When we came to the land, there were three peoples. The great winged spirits came to the people and said to them, "This is where you shall live. Have each of your leaders come to meet with us." So the leader of the Knife-men came to the winged spirits, and so did the leader of the Fur Wearers, and so did the leader of us, the People of the Plains.
Then the winged spirits asked, "Where will you live, and what animal will you take to live with you?" The leader of the Knife-men, always arrogant, pushed the others aside and said, "We are the fastest and strongest. We have done more than our brothers. We wish to be as strong as you yourselves, winged spirits, so we shall take these winged beasts and they will belong to us." So they took the Wyverns.
The Fur Wearer chief looked troubled, and he stepped forward and said, "We live in the cold, and we will stop all who try to make us fight again. We want to fish and live in peace. We will take the great fish and their kin." So they went up to the north and swam with the great fish, and they feel not the cold of the wind or the water.
The leader of the People of the Plains was worried, because he knew that there were three people, and one of them would one day die, because whenever there are three of something, one of them must die. But he could not take the great Wyverns in the mountains, and he could not take the cold lands and the great fish, because he could not live there, and the Fur Wearers were there already. He said to the winged spirits, "I will live here on these plains. And I need no beast but the creatures of the earth to survive with. We will fight, and we will die, but we will not be cowards."
Then the winged spirits laughed, and said, "You, who chose the most lowly of creatures, shall be rewarded." And the winged spirits took out a stone, and the creatures of the earth grew tall and strong and large enough to ride, with strong jaws for catching food and thick hides for making clothing and armor. "Now you are the Riders," said the winged spirits, "and shall live proudly as long as this stone is safe."
"But if we are riders," said our leader, "we cannot build a fortress to protect that stone." So he gave the stone to the Fur Wearers, who promised to keep it safe. The Wyvernin chief was angry, for he had thought he had chosen the strongest of beasts for himself. Half of his men left in anger when the Fur Wearers and the Riders made their pact, and those that left went to live in the Char, where no magic could reach them. They are called the Charrin now.
And that is why there are three peoples, and why we fight the Wyvernin, who want us to be the one of the three that dies.
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