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A long time ago, in a time when humans still were struggling to carve out their place on Gaea, there were the Mystics. These were the People of magical blood, the sparks of Gaea’s imagination. There were three sides of the Mystics: light, dark, and grey. The lights were elves, faeries, unicorns, and witches, united under the likeness of a white rose. Their duty was to roam the land and create, beautify, heal, and spread joy and love. The darks were their opposites, vampires, drow, warlocks, and demons under a black rose. These heralded death, destruction, sickness, and rebirth, which of course are needed for Light to take place. Grays, dragons and goblins mostly, were neutral and therefore peace keepers between dark and light. Their sign was the silver rose.
Another race of grays was the bestials. These creatures were the caretakers of the animals and shapeshifters. For the most part, they held the characteristics and forms of the animal they had chosen to guard. As guardians, they also followed the animals, and so when migrating birds located the humans, so to did the bestials.
Tales quickly reached the Mystics, who flocked to see the strange “round-eared elves” that were neither dark, light, or even grey. Curious and delighted, the Mystics began to teach the humans arts that were greatly appreciated. A council was formed from representatives of each race, including humans from all districts of Hayvynne. However, magic was never taught to even these council members, no matter how much the humans begged, cajoled, and later demanded. Mystic teachers held that if humans had been meant to practice magic, they would have been born with the ability. Sadly, this angered the humans greatly, and they turned on the Mystics, nearly exterminating them.
Except for the bestials. They had never been teachers and therefore were spared. In their forgiving way, they stayed with the humans, befriending and loving them, even taking on human forms. After several generations had passed and the Massacre was a distant memory for the quickly forgetting humans, odd children began appearing in the streets. These children would have various animal traits, such as furry, pointed ears, long tails, claws or paws, or even wings.
These children were the result of humans and bestials in human form procreating. This practice was immediately banned for common folk, and common children who had bestial blood were often killed. Royalty, however, actually captured bestials and forced proliferation so that royal children would be born with special abilities that would give them power over their subjects. But as time went on, bestials became harder and harder to come by, as they had begun leaving the human’s territory to seek out their Mystic kin. Finally, there were no more.
Greatly angered by this, the Royal line demanded the return of all Mystics so humans could continue to benefit from their magic. The Mystics refused, declaring that they would never again treat with humans who followed only their own self-interest and destroyed what they didn’t understand. The king of that time responded, in a fit of fury, that because of the refusal, all Mystics were enemies to the Crown and any with their blood should consider themselves likewise. This of course was a terrible blow to the half-blooded bestials in the kingdom, who couldn’t leave to the Mystic’s land for protection because of their human blood. Laws were passed that took right after right from the “half-breeds” as they were sneeringly called, eventually making them risk life and limb to escape over the mountains, where it was rumored the Mystic’s dwelled.
Most bestials-humans stayed, unable to make the journey. Their lives were penniless and harsh, but they somehow endured, all hoping for a new day to come where their royal blood would be remembered. Many of these poor souls lived in the capital city, Rosemark, in an underground city, stealing what they needed to survive. Here in the darkness they waited for the time to strike back against their royal oppressors, counting each day, ready for their catalyst. Little did they know that she would soon arrive and lead them on to revolution.