From then until never

Part 8, The Áettar

"The beautiful bird gets the cage."
-Knomes about Áettar Knomes, later know as Áettar.

The graceful Áettar race was breed for a singular purpose, to be the playthings of the invisible Pish race. 'The people', as the Áettar call themselves, were once Knomes, lured into Dim forest and changed forever. Only those who had a disproportional interest in relationships, sex, and religion were fooled by the empty whispers from invisible creatures. To satisfy their voyeuristic appetites the Pish breed the Áettar into the most beautiful, and nude, race on Sojurut.

The appearance of full Áettar, no longer Knome Áettar, marked the start of the age of evolution. The religion of Dismus handed down to them by whispering voices created the xenophobic zealots of nudity that sealed themselves within the cage of Dim forest. For an age the polyamorous Áettar lived in their own utopia inside the Glade that was protected by the thick forest on the edges of Dim, and by other more invisible things. The protection was absolute as long as the rules of Dismus were followed absolutely.

That was until the age of displacement, the emerging Khmur desert brought on to the continent by the sorcerers never reached Dim. However, much later a traveller named Hlif managed to finagle his way into the forest where the Áettar greeted him as friend. They had never had visitors before and had no idea how to go about not showing hospitality. The man came to them injured, drunk, and most importantly naked. Except for two scales, one on each side of his stomach. These were deemed to not be the C-word, clothing, or the man would probably have been thrown in the Zive river tied to a sack of stones.

Hlif stayed with them for almost a hundred years, not too long a time for the Áettar who often live to three-hundred. During that time, no one questioned children than normal went missing. There some loss of life was to be expected, the price of living in a utopia, but during this time the price was significantly higher than normal.

Eventually, something happened that meant the visitor could no longer stay in Dim. He exposed an entire tribe of Áettar to the reality of their Pish masters. Pish invisibility is a bit strange in that as long as you don't know they exist, you can't see them, but once seen they cannot be unseen. Hlif had overstayed the welcome of the Pish. Together with the Áettar that would become the Nontie people, he ran for the edge of Dim. The exposed tribe ran for their lives since the Pish could not risk being exposed to the rest of the tribes. Hlif on the other hand was not running for his life, he was pretty sure he couldn't die, but he could feel pain. Being burned, drowned, buried alive and dropped from great heights for the rest of eternity was not his idea of living a good life.