Although the saga of the Eldeen takes place *after* the following two entries, it is the most central to the story of Ys and involves almost half of the franchise's entries.

The information below is presented in both the fore- and background of the first six games of the Ys series. It is collected here in greatly condensed form. A more detailed account can be found on Esterior.net.

The Winged Ones

Long before the birth of Adol Christin, a winged humanoid race called the Eldeen established a highly advanced civilization on the Atlas continent, far west of Europe. The Eldeen utilized a special, magical metal called emelas (which came in five colors or types: red, blue, gold, black, and white) to create legendary artifacts of immense power. With white emelas in particular, the Eldeen were able to escape their regular human bodies and transfer their souls into winged bodies which we now associate with them. Through this, they became revered among other races.

At some time, the sea begin to rise, threatening humanity and the Rehdans, another humanoid race with elf-like characteristics. The Eldeen built the Ark of Napishtim out of black emelas to control the mighty seas. But humanity became greedy, and stole what knowledge of emelas they could. They successfully created red, blue, and gold emelas of their own, but never managed to learn the secrets of black or white emelas.

In trying, though, they created a weaker sixth form: ash emelas. With this humanity constructed dragon soldiers called galba.

The Clan of Darkness

Unhappy with their inability to master black and white emelas, a group called the Darklings infiltrated the Ark of Napishtim and inadvertently caused it to catastrophically malfunction. The Atlas continent was flooded. Only through the sacrifice of an Eldeen named Alma was the crisis temporarily averted, and the rest of the world saved. Many winged ones died during this cataclysm, and almost all the rest chose to "ascend to the heavens."

Three remained behind. Feena and Reah took an artifact called the Black Pearl to Esteria and, with the help of six human priests, founded the city of Ys. They were thwarted by descendants of the Darklings who coveted the Black Pearl. In the ensuing battle, Ys was made to float above Esteria and the Black Pearl, now corrupted, was hidden away along with the two Eldeen women.

The third Eldeen, named Eldeel, helped a human king named Lefance build the kingdom of Celceta using the Mask of the Sun and the Akashic Records. Eldeel remained in touch with yet removed from the Celcetan civilization for hundreds of years, guiding their development from afar.

Then, seven hundred years after Ys first rose into the sky, a red-haired warrior named Adol Christin would wash up in a foreign port town and become embroiled in the same conflict.

At the onset of Ys I, it is ultimately he who must face the Darklings and end their reign of terror.

Though the events of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, we discover a number of shocking truths about the ancient history of the world.

Maia, one of the three gods who originally formed the world as we know it, gave birth to the Great Tree on what would become known as Seiren Island. The Great Tree's job was to nurture life and, more importantly, to occasionally but irrevocably prune the dominant species from the planet to ensure balance.

This pruning - called a Lacrimosa - happened five times before Adol was marooned on Seiren's shores. Each time, a single Warden of Evolution was chosen from the pruned race to act as a representative of the process moving forward.

• Oceanic Lacrimosa (Warden: Hydra)
• Frozen Lacrimosa (Warden: Minos)
• Insectoid Lacrimosa (Warden: Nestor)
• Sky Lacrimosa (Warden: Ura)
• Eternian Lacrimosa (Warden: Dana Iclucia)

(It is notable, of course, that despite their immense contributions to the overall arc of history the Eldeen were not selected.)

Adol was chosen as the Warden of Evolution for humanity, but with the assistance of Dana Iclucia he was able to wake Maia from her slumber, causing the world to reconstruct itself without the Eternians. In this new world Dana became the Goddess of Evolution, replacing the Great Tree. Maia ensures that the Lacrimosa will return, but it will be up to Dana how to wield it.

Long ago, eons before the Eldeen came to existence, the Five Dragons of Altago were born from the land. They provide Altago with Dragon Energy, a powerful magical force.

• Angue-Barl, the Flame Dragon of Vitality
• Mu-Anti, the Wind Dragon of Life's Essence
• O-Balon, the Sea Dragon of Prosperity
• Rada-Manj, the Earth Dragon of Abundance
• Ze-Kalios, the Moon Dragon of Harmony

Whenever the life forces in the land of Altago become unbalanced, the Eldress of the Iska tribe fulfills their role and calls forth the Wind of Destruction, causing plagues (like Iskan Fever) and the uprising of monsters.

In turn the Five Dragons bring before them a Dragon Warrior (no, not that one) who must try to stop the Wind of Destruction. If the Dragon Warrior fails to do so, the Wind summons the Root of All Existence, Rul-Ende, to end the current cycle of life in Altago. (A note: it seems to not be 100% clear whether the Root of All Existence ends life just in Altago or across the entire world. I lean on the former interpretation.) Should this happen the Five Dragons would help usher in a new cycle of creation - a process which has happened multiple times in the past.

During the events of Ys Seven, however, Adol, in his role as Dragon Warrior, destroys Rul-Ende and with it the Five Dragons of Altago.