Oh, Pangaea!
It is thought that once upon a time there was only one supercontinent called Pangea or Pangaea, the existence of such a continent is a hotly debated topic, some argue that there were other supercontinents before it and others say they tend to form every 600 million years or so and more will form. Of course, Pangaea existed during a time where mankind did not inhabit the earth that is not to say other creatures and beings did not roam the vast land; the evolution of mankind is something children all over the world are taught in school but there is a part of the story that they do not learn and do not know.
The first humans came from supernatural creatures, there was at the time thought to be peculiar phenome where when a creature strayed from their own kind and a child was born from such a union, they were born without any of the characteristics from their parents. No ability to fly, no enhanced sense and there was a distinct lack of shapeshifting or transforming into other forms, in some they were completely and utterly mundane and soon they were named and identified as human and as time went by more and more humans were being born, they drifted further away from the supernatural and formed their own communities.
Once Pangaea broke away and formed the seven continents that form the world we know of today, the knowledge that they once descended from beings of great power began to fade away, there was of course those that remembered or later through some means or other found out and breeding rings started to crop across the seven kingdoms. Their sole purpose was to see if they could regain the abilities that was once thought lose to them, it was only a matter of time before the ruling families of the supernatural became aware of such practices, yet they were quick to dismantle and destroy and hint of these rings not wanting to give up the perceived power they had over the humans. The families made it their mission to stamp out and crush even the slightest rumour of these rings amongst the common people of their own kind, though soon enough underground breeding rings began to sprout in the supernatural community as well.
The leaders of these rings soon grew frustrated as they experienced very little success in their endeavours, babies born through these rings would often form birth defects or as we already know would be born human, but their patience would be rewarded when they discovered that they could create beings that would become known as hybrids. As opposed to human children being born between two differing supernatural creatures hybrids had mix of characteristics from both of their parents and they were stronger for it, the chances of breeding a hybrid was so far and few in-between that the practice was abandoned and once again history repeated itself as the knowledge began to fade from the collective minds of both human and supernatural communities.
A remnant of this time still prevails today for it is considered forbidden for members of the seven royal family to marry outside of their own kind, in order to protect the royal bloodline and for the common folk to be seen straying for your own species had you labelled as a freak and an outcast and relations resulting in a child was seen as criminal.
An age before this, just as Pangaea was beginning to break away there was a great being whose name has long since been lost to the annuals of history, so great he was that though his name alludes the modern age and remains a mystery he does not. This being was a supernatural creature known as a shifter but unlike the mythos surrounding popular shifters such as werewolves this being had the ability to shift into any form that it desired in creatures thought of not to have even existed at the time not just from man to wolf. His favourite form to take was that of a swallow, a beautiful bird with brilliant blue and white plumage so often was he seen in this form that no one truly knows what his true form is or if he even has one.
In the time this being graced the land with his presence there was no such things as kingdoms and their kings, those that roamed the land did not form permanent settlements but all creatures great and small heeded his word so when Pangaea began to break all listened when he gave his son dominion over the land that eventually would become known as the continent of Africa. Like his father the son was a shifter, and his preferred form would soon birth the legend of the giant bird of prey the Rukh, though from time to time a swallow could be seen briefly in clouds flying through the plains of Africa to cooler temperatures of Europe. On the return of one such journey he met his mate and sired the beginning of the royal bloodline of the Picaults.
The being had one other a child, a daughter who felt comforted in the shadow left behind her father and was never seen in a form other than that of the Swallow, she would often be seen perched upon then shoulders of her brother or tucked away into the wing of her father's larger frame. It was a rare sight indeed for her to be seen without the company of one or the other, as they protective over the younger shifter with her delicate form and often naïve nature. It was not long however before she left the shadows cast by her father and brother and followed in the footsteps of a creature that would rule over the continent that is now known as Europe, many sons came shortly after, and they too sire a great many deal of sons until eventually a daughter fair of skin and grace was born.
Her name was Fiona.