Category:Human

The Week of Sorrows seared wounds into the collective psyche of humanity that were almost mortal, and indeed they proved so for some of those left behind by the Shiplords. Those who lived through those times will, in candid moments, admit to their own doubts as to if humanity would even survive. The First Awoken changed this path considerably, however, specifically in the Elder First.

The first Potentials of Insight, Mending and those Focuses more associated to the Second Awakening, the Elder First walked a fine line in balancing the passion and need of their younger fellows with the need to give the billions of children left in their care a world that would be more than steel and the flames of war. They shaped the world immensely before they died, wiping the slate clean whilst holding on to many of the truly important things that had made human society so diverse. The seed they planted then passed to the Potentials of the Second Awakening.

Of all the Restorers of the Second Awakening, one in particular is singled out: Amanda Hawk. Although she lost her parents to the Week of Sorrows, hers had been a family of many siblings, and with their help she was able to come to terms with the pain and grief of loss in her early teens. Almost uniquely however, she did not stop with accepting her own grief. She reached out to others within her Institute, and in time forged the first of the Circles. The Circles were a conscious expression of the ideal that friends were the family you choose, taken to an exceptional degree. The effects of the first Circle on those who passed through it is impossible to properly explain, but certain Insight Focused have pointed out that Mary D'reve may well have driven herself to suicide had it not been for the Circle of Miss Hawk.

In later life, as a new generation of children began to come into the world, Amanda saw the good that one Circle had done and resolved to make many more of them. Her first Circle had grown larger in that time then she'd ever dreamed possible, and had helped hundreds of millions. Those she founded in the Institutes with the generation that would birth the Third Awakened have come to help billions.

Membership in the Circles is not a requirement in any walk of life, nor is it a lifelong commitment. It is an open family, to any and all, for almost any need. The greater effects of the Circles becoming plural have been both widespread and incalculably powerful, but at their core lies the seed that the Elder First entrusted to the Second Awakening. A seed of tolerance, understanding and compassion that within the Circles has become all but self-propagating. There is no enclave of humanity untouched by their influence, and that is overwhelmingly for the better. And though Amanda has never sought to use them, they have granted her truly immense influence.

There are some who call the Circles a cult, and in fairness it is hard to judge them for that, even though they are very much mistaken. Although many members look to Amanda as a guide or example, she has done all she can to keep the idea of faith out of the societal matrix. On the whole, she has succeeded.

With these things taken into account, it should be no surprise that human society as it exists in the Practice War is very different from our own. Thanks to other actions taken in the course of the quest, it has also been brought together in a way that many have only dreamed of, thanks to the personal charisma and unknowing Practice of a single soul.

The seed left behind by the Elder First has grown strong and beautiful under the tender care of the Second Awakening, and if not for the Shiplord's return, it might never have grown more than a handful of thorns.