Backstory: Part 2

Humans woke from their cryogenic states to be welcomed merrily by both dwarves and elves alike. The computer aboard the ship informed them of all the major developments that occurred on this planet during the long journey. With a good understanding of all the life on this planet, they correctly concluded that they were mistaken for the gods on the crystal continent. The humans felt that letting the natives believe this to be true would be their best bet of survival.

It wasn't long before the natives noticed a few discrepancies. One, these "gods" did not seem to have mighty powers, nor did they have the same free spirited demeanor. Two, they seemed focused on digging up rocks, boiling them down, and transforming them into large silver structures. Three, despite their attempt to stay as quite as possible when around natives, they were even caught speaking to one another. The humans attempted to explain away these suspicions but were eventually deemed unable to be trusted. After one year, based on this planets orbit, they had already established their first city stronghold.

Realizing that they could no longer keep up the illusion, they decided to come clean. Also, they no longer needed a lie to keep them safe, as their defense systems were well equipped to handle anything that the natives could try. Instead, they tried to establish themselves as different kind of "gods", "gods" of wisdom haling from the stars above. This new image was much more honest even though it was a bit of an embellishment. Still, many of the natives did not believe in these "new gods". They had already deceived them for an entire year, and they seemed to have little respect for the land.

In an attempt to gain the respect of the natives, the humans televised an expedition where a small group of people went to meet the crystal people, the race that these natives considered to be gods. While visiting the crystal people, they acted according to tradition, as observed through the supercomputer's recordings. They smiled and danced along side the bright eyed crystal people until they became to tired and fell asleep in tents made of elegant fabric. In the morning, every human was bestowed with a crystal neckless of their own before returning home. Many of the natives held reservations about these moving images until the ship arrived back on shore; sure enough, the travelers all wore necklaces given to them by the "gods". This publicity stunt worked wonders. After all, if the strange aliens had the approval of their gods, they must also approve of them.

Generations came and went. The humans would make regular trips in larger numbers in order to commune with the crystal people. They taught the natives how to speak their language. And most importantly, they expanded their cities higher and wider. But this period of piece would not last forever. An uprising of elves and dwarves began to see the humans in a different light. They noticed that the humans that would go visit the crystal people would not treasure their gifts. Instead they, would take them into large well protected buildings and reemerge from the building no longer wearing their gifts. Once a month, a new shipment of people would go visit the crystal people, like some sort of assembly line. Then, the following year, the same people would once again to visit the "gods" and return only to deposit their "gifts".

Truth be told, the humans had been harnessing the power of these crystals to power their cities and advance their technology long before the natives even noticed. Word only got out after a rumor began circulating among the humans that worked these facilities. True or not, there was talk about a secret mission to sneak over to the crystal continent and excavate a large amount of crystals without the knowledge of the crystal people. Beliiving this to be true, or perhaps using this as an excuse, a few human workers leaked this information to the public. When the higher ups began investigating to find out who leaked this information, a few of the workers fled to the saftey of lands controlled by the elves.

As more years past, the tensions between natives and the human government built. A small percentage of the human population started siding with the natives. Eventually, the plan to begin stealing crystals was confirmed as truth, and a war broke out. The natives and deserting humans had one goal, expose the truth and stop the operation to steal from the peaceful inhabitants of the crystal continent.



Try as they might, this war didn't even last one year before the technologically advanced humans crushed the natives and rebels. The defeated side was banished from the continent, and the victors could move forward with their operation to secretly excavate crystals from a remote cave far from any village of native crystal people. Unfortunately for the humans, the moment they touched their first crystal, a group of crystal people raced to the spot, stopping right in front of the humans with a series of sonic booms. The eyes of these once peaceful people were glowing red with anger. Pleading for their lives, the humans were spared but were not sent home with crystals as usual. Luckily for them, the crystal people forgave them and continued to give them crystals for visiting in peace.

Despite their failure to excevate large amounts of crystal, the humans were left with one great prize. They had an entire continent to call their own, a mostly flat continent perfect for an expansive series of cities. Construction began immediately...