According to legend, the story is this:
Many eons ago, a splinter in the crust of the world burrowed itself into the center of the world
and festered and festered, until at last its hot, burning hate spilled through the wound it had
made and erupted out of the earth. Its rage, violent and angered and ruined for reparation,
boiled the waters and turned the skies into ash that would melt the breath of all living creatures.
Such was the splinter's rage that the rain of fire and ash lasted thousands of years, until only
the smallest of creatures survived, hiding in the pockets of earth that the splinter could not see.
But even fire and hate could not last an eternity, and so the splinter in the center of the world
cooled and slowed. The waters cooled, and although the sky remained dark and bleak, the
burning winds began to clear and the earth, at last, was still.
First, the grass returned. The most proliferous of plants grew tentative shoots on the barren
remains of what once had been the world, and, as no fire came to them, painted the red land
gold and green. Then came the insects and small rodents, and then the ancient trees long
unseen until the searing hate of the splinter cracked open long-forgotten seeds. Then came the
low-flying birds, and the predators after them, and at last awoke a creature most susceptible
to the fire and ash and writhing rage, the Sentinels of the Hearth.
--
{
SENTINELS }
No, there are no Guides in this universe (maybe).
Sentinels are highly intelligent reptiles that evolved to survive in the extreme, polar
environments of the earth post-Splinter. They have smooth, reflective scales and agile fingers
that have almost the full range of motion of a human hand. Sentinels are partly bipedal, with
the ability to walk or sit on two legs for many hours, although they prefer to run on four legs.
Like most surviving creatures at the Hearth, Sentinels are much smaller than their evolutionary
ancestors, growing to maximum lengths of 1.5 meters (5 feet) including their tail.
--
{
THE HEARTH & HEARTHSIDE }
The Hearth is the world in which the Sentinels reside, so named for the active, although
sluggish, fissure that oozes lava into the basin below. The air is dry and scalding the closer
you venture to the Hearth, although it is somewhat moistened by the makings of a lake many
kilometers away. Nothing grows near or on the Hearth, and no soul dares venture near it,
but for a few foolhardy Sentinels who wish to prove themselves warriors - a feat that usually
costs them their lives as the trickle and bubbling of boiling lava is entirely unpredictable.
The basin and the surrounding rocky plains that surround the Hearth are collectively known
as
Hearthside, and the land is rich in hardy plants and teeming with surviving wildlife.
Sentinels are by far the most successful predator in the Hearthside, although they too are
still prey to many larger, hungrier creatures.
