The first creatures to walk the earth, created by the gods themselves before the dawn of time. The First Ones are said to be closest to the gods of all there is. Even today, a thousand generations later, the light of the gods still shines through them. They are unnaturally strong, handsome and healthy.
First Ones look much like mortal men at first glance, but you can spot very fast that they are not the same. No disease or illness can touch them, save one. As such, they never need healers or herbs, and they can recover from wounds that would strike every mortal down for sure. Their teeth and skin are perfect, their hair is fair and their eyes are awake and shining, deep as a clear lake on a summer day.
They are not, however, immortal. Even though they do not get frail and weak with age, they can be cut down by blade or accidents, and many are, for the First Ones are from a different time as well, a time of power and strength and honour and long memories. While many of them are experts in the arts of diplomacy and politics, they are all swordsmen and knights as well, for at the end of days, the blade often decides who is right and who will bend the knee.
There is one malady that affects First Ones, causing them to sleep, sometimes for years. Often for no discernible reason, a First One and often a whole family, will become less active and communicative and then just stop, wherever they are. Many eventually recover, some have been sleeping for centuries. The illness causes all bodily functions to stop, so they do not die of hunger or thirst, but awakening them is impossible unless they do so on their own command. Since even their hearts and blood flow so slowly that a lay person would think them dead, it is also called the cold slumber.