The Lifeweaver colony on Earth was defended by a curious ad hoc alliance of Lifeweavers, some of their creations, and their human allies (or worshipers). Their principal city, Sybar (on the upper Danube), had a pre-Fall population of several hundred Lifeweavers at the time Egypt was building pyramids in the images of touchstones their priests had seen in the possession of the Lifeweavers.

The Kurians managed to gain control of a minor settlement, Syax, located in what is now Asia minor. They also controlled a portal to Kur in Southeast Asia. And most valuable of all, they gained control of a powerful warlike race, the Aryans. And of course there were the Reapers and various genetic creations under their thrall.

The Lifeweavers selected and trained the likeliest humans they could find, improving on their genetic stock, and assigning them classifications that appealed to primitive sensibilities. They designated their human scouts and spies as "hunting cats." These were the sharpest eyed and most intelligent of the humans. Those with the best stamina became "hunting wolves," fleet-footed warriors who acted as horseless cavalry. The toughest fighters became "hunting bears," the shock troops who attained superhuman strength in their battle frenzy.

The battle, which is recorded in history only with the destruction of the Indus Valley civilization by the brutal Aryans, eventually went to the Lifeweavers but at great cost. Sybar was burned and its foundations destroyed, and over half of the Lifeweavers fell victim to the Kurian's Reapers. But the doors to Kur were shut and their horrors banished to forgotten corners of the globe. For a time...