From the beginning, brownies inhabited England, and then man came to England.
At one time, the old families of England had some powerful abilities. The power, however, was based on nature.
Those who could work the power could heal, nurture and grow plants, cause rain, start fires, and other small abilities connected directly to nature.
As society became more civilized, these abilities slowly disappeared, mostly because they were no longer used.
Besides the ability to heal and influence the growth of plants, most of the power seeped out of the family line and returned to the earth from where it was believed to have originated.
The old landed families retained much of their ability, and two family lines had a special ability.
One family learned how to protect the brownies whlie the other family strived to rid England of the brownies.
