Children of Ka’Thura, Heirs of the Blossoming Vale

This is the Hidden Chronicle, spoken only beneath open sky and falling petals.

Outsiders know fragments. Only the Simianfolk know the whole truth.

The World Before Breath

Before Zin had seasons, before the sun knew where to rise, the world was raw stone and storm. The land itself was alive, but without will—its spirit scattered, its mountains still forming.

At the center of all things rose a single peak, older than time:

Zudius, the World-Root Mountain.

Zudius when he fell to Zin, was not merely a mountain, it was the heart of the world, a living titan of stone whose veins carried fire and crystal. Its dreams shaped the land, and its slow pulse guided the growth of continents.

Yet the world beyond Zudius was wild and broken. Horrors roamed freely, and the young races were fragile and afraid.

So the spirits of earth, flame, and wind gathered at Zudius's summit and chose to carve a Titan during the Titan Wars of Zin.

The Carving of the First Father

From Zudius living stone, they shaped a towering figure—broad-shouldered, ape-like, powerful yet gentle. Into his chest they set a glowing crystal torn from the mountain’s heart.

Thus was born Aruun-Kael, the First Simian, the Voice of Stone, the Living Will of Ka’Thura.

When he opened his eyes, the world itself trembled.

The Shattering of the Heart

Aruun-Kael wandered Zin, sealing rifts, driving back horrors, and healing scarred lands. But as centuries passed, he felt the weight of solitude.

He returned to the mountainous heart of Zudius, known as Ka’Thura and carved others like himself—statues in his own image—and begged the spirits to grant them life.

They refused.

They feared that a second creation would rival the gods.

So Aruun-Kael chose sacrifice.

He shattered the crystal heart within his chest—Ka’Thura’s own living essence—and cast its fragments into the stone forms.

The mountain screamed.

The spirits fled.

And the first Simianfolk drew breath.

Aruun-Kael fell, his body cracking and sinking into the earth filling into the old Titan's heart. His bones became mountains. His blood became rivers. His final breath became the warm winds that circle the hidden valley.

The Blossoming Vale

Where Aruun-Kael fell, life erupted. Cherry trees bloomed from his shattered core, their roots drinking from the world’s heart.

The Simianfolk built their home around his resting place, calling it the Blossoming Vale, later known as the Cherry Vale.

Ka’Thura’s lingering spirit shielded the valley. No map marked it. No army could reach it.

For ages, the Simianfolk lived in peace, guarding the resting place of their Stone Father and honoring Ka’Thura as the true source of all life.

The Coming of the Darkness

But Ka’Thura’s power was not forgotten.

An ancient Darkness awakened beyond the mountains, drawn to the fractured heart of the world. Unable to breach the Vale, it whispered into the minds of the mortal races.

Gnolls, Goblins, Orcs, and Humans—twisted by greed—marched under a single hunger.

The mountains fell.

The wards broke.

The cherry trees burned.

The spirit of Ka’Thura stirred one last time, collapsing paths through the mountains so some of his children could escape.

Most did not.

The Age of Exile

Now the Simianfolk are scattered across Zin—warriors, monks, mystics, and wanderers.

They no longer hide.

They hunt the Darkness that sought their Stone Father’s heart.

They believe that when the last fragment of Ka’Thura’s crystal is gathered, their creator will awaken once more.

Until that day, they stand as his living will.

“From stone we came.

To stone we return.

But until that day—we endure.”