Deumana
Rise, Reign and Fall of The Dead Gods: Deodorum est Mortuus
Rotations past these giant androgynous humanoids could be seen striding eerily through the landscape, over mountains and through seas, often with organic machines at hand; masses of animals and birds fleeing in their wake. Their accompanying machines were made to purpose, such as Land whales to clean waste areas after experiments, green writhing masses of Creepers to restore wild growth, and stunted Faux Giants, servile soldiers to bolster their armies.
Prior to their disappearance from Lume - due to a cataclysm begun by a Deumana splinter group later coined the Frost Giants), these bipedal behemoths were the dominant race on the planet. Reaching heights averaging 100m (or 800 spans), they were intelligent, calculating, and utterly ruthless. They served only their individual interests; ignorant of the consequences of their actions as they pursued their experiments.
It is speculated by Slender chronographers that their size developed due to a sociological trend; their race artificially breeding increasingly larger offspring as a display of wealth and power. The Arch Librarian further surmises the Deumana were at one time a humanoid race; the apex predator of the planet. They developed an inflated and detached sense of superiority over their surrounding ecosystem. Combined with their custody over impoverished sub-groups, this led to their gradual transition to demigodhood. As these proto-demigods showed decreasing empathy for their surroundings, their wants overtook their needs. (See Frank Herbert's The Godmakers).
Though initially preferring metal and sand as their predominant building material, eventually the Deumana created organic machines to manifest their architectural desires. The only housing excavated by Slender Archaeologists appears to have been for their vassals to shelter in. This implies the Dead Gods needed no rest nor protection from the elements, having altered themselves and their surrounds sufficiently to avoid such concerns. The enthralled Races survived their serfdom, and their subjugators, and eventually came to populate Lume long after the disappearance of the Deumana.
The Deumana - a name they coined themselves - while typically solitary, would combine forces and disciplines for common goals, particularly during the Schism. Geneticists would collaborate with Generals to breed troops, Botanists with Psychologists to imprint flora with sentience, etc. Disputes occurred, and were either resolved with the judgment of an arbitrary Deumana third party, or by the extermination of one Deumana by the other. Towards the end, they numbered only in the thousands, diluted to represent the most devious of their race.
Rise, Reign and Fall
The Rise
A forgotten number of Rotations ago, a highly developed humanoid civilization reached a turning point in their history. The ever-widening gap between the social classes increasingly escalated until the most privileged forcibly positioned themselves to become overlords, the remaining majority thereafter serving as vassals. Speciesism naturally led to racism, finally descending into a genocidal aristocracy. Slender records do not contain a history of these events in detail, though it is inferred the process of enslavement was cycles in the making.
The Rule
With global resources and talent pools focused by the narcissistic zeal of these Overlords, genetic advances escalated at a rapid rate; these self-important rulers began to breed their physical size to match their egos. This break from the laws of physics, as they were understood at the time, led to another division in the social classes, this time within the Overlords themselves. What little is known proceeds thusly; the race now referred to as Frost Giants originated as a rebel faction within the Deumana themselves. These ancestors of the Giants surmised their race had deviated from their natural evolution due to extreme genetic tampering; they had severed a link to their roots they felt should not have been broken. While they could not reverse their physical stature, they strove to live alongside nature as stewards, with all the benefits and repercussions this entails. The factions of Deumana and Frost Giants (they would not be thus named until migrating to the northern mountains rotations later), warred for many cycles; the struggle fueling their inventions. With their genetic mastery came an increased ability to recreate the landscape they destroyed; the clash would have continued ceaselessly if not for an odd couple. In Shakespearean tradition and against all odds, a Deumana Molecular Engineer became enamored with the passionate and charismatic leader of a Frost Giant faction. His defection turned the tide that ended the war, and formed the catalyst for the great changes to come.
The Fall
At this time humans of our scale, lifespan and ability had become extinct long ago, first reduced to slaves and likely becoming obsolete as the Deumana technology grew. During the war with the rebels, known as The Schism an inquisitive demigod revived their diminutive predecessors, for reasons which can only be guessed at. They may have either reconstructed them genetically from records, or otherwise restored them from a regressed fragment within their own genetics, restoring an approximation of these long-lost humanoids. The Frost Giants mobilised and pounced on the facility as soon as they could manage. In these revived examples of their former selves, the Giants, alongside the defecting Deuman Taal, recognised the opportunity for their species to continue. They would begin again, from the point in time when their species had broken with the natural order. At the same time, they would restore the landscape to a bountiful and wild state, ideal for the newly empowered Races to grow and learn. The Frost Giants would recede into the shadows of the northern Indigo Crown mountains, until a time when their younger cousins were ready to assume the mantle of custodians of Lume. But first, they had to clear the way for the young and naive Races, and this meant removing the Deumana, brutally and briskly. This is where their association with Taal proved consequential, and alongside other defectors, they plotted to use the very lives - or anima - of the Deumana to populate the neo-sapien race. The details are known only to the Frost Giants, the immortal Gardeners, the Arch Slenders choronographers and perhaps a few straggling Mythos. The demigod race died quickly, the Giants used what little forces they had left to trigger agricultural machines their rivals had wielded to spark regrowth on the continent, then withdrew to the Indigo Crown to live out the remainder of their lives. Initially fearing the hazards of the Waste, especially the Stalkers, who claimed many a limb and life, they eventually came to see it as a barrier that kept them hidden. Eventually they became myth, then legend, and were forgotten, to be rediscovered rotations later by mule-headed scholars and the infrequent adventurer.
Recorded Dead Gods; still venerated by SunFolk and renegade Necromancers:
'Ani'Klei' - Shepard of the Weak. Portrayed leading people and creatures ahead of her, as though to safety. In truth, 'Ani'Klei' was a suzerain devoted to mental slavery on a grand scale, and was instrumental in developing the terrifying organic traps that enslaved species, and kept them that way; the ''Ge''l. Mindless, jelly-like beings the size of houses, they attracted sentient creatures, luring them into their mass to be slowly consumed. These instruments of horror shifted noiselessly through the landscape, mesmerizing prey who would go to them gleefully, even battling family to resume their doomed journey. These abominations were among her creations.
'Triton'Knaar' - Life Bringer. The revenants plaguing Lume began as experiments with reanimation, ministered by this demigod, who obsessed with the waste created by raising creatures from birth, when good flesh already grown to maturity still existed. A favourite god among Necromancers, many tomes were created to emulate his works. The Library at Motometro guards original fragments of text that detail this prominent Deumana's methods.
'Vesselen Ukin' - Lord of War. A General during the Schism insurrection, this individual proved how well their colleagues' inventions could be utilized for mass slaughter. Machines, organic and mechanical, originally designed to restructure landscapes, were put to use against their foes. To credit, the tactics employed and refined by this leader have remained in print even to Drethen's time. These were likely a source of inspiration for The Undead King, as Alexander the Great was for Napoleon and Hitler (citation needed).
'Atlover Atir' - The Creator and Keeper of Lore. Known by several titles amongst the Sandfolk and the Slenders, 'Atlover' is credited with many skills. A scholar by heart and by trade, this Deumana was utterly fascinated by creatures of lore and myth from bygone eras. With the power to bend life to their whims, many of the fantastical beings still surviving, and thriving, on Lume owe their existence to this demigod. Dragons, Centaurs, and particularly Chimera, all brought to life from the records of their ancestors. Of the Deumana that are remembered, 'Atir' was one of the least despotic, and took a genuine interest in the welfare of their creations.
'A'tak Taal' - The Turncoat. The Engineer who would love a rebel, and betrayed his people for them. Believed to be responsible for the creation and operation of landscaping machines, and perhaps the creation of the Land whale, not much is known of his exploits prior to defecting. It could be inferred he was little different from contemporaries, though this sounds erroneously presumptuous, for he changed the tide. 'Taals skills and knowledge of the demigods' devices were essential for the Schism, and instrumental in the death of his colleagues. One of the Champions of the Frost Giants, the Necromancer Cabal and Dunefolk zealots spit at the mention of the name.
'Li'cre'li' - The Leader of the Schism. If little is known of 'Taal', then less is recorded of the strong and charismatic rebel leader who swayed him. She was part of the defection from its inception, and personally led many raids and skirmishes. The Rebels and Deumana alike respected 'Li', and it was under her guidance, supervision and insistence that the humanoids were restored, and the other Races spared and empowered. After the demise of the Deumana, she and 'Taal' led their people to the Waste, and there set about creating a new society for themselves, in exile.
