In the world long ago, the people were divided into three great nations. They were good amongst themselves, but towards each other they had great hatred. They fought wars all the time. That was their existance, that was their future. As time passed, no one knew why they fought, but none doubted the heat generated from their hearts to fight. At times, it seemed irrational, but the ritualistic slaughter of the enemy was a fiery passion that was a religion that gave meaning to life.
It was not a technological era – no machinery, merely human kind devoted to a basic life of hard work and strife. And war. When a moment of lull lapsed and inner consciousness dawned, the people wondered if there was another meaning to life. A small awakening crept into their consciousness. As suddenly as it opened, a great wave of oppressiveness blanketed their kindership and with it a great madness overpowered all thoughts and feelings, driving human kind once more into hatred. And war.
The three nations fought each other until all were nearly wiped out to the very last few.
The few went into hiding, amongst the hills and mountains where they sought refuge. There they formed individual groups to live and ponder, to determine the past and to determine the future. As time and healing passed, they grew to realize that the madness was a weakness, and the weakness was an open door for greed, hatred, and uncontrolled feelings without purpose and direction. They realized that a new philosophy of thinking, a way of life, was necessary in order for human kind to grow again. But in order to grow and flourish, they knew that they must stamp down the ways of the old – the ways of war and destruction that had leveled human kind to the bane of existence that now roamed the rubble and debris of what they once knew.
Each group contemplated, and sought to find a new order to combat the beast that drove them in the days of old.
One group chose a bird to give physical representation to their philosophy – a creature free to rise above the desolation and wing freely to a new existence. To discover new things in the world with which to ponder and to use in its own fashion for the good, and to share amongst its brethren.
Another group chose a great dragon, to represent their philosophy of being content in ones inner self, to exude a calm outer existence, but able to deal out to those who threatened their lives with great force summoned from the depths of their inner consciousness.
The last group chose to follow a path of inner discipline and the channeling of their energies into the development of their mind and physical selves. As their philosophy developed, the group allowed themselves to express their attainments through physical movements and in stylized patterns of repetition. They soon added the implements that they had at hand, short and long sticks, and created a series of movements depicting attacking or defending strikes, parrying; learning to divert energy and then dealing out powerful blows to well thought-out parts of the anatomy that disabled limbs and body.
As time passed, and the groups grew, so did their energy and beliefs. Each championed themselves and their philosophy as the savior of human kind. Eventually, minor skirmishes flared up between the groups as each had grown and wished to test themselves as superiour. With this, thoughts outside of the disciplined mind leaked out. Soon fears developed amongst the people who remembered and councils were drawn to discuss these things.
A meeting of the three groups was finally deemed necessary before all reasoning was lost forever. The groups met and issues were discussed. A uniform philosophy emerged that pleased the three groups. They created a creature that combined all of their beliefs and new ways of life. A dawn of awakening had given birth to a physical creature that arose from the ashes of destruction. A creature prepared to live once more – but to live in a manner of preparedness, trained in mind and body and the inner discipline to rise above the tests that life throws against us.
The creature was named the Griffin.