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Honor, faith, and duty are the most sacred tenets of the strong Mathosian humans who once ruled the rocky highlands of the north. Mathosians value strength, hard work, and a man's oath above all other things except perhaps loyalty. It is their commitment to these virtues that helped turn Mathosia into one of the greatest empires Telara has ever known, and from the humblest of beginnings. Tragically, it was also the very beliefs that eventually tore them apart.
Humans first appeared in the great High Elven forests of Tavra sometime after the Age of Legend. Unlike many of the other races on Telara, humans were created by a collaboration of all the gods, which may explain their swift rise to dominance throughout the world. At first, Humanity was nothing more than wild beasts, seemingly foraging through the forests in very loose clans with no language or apparent intelligence. The High Elves were aware of them and treated them kindly like all other creatures in their care. But humans were surprisingly adaptable and observant; so they flourished, eventually learning languages, magic, and the tenets of civilization.
For the extremely long lived High Elves, it appeared that the humans became civilized almost overnight. It was difficult for them to accept that humans were more than they first appeared but over time they grew a close relationship with the burgeoning tribes. As Humanity continued to grow in size and sophistication, many began leaving the forests to explore and settle in faraway lands. Yet one farseeing tribe elected to stay behind for many more generations, learning philosophy, music, and the tenets of law from their enlightened neighbors. They eventually ventured north out of the forests to found one of the greatest empires of any race on Telara – the Mathosians.
For centuries Mathosians prospered in a time of chivalry and fidelity to a long line of kings descended from Tored Mathos. The Mathosian people's love for duty and loyalty was ultimately turned against them by foreign rivals seeking to slow the expansion of empire. When King Jostir the Ancient mysteriously died, his two twin sons Aedraxis and Zareph were pulled into a horrible and brutal civil war that has became known as the Shade War. As the battles between sorcerers and knights of the crown ravaged the northern half of Telara, the elder brother Aedraxis resorted to dread magic that fractured the protective ward around Telara and pulled the Plane of Death over the land, forever morphing him into an undead king of horrors, and destroying most of the Mathosian homeland in a magical disaster known as the Shade. Many of the loyal followers fled the scourge of the Shade with Zareph and eventually founded the great city of Port Scion. True to their oaths and duty to the line of kings, many Mathosians tragically fled north with their newly crowned liege Aedraxis Mathos, serving an unspeakable evil that now festers in the hearts of all Telarans.
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