A Brief History of Glowing Diamonds

The beginnings of Glowing Diamonds was long ago. Legends say the earliest Turtles came from the stars, but no proof of this has ever been found. Scholars debate exactly how long since the Turtles lacked any form of writing, but the fossil records suggest this period to be at least 2 billion years in length. For eons the Turtles lived in loosely formed clans in caves and tunnels underground, not even knowing of the sky above. It was about 4500 years before the Great Carapacian Migration when the future queen Qwella (Child of Promise in Ancient Tortish) emerged from the tunnels to behold the stars.

The then 12 year old girl led her fellow Turtles to the surface. Having been told in a dream by the Lord of All (later to be identified as the Abrahamic God) that she was meant to guide her people, the elderly seer Buvata (Far Seeing One in Ancient Tortish) declared Qwella as their new Queen. Qwella was then anointed as Queen Qwella the First. This ended the Aquamarine Age and marked the beginning of the Amethyst Age.

In the Amethyst Age, the Turtles saw a great blossoming of their society. They went from barely making stone tools to creating a system of writing, a mathematical system, studying the stars above them, creating a calendar (a form of which is still used today), and more. Queen Qwella chose her closest friends and family to form her council of advisors and to serve as regional chiefs under her rule. Queen Qwella herself set up in what would eventually be Catalyst City and her descendants ruled for several millennia.

The Great Carapacian Migration marked the beginning of the Topaz Age. Carapaces from both Prospit and Derse of every social class came to the Land to start anew and to leave the endless war raging in their former homes. This sudden demographic change and subsequent advancement in technology (which included the Land's first-and so far only-spaceport) caused such a rift among the Turtle population that King Namal (Keen Mind in Middle Tortish) created a Parliament (which will henceforth be referred to as the House of Shells) to better delegate his responsibilities. He also penned a constitution that he and all his descendants would adhere to.

The House of Shells, guided by King Namal, split the Land into 12 Dominions, each further divided into 3 Municipalities each. The rioting also caused the Glowing Diamondsian Police Force to come into being.

It was also around this time that the social and economic inequalities of Turtle society began to show itself. The royal family, nobility, and the regional chiefs began to love their wealth-especially the diamonds beneath the Land's surface. The shrinking middle class kept their place by being the sole runners of the governmental bureaucracy. Even now, if one wants to cut through the red tape they ask help from a Turtle bureaucrat.

The lower class, easily the largest, mainly consists of diamond miners. To date, the easiest way to escape this hard, often shorter than average lifespan is to join the similarly massive clergy. Many never rise past the first two or three ranks but it is better to languish in a quiet church than to suffer and die young deep underground.

The Ruby Age began only recently, about 28 years ago. The then 3 year old Monna (Laughter in Modern Tortish) awoke from a prophetic dream where a messenger of the Lord told her the Sylph of Heart had finally been born on a world far away, and to get her people ready for the healer's arrival and the subsequent changes. However, the daughter of two diamond miners from a family of diamond miners wasn't heeded by...well, anyone of social clout.

Even so, she gained her own following and led both Carapacians and Turtles into the massive desert outside of the Carapacian Immigrant City. It is now becoming known as the Desert of the Hermits...