Though Maris had made war on Minerva and her adopted people, he was eventually driven off when others came to Minerva's side. Tribes and small villages inspired by what Minerva had started wished to preserve the ideal and came to defend and push back on the foreign invaders. The newcomers were welcome to join if they came in peace, but those who preferred warring and conquering were not welcome. Maris was like Minerva. It was the first time they met. They knew there were others like them spread around the world, but they were very few. Maris' view of war and chaos to shake up and drive humanity forward was shared by a few, but Minerva's vision had a much wider acceptance and appeal. It helped draw allies to her side. One of which, who came to help her against Maris, was Apelion. Also known as Horus in another region of the world. Together they drove off Maris and either slew or frightened away many of his followers greatly diminishing his power. Meanwhile as more people flocked to Minerva's lands the more she was revered and the more power she gained. For now she found joy in overseeing her people and did not let ego blind her. Nearly fifteen thousand years passed as her people prospered and grew. In that time she taught them metal working and how to extract iron and forge steel. She taught them about building with stone and moved away from timber and using the great Woollies as beasts of burden. She showed them how to use heat and clay molds to form stone walls and to make bricks. She brought them engineering with pulleys and cranes and even creating primitive glass from sand pits by the Caspian sea. Trade amongst other cultures grew and roads began to be constructed. Tales of others like Minerva spread as Minerva's kin brought prosperity to humanity all over the world. Her kind walked among humans like gods. It was a golden age. During this time, Gaia began to warm and the great ice sheets stopped moving south and began melt. With that, Minerva felt a need to explore the world further and to connect with her own kin. She left her people in the hands of trusted leaders and a network of governorship she had started. She wanted to travel the world and see all that she could. Many of her kin shared the optimism of this time, but just a few saw this path as an eventual path to laziness and gluttony. Not all humans wanted to sit around in one place. Some wanted to expand and had no issues with taking from others to add to their own. Minerva and others like her did not see that war was looming just below the horizon. Some more imagery of Minerva during the last ice age (glacial maximum). Minerva was created in DAZ and exported as a .obj into Vue. All the other characters are Poser people and animals imported to Vue. The scene was developed and rendered in Vue. The buildings are mostly from Kitbash from their Nordic/Viking set. Some postwork in PS for detailing, light, contrast, color and depth. Stay tuned. This is just my alternate universe. While it is true we are finding that human technology, settlements and temples are far older than previously thought, there is no indication that early humans during the last ice age had discovered metal working yet, That said, we still don't know how old some megalithic structures are or how they were built. Check out Puma Punku, Gobekli Tepe, Nan Madol and other ancient sites. They are an intriguing mystery.