First Age
Overview
The First Age started from the creation of the world of Crimsona, and lasted until the first Guardian was inducted, which began the Age of the Guardians. This era lasted at least two thousand years, potentially up to 10,000 years. The ravages of time make it difficult to tell exactly when the world began or oldest events in history took place, so historians count the years backwards from the end of the age to the known events. The technology of the age was obviously underdeveloped, with only wood and stone tools in use by the end of the age. Most of the land was inhabited by mostly peaceful tribes and a few clans.
History
The beginning of this Age is the beginning of the entire world, when the Greatmother created all the landscape, flora, and creatures of Crimsona. She walked upon the ground in those times, among her creations. The very first creatures of Crimsona, the ones who were not born from two parents but were created by the Greatmother, were called the "Firstborn". They lived the first half of their longer-than-normal lifespans together, where the Greatmother taught them all of living, the world and the heavens, and many important life lessons that they were sworn to uphold and teach to their future generations. Exactly what all of those lessons were is unclear, as those times were far before the beginning of recorded history. They were dismissed once they had been taught all that they needed to know, and sent to journey to different places in the world where they and their race would live. From this point on, the Greatmother was not known to have ever been seen on her own world again until "The Return" and influenced it only indirectly instead.
Over the course of the next centuries, the races of Crimsona flourished, multiplying and spreading across the lands. The world was incredibly serene, as its early residents strictly followed the teachings of the Greatmother passed down to them by the Firstborn, their parents, or tribal elders. As every creature on Crimsona was linked by their souls, they could "feel" the emotions and intentions of others, further promoting good and peaceful behavior. Technology was still non-existent at this point, and every creature relied on their natural gifts to hunt or defend themselves. At around the 900th year since the beginning of the world, the historic events involving the First Clan took place. The first clan was formed when two competing tribes, one of wolves and the other of lizards, decided to cooperate with each other for survival instead of fighting. Later on, when the conditions of that forest worsened, the legendary story of "The Blessing of Bounty" took place in that same forest, wherein a cat (and later other predators as well) decided to escort a doe and her fawn to safety rather than kill them for food as they were the last living deer in the forest. The Greatmother rewarded them by blessing their forest, causing it’s flora to grow quickly and prey to become much more plentiful. The First Clan, after that, became all-inclusive, even offering prey races sanctuary with them. They devoted themselves to a peaceful existence and developing their knowledge, and their city grew to be the largest seat of civilization of the time.
Several decades later, about year 980, the next story of legend took place, known now as the "Tale of Vengeance". This story had far less impact on history, but nonetheless became well known as it was told to children to teach them that seeking revenge is pointless and causes only more harm. In this tale, a small family of cats wandered the mountains of the north, where a tribe of bovines lived. One old bull wandered from the tribe to reflect, where he encountered one of the cats hunting alone. The cat normally couldn't have taken a bull alone, but the old bovine gave his life freely to the hungry cat. The old bull's son came and saw the cat standing above his elder's corpse and became enraged, and chased the cat away. But he was not satisfied with just ruining the cat's meal, but sought revenge instead, and chased the cat back to her family, and then on as they ran for their lives. The bull left a trail of destruction as his hot blooded chase tore through forests, killing innocents and the cat's two family members. Eventually the bull cornered the cat in a cave and would charge for the kill, but stumbled down and doomed himself. The cat, even though her family had been decimated and her life threatened, chose not to kill the now helpless bull for vengeance even if she had more right to it than he had. A spirit residing in the cave witnessed the cat's forgiveness, and graciously helped both of them escape the cave that trapped them. The bull made peace with the cat, and as the story goes, the two became companions from then on.
Despite tribe mothers being now armed with several moral legendary tales to warn off evil in their children, each generation seemed to have more capability for badness than the last, eventually leading to tribes and clans fighting often. Soon the Greatmother decided to take action to protect her world from violence but would not interfere directly; she instead would empower some among the Crimsonans to police the rest. She created a Gauntlet, nestled into a remote mountain, that only the brave, heroic, pure-hearted could pass. Whoever survived was given great power and bound to fight injustice at the Greatmother's command, and would be called "Guardian".
The first to complete this challenge was Takara, a wolfess who struggled to keep her clan and the neighboring clan from warring, and found becoming the first Guardian to be the only way to accomplish that. She entered the Gauntlet, and emerged victorious, ushering in a new age, the Age of the Guardian.