This page is all about magic in the realm of From Gods to Gold. It is named after the word that means covenant in the old tongue of the High Mountain Men. Paklish (say Pahk-lish) was the thing that changed the land, it was the deal that was struck between the First Ones and the High Mountain Men in the time before time. After that, most all magic has been shaped by it.

In the time before time the High Mountain Men and the First Ones lived together on the sacred mountain. Little in known about the First Ones, but they are often called beings of light in the ancient texts. What is known is that the few that remained communed with the land and were the progenitors of the five fantastic races. The first men in this time, those we know more about. They can from another land from far beyond this realm and settled in on the mountain, but most died during those first days. The remaining men were saved by the First Ones and for a time they lived together in peace. As the numbers of men bloomed into multitudes, the First Ones waned in number. It was apparent then that both could not exist in number, and a choice had to be made. It was at this time that the elders of each group made the Paklish.

To summarize, the Paklish was a covenant of the two peoples. The First Ones would leave the land, and in return the men would carry on the spirit of the First Ones into eternity. The covenant was sealed at the ritual time dusk - called Kasus, the dimming of the light. The impact of the Paklish was poorly understood by both sides, and to this day it has reminded the people to be wary of deals they do not understand.

The result of this covenant was that the bond between the First Ones and the land was broke, and some of it was taken in by the High Mountain Men. However, they could not take it all. The rest of this bond spilled across the land, its untapped energy waiting to be harnessed by those that first encountered it.

It also resulted in the shadows of the first ones being born, parts of these beings that could not leave the land with the rest of them. Each first one left a shadow in the realm, the parts of it that could not leave. Most of these Shadows have become something else, but still others remain and those have been gathered by the descendants of the High Mountain Men and sealed within the earth.