Atozians - The Ancients¶
The Ancients (or Atozians) are, believed by some scholars to be, an intelligent race created directly by Atoz himself. They are believed to have existed in the first age, before the creation of the first gods.
The Ancients used an eldritch and mysterious magic, fueled directly by Atoz, The Creator. They were plane farers, travelling and establishing empires in across the planes of existence.
Inkstone¶
The only remnants of The Ancients are ruins made of a pitch black material harder than steel, even though it looks oily and runny like ink. It is aptly named inkstone. Some inkstone artifacts and fragments have occasionally been discovered deep within the Underdark. Inkstone is one of the few materials capable of containing raw divine power without breaking down.
Discovered inkstone ruins:¶
The Black Walls of Hekarth.
The Dark Pillars of Torungrad
The Planar Gates - Gates as old as time has been rumored to be scattering all across Ocantos, serving as gateways for the gods.
The Atozian Square
- A black round square in the Yldskaarian city Krazveta, which depicts Atoz The Creator. Legend says the square was there when the first settlers arrived thousands of years ago and constructed the city around it.
Language¶
The Ancients possessed the ability to communicate telepathically and thus did not have a verbal language.
They did have a written language, that they used to record knowledge for later generations. To the untrained eye, Atozian would just seem like neatly made ink splashes. They do not really use letters and sentences like most languages, but each ink dot is meant to evoke a certain feeling or impression to the reader. These impressions can be as specific and detailed as one can imagine, which means there is an infinite amount of different ink dots and a glossary would be impossible to produce.
Many scholars have tried translating the Atozian language, but very few has succeeded and many have gone mad trying to decipher it. It is said, that those, who actually manages to understand it, transcends to an enlightened state with a cost. Many lose their mind, some loses their magical abilities and other grave consequences.
Downfall¶
Most scholars believe The Ancients revolted against The Creator at some point and killed him. Without a god, a power struggle arose between the most powerful Ancients and conflict tore their societies apart. Furthermore with Atoz dying, the eight arch gods were born who wanted revenge for the destruction of Atoz and rallied together against The Ancients. These factors finally lead to the extinction of The Ancients.
Others believe the Ancients left Atozia on their supposed planeships to inhabit other worlds.
Mind Flayers are believed to be descendants of The Ancients.