Half of our story takes place in the distant past. While the end of the reign of the dinosaurs was on the horizon, life couldn't have been in more motion. The landscape alternated between dense forests, vast deserts, and frozen mountain peaks. Sprawling ecosystems populated by giant reptiles ruled the land, sea, and sky. Hidden under all of that was a hidden society of warriors, engineers, and sorcerers whose story was lost to time...
...until now.
The Thyrokhys (Anthroporaptor whejii) started out as normal animals. Standing 3ft (1m) tall, they were towered over by other animals in their ecosystem. That all changed with the fall of the Caltigara: an asteroid with a mysterious aura that granted them intelligence, language, and even mystical powers. These newfound abilities allowed them to spread across their world and begin a long and complicated story of war and intrigue that was only cut short by the dramatic K/Pg extinction event.
By all accounts, Thyrokhys civilization is still very young, and their history brief. Writing was a recent invention for them, and every story they told until then was told orally, being prone to bias, exaggeration, and misunderstanding. Thus, every tribe will give you a different story of the species' already constant struggles with the world, its wildlife, and each other.
While the tribes spread, one stayed close to the Caltigara's landing site and protects it as sacred ground. Those who live there are guided by the Translator -- the sole keeper of the incredible powers the stone provides. While the surrounding Sequoia forests are frought with danger, they are also well-stocked with game for the tribe's hunter's, making life there comparatively idyllic.
In a world of dinosaurs, life is constantly in motion. While small, pig-like Leptoceratops (Gungalot) rustle through the undergrowth, titanic herbivores like Edmontosaurus (Orelai) clear large swathes of vegetation to feed their constant appetite, and for every animal, there is a carnivore large enough to hunt it down. As the seasons change, so do the animals' migration routes, and it's important for the Thyrokhys' survival to pay attention to each one's habits and behaviors.
