Welcome to Gaia! ::

The creatures of fire had been sent from their home. Feared and rebuked for their ability with the forbidden element, the peaceful creatures were reviled by the First People. A deal with the Darkness led to their being cast out of the Sky Plane and onto ours. Gentle and friendly the Ildri searched for a new home among the harsh world that they now found themselves in. Their search started in the icy barrens of the north, finding only harsh, cruel people there they moved on, slowing making their way to the south. Slowly the people around them started having more friendly dispositions, and the Ildri started to show themselves to the humans around them. At first they were again feared because of their powerful ability with fire, but then they discovered a land where many creatures of great power roamed and called their home. Seeing that the humans here had no fear of the power the lay inside the small peaceful creatures, the Ildri started bonding with these humans. Choosing one by one humans to join with and protect, for although they are calm and peaceful, the powerful fire rages within. The first two Ildri to join with humans were originally shunned by their kind. The others thought that they did not need the humans to get along in the world. However, when the Great War started the ideas of the Ildri changed greatly.

The invaders came from the north, much the way the Ildri had traveled. At first there were no outward signs of war, but the humans and creatures of the southern lands were nervous. The northern creatures were known for their violence and hostility towards others. They were constantly in battles for land and food, mostly due to the fact that the northern barrens did not provide enough to sustain the population already there. They had begun moving south in hopes of finding a new land where they would have enough food to keep their clans alive. However the did not expect to find a fully developed civilization there that would offer any resistance. They started by attacking the outer villages, taking them one at a time and enslaving all the people there. It took almost a month before the news of what was happening reached the center of the lands where the leaders lived.

The decision came to openly declare war on the invaders, and soon huge battles were occurring all across the southern lands and even onto its islands. The invaders took many slaves, and soon came across the Ildri. At first they simply killed the small creatures, but when one attacked and killed a small scouting party, the invaders discovered their true power. Soon they began enslaving them, using some old magic that had not been lost in the north, compelling the peaceful Ildri to kill and maim in the name of the invaders.

The Ildri soon came up with a plan; they would begin to bond with the humans of the southern lands in order to protect themselves from the northern invaders. When they created a bond with a human, that bond kept even the strongest of magic from compelling them to do anything. The war raged on for over a century, but eventually the invaders were forced from the southern lands. By this time, most of the humans had bonded with an Ildri, but many were left un-bonded due to the horrible causalities that occurred during the war.

Now 400 years later, the tradition of bonding with humans is a strong as ever among the Ildri, and they have now aligned themselves into classes and sub-classes to better defend the lands that their ancestors fought and died for. The connection between the Ildri and the humans they protect is one that runs so deep it will never be broken.