Long ago, the lands of Wild Equines were occupied by humans. For reasons unknown, the humans departed from the area long ago, leaving it free to be claimed by wildlife. The structures that the humans left behind have been taken over by the land's inhabitants and modified for their own uses. Contact with humans now is only possible if one leaves the lands of Wild Equines through the very land bridge that they took to get here in the first place.

In the beginning, when the lands were first settled and reclaimed by wildlife, the horses lived free, wandering the lands as they pleased. Gradually, herds started to form. The natures of the different horses began to separate them into what are now called "alliances." Darks banded together first, wanting to separate themselves from those they considered soft and weak. Lights banded together in reaction and Neutrals rose from those who did not choose a path. Each of the alliances claimed different territories. Eventually, one horse in the Dark territories decided to lord over all of the rest and became the first Royal. The other alliances followed suit and thus the first pairs of Kings and Queens ruled over the territories.

After many years, a stallion named Kvothe Kingkiller, disgusted with Royal rule and wanting to form a group of assassins for hire, broke away from the Dark territories and took residence in the Outlands - a place separated from the allianced territories by the vast Caerali Desert. He invited those of like minds to join him. From this, the first group of Helkaer were formed, a group of six stallions and one mare. They specialized in stealth and secrecy, hiding their identities behind code names and their coats with black dirt and sulfur. However, this dangerous equines soon grew bored of assigned missions and evolved, doing away with hiding their identities and instead seeking dominance of all of Wild Equines. They thrived in causing discord and spreading terror.

Seeing the havoc the Helkaer were causing, a mare named Isabeau gathered her own followers in retaliation and formed the first group of the Versai. Claiming to be the Helkaer's opposite, the Versai vowed to purge the world of evil and darkness and swore to rescue those wronged and convert the Darks to the Light. However, the Versai's method of conversion, secret to the outside world, was brutal and nigh barbaric, showing the Versai themselves to be Light extremists, driven by their own self-righteousness.

Years later, the lands of Wild Equines were woefully out of balance, torn between the Helkaer and Versai extremes. Together, a band of equines decided to form a group that could help to settle disputes before they got too far and to help and heal those in need. Collectively, this band of equines formed the Vigilum. Headquartered in the Free lands, they claimed a mountain territory as their home and dubbed in Mount Vigilum. These lands were deemed sacred and welcome to all. The Vigilum were to remain an unbiased group, available to help any and all in need of healing and justice.

However, beyond the toil of mortal equines another - immortal - group began to form: the Afterlife.

When the first horses set foot in the land, the first deaths began to occur. It was only the natural cycle of things. The death would be mourned as that horse was gone forever. However, this slowly became further from the truth. As more horses passed on, more of the dead awoke in a strange world. It was empty, cold, and shrouded in a dense mist. Travel was difficult and it was rare to come across anyone. However, things began to change as more and more met their end and entered the strange world. Small clearings in the mist would pop up. Just one or two at first, just big enough for a small herd. The horses began to gather in these spots and found that the more dead they gathered with, the wider these clearings would get. It seemed like a miracle. It was a second "life" after their lives had ended. Some of the dead began to explore, working their ways around the edges of these growing clearings. Their adventures brought different makeshift herds together and eventually lead to the discovery of two different areas. The first, where the warmth of the sun and summer days was the norm. Then the second, where blistering heat and flames engulfed those who entered.

Excitement rippled through the ranks of the dead and they began to branch off. Those who entered the inferno took on a more demonic nature, with those vile in life joining in. Those who moved to the peaceful and pleasant fields took in the dead who had proven good in life, or who had been too young to do otherwise. However, with these new discoveries came chaos. It was clear that leaders would need to be chosen, but hardly anyone could agree on how. There were so many who had done such great or infamous deeds in life that the choice was a difficult one. There were widespread arguments and fighting. Eventually, it seemed as though the land itself had had enough. Amidst the mayhem, a great force came forward to present itself.

Within the realm of the Afterlife, there exists a river. It emerges from the Unknowable Mist, and no one knows where it comes from – it is rumored to be an extension of the universe itself. This Unknowable Mist is what the dead refer to as the thick fog that surrounds the known domains of the Afterlife. It is often said that if beings of the Afterlife disappear, that they have entered the mist and become lost within it. Some are able to find their way back, but most simply disappear, as there seems to be no end to it. Whatever created the Afterlife, wherever this power stems from, it is out of reach far beyond the mist. The only indication that something exists further out there is the existence of the river. The river is an entity of its own. It is a concentration of the power that fuels the Afterlife, and it maintains balance and structure. It summons those when it finds the need, and when the equines of the Afterlife started to fight over leadership, it sought change. Two equines, one from each domain of the Afterlife, felt a powerful call. They felt the demanding request as if every particle in their bodies was being pulled to the river itself. When the two met each other at the river, they were surprised to know they felt the same summoning. However, they hardly had the time to discuss it when a sudden wave of power swept over them. The two became stronger, more powerful than the other dead. They discovered they could control the elements and others if they desired. With the new abilities, it wasn't long before the others recognized them as the new leaders of each opposing side. With this, the divide grew clearer. The Underworld and Utopia were born from this separation. Eventually, the leaders of Utopia and the Underworld decided to take a partner to help them rule their respective realms. They titled themselves the Lords and Ladies of the Afterlife and they began recruiting the dead to their respective sides. The ones who remained outside of the Utopian and Underworld realms traversed a plane that came to be known as Asphodel.

However, this is not the only tale to be told about this river. The river flows not only through the world of the dead, but to where the realms of the living and the dead touch in Eden. As the river exits Eden and traverses towards the land of the living, it divides into three. These three rivers are said to be sources of power in themselves and represent the balance that creates and preserves life. Each river represents a different trait, a specific aspect of life. These traits are discord, justice, and righteousness – not so unlike the traits that define some of the groups that the living have divided in to.

The terrain that separates Eden from the remaining realm of the Afterlife is composed of sky-high, treacherous mountains - a dangerous landscape that makes it impossible for mere mortals to attempt and venture forth, leaving only the short expanse of the powerful river through Eden to their prying eyes. As the river splits and reaches towards the touch of the living, the currents cut beneath the outskirt of the mortal boundary and plunge into the earth, rendering them incapable to be followed by any creature. Far below the surface, their power has gone unnoticed by mortals throughout the years. Little do the mortals know, is that these rivers press forward into the living lands, coming to reach a place that is just beyond the touch of the free lands. The rivers end in three pools, these which concentrate the power that runs within the water. For most of Wild Equines' existence, these pools lay unknown and inaccessible. However, just as the river had once seen the need for change and structure, bringing the first leaders of Utopia and the Underworld into being, so too did it see the need for further change.

It was perhaps the natural order of things that brought about the existence of the groups of the Helkaer, the Versai, and the Vigilum. Three groups each of which valued one of the core traits that create balance within the realm. By way of shared interests and values, initially, the Helkaer allied with those more powerful creatures of the Afterlife, those who were just as dark and malicious as they were – the Underworld. The Versai allied with those who saw the light, and wanted to guide those towards good – Utopia. All three of the Versai, the Helkaer, and the Vigilum made agreements with the all-powerful to offer them a power to aid in their plight, an advantage that exists to no one else. In return, they remained loyal to their particular side of the Afterlife. However, as the years went by, things began to change. Those values that once tied these different groups of equines together shifted and these alliances were called into question. The Versai wished to vanquish the dark, but some of the means in which they go about it are too vile for Utopia to ever accept. The Helkaer have become cocky and sure, and the Underworld have lost their trust in them. This great unease has been felt all across Wild Equines, and it promises terror and suffering if the tension ever came to a head. It is for this reason that the greater power felt the need for change. These groups could clearly no longer be forced to ally with one another, and the river would make it so.

The lands witnessed an unnatural downpour, and the whole world shifted. The massive amounts of water that poured to the earth caused massive mudslides, altering the terrain in the Free Lands. Areas which were previously unreachable have now become accessible – and so, the Elysian Rivers came into view. These are the rivers from the tales of old, which end in the pools of Justice, Righteousness, and Discord. Now reachable, they extended their powers out to the rest of the lands, seeking those who shared a likeness. There are many whose traits match the values that characterize these pools, but only few who actually possess their mighty powers. It was these particular individuals that the pools called to, making a demand that could not be ignored. And so, on that rainy day, the Vigilum, the Versai, and the Helkaer convened at the edge of the Freelands, wondering what was calling to them and why they had all been brought together.

The undeniable force called them forwards and further, dragging each group to the water's edge of an individual pool. Once there, the supernatural feeling of the Afterlife was irrefutable. Once each equine stood at the shore, there was a burst of energy that traversed through each. The pools recognized that these worthy equines had powers similar to those that the pools possessed and that each of these equines embodied the feature that the pools represented. The surge of power was the pools communicating these equines, and they suddenly found themselves with a knowledge they had not previously possessed. Their mind was flooded with a visual, and it showed them a ritual. Curiously, the equines present felt pressured to perform the ritual, and so they did.

One by one, each member of the group drank from the pools before them, one at a time. Those who waited began an ethereal chant, the language unrecognizable. As the energized waters flowed into each of their bodies, the equines began to feel an intensity, a vitality simmer within them. For those who had previously used the gifts given to them by the Afterlife, they would recognize this to be the same feeling they felt when the summoned that force. For those who had not used their previously, they still recognized this feeling like the one they had felt when they had been gifted their powers. For what had come to pass was that the pools no longer wished for the Afterlife and living to be tied to one another. Still finding the living worthy, they offered them the powers that had been previously a gift to them from the dead. The pools forced this fate upon Wild Equines because the higher powers hoped to quell some of the dissent that was found within the lands between the living and the dead, but only time will tell if this change would garner peace, or whether it would simply cause even more chaos.

With the lands in a perilous balance between the splinter groups, the rule of the Royals, and the will of the Afterlife, Wild Equines has become far more dynamic than a simple wild sanctuary free from humans.