Ahnmik's main side was of cold, darkness, quite, calm, rest, ect. Ahnamirak's main side was of free will and passion, love and lust, of life. Her other side though, was of war and bloodshed, chaos, tornados and mayhem. Ahnmik's other side was of death and emptiness. The other ten Dasi members worshiped other gods and goddesses. Below the Dasi was the two Rsh groups, who communicated with the people, then to the Dasi, and the Dasi conveyed the concern and thoughts to the eight powers. Everyone was heard and no one was left out. Everything was good. Then the creature by the name of Leben came along, and told the Dasi and their people to bow down to him, for he was a god. Maeve, though, was not convinced. She was clever. She could see that Leben, though powerful, was not a god. Instead of outright denying him though, she seduced him, and, to gain her favor, he gave her "ageless beauty and the second form of a white viper." She also convinced him into giving all of her followers second forms too. Kiesha was given the form of a black king cobra, and seven other followers were also given serpent forms. The last four were given forms of falcons. Cjarsa was given the form of the gyrfalcon, her daughter, Lady Araceli, was given the form of a peregrine falcon, Lady Syfka, the apolomado, and Servos was given the merlin. Leben was not mentioned in record after this. Kiesha, not knowing of her pair bond's plans, felt betrayed. To spite her ex-lover, she had a child with a human man and the cobra-child was named Diente.

Maeve was heartbroken, and the falcons offered her the painless Ecl. The Ecl is described as, "the night on ice," "the void," It is nothing and it is everything. It is all that never was and never will be. It is emptiness. Those who fall into the Ecl are described as neither awake nor asleep, nor alive nor dead. There is no color, life, sound, or smell in the Ecl. It is the eternal dreamland. Ecl can be used as an escape from one's life, and offers comfort and rest to the heartbroken. Maeve accepted the Ecl's peace; then was accused of black magic and exiled. The Rsh and Maeve left the Dasi's land and went to live just outside their borders. They became the Obsidian Guild, the exiled white viper clan. With Maeve gone, the power was unbalanced. dances that meant to bring rain brought floods, one touch from the priest of Brysh, the maker of life, could kill. This chaos was short lived. The falcons were exiled soon after Maeve, and went and built the island of Ahnmik. Cjarsa rose the land out of the water, and the falcons colonized it. It is called the "White City." The serpiente lived peacefully--until the Cjarsa, who had used the sakkari'a'she, the dance of the future, to ask Ecl to show her the future, and saw that, with Kiesha's magic unbalanced, chaos ruled. The power of Ahnamirak, unbalanced, was out of control. The power inside of her would not rest until the whole world was in ashes. So the falcons decided, regretfully, that something had to be done. They raised a human child, and taught her their ways, and made her an empire of Avian shifters that she would someday rule. They named her Alasdair, meaning "protector." They ripped Kiesha's magic in half and shoved half of it into Alasdair. Ahnmik's magic had stained the falcons and Maeve. Maeve's hair was paled to an unearthly white, the same color as the viper's scales. Ahnmik's power had dyed the falcons' skin milky pale, and their hair different shades of goldeny, transparent-like white with indigo/blue strands in the front. Ahnamirak's magic had stained Kiesha's body, making her skin fair, her warm brown hair jet black, and her eyes blood red. Alasdai was no exception to this stain. Her hair and eyes were changed to a shade of a beaten gold. Her skin was olive-fair. She was given the form of a golden hawk. Once she was old enough, she was named queen of the avians. She had a daughter, and her physical features were passed on. Then, the falcons had Kiesha stab her in the back, against her will. The avians retaliated swiftly, killing all of the origional serpiente Dasi members--including innocent Kiesha. Maeve's cause of death was never officially recorded, but she also died. The avians and serpiente have been at war for a millennia. They have forgoten the reason why they fight, and now their only reason is to avenge their fallen kin. This is where book one, Hawksong, picks up. The young princess Danica is about to take the avian throne as Tuuli Thea (their name for their Hawk Queen), and dreams of peace.