In the beginning, the people of the mountains lived in darkness. The great peaks of Zaranqui, Fianqui, and Vainranqui stole away the warm light of the sun and left the valleys below harsh and rough. As such the ivu Rani, the first people, took to the stone, the earth, and the mountains to find warmth. Soon their bodies resembled the mountains with a skin of stone, claws of iron, eyes of gold, and horns of copper. It was in this age⁠—called the Dau Huvan, or the age of shadows, by the Ran⁠i—that the Rani delved into the giant mountain of Zaranqui.

Within the greatest of all mountains, they found a cavern that led deep into the earth, deeper than any chasm they had found before. This path held warmth and gave strength to the Rani who tirelessly explored further and further into the mountain. After what seemed like days there was an end to the search and the Rani found themselves in a grand cave. In this cave, a tear opened up in the earth and from it streamed a golden flame that crackled with symbols and markings unknown. As the leader of the expedition touched these flames he was covered in a coat of golden flames and upon his head burned a crown of purest light that burned the eyes of all who gazed upon it for too long. This fire soon cloaked all Rani in its holy flames, both those above and those below, and it brought them a greater understanding of things. The first Ran who was chosen by its flames called it Ivuzen, the First-Fire, and he proclaimed it was a gift from the universe itself.

The first Ran, cloaked in fire and golden light, became the first leader of the Rani. He was renamed Zaran, or ruler, by a large council of elders and they proclaimed him as Zen Atinren, or chosen by the fire. The Dua Huvan ended and the Dua Ivuzen was born.

It is told that Zaran then ordered that a great hall was to be made for his coronation and so the Ivuzen gave unto the Rani greater knowledge of masonry, smithing, and construction. With the blessing of the First-Fire and the strong Rani under his command, Zaran dug himself a hall worthy of a king. The smiths had fashioned tremendous pillars from Roin, today called adamantine, to hold up the ceiling. The jewelers worked day and night to produce brilliant treasures for Zaran which they decorated with rare gems and diamonds. The stonemasons made wide tiles depicting the First-Fire for Zaran to walk upon and all contributed to a golden throne for him to sit on. The elders then found the most beautiful female Ran in the land and had her marry Zaran, renaming her Zarania, and her head too was crowned with holy flames of gold.

The ceremony that crowned Zaran and Zarania was held in the great hall with every Rani attending and both king and queen were given a band of silver and jewels to wear upon their neck. Zaran then seated himself on his golden throne, the monument to his greatness, and he declared that the hall was to become twice enlarged, and so it was. He declared that the mountain was to be filled with homes for all Rani, and so it was. He declared that the hall would become even larger and that it would not stop until it reached the golden flames, and so it was. The three declarations turned the great hall into a city that went ever deeper into Zaranqui until finally a grand temple was built around the Ivuzen. This marked the beginning of the Rani's magnificence and when they became the Quirani, the people of the mountain. And it was the birth of their first city, Mauvain.

To celebrate the Quirani held a festival in honor of the Ivuzen which made their fire glow even brighter and extended their lives far beyond that of their Rani ancestors. More ideas came to the Quirani from the Ivuzen and they build enormous wheels of stone that harnessed the power of the underground rivers. They build long sewers that wiped away many diseases and they constructed a deep and wide bathhouse warmed by the Ivuzen itself. Zaran ordered his people to study more the wonders of the First-Fire and soon they discovered the mighty power of the Ivuzen wards. With this great magic, the Quirani became mages of Ivuzen and their city came alive with a red glow that cast away all darkness.

Yet despite all wonders that the Quirani found in the fire, and despite all joys that were given to him, Zaran was never satisfied. He sired many children but in time found himself shackled to lust rather than love. He ordered the creation of many great works, but quickly they became things only for his own vanity. He learned more secrets from the Ivuzen but spent that knowledge on sloth, creating objects to do his work for him. And finally, his greed became untamable and that was when he heard whispers from the stone. Hoarse whispers called upon the king of the Quirani and he ordered his people to dig deep into the rock. Deeper and deeper they went, further and further away from the soothing of the fire and closer and closer to the cold whispers in the stone. That was when they found it, a lake of black. Zaran was rewarded with knowledge for his search as the lake would whisper to him dark and terrible things. It whispered that if Zaran wanted more knowledge he would have to do heinous things, and so he brought its darkness from the depths up to Mauvain.

With the dark lake's influence, Zaran waged war upon his people's minds. All were made subservient but a few and the once bright halls of Mauvian were cast into shadow. Not even the Ivuzen, the source of Zaran's greatness and legitimacy, was spared from this darkness. In a ritual that shook the earth, Zaran bound the lake and First-Fire together, forcing the golden flames to become purple and tarnished. The Ivuzen became the Daizen, the Tainted-Fire, and the Quirani became slaves to the darkness' will. So ended the Dua Ivuzen and began the Dua Daizen.

For two thousand years, the darkness reigned in the halls of Mauvain and the Quirani were naught but slaves to its will. But one Quiran refused this fate. The seventh son of Zaran, Zavain was able to break free from the darkness that clouded his mind. He did so with an ember of the First-Fire, a small light that came to him and then died. This light freed him and it returned his coat of flames. Zavain would free as many as he could with the fire he still had and he undid his father's evil work by breaking the link between the lake and the Daizen. But this did not return the holy flames of the Ivuzen, it only freed its husk. With what strength remained in the holy fire it whisked away Zavain and his followers from Mauvain and turned its terrible last breath against Zaranqui itself. The tallest mountain in existence shook, groaned, and crumbled into the depths that Zaran had built. The tainted city of Mauvain followed the mountain into the darkness and so did most of the once noble Quirani, a tragedy that shook the survivors for generations.

Zavain and his followers found themselves in a land of dust and darkness and even with Zaranqui gone no sunlight could reach the cursed valley that remained. All hope seemed lost until Zavain found that something burned his hooves. From the remnants of Mauvain, there were golden cinders, cinders that were quickly dying. Every survivor of Mauvain gave up their coats of fire and their immortal lives to the cinders to keep them burning and a surviving jewel smith fashioned a lantern out of crystal to keep the cinders in. The crystal had once been bathed in the Ivuzen and once inside the cinders burned without stopping. A new golden flame was born and each survivor instilled within it truth and valor to safeguard it from evil.

The lantern created a hallowed blue light that chased away the dust and shadow from the valley and slowly but surely sunlight hit the land. The surviving Quirani considered themselves to once again be the Rani and for a long time, they wandered beneath the shadows of Fianqui and Vainranqui until Zavain stopped before a natural cave in Fianqui and named it their new home. So the Rani once again became the Quirani and they built a new city they named Mauzaika, a second city more humble in spirit and size. There would be no dark greed from the depths in the second city and no king could rule forever for all that remained of the Ivuzen was the Zaikazen, the Truth-Fire, within its crystal lantern. The lantern was placed in a tower above Mauzaika so that's hallowed light could be seen by all and provide guidance to all that needed it.

And so ended the Dau Daizen and began the Dau Zaikazen, the Age of Truth-Fire. But it would become more famous by another name given to it by the Quirani descendants: Dau Zathon, The Age of Cinders.

What was shall be.