The peopling of Oerth occurred in the palaeolithic, stretched over the slow test of time. Races skirmished for control of resources. Preferred terrain for demi-humans originated from these skirmishes. Humanoids have always been more physically adept and dominated the scene.
Tools followed the needs of survival. Spears and bows aided hunting. Bone needles stitched clothes. Stone knives butchered meat.
Humanoids were slow to learn the skills of tool making. They would attack and kill to acquire them. Inherited hatred of humanoids became in this far time.
Society was limited to small families. Contact was only with neighboring families. Commoners were the first class. With their weapons, families could split between those that gathered and those that hunted. The gatherers stayed commoners. Hunters originated the warrior class. To aid in the hunt, they learned to domesticate dogs.
Elves were always a fortunate race. Their diets were sustained on far less others. Elves could feed just fine spending merely a fraction of the time of the other races. They were the first to have leisure. Elves spent their leisure developing song and dance, with merriment in the wood. Through this they formed the first rituals and gained concepts of a widened universe. The concept of gods began. Rituals to Boccob led to the first adepts.
Rituals spread among the races. All came to learn of Boccob. However, in the palaeolithic, life was harsh, brutal, and short. Humanoids dominated the lands. The common greater gods were generally beings of evil to be placated – as Incabulos, Tharizdun, or others.
“Before all else, there was stone.” Dwarven saying.
An Oerth-wide climate change led to differing hunting patterns. This spurred the use of microlithic tools. It is possible the imprisoning of Tharizdun is the cause of the shifting climate. With natural affinity for stone, and a preferred environment replete with flint, dwarves pioneered microlithic skills. The new tools were superior to anything that had come before, and use eventually spread to all races. Precise skills are required for manufacture, leading to the development of the expert class. In order to acquire better tools led to common trade practices between families. The generally superior intellect and social patterns of humans and demi-humans led them to adopt microlithic tools sooner and more adeptly than humanoids. Thus, the humanoid dominance began to erode.
Better tools lead to better food sources. Adepts could devote less time to survival and more time to rituals. More and more gods arose. Each race became specialized in their rituals. The rise of the greater gods of each race occurred.
Dwarves were always ahead of other races in stone use. They learned to fashion polished stone axes. Of exquisite quality, the axes could fell even the heartiest of trees. Surrounding people greatly desired these axes, and trade networks began. Dwarven prosperity waxed. Their whole society formed around fashioning polished stone, and so, was tied to the good quarries. Dwarven families that lived around a quarry would band together to protect it from any threats. The importance of the quarries led to strong alliances between the families. The first true dwarven clans were born.
Landlocked and ringed by mountains, the Suel basin is a dry climate. Monsoons are seasonal in Zindia and the Amedio, with their rain waters finally spent in the southern mountains. The Suel plains were yearly flooded from the waters draining those mountains. The floods covered the land with easily worked soil rich in minerals. Wild rye and barley were long staples of the Suel diet. Experimentations in the flood plains led Suel to the discovery of planting seeds in the backwash of the flood plains. The hot climate caused the plants to grow rather quickly. The agricultural revolution began.
Crop growing began providing more food than hunting and gathering ever could, and the Suel took to it in earnest. Various grains, lentils, and vegetables were pioneered. Food stores caused a surge in population. The need for direction led to the development of true rulers, and the aristocrat class formed.
Trade of food for dwarven polished stone tools along the eastern mountains continuously increased. Both races prospered and gained full dominance over their respective land areas. While the dwarven mountains were little able to grow crops with the primitive agricultural means of the time, they spread the concept into the Sheldomar in trades with the Flan. The Flanneass receives steady rainfalls throughout the year and the soil is hard packed. Tools of the time could not effectively penetrate it to grow crops. With sturdy dwarven axes, the Flan felled hillside woodlands. The earth that was exposed was relatively looser, and crops could be grown. Without yearly floods, the land would soon be exhausted, and so, Flan moved to new ground every couple years.
While crop yields allowed increasing populations and greatly hedged against starvation, the Flan stayed dependent on hunting and gathering. Flan began the domestication of animals to supplement their farming. Goats, sheep, and pigs soon became ubiquitous at the fledgling Flan villages. Domestication quickly spread to dwarves, who excelled in raising goats and sheep in the mountains, and thence to the Suel. Suel granaries were overrun by rats and mice, thus they domesticated the cat. Suel domesticated oxen, and soon had primitive plows to till the soil.
Suel progressed to building villages and then small towns. Experiments in controlling the flood waters led to the creation of levees and irrigation canals. Large labor sources are needed to raise levees, cut canals, and keep the whole system free of silt. Suel peasants that performed this work had little time to devote to tending animals. Thus the Suel peasantry stratified into farmers and herdsmen. As more land came under cultivation, herdsmen would be run off their grazing lands. Social tensions between the two groups steadily rose.
Through prehistoric times, dragons were unconcerned with the various insignificant humanoid races. However, the time would come when they could no longer ignore the rising tide. In their wisdom, the dragons realized the growing threat if human progress were allowed without direction. It was the Copper dragons that first made meaningful contact with man. They came among the Suel and Flan offering direction and oversight. The people readily took to their lead.
Stone tools have many limitations. To the Suel and Flan, the Copper dragons taught the secrets of their metallic namesake. And so, metallurgy began upon the Oerth. Copper tools quickly revolutionized many facets of life. From plows to arrowheads, improvements immediately began.
Dwarven polished stone was no longer preeminent. Trade declined and the highway of knowledge between the Suel basin and the Sheldomar began constricting. With reliance on imported foods, dwarven society faced dire threat. Dwarves had a true kinship to stone. With bitter remorse, they began working with copper. Unexpected surprise greeted them as dwarves realized they held the same affinity to metal. Soon they far surpassed the skills of the Suel and Flan, and their tools were again in demand. Trade resumed with the threat overcome.
Dwarves began experimenting with other metals and unlocked the secrets to working gold and silver. Exquisite creations were made. Dwarves scoured the mountains for the copper, gold, and silver. Nuggets laying on the surface were insufficient to fuel dwarven needs. In caverns were found veins. These veins could be opened with copper picks. Mining was born.
Trade was dominated by the dwarves. They needed a method to better control it. Pictograms were formed. Items could be catalogued and recorded.
Suel lands were prosperous. With copper tools, more lands were brought under cultivation. Irrigation networks connected villages and towns together. Small towns grew large. Control of the canals determined whether a town would survive or fall. Wars flared despite the best efforts of the Copper dragons. Wielding copper axes, men became specialized in killing each other. The fighter class originated.
Dwarven pictograms greatly enhanced the aristocrat’s control. Pictographs became more abstract and developed into hieroglyphs. Concepts and meanings could be recorded. Magic was analyzed and written down. Formulas developed to control its extent. The wizard class was born. Soon all positions of power in Suel society were held by wizards.
Adept magic was a blend of arcane and divine magics. Wizards distilled the arcane. Thus, adepts began concentrating on the divine. Rituals and chants to divine powers gained structure and complexity. Lesser gods sprang up among the Suel to control various facets of life. Faithful worship spread. The cleric class arose. The godly hierarchy of greater and lesser gods, each with requisite areas of influence, spread the Oerth. All races came to have a pantheon as numerous new gods rose up.
Suel wizards and priests fought numerous power struggles throughout the towns. Towns became split between those dominated by arcane and those dominated by divine. Wars increased in fervor and magnitude. The Copper dragons were unable to stem the mounting evils. Suel resisted draconic efforts and tempers flared against them. Some towns turned against the dragons, and a number were even killed. Rather than fight a maddening war, the dragons gave up hope. They flew over the mountains to never return. The Suel were left to their own devices.
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