Tellus: The (Secret) Origins of Ulma

This setting material is posted here for the sake of expanding the lore of Tellus and adding some content and context to the history of its races. It is worth understanding that this constitute a major spoiler to the world history, not to mention that such information about the true history of the world is virtually impossible to learn in-character. This is all information the players and I, the GM, would want to know to better frame Tellus' history.

The Origins of the Ulma

Art by Brother Baston

One of the first things established about Tellus (when it finally got a name and some concrete lore) is that its current dominant race are the Ulma (aka Humans). It was also stated rather clearly that, overall, the Ulma are the least magically gifted race, with a comparatively small portion of their population having a natural affinity, stated to be about 'one in several hundred'. This of course is mechanically supported by the 5e version of Tellus (currently the default unless I feel like making my own homebrew) by restricting Ulma from taking the Sorcerer class and the fact human mechanically lack any racial ability which could be constructed as magical. They are the normal, the mundane or even (to some) the boring race. But why, exactly, are the Ulma so disconnected from magic? Well it is more accurate to say that it's Tellus' own magic they haven't adapted to.

The true origins of the Ulma lie in the distant past of the Tellus universe on a planet named Phaeton, a planet very similar-yet-different to Tellus. In the ancient past of that universe, planetary travel was possible with portals, bridges of starlight and similar high magic/scifi concepts. Indeed, if Tellus was part of some long-lasting JRPG series there would be at least one entry somewhere in the franchise which would be highly controversial due to switching to scifi rather than fantasy. Such an hypothetical entry in the franchise would be the oddball of the franchise, taking place on the planet Phaeton and seemingly being disconnected from the franchise as a whole, at least on the surface. We will call it 'Game N' for the purpose of this long ramble.

So 'Game N' happen and is generally seen as weird by the hypothetical fans of the hypothetical Tellus franchise due to being much more rooted in science fiction than the typical fantasy fare of Tellus. The truth however, be it at the time or decades after via retcon, is that 'Game N' is a prequel. Phaeton is the original world of the Ulma. They are alien to Tellus and the reason they appeared out of nowhere on Tellus, being the sapient mammal race of the world is that they are were not originally native to it. What 'Game N' showed as an unconnected setting was, in fact, the true home of the Ulma. Their birthplace.

Geomantic Attunement

The reason why Ulma are less potent with magic is simply that the Ulma of Tellus are the unmodified, unadapted strain of the race. Their race first arrived on Tellus in truly ancient times, in some long-last age of the prequels or something along those lines. These ancient Ulma, or the 'Ancients' for the sake of clichés eventually adapted to the various geomantic forces which saturated Tellus. This true origin was hinted at in the possible optional races of Tellus, as written here and here. The Ancients ceased to exist as a race because their descendants became different races, infused with and connected to their adopted home. However as Tellus underwent many cycles of geomantic changes, ebb and flow many of these races faded into myth as these races were dependent on Tellus' magic to sustain their existence. In times when these energies ceased to flow freely, more and more of their descendants reverted to their base state.

When the second batch of Ulma arrived from Phaeton much later, they intermingled with these slowly dying races and their unique traits, already on the decline, faded away to become mere anomalies within certain bloodlines. It is unclear on how or why the second wave of Ulma never adapted to become adopted children of Tellus. Perhaps they arrived during a time where the world was particularly hostile to them and saw fit to reshape Tellus to their own needs rather than adapt to it. In time, entire clan and nations of these strange, magically-deficient yet hardy aliens arose and spread across Tellus. Such was their numbers, might and cunning that perhaps no one ever really felt the calling of the planet. They remained (mostly) true to their original nature and not once did they ever really question the why of their disconnect.