Yew

The Yew were a group of powerful beings who lived in the arcane plane. Though their origins are unclear, they coexisted alongside the gods during the ancient days of human civilization. At that time, the other sapients of Rideen did not yet exist, and the gods watched the humans carve a bloody swathe across the continent of Pritami, killing one another in constant wars and destroying their environment. Finally, the Yew decided to intervene. They were disgusted at the human's behavior and resolved that society would be better with themselves at the helm, uniting humankind and suppressing their dark instincts, by force if necessary.

The gods at that time (all of whom have long since faded into nonexistence and been replaced) opposed this plans, stating that as immortal, noncorporeal beings, the Yew could not understand what it was like to be human, subject to pain, physical sensation, temptation, limited knowledge, and fear. They insisted that it was the role of the gods to guide humanity towards overcoming these challenges on their own, rather than attempt to enforce it upon them through fear and conquest.

The Yew ignored this order, and entered the mundane plane via powerful titan avatars, demanding humanity's obedience. Ironically, this did end up uniting the humans - against the Yew. What followed was a bloody conflict that the Yew eventually ceded out of fear of driving humanity to extinction. They attempted to return to the arcane plane, but the gods - furious at their audacity - cast them out.

It was decreed that as punishment for attempting to impose their rule on mortals, the Yew would become mortal themselves, subject to all the temptations and sensations that they judged the humans for. They were stripped of their arcane forms and deposited in what is now the Star Cradles, leaving behind massive blast craters. Those hundred or so Yew became the ancestors of the yewen people.

Today, many yewen subscribe to the Church of Farando's Cycle, which believes that all yewen exist in a state of perpetual reincarnation, being reborn until they can muster the character to live worthy, just, and good lives, at which point they will be allowed to return to the arcane plane to live as Yew once again. What constitutes a "worthy, just, and good" life is a subject of much debate and occasional war or minor attempted genocide.