Sitha

Of Kyderria

From the depths of the past arose the Sitha. Their roots lie entwined with that of their cousin-race the elves. Long before man walked the lands, there lived a proud race called the Sidhe. Noble, ethereal, and tied to the land by bonds of magic, the Sidhe were the lords of vast empires and kingdoms. Nosferatu created the Sidhe to rule over the lesser fairy races, and the Sidhe lived in peace for a millennia, until the dark times. Until the Nameless One came along with the rise of the shades. Jealous and greedy, The Nameless with the help of the shades began to drive the Sidhe out from their forest homes. At first, the Sidhe held their ground, but their slow reproduction cycle and their vulnerability to the cold touch of iron soon spelled the doom of the once proud race. Then the Nameless One cast powerful curse on the remaining Sidhe so they could never have pure children upon this world again. The Sidhe decided to retreat from their beloved world, forming great moongates to an alternate plane called Arcadia, and retreating behind the Mists, the Sidhe sealed most of the Ways behind them.

Those Sidhe who remained by accident or be design on the world they once called home soon fell prey to the banality and mundane nature of the new world that the Nameless had created. No longer were the lands infused with the mystic energy of nature, but slowly large cities and fields grew. The Nameless One began to bend and warp the very fabric of the delicate tapestry of reality, and wonder and glamour fell sharply. Kadyr heard the call of Nosferatu and came to this world and instantly fell in love with the Sidhe race and knew he had to somehow help this race survive. Kadyr not being able to remove the curse that the Nameless had placed on the race altered them very slightly while maintaining there best qualities. The race jealously guarded their few remaining powers and places of wonder, waiting for the day when they may rejoin their brethren in Arcadia. These would become the Sitha, a name meaning "The Lost People."

Of Kivekia

Sitha and Elven history is perpetually intertwined. Ages ago, they were one, but broke into two when the elves sought adventure and set off to sea. The Sitha remained on Palatania, inhabiting a secluded coastal region, hemmed in by forest. Here they practised their magic, though with the more religious elves gone, worship of their deity became a minority interest among them.

The rich timber, however, was something that attracted some nomadic human tribes to the area. Inevitably, they clashed, and with the elves gone, the Sitha were seriously outnumbered. The humans were determined to drive them into the sea. The Sitha encampment was besieged, and once they had a sufficient number of vessels, the Sitha tribes set sail after their Elven brethren.

The nearest landmass to Palatania was Ossaca, though the elves were not here. They landed on a salient, or a 'beck'. There were tall headlands stretching along the beaches, and it was atop these that the Sitha forged a new home, once again surrounded by forest.

Unbeknownst to them, just on the other side of the forest were the hordes of dwarves that dominated much of the continent, and they were unhappy at this perceived invasion. The weary Sitha put up no fight, their forces depleted. The dwarves penned in the Sitha, their small encampment becoming the labour camp of Highbeck. The Sitha remained enslaved for centuries. They did the dwarves' bidding, working the mines for them, and making them rich. It was not a particularly brutal regime, but there were no liberties. Sitha magic and Sitha religion were suppressed.

Emancipation of the Sitha came about almost by accident. In response to the burgeoning population of Highbeck, the dwarves released a large number of Sitha to build themselves a ghetto to the south of the town, thus doubling it's size. As this ghetto was reaching completion, a small group of Sitha snuck away and travelled north to find the titans.

They sought their assistance, for together they might have a chance against the dwarves. The titans, however, were hoping to broker a deal with the dwarves for a cut-in on Ossaca's natural resources, and didn't wish to jeopardise this. The dwarves played both races off against one another: they
told the Sitha that they had already entered into co-operation with the dwarves, so that the Sitha were now their slaves, too. And they told the titans that they had already freed the Sitha, and that the Sitha were trying to get a cut-in on the titans' profits.

This plan back-fired. A bit slow on the uptake, the titans listened to the Sitha denials and believed them. They pledged their support to the Sitha, as the Sitha had hoped, for all evidence pointed towards the Sitha still being slaves. The dwarves had no choice, lest they appear liars and risk war with the titans: they emancipated the Sitha.

Now the titans were confused, and believed the dwarves. They withdrew support from either side, believing that both of them were tricking them. They returned to their isolated mountain home.

The dwarves knew they were still at risk. They took their trade franchise to the titans, and began dismantling the prison walls around Highbeck. An equilibrium had been reached, albeit not a just one. All was not well with the Sitha: they had no homes, no work and no rights. It was the beginning of the social order on Ossaca, imposed by the dwarves.

Over the centuries since, the situation has changed somewhat. Some Sitha have been rather successful, working their way up the social order. There are now several Sitha nobles that own dwarf serfs. Racial divisions are all but non-existent; it is wealth that matters to the vast majority of Ossacans.