The Rise of Lycans

   Long before Kaziel had breathed her first breath, a clan of nomadic people, the Cohanna, dwelled in the forests and plains not far from the city-state of Alcoa. They worshiped Pauh the moon goddess and Shakora the sun god.

   Trigould was the leader of the Cohanna and he made a pact with the gods. In return for guarding the forests from harm, Shakora offered great wisdom to the People. For a dozen years afterward, the clan enjoyed peace.

   Margor, the king of the city-state Isathule, saw that Alcoa had grown lax in the time of peace and he sought to expand his kingdom. He amassed an army in his high city walls and sent them to war.

   The army cut large swaths through the forest as they advanced, and built siege weapons from the trees. Large bonfires burned through the nights. Alcoa’s walls were too high and its city too well protected to directly attack it, so the invading army took camp outside of its gates. Controlling the fertile lands beyond the city, they hoped to starve them into submission. While the months passed, the men of Isathule foraged the wilderness clean for many miles.

   Pauh appeared to the tribal leader Trigould and told him of the ruin the army wrought on the land. True to his word, Trigould gathered his hunters and their large grey wolves to prepare to defend the land.

   As Trigould and his clansmen approached the encampment, they saw the army of Isathule outnumbered the hunters of Cohanna nearly ten to one. Trigould knew their chances of victory were slim, and even with the goddess behind them he feared the loss of his tribe.

   He sent half of his warriors back to the clan with the instructions to take his people east toward Fortinne. When the moon was high in the night sky, he led the remaining brave hunters into battle against the men of Isathule.

   Fang and axe, the clan warriors fought to the last hunter. Trigould lie dying on the battlefield, the blood of his grey wolf mixing with his own on the grass.

   Pauh came to him in a vision. She was angry that he had not fulfilled his word when he had sent half of his warriors away. Before he could pass to the afterlife, she cursed him – that he might spend all eternity defending the forest. The first Lycan was born.

   He was driven mad by the very sight of the moon. In his new werewolf form, he raged through the army of Isathule. No mortal survived the carnage.

   Shakora felt pity for Trigould, who had otherwise been a brave leader. He could not undo Pauh’s curse, but he could soften it. He gave Trigould back his sanity in times that the moon was not full.