Primals

Widely understood to be the first sentient inhabitants of Gaia, the primals are functionally immortal beings that vary wildly in size, shape, and complexity. While it isn't easy to define exactly what a primal is, it's generally accepted that a primal is a creature that doesn't die of old age, and has a form that is largely unique to itself at the time of its creation. Most mortal species trace their roots directly to primals, so the line can often be blurred, and most beings who don't neatly fit the description of either mortal or primal are often called heightened mortals.

Birth and Formation
For early primals, it was common for some manner of terrestrial material to gather enough aether over time that it condenses into an aetherial core and gives it sentience. This can happen naturally on its own, but it happens most commonly in the creation of elementals where aether is condensed manually into a certain element, the success of which depends on the creator's skill at manipulating magical energy.

Most primals after this were created by other primals who had mastered the ability to shape aether, and over time this led to the creation of primals whose physiology was more intricate, who were capable of incredible things previously thought impossible. This would eventually lead to the creation of the first mortals, beginning with simple single-celled organisms, beings capable of natural reproduction at the cost of a limited life span.

Death and Stasis
While primals enjoy functional immortality, this doesn't mean they cannot die. On the contrary, most primals who have lived are either dead or in stasis. Some might even say that the stagnancy that comes with being such a long-lived creature is its own kind of death, one that doesn't even provide a release from suffering.

For early primals and elementals, it's often as simple as lying still long enough for their aetherial core to unravel and dissolve, but this doesn't always result in death. Sometimes the core is strong enough to hold together indefinitely, causing something of an unthinking, unfeeling stasis.

For more complex primals, stasis is a far more likely outcome. In fact, many of the later primals purposefully induce stasis as a form of rest, and can be asleep in this manner for quite a long time.

While doing so is no small feat, killing a primal is also possible so long as you're able to destroy its core. This is more commonly done by other primals, but mortals of skill and knowledge have slain primals before.

Mul
Mul is considered the first known primal to have existed. Like other early primals, he was physiologically simple, said to be made entirely of dirt and aether until quite a while later when he began to accrue moss and plants that held the large piles of earth together with roots. Early primals like Mul didn't age so much as they accumilated, and would often become massive in size. It's not known where Mul is in the modern day, or if he's even still alive. Some have speculated that he has stopped moving and has formed into a landmass, while others say he might've been getting too large to comfortably move around on land and decided to go into the ocean. All that's known is that he hasn't been seen nor heard from since shortly before the first mortals arrived.

Uldes
Another early primal made mostly of granite and aether, the story of this primal is widely known for the discovery of a higher power beyond the world of Gaia. Uldes was enamored with the stars, and would climb the highest mountain he could find every evening and call out to them, hoping they would answer back. When the years passed with no answers, he reshaped his body multiple times in order to become louder, creating a giant cavern within himself in order to use his aetherial core to manipulate the air from within and project his voice further, hoping the stars could hear him. It became so loud that it was causing earthquakes, and other primals were beginning to complain of the noise.

Finally, one day, he recieved an answer. It was so faint that he nearly missed it, and the words were being said so slowly that he had to sit still for a very long time just to get one syllable. It wasn't the stars that were talking to him, but a cosmic creature living beyond the stars that Uldes called the Great Ur. He learned that Gaia, the stars, the universe, everything that he knew was contained entirely in a single miniscule particle within a piece of cosmic masonry that the Great Ur had made as part of an archway into a larger structure.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't learn much more, because by that point the conversation had lasted for about 10,000 years. He had sat still listening for so long that he had become a part of the mountain he was resting on.

Valvali
Located in the Forbidden Wilds, Valvali is considered to be the largest primal on Gaia due to the length and reach of her roots, which are estimated to span at least 600 miles. Her tree-like form is visible for miles around, standing well above the canopy of the surrounding forests. She's responsible for the creation of most of the trees that populate Gaia, and has a great dislike for Lumina and her children, even going so far as to use her roots to separate the Forbidden Wilds from the rest of Ansella.

Although the Feymarch and Feywild tend to have a strong influence within forests, Valvali has no affiliation with the fey, and often wants nothing to do with them because of their connection to Lumina.

Lumina
Often called the Great Mother or sometimes the Fey Mother, Lumina created many of the sentient races that populate the world of Gaia, including the elves, humans, halflings, dwarves, orcs, as well as some of the races that inhabit the Feywild including fairies, centaurs, satyrs, and dryads.

Lumina was always fascinated by the early mortal races, particularly in the ability for a fresh young mind to rapidly learn and grow, as opposed to many long-lived primals whose minds have slowed and become set in their ways. In the creation of sentient mortal races who grow and learn, then pass their knowledge and experience on to their young, she saw the potential for them to become something remarkable.

By this time she had already created some of fey races who dwelled with her in the Feywild, and this led to the creation of the first elves. Finding that the elves thrived well enough in both Feywild and the prime material realm, she created the dwarves and orcs to be better suited to survive in the more inhospitable areas of Gaia. Seeing that the orcs and dwarves were a bit more temperamental than she hoped, she created halflings and humans to be more even-tempered while still being quite versatile and adaptable.

Much of what is known about the primals was told to the sentient mortal races by Lumina herself, and was passed down through written and oral tradition. Though no one has seen her in recent memory, it's often said that she watches her children from afar from deep in the Feywild.