As with all great stories, Tales of Aurduin starts at the beginning of time.
In eons past, the mystical race of the Illan created the world of Aurduin, which means "Sacred Land" in their language of
Illanii. They created this world through their esoteric science of the Altfein-Aryat, or the "Lore of the Gift-Givers,"
a system of knowledge of how to use the sacred creation stones, the Altfein. With these stones, brought to life
by etherial voices of the Illan, the Illan created all the world of Aurduin and all the beings within it.
Over time the Illan organized themselves into four orders at four temples: the Black Order, the Green Order,
the Yellow Order, and the White Order. Each order had its own temple in one of the four cardinal directions of east,
south, west, and north.
When the Illan judged that their work was finished they prepared to transcend the world of Aurduin to reside
on a more spiritually refined plane of existence. However, before leaving Aurduin, they transformed their four temples
into the Four Mountains (as can be seen on the map above). With these sacred mountains the Illan symbolically
encoded their esoteric knowledge of the Altfein stones and the power of creation.
The final creation of the Illan was the magical creature, Orobai. Heeding the dire warnings of the
great eagles, the Arnyar, the Illan created Orobai to preserve their knowledge of the Altfein-Aryat as the great eagles foresaw
that at some time in the future Aurduin would face an apocalyptic ecological disaster. The Illan thus created Orobai
with the hopes that he would be able to stop, or at the very least, heal, the terrible damage of the impending apocalypse.
Transcending the world of Aurduin, the Illan leave Orobai to receive tutelage from the Arnyar, learn
the Altfein-Aryat, and discover the secrets of the Four Mountains, the Orgathen.
