Tree-shepherds
Elemental
Elder wardens of the wood, kin to the Earth Mother, oldest keepers of the Deepwood.
The Natural Order is the life of the world given form, and it stands in three tiers that mirror the order above it. Its great powers are the Elementals, each kin to the god whose domain it embodies. Its wild middle are the beast-folk. And its least and most numerous are the Small Folk, the Muses, who are the first to feel the light go out.
The Elementals: the great awakenings
The Elementals are the mightiest of the Natural Order, and each answers to a god. The tree-shepherds, elder wardens of the wood, keep faith with the Earth Mother. The stone giants, the mountain-wakers, are kin to the Smith and are worshipped as gods by the dark dwarves; they are not evil, but they are not to be relied upon. The river-spirits, daughters of the fickle Sea-Lord, keep the world's magic flowing and stop it from going stagnant. And the owls own the air and carry the world's news to the Loremaster, the Chronicler; her owls are her eyes.
The beast-folk: the wild middle
Between the Elementals and the Small Folk are the beast-folk, half-beast and half-person, the crowned wild of the world. The antlered stag-folk and the solitary great-cat-folk are the truest of them. When the light was high they were noble and strange; as it fails, the wild in them rises, and they turn feral. A land where the beast-folk have gone savage is a land the age has already half-taken.
The Small Folk: the Muses
Least in size and greatest in number are the Small Folk, the brownies and sprites, the Muses of the world. They kindle mortal art and hearth and wonder, the small enchantments that make a life more than survival. They are also the barometer of the age. As the light dies, they fall silent and fade, and when the little folk go quiet the deepening has begun in earnest. Watch the Muses, and you will know the hour before any wizard does.
Stone Giants
Elemental
The mountain-wakers, kin to the Smith and worshipped by the dark dwarves. Not evil, but never to be relied upon.
River-spirits
Elemental
Daughters of the Sea-Lord, the bloodstream of magic, keeping the world's remnant flowing and fresh.
The Owls
Elemental
Owners of the air, the Chronicler's eyes, who carry the news of the world to the goddess of memory.
Stag-folk
Beast-folk
The crowned wild, antlered and noble, turning feral as the light that gentled them fails.
Great-cat-folk
Beast-folk
The solitary hunters, most self-possessed of the beast-folk, and among the last to go savage.
Sprites
The Muses
The fading enchantment given wings, small kindlers of wonder, dimming as the light dies.
Brownies
The Muses
The Muses of hearth and hollow, keepers of the small enchantments of a home, the first to fall silent.
Read on
The Elementals answer to the gods of The Pantheon. Their fading is the story of The Fading Light. What the Void makes of living things is The Corrupted.