Chasm-Dweller

Chasm-Dwellers are a group of otans whose ancestors, formerly slaves of Allshadow, escaped to Creaking Chasm and never returned.   Creaking Chasm was uninhabited until Allshadow sent a large number of otans--them being the only sapient species likely to be able to survive such inhospitable conditions--there for a purpose which has been lost to history. After realising that he could no longer get to them, they chose to stay, forming a new society in the region. This came with many challenges, not least the extreme climate, which ranged from the coldest place in the world during its winter and one of the hottest in its summer. (Because of its location, seasons in Creaking Chasm are untypical of those throughout the rest of the Mirror Lakes.)   The formation of the Chasm-Dwellers was a landmark moment in otan history; all otans were slaves as far back as earliest evidence from the Age of the Stars. This was the first time they had freedom and the first time they were able to build their own society. They had all come from different parts of the Teardrop Sea Islands, so the culture that developed comprised of traits from many others, most notably the Viri due to their ancestors' work building the Ancient Viri Empire. The language that Chasm-Dwellers speak now, Ris, is the closest descendent of the Ancient Viri's Risivi.