Perhaps the first question that is asked when considering the birth of Medenia is not when she came about, but how. Luckily, the origins of the continent are much less shrouded in mystery than Temuair's origins; the elemental spirits of Medenia are very forthcoming to those seeking their knowledge. After a small amount of reverence, I was very fortunate to hear the Earth Spirit speak.

The Earth Spirit alludes to the beginning of time, which Aislingkind refers to as the Grinneal period. In Temuair, it was the beginning of the worship of gods. It was also the time in which the elements of fire, wind, water, and earth were bestowed upon the lands(1). It was not the blessings of the gods who brought the elements to the lands--it was the work of the elemental spirits. Yes, during what was predicted around Grinneal 26900, the elemental spirits also touched Medenia's sister continent. However, the Earth Spirit explains that the spirits decided their stay in Temuair would not be permanent. They left the continent in the hands of the gods and moved on to new life established in a place free from the gods' influence. This land was Medenia, though the name of the continent was probably not decided until much later. The Earth Spirit had nothing more to say, but I propose that the elemental spirits were likely gone from Temuair by the Fifth Aeon. While it is not clear whether the god Grinneal is thought to have had a hand in the creation of life on Medenia as he did in Temuair, it is assumed that life in Medenia as a whole is slightly younger than life in Temuair because the elemental spirits did not make the continent hospitable until later. That fact, however, does not mean the quality of life is any less rich in Medenia; while the elemental spirits are seemingly unable to grant the spark to its mundanes as Deoch has done, the mundanes have created history of their own. Other civilizations have also sprung up as time has progressed.

With the knowledge that the elemental spirits are responsible for the livelihood of all Medenian creatures, it is prudent that I share what little information I have gathered about them before continuing further. The Earth, Fire, and Water Spirits are curious, arcane entities whose true origins remain mostly a mystery among mundanes and Aislings alike. While to Aislings the spirits physically appear as individuals, all spirits refer to themselves as "we," as if there is more than one life form within their physical shells. The only exception to these observations is with the Water Spirit, who corrects herself when speaking to Aislings.

Other information about the elemental spirits is equally as objective. Mundanes and Aislings have revered the spirits since discovering them in what is now Noam, Hwarone, and the Water Dungeon, respectively. It is also thought that other spirits corresponding to the remaining elements are waiting to be found in unexplored regions of the continent as well. We currently rely on the spirits for their protection; this is provided in the form of precious items that are forged into even more powerful equipment. The Earth and Water Spirits are also known for bestowing us with additional privileges (there is more information on these spirits in the Water Dungeon section). There is also more information about the Fire Spirit in the coming pages. However, let's press on to a subject that is more familiar to Aislingkind: mundanes.

The minute quantity of information on the first non-spirit civilization of Medenia is that which has been passed down through the generations. While one race claims to have been the first to be born in Medenia, another claims otherwise. The only solid evidence that I could find came from a rather uncanny source: a book. While a book may not seem uncanny to those that have seen a multitude of books in Temuair, the finding is most strange in Medenia; this particular book would be the only one I would find in my entire trek of the continent. In Asilon I stumbled upon the Mysterious Book, quite literally, as I sought a cure for one of the villager's ailments. The pages were essentially scraps of parchment barely held together by a decrepit twine. I spoke to the closest villager I could find, an old mundane by the name of Jelus. He took the book and his eyes became wide; I had found a book written by an ancient civilization called the Golkatians. Jelus attempted to translate the book with the little knowledge given to him by his grandfather, but only managed to decipher a few words: "Dioram," "deadly to those alive," and "Ease the Stones." Well, it was a start.

According to Historian Arachne(2), Jelus also explained to her that a pristine city of gold once existed in Medenia an undetermined amount of time in the past. Mundanes began to worship the elemental spirits during this time, but it was also a time of great unrest. The mundanes became corrupted (due much in part to the Metal Spirit's mischief) and the remaining elemental spirits sundered the city into the sea. The surviving mundanes fled the city and took up homage elsewhere on the continent. These mundanes very well may be the Goltakians Jelus spoke about so seriously.

From that information, I will next attempt to explain how Medenian mundanes diversified.