“Before the Crown, there were Circles. Before the Circles, there was Song.”
Before Eyehasseen stood united, the lands we now call home were a tapestry of forgotten peoples, twilight kingdoms, and star-watching tribes—some lost to time, some remembered only in myth. The Hall of the Pre-Kingdom Realms honors these distant ancestors, whose ruins we walk over and whose echoes still shape our festivals, architecture, and dreams.
Each alcove in this hall is dedicated to one of these pre-Eyehasseen civilizations, reconstructed through oral tradition, shattered remnants, and recovered marvels.
🌊 The River People of Greth
“Where the reeds rise, stories flowed.”
A sprawling civilization centered along the River Greth, known for claywork, spiritual songs, and river-etched histories. They built no walls—but their canals ran for miles.
Beliefs:
- Water was memory; to forget someone was to let them dry
- Ceremonial boats were burned for the dead to sail on
- Naming children after sounds of nature (e.g., “Loosh,” “Krek”)
Featured Artifacts:
- The River Vessel of Tears – a funerary urn with carved waves and eyes.
- Greth Pottery Calendar Disc – marks flood cycles with lunar icons.
- Reed Flute with Ornate Stopper – holes arranged by birdcall scale.
- Fishbone Ledger Tablet – tallying offerings to the Riverkeepers.
- Amulet of the River-Blessed Child – worn by infants until their first flood season.
🌀 The Cloudwatcher Clans
“We tracked no years. Only shadows, rain, and skyfire.”
Nomadic sky-worshippers of the central plateaus, they believed that the heavens told the future in cloud formations. Little remains but sky-etchings on cliff faces and the mysterious “Sky Books” made of folded stone.
Customs:
- “Cloud-naming” was a sacred rite at adolescence
- All disputes settled by sky sign interpretation
- Never buried their dead—laid them on hilltops “for the sky to keep”
Featured Artifacts:
- Sky-Marked Slate Tablet – displays a comet-shaped engraving from 1,800 BR.
- Bronze Rain Compass – points not to north, but to last known storm.
- Weather Cloak of the East Seer – woven to mimic thunderheads.
- Whisper Stone – when blown through, produces wind-like tones.
- String-of-Sky-Names – beads etched with individual cloud sightings over a lifetime.
🔥 The Glimmering Hill Tribes
“They did not write. They burned meaning into the night.”
Known for fire ceremonies, emberscript symbols, and a fierce devotion to lunar cycles, these mountain-dwellers created nothing permanent—except for glowing ash drawings that marked sacred seasons.
Cultural Highlights:
- Festival of the Fire’s Spiral
- First known users of ritual smoke as encoded language
- Names passed by inhalation of sacred incense, not speech
Featured Artifacts:
- Ashstone Circle Fragment – blackened and etched with spirals.
- Incense Pipe of the Flame Speaker – carved with moons and flame tongues.
- Charred Drum Head – used in rhythm dances during eclipses.
- Ceremonial Fire Mask – worn during ashwalks at solstice.
- Cinder Ledger of Trade Offerings – scorched bone marked with heated glyphs.
🦴 The Bonecasters of Meris Hollow
“To them, every fracture told a tale.”
A mysterious people who carved prophecy into animal bones, wore hollowed skulls in ceremony, and are believed to have constructed underground “dream halls.” Often feared by neighbors, but later revered for their artistic detail.
Traits:
- Mastery of ivory and bone as storytelling medium
- Practiced deep trance “sleep-speaking”
- Believed each person had an ancestral animal spirit within their marrow
Featured Artifacts:
- Ribcast Scroll of the Autumn Bones – believed to contain a warning still not fully translated.
- Fingerbone Bead Necklace of a Dream-Seer – worn during trance visions.
- Sleep-Speaker’s Mask – one eye open, one closed, carved of bird skull and leather.
- Bone Paintbrush and Pigment Pouch – used on cave murals long since faded.
- Ivory Totem of “The Breaking Moon” – depicts a wolf devouring a comet.
⛩️ The Forgotten City Beneath Hollow Vale
“Its name is not known. Only that it was… strange.”
Little is known about the civilization that once stood beneath Hollow Vale. Its language has never been deciphered, and its architecture defies all regional styles. Most records refer to it only as “the city with no doors.”
Known Facts:
- All entrances underground—none above
- Statues with blank faces and missing hands
- Every artifact perfectly balanced, as if made to float
Featured Artifacts:
- Three-Sided Coin – cannot rest flat, always rolls back upright.
- Shard of Mirror-Stone – reflects neither light nor face fully.
- Miniature Doorframe Sculpture – found buried, 300 meters from any building.
- Ceremonial Bell with No Clapper – still emits soft hum when held.
- Untranslatable Clay Tablet – found in a sealed vault, inscribed with symbols not matching any known language or art form.
The Hall of the Pre-Kingdom Realms is not simply a record of what came before—it is a testament to the forgotten imagination, the broken roots of story, and the haunting resilience of cultures whose names the wind still whispers.