The Beginning (The creation legend of the old ways.) In the days before the binding of the laylines, when the land was free and empty, the true and ancient gods, in their infinite capacity, stretched out across the face of the world and saw that human kind was beginning to grow. Knowing that human kind would one day be strong enough to reach the shores of their sacred land, bringing war and destruction, they set about creating their own race of men, men who would be strong and without fear, men who would defend the land from invaders and respect its ways. First the mighty Shilmar, in his court of ice and stone, carved out a great white rock, and from it fashioned bones. Next Kyndar, lord of the wild hunt, brought forth skins and stretched them across the empty skeletons. Then Mirin, master of the demon depths, rose up and filled the hollow spaces with waters from the storm tossed seas. Finally the swift footed Djen, seeing that the bodies were complete, exhaled, and from his breath, the first men came to live. However, the presence of the new creatures within the land drew the eye of the ancient ruler of the fey, the immortal king of the deep woods. When he looked at them, he saw that while the gods had granted them life, they had denied the men souls. In his wisdom, he knew that without souls, the men could never truly hold the land dear and would make imperfect guardians. Sending forth his children, they gathered together the new-forged men and put them under an enchanted sleep. While they rested, he summoned forth the spirits of the beasts that dwell in the wild places and drove them into the bodies, binding them to the flesh.