Concerning the Wolhanni Race:
Pilgrims Forever Wandering
A treatise concerning the history and culture
of the subterranean human people called the Wolhanni,
as recorded by Viltashi Saevic, Air Master and Voice of the Wolhanni People.
Completed upon the Second Anniversary of the
Ageless One's Departure, P.E. 1006
My Lord Lachadeln, Chosen of the Ageless One, requested that we create this work in order to educate the other races of Marnor of the ways of our people. It is his great hope that this tome will foster positive relations between the Wolhanni and the other peoples of Marnor.
A Brief History of the Wolhanni
The Wolhanni race was born from the ashes of the Phoenix Empire. Duke Siegfried Wolhan, a minor human noble of the Empire experienced visions of the collapse of the realm, and in the visions he saw an escape from the coming chaos. Within a month, Duke Wolhan and most of his vassals slipped into the depths to begin the Pilgrimage to the Sacred Land. They escaped the sudden suffering of the Collapse of the Phoenix, but experienced their own difficulties in the darkness.
The first few years were terrible and deadly, but Duke Wolhan carried the First Pilgrims through the dangers with powers he granted them over the Elements trapped within the Earth. Without these powers to wrest weapons, armor, and even light from the dormant stone, our people would surely have perished.
For centuries, our people wandered through the darkness, led by the seemingly Ageless One, Wolhan. He kept his tall frame, rosy skin, and long hair as golden as the sun long after the Tenth Generation of our people shoed the completion of adaptation to the underworld. We had become what we are today -- A pace and a half in height, grey-skinned, and with a second set of pupils that produced light to allow our cat-like eyes to see in even total darkness.
Two years ago, the Ageless One called out to our leaders and told them that his travels were over -- the Wolhanni had reached the Sacred Land. Duke Wolhan used his powers over Earth to raise a great shrine to the remind us of our pilgrimage, and stepped inside, his centuries-long obligation over. Since then, the Wolhanni have used our talents over Earth to raise our cities, and our knowledge to lighten our caverns with energy sapped from the stones themselves.
Many scholars have noted with some derision that it took us hundreds of years to move a mere thousand leagues. Our only response is a common saying of our people:
"One who walks to the end of the world and back sees the world;
One who stays in a single spot sees only the horizon."
We welcome you to travel with us to complete the Grand Journey of All Races-- the way is long and we are tired of walking alone through the lands of strangers. Journey with our people to not only see the world open before your eyes, but also discover yourself and your fellow Pilgrims. The Journey is long, and not without danger, but you will never see a horizon the same again.