The answer to the Kitin questions is indeed "we don't know", at least as far as the players or our characters know.
There *was* originally a story all written out and planned out for Ryzom, which would be revealed over time. Without giving too much away, this original story involved certain disruptions in the evolution of Atys, which created the Kitin, the Goo, and the Kami.
However, before most of this story was ever worked into the game, the original owners went bankrupt and the story leaked. So the new owners completely got rid of it. As far as I know, they've since been winging it, making new background up as needed.
There *was* originally a story all written out and planned out for Ryzom, which would be revealed over time. Without giving too much away, this original story involved certain disruptions in the evolution of Atys, which created the Kitin, the Goo, and the Kami.
However, before most of this story was ever worked into the game, the original owners went bankrupt and the story leaked. So the new owners completely got rid of it. As far as I know, they've since been winging it, making new background up as needed.