Extract from a letter by renowned Naturalist Dalleh Ciwerel:

  Within the naturalist community, there has been a great deal of debate regarding the ‘forerunners’ species of the Five Folks, a discussion which has caused a great many schisms between naturalists. These schisms have in turn weakened our legitimacy and our unity in the face of the deists and their assertions that all life was sprung fully formed from the minds of the gods. For this reason, I present my evidence for the forerunners of each of the five Folks, as well as the animal from which they bear the closest resemblance.

  Though I may overstep the bounds of my proposal, I also outline what I believe is the most likely situation which led to the development of full person-level intelligence from within each of these five species.

  In this way, we may definitively center our research into finding evidence for the divine tampering which either created the first of the other Folks ex nilho, or, as the case may be for such things as the umbran, finding the being or group thereof who were first transfigured into the new species.

  Among the humanoids, I see no species so clearly placed as the Human (Homo Sapiens) as the most preeminent forerunner species as the Folk’s own namesake. We may first set aside beings such as the changelings, umbran, and so forth, on account of their nature being proven as simply an altered state of a different being. We may thereafter discount giants, halflings, gnomes, goblins, and others of substantially larger and smaller build. These beings have a size easily considered abnormal among humanoids, whose adult height ranges from four foot to ten foot across the vast majority of beings within that Folk.

  From here, there are several species which bear obvious biological crosses with other Folk, and may thereby be easily eliminated from forerunner consideration on account of their obviously unnatural origins. This naturally includes not only kobolds (already eliminated on account of their stature), but scaleborn, drakelings, sheffi, merfolk, and so forth.

  Humans, elves, avior, dwarves, and orcs are the most common and least-magical of the remaining beings. Avior are easily dismissed on account of their feathers and flight capabilities. Orcs may be discounted on account of their facial structure being so radically different from that of the other humanoids, in addition to their complexion skewing quite differently from most other humanoids, due to the chemistry within their skin being so different. Dwarves are likewise set apart due to their metallic skeletons, shared with no other humanoids save giants, whose ferrous bones are so different than dwarves it is arguable whether they could even be said to have such overlap. Thus we are left with elves and humans. While it might be obvious to dismiss elves on account of their horns, a feature shared by very few other humanoids, it is the nature of their adaptability which obviously disqualifies them. That no other being (unless one counts a troll as a being) would have such an enormous and hugely beneficial capability to persist within all environs is deeply suspicious. Surely, if the elves had been the forerunner of the humanoids, such adaptability would have been widespread? Therefore, we are left with the human as the primary candidate for the forerunner of the humanoid Folk.

  The only predominantly unique feature of the human’s biology, its impressive endurance and persistence, is only absent from other humanoids due to biological incompatibility. Dwarves have a completely different method of heat management, elves’ adaptability is in direct opposition to the spiritual persistence of humans, orc skin is too thick and tough to support sweat glands, and so forth. Therefore, we may comfortably conclude that humanity were the original humanoid, with others being adapted from their base template.

  Looking to the natural world for the creature which they are most similar to, we find the chimpanzee, an arboreal-based tribal creature with smaller and less dexterous hands, thick hair across their entire bodies instead of just their heads, and a more hunched gait. On account of its life within forested areas, its hands remained adapted for tree-climbing. Humans, by contrast, migrated to large plains and developed a more upright gait, their signature endurance-based hunting style, and most crucially developed the motor skills required to optimize projectile weapon usage. This began as simple stone-throwing, but as they expanded it to spear creation, this necessitated the development of skills required to make tools, and thereby set off the gradual accumulation of knowledge.

  Though the aviaries are somewhat more complex to determine a forerunner, I believe it is nonetheless possible to determine the original as wendals (Whento Magus). Much as we have done with the humanoids, we may discount species such as the roc and the flittle on account of their size far outside the normal wingspan we see among aviaries, of three to nine feet.

  Though nearly all aviaries contain some intrinsic magical capabilities and thus cannot be so easily filtered out as emberlings and umbrans with humanoids, entities such as thunderbirds, phoenixes, and caladrius have such a firm elemental grasp that a biology based upon their body types must have a powerful elemental skew, something not seen with the roc, siren, ossin, and similar aviaries. From there, we may eliminate xao, garu, ciever, and similar species on account of their abnormal wing-sets. At this point,we are left with wendal, tengu, and bohes. The tengu’s innate inability to make any sound it has not heard is clearly not a natural trait, and may thus be eliminated from consideration. The bohes, comparatively, may be eliminated on account of their prehensile wing-feathers, a feature typically only seen elsewhere with the flittle.

  Therefore, we may conclude that wendal is the forerunner for the aviary Folk. The unique feature of wendal biology, namely its innate feather-casting, represents a natural beginning point for the overwhelmingly (compared to the other folk) magical nature of aviaries, and wendal mobile pinions, much like human endurance, seems to be predominantly excluded in favor of adaptations which would directly conflict with the ability to individually manipulate feather positioning. The exception to this is, naturally, aviary such as bohes and flittle whose biology has exemplified this trait to an excessive degree, granting them full prehensility.

  It is somewhat more difficult to determine the closest relative to wendals as it was for humans, but their beak and overall color scheme is much closer to that of crows, compared to the next-closest contender of the grey parrot. We see in the crow a similar body type to wendals (though obviously lacking their mobile pinions), but their lower body is substantially more flexible and well-developed. Ironically, compared to humans, whose body type adapted for life outside forests, wendals adapted for a thicker forest, with claws and legs much more suited for climbing in trees compared to crows. In addition, crows possess an underdeveloped set of vocalizations compared to wendal voices. Appearance-wise, crows resemble a more muted, entirely black wendal. Some crow subspecies do share their trademark white underbelly, but no crows possess anything approximating the iridescence of wendal wings.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Wendals seemingly developed their biology as a necessity for their innate magic-casting. Their home of dense forests prompted them to develop muscular control over individual feathers, as well as their broader vocal range, as part of their ability to ensnare the minds of prey and tame animals to perform tasks which they were unsuited for, as well as to telekinetically move branches and trees to create larger communal nests. With intentional caster-based magic, it is unsurprising that they developed the intelligence needed to further build out their magical capabilities.

  Krakares are, despite what one might suspect, a Folk for whom their forerunner is not the kraken. Despite the Folk’s eponymous and most iconic member, I have instead identified that dasnae (Densmo Genios) are the most likely originator. As with the humanoids and aviary, we can trim out the species with the most outlying features and therein determine the average, and thus most likely forerunner.

  For this reason, the kraken may be eliminated on account of simply being the largest species within the Folk. For the same reason as giants and rocs, their massive size is a strong indication of their outlier, rather than average size. Similarly, podes and cutil may be eliminated on account of their diminutive size. Similarly, land-dwelling is an outlying condition and therefore mimics, cranids, usurpers, and similar may be discarded. Then, given the number of kakares with no particular magical ability, we may once again exclude the particularly magical species, such as eelimel, wahteres, and suiqu.

  Of these, the only remaining common krakares are dasnae and tenarwe. Tenarwe, however, may be eliminated from consideration on account of their limbs- while the number of limbs does vary between the krakares Folk, the vast majority of them only possess arms (which have suckers or cillia along their entire length), rather than tentacles (which possess suckers only at the very end). Furthermore, as they possess four sets of tentacles, rather than arms, are an outlier among the Folk. While dasnae do possess a number of suckers which other krakares lack, this is, in my opinion, due to the more subtle ways in which such things interfere with other common krakares abilities, such as camouflage and their mind-links. Much like how humans and wendals had some of their less compatible features removed to make biological room for the specializations and alterations which deities imbued them with, so too did the dasnae.

  When looking to compare dasnae to their cousins, we find the octopus, and most specifically the coconut octopus, as the species with the strongest similarity. It is substantially smaller than their intelligent cousins, and lives predominantly in shallow, tropical waters, hiding in loose debris for protection. All of its arms are of roughly equal length, none of which are forked, and possess no cillia, instead simply having exclusively suckers, and only on the underside of its arms. Furthermore, they possess no neural overlap with their offspring, much like most other species, and with a lifespan not incomparable to dasnae, this prevented them from developing the intricate tool-use and ancestral shared memory of their more advanced cousins.

  It is fairly clear that dasnae grew larger and developed their tool usage as a means of creating armor and camouflage, with suckers covering both sides of their arms to better allow for the gripping of armors, mobility aids, weapons, and props to aid it in hiding. This naturally allowed the underside of their arms to develop cillia for even-finer manipulation of objects. The original purpose of their larger, forked arms are unclear, but given their present use it seems probable that these were utilized even then to facilitate the relocation and use of larger-than-usual objects.

  Gounar are, by comparison, mercifully simple to find their forerunner, though perhaps it is overestimating the ease on account of how long it has been known that ruhits (Hruna Callides) were the first of their Folk. We may once again discard the particularly large and small specimens, such as minotaurs, wargs, and redalls, and the more magical species like the taskor, vixell, and ekkoi. We may once again discard those species who are obvious crosses with other species, such as sphinx, boggards, and centaurs. At this point, we are left with only ruhits, despite its comparative oddities, it is the only species unambiguously left un-crossed with any other Folk. Were it not for the history of their known status as forerunners, their comparative oddities might otherwise lead to them being eliminated early, yet we may consider ourselves fortunate that in this, at least, we possess divine confirmation to the rightness of our knowledge.

  However, it is far more difficult to find their cousin species, as raccoons are so rare. But, with a side-by-side comparison it becomes obvious with their similar gray and black banded fur, nimble forelegs, and striped tail. It is, however, easy to likewise see their differences, with the raccoon’s substantially smaller and non-prehensile tail, less-developed hands, and more balanced torso and hindquarters. They do still share some of their more intelligent cousin’s propensity for fastidiousness, and are quite clever in their own animal way. However, it is clear that ruhit developed their tool usage and higher intelligence on account of creating more elaborate traps, and engineering their overall surroundings for surprise attack artifice.

  *The rest of this page in the original manuscript has been rendered illegible with large amounts of ink blotted over it. The only thing which may be derived from this section is that it begins with the word “Finally.” There is no sign of this excess scribbling on the next page, which has been written in something of a more hurried script.

  Finally, dragonoids are obvious, with the ‘true dragons’ (Draco Draco) well deserving of their name. While leviathans may dispute that claim, as will ryugan and others, their claims are obviously inferior and incorrect compared to the powerful magic, majestic wings, intimidating scaled bodies, very, very sharp claws and very, very, large teeth which the true dragons possess.

  Likewise, I dare not suggest that the true dragons possess any mundane cousins. After all, they were sculpted wholly by the gods in the earliest days of creation, the apex of all beings, granted the gift of overflowing life by Gydem himself, and possess this radiant glow that far outshines any mundane saurians, not that there is any particular reason to call attention to that clade of mere animals.

  Therefore, I present my evidence that four of the five Folk do, indeed, possess a forerunner which came about naturally via entirely non-divine means, granting strong evidence that the gods utilized existing templates for their creations.

  etymology.

  Discord for more nonsense like this.