First of Atlantis, Fallen: Chapter 2
"Olwain decided to honor the place he had discovered fire by living there. People eventually settled with him and Olwain chose a wife. Four generations passed. As a child, Runir, a descendant of Olwain, decided he could see 'shadows' of objects in clouds or the rippling grass or dirt piles of playing children. Runir desired to recreate these shadows by his own hand; making any shadow of an object he desired.
"Runir happened to observe a small bit of firewood fall from the pile and create a sort of curve in the dirt. He took up the stick and within days he was creating his own shadows of people, trees, and animals. Runir wanted to preserve his previous father's discovery of fire in a more permanent way than by the spoken word.
"It took Runir many turns of the world, but he created a system to create shadows of speech. He taught this to his tribe. Runir remembered one of Olwain's failed firestone attempts; one rock had left a mark upon the other. Runir found such a rock and put Olwain's story on the walls of his cave-home.
"Runir called his shadows 'runí.'"
The Deities were outraged. They had symbols for themselves, but no system to convey sounds. A female Deity called for calm. They were immortal, they had no need to created or use 'runí.' But Humanity did not last forever; they died. Allow Humanity Runir's shadows; they would allow Humanity to remember the past and to tell others of the Deities.
Runir's runí spread over the land. Many tribes took to using it, changing it to suit their own needs. Three generations after Runir, his descendent Wytyn called the creation of the shadows 'writ.' He also named the ever-growing living space after Olwain. Wytyn called the living space 'Liantia' and also created the runí to writ the name.
The Deities could now condense their dislike into one word: Liantia.