About five hundred million years ago, the world became self-aware. It was now possible for races of intelligent creatures to live on the Earth. In order to achieve balance and to assure that all would be able to share equally in her bounty, the world called out through time, space, and probability. She assembled representatives from all the races that would or might one day inhabit the world, and asked them to work out how she would be shared. She then discorporated, casting her consciousness into the minds of all the creatures of planet Earth that ever had or ever would exist.

At that first Meeting, the Peoples of the World decided on a procedure for sharing the planet. Each race would be given a chance to live on the world, to use it and care for it responsibly, for as long as they could -- perhaps for ten million years or so. When a race was ready to retire, they would clean up after themselves, erasing all signs that they had ever been present. Another Meeting would be called to pass the custodianship of the world to the next race in the Cycle. When all the races had had a chance to be guardians of the world, the Cycle of races would begin again.

When a Meeting is called, invitations are sent out though time, space, and dimension to the leaders of all the races that were at the first Meeting. However, the Meeting is really just a formality, and only the race that is retiring and the race that is accepting custody need be there. In fact, a Meeting does not have to take place at all, but it is considered polite and dignified to have some formal ceremony to recognize a transfer of custody between the races.

At the first Meeting, it was recognized that that there were many reasons why the leader of a race might not come. A race might be content in its retirement, and feel no further need to take part in Meetings. A race might consider itself too young, or be physically unable to attend a meeting.

Therefore, the rings were introduced: If a race did not want to attend the Meeting, but wished representation, it would send someone with the identifying ring of that race. The bearer of the ring would then have a vote at the Meeting. But unless that bearer was the leader of their race, a bearer couldn't speak for that race, only for themselves.

There were dozens of races at that first Meeting, and it clear they needed someone to act as chairman. The combined will of the races reached out through the dimensions, and settled on someone who adequate for the job: Winston. He is not supernaturally honest, phenomenally wise, or astonishingly clever, but he is sufficient to the task. He lives out his life in the world of the Realm, but periodically he is summoned through the portal to act as Chair of a Meeting. Though millions of years pass between Meetings, from his perspective he attends one every year or so.

To allow the races to interact in a meaningful way, all attendees at a Meeting pass through a "portal." The portal changes a person's languages, skills, and abilities so they can communicate with the other people at the Meeting. It also adjusts the level of ability of the representatives so they're more-or-less equal, so that each can speak with respect and dignity among their fellows. However, the abilities of a race's leader (and of the chairman) are not adjusted; it's assumed that they will behave with the decorum that leadership demands, and thus no equalization is necessary.

And so the People of Fire [Orcs, Goblins, and the like], the First Race, took custody of the Earth. They did an adequate job of taking care of the world, and exactly ten million years (to the day -- in fact, to the hour) after they received custody, they formally retired and passed custody on to the People of the Hive [Klactons].

It wasn't until several millennia had passed that they realized that they had not been ready to retire. The following Meeting was about eighteen million years later, when the People of the Ponds [Tibbyrrs] took up custody of the world. It was then that the People of Fire learned their mistake: a race was supposed to retire when it was ready; the figure of ten million years was only a guideline. If you managed the world effectively and took pleasure in its bounty, you could have custody of the world for as long as you want.

The People of Fire were outraged. Gnasher Grimtooth, their leader, demanded that the People of Fire be given custody of the world again so they could have their fair share. Based on a vote of the races attending that Meeting, his demand was denied. The People of Fire would have to wait until the Cycle returned to their race again (in a billion years or so), or until some race would give up its place in the Cycle for them.

The People of Fire grumbled. And they waited. No other race took as little as ten million years to hand over their custody of the world. At each Meeting, they griped and complained, but no one listened.

The most successful race so far has been the People of the Swamp [Pythians], who ruled the world for sixty-five million years. It was a glorious reign, admired and hailed by all the other races (except for the People of Fire, who grumbled as usual). They might still rule the world, but a large asteroid struck the Earth. It changed the nature of the world, and made life difficult. The People of the Swamp decided to take it as a signal to retire; they cleaned up after themselves and passed custody on to the People of the Air [Elves].

The Cycle of Races, from then until now, ran:

• The People of the Swamp -- about sixty-five million years.
• The People of the Air -- about twenty million years.
• The People of Stone [Dwarves] -- about fifteen million years.
• The People of the Mists [Fairies] -- about sixteen million years.
• The People of the Hills [Minotaurs, Centaurs, and other animal-headed people or people-headed animals] -- about fourteen million years.
• The People of the Tree [Humans] -- about a hundred thousand years... so far.
• The People of the Sea [Whales and Dolphins] -- not yet ready. In about ten million years they'll start thinking about it.
• The People of the Plains [Rakarrins], the People of the Burrows [Hobbits], and others wait in the wings. They shall have custody of the earth in the future.

The remnants of some of the retired races still linger in the remote, hidden places of the world. The races can also interact across the boundaries of time by passing through corridors of myth, portals in time, and realms of higher consciousness. That is why, though separated by millions of years, humans have some awareness of these other races.

The leader of the People of the Trees is Gaia. Is she a leader, is she a goddess, is she the image of the world Herself? Perhaps not even Gaia can answer that question -- the People of the Trees are complex creatures, and the images they project on their leader are complex as well.

When the People of the Trees first took custody of the world, they managed it well. They lived in harmony with the world, accepting and giving of its riches. But then things started moving quickly. After a mere hundred thousand years, they started building cities. Big cities. Bigger than they knew how to handle. They started tinkering with things, making discoveries at breakneck speed: agriculture, the wheel, ships, guns, computers. Faster and faster, at speeds that no one could comprehend. They've done in less than a century what it took other races a million years to do.

Gaia is furious with her people. They have forgotten their responsibility to the earth, and they're ignoring all her messages to slow down and think about what they're doing. They've only just narrowly escaped destroying the planet with their nuclear weapons, and who knows what's next? And so Gaia has formally announced the early and forced retirement of the People of the Trees. She has called a Meeting to hand over custody of the world to whatever race is ready and willing to accept it.

Once custody has passed on to a new race, the People of the Trees are done. There certainly won't be room for six billion of them in the world that is to come. Their history, their dreams, their fantasies, and all worlds of probability and fable that extend from them will vanish in an instant, to be replaced by the dreams of their successors.

For the People of Fire, this is the chance they've been waiting for. The People of the Sea are clearly not ready take up guardianship of the world. And it's already done: Gaia has scheduled the Meeting, randomly pre-empting some stupid birthday party. The invitations have been sent out through time, space, and probability -- although only a few of them have reached their intended destination; they've gotten scrambled somehow. As far as he knows, all Gnasher Grimtooth has to do is show up at the Meeting and accept rulership of the world, for he has no rivals to the claim.

As far as he knows...