"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. . . . "
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."
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The antediluvian world was a place of wonder. The power that had only recently brought everything into being still hung to every molecule like morning dew. Words in this world are inadequate to explain that place. Myth and fable told yet today are but poor descriptions of that which truly existed.
Over the millennia, the biological diversity present at Creation has been bred out of existence. The genes for characteristics like wings on horses, hooves on eagles, the ability of giant lizards to breathe fire, among so many others have simply not been passed down to the present. Those creatures are now only denizens of legends, but in that day they walked and flew and crept and lurked.
Those same creatures, as well as those we still would recognize today (though they are no longer nearly as vibrant), were docile and coexisted with human beings. Even creatures we know as carnivorous now were herbivores then. The lush landscape provided a bountiful diet to every living creature. The need to hunt and kill another creature for food was unthinkable.
And that brings us to human beings. Using the same term for them as we use for ourselves would probably have insulted the antediluvian race. As with animals, the gene pool of our day is pitiful and diluted compared to then. Racial distinctions would happen later, after the Great Confusion that separated humankind geographically and led to a limited assortment of physical traits unique to distinct corners of the globe.
Antediluvians, on the other hand, had skin tones ranging from an alabaster with an almost metallic sheen to an ebony that was deeper than polished obsidian. Hair colors ranged from shimmering gold to flaming scarlet to a blue-black ebony. But there were also shades of shocking violet, vibrant pink, and verdant greens.
And members of this race had an almost eternal youth. A woman of five centuries would appear to be barely in her second decade in our world. The men had a rugged virility combined with a boyish energy that remained with them for nearly one thousand years. The eternal youth accompanied an insatiable libido. Members of that race would couple endlessly, tirelessly, and nearly indiscriminately.
Only one trait that we assign to mythical lands and times was absent in this world. That attribute is innocence. Though eternally young, members of this race were thoroughly jaded. They possessed a hardness that would be quite frightening were we to meet such a man or woman today. And for good reason. This was a race totally without a moral compass. The center of the universe for each being was himself or herself. Only the incredible abundance of a nascent world (which was being depleted day by day) kept this incredibly selfish people safe from one another. But that could not be sustained.