Age of the first humanoids
The Age of the First Humanoids is the oldest and longest known period of Oi's history. It is not yet a time of states, wars, crowns or named nations, but an epoch of biological origin, slow evolution and the formation of the very foundations of intelligent life. It was in this age that Alpha humanoids and later Beta humanoids, the common basis of most naturally occurring humanoid races, appeared in the territory of today's Ulvenor. Oia differed from many other worlds at this time in that its development was not repeatedly interrupted by devastating global extinctions. Life could therefore layer up, adapt over the long term and create an extremely stable but at the same time very diverse biosphere.
Why is the period called the Age of the First HumanoidsZ
The name comes from the fact that it was in this epoch that the first stable humanoid life forms appeared. The Alpha Humanoids were not yet a civilization in the cultural sense, but they represented the first significant step towards the later intelligent races. Their more upright movement, relaxation of the upper limbs, simple tools and group behavior formed the basis of future development.
The later Beta humanoids already marked the turning point between mere survival and the first seeds of culture. They learned to work better with the environment, use fire, build shelters and pass on experiences. Therefore, the entire age is understood as a period when a biological possibility gradually became a historical force.
The world before history
Most of the later chronicles begin their history with the first kingdoms, but the real story of Oia is much older. In this age there were no borders, no names of nations, no memory in the form of writing. There was only a world that had been becoming habitable for an extremely long time and was gradually creating the conditions for intelligent life. Oia was smaller than Earth, had a more stable atmosphere, a strong magnetic field, and the development of life there took place in long, less interrupted cycles.
It is this continuity that has made it possible for complex ecosystems to appear in the world, in which older and younger species coexisted. Development was not a sequence of complete restarts, but a long layering. Thanks to this, universality, cooperation and the ability to adapt to different environments began to be promoted in some development lines. The humanoid base later emerged from these features.
Alpha humanoids
Alpha humanoids appeared approximately 400,000,000 BC. They weren't the most powerful creatures of their time, and they certainly weren't yet a civilization, but their bodies were extremely adaptable. They were able to move more upright than older life forms, use their upper limbs for manipulation, and survive with simple tools, group cooperation, and the ability to learn by observation.
Their world was still raw, dangerous and close to animal survival. Still, the seeds of something greater already existed within him. Alpha humanoids emitted organized sound signals, distinguished basic group roles, and preserved simple experiences across generations. They seem primitive from the point of view of later empires, but without them no race, no culture, and no empire would ever have arisen.
Beta Humanoids and the First Culture
Around 150,000,000 BC, Alpha humanoids evolved into Beta humanoids. It is they who represent the last great common ground of most later races. In Beta humanoids, there was more significant development of the brain, vocal apparatus, planning and shared learning. It was no longer just about instinctive survival, but the beginning of a tradition.
Beta humanoids mastered fire, built the first more stable shelters, and began to spread on a larger scale into forests, mountains, wetlands, steppes, and deserts. At this time there were no elves, dwarves, humans, orcs or kobolds, but the basis of their future difference was already being formed. Individual groups encountered different environmental pressures and slowly began to differ from each other in body structure, metabolism and way of life.
The Henstir disaster
The biggest turning point of the age was the eruption of the Henstir supervolcano. It did not mean the end of life, but changed the direction of its development. A huge amount of ash, dust and volcanic gases entered the atmosphere, which led to a sharp cooling. The oceans partially froze, old migration routes broke up, and elsewhere temporary ice or land bridges between continents were created.
It was this catastrophe that created the conditions for the long-term isolation of many humanoid populations. Some groups crossed into new areas, others remained separated behind ice, water, mountains or wastelands. Once the climate stabilized again, the world was not the same. Separate racial lines gradually began to emerge from one broad branch of humanoids.
The importance of the period for further history
The age of the first humanoids is the foundation of the entire world of Howl of Eternity. He created the biological, climatic and geographical prerequisites for the emergence of races, longevity, different cultures and future continental histories.
Without the Alpha and Beta humanoids, there would be no common race origin. Without Henstir, such a fundamental isolation of populations would not have occurred. And without the long stability of Oiy, the races would not have arisen as a result of deep adaptation to the environment, but as much more random and less connected branches of life.