The Great Race of Isz. An ancient race of precursor humans who once inhabited Kokotha, thousands of years before the first human civilizations. Their understanding of magic was far beyond ours; powerful runes that could use any magic, magic constructs that seemed to last forever, rune machines with simple designs yet more complex than anything Kokotha's engineers have made and understandings of how it worked that we can't even fathom. Yet, as if someone simply turned the light off, their society perished and died out, with no real sign of struggle. To this day, how or why, it still unsolved by scholars around the world.
-Intro passage to the book "The Unanswered Mysteries of the Ancient Race by Wingate Ipswich"

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While the Great Race was wiped out long ago, their tombs, temples, and structures still remained, long abandoned and falling into disrepair. Such a tomb had recently been discovered, by an excursion by the White Tooth Men, just north of New Wickborough. Any information held within the tomb, written on the tablets on the walls, could sell for a modest price. But, with so few in the White Teeth with the ability to translate, they were left to seek out a translator; one who happened to live in the city of New Wickborough. 

A school teacher by the name of Wingate Ipswich.