[s]WK, did you happen to save that post with what Gael found in the library? The cache doesn't have a copy of it.[/s]

EDIT: Scratch that, found a copy in my email. Posted in a spoiler for everyone's benefit, since I'll probably reference it in my next post:

[hider=feral research]Compared to the tomes surrounding it, "A Study of Feralism: Unusual Cases" was easily overlooked. The leather tome barely passed the 100 page mark, and even then much of the space was dedicated to illustrations. In truth it wasn't due to the author's laziness, but rather was a testament to just how little feralism was truly understood. Each page carefully detailed cases beyond what was often observed in daeva going feral. Elemental daeva in particular were highlighted, as their turning was often far more violent, almost never leaving a body behind to examine. By comparison, the only documented daeva hybrid feral seemed little more than a madman at the time of his death, running the streets biting and scratching men, women, and children alike until finally being taken down.

Towards the end the author shifts focus, having functionally run out of documented cases to cover, and instead begins to cross the written cases with geography. In many cases the appearance of a feral elemental revealed a once-hidden tribe in the wilderness. Most documented cases seemed to occur around the larger cities and towns, particularly in the west where ferals were often captured and experimented on.

Across all the books, if one were looking carefully enough, they would notice that although cases of feralism seemed indiscriminate between males and females as well as largely by region, it was surprisingly rare in daeva of the avian variety. In addition, while the rate of change varied wildly, the most severe cases were almost always among aquatic daeva and elementals.

Although the leather bound tome suffered from a lack of information due to scarcity, the tomes brought by the librarian on the ancients seemed scarce for a different reason entirely. At a high level everything seemed there, but time and time again the books made reference to "the last account" which seemed missing from the book. Indeed, entire pages had been removed or heavily redacted, the juiciest of information most likely carefully stored away in the restricted section where it was far less likely to become damaged or destroyed.

What is covered talks of an exceedingly advanced race of people predating all three of the races, indeed before any of them even existed. Accounts speak of a beautiful people with minds as sharp as diamond. They looked not unlike a cross between seraphim and humans. In fact, it is their superficial similarities that lead primarily to the seraphim idea that they descended from that superior race. Although written histories recovered reference magic heavily, it was always within the context of some machine or golem. In fact, not a single reference of the long-dead race using magic innately could be found.

The people, originally referenced as the Virdeus, lived in great cities in the sky, as well as deep underground in massive interconnected caverns. Few ruins of these supposed beacons of advancement have ever been discovered, with conspiracy theorists claiming the entire history was invented by the seraphim as a way of claiming superiority over the other races. As for how they came to vanish from the world, the books contained nothing, not a single mention of it, although certainly anything titled "the last account" might contain further clues.[/hider]