the Old Ones

The name of an ancient people who fell long before the time of the story; artifacts and traces of the old world are all that is left of them. These are the "things of the Old Ones" — like the "gold" of the Inca — that turn up as objects no one can explain. People treat them as curiosities, goods for the Guild, or things best left alone.

The Old Ones come back as finds from the wildwood and the marshes — things of the old world the ground gives back now and then. In the village they are goods and the stuff of stories; no one knows the true nature of the Old Ones.