A History of the World

A (Brief) History of the World(s) and the Universe surrounding it.

### Chapter 1: **The Time of Many Firsts**

In the beginning, there was Tal-majprit. Pure chaos. Pure magic. They took on an amalgamous form, one of many tendrils. They searched the whole universe for an eternity, an infinity across, and found that they were the only being in the universe. Tal-majprit fell into a deep state of depression upon learning this fact, and they ceased to exist in the Mortal Realm. They descended further down, not in the mortal realm of the universe, but into the immortal realm, the strings behind the dimensions, the Unseen Place.

It was there that they discovered magic, and how to enslave it. It was the first act of oppression in the universe that brought upon it the first life. Tal-majprit created eight Amaranthine, of which half would be the Creators, and half would be the Destroyers. Therefore - balance. He taught them how to enslave magic, how to bend it to their will, how to create new life, and how to destroy it. And after he taught them his knowledge, they conspired against him, and stabbed him in the back. Devastated, Tal-majprit banished them to the Mortal Realm, and made the Unseen Place his home, vowing never again to use magic to create independent life.

Of the eight Amaranthine, there were the Creators: Ardea, great gull of the light. She set about constructing the first Sun. Hanera, patron of nature and the wild places. A moth, he designed the forests and all the creatures that resided in them. Gaspard, a hare whose strength was only outpaced by his bravery. He bestowed upon the universe the gift of bravery and chivalry. Cairith, bringer of life and meaning. She created new life, and gave it meaning. There were also the Destroyers: Tyton, immense barn owl of the darkness. He strung the darkness and void of space that comes between the terrestrial places. Altus, the dark hawk, bringer of death and chaos. She was the one who spilled the first blood, the first killer. Kren, the cunning fox who gave life the concept of hubris and guilt. Clhuran, the snake of fate. He bestowed the gift of fate and fortune upon life.

The eight Amaranthine began to weave the universe into something tangible with a physical form, the planets, the stars, the wildlife, and finally, sentient beings. In particular, they created 5 worlds with just the right conditions for life. Volas, a world of opportunity. Mintri, a dual planet system locked together by gravity. Ancestor, a newborn, seemingly beautiful world with hidden secrets beneath its many lush gardens. Tyemai, a system hosting several planets, all encircling a dying star. Bloom, a world where vicious undead creatures have overtaken the planet and have turned it into a wasteland. In the core of each world, they created the Shifting Plane, a portal that would teleport one to one of the four other worlds. They sculpted each planet's oceans and mountains, and brought life to them. However, chaos inevitably came, and each world began to fall to war, one by one.

Back in the Unseen Place, Tal-majprit saw chaos, and became worried. He worried about the Amaranthine, his creations, and he worried more about the new life they'd created. So, he created three more Amaranthine, subservient to him, to influence and bring balance to the planets. The uncaring Hath, a constellation of stars manifesting themselves in the form of a racoon, the kind Henwin, a midsummer's breeze manifesting themselves in the form of a hedgehog, and the wise Gesme, an eternally burning fire representing themselves in the form of a raven. Hath would teach the planets' inhabitants the value of not giving a shit and silence, Henwin would teach them the importance of kindness, and that all, no matter how small or big, must be respected, and Gesme would teach them the arts and the knowledge necessary to survive and thrive.

### Chapter 2: **Byproducts of Creation**

As byproducts of creation, the Wanderers took form. Minor Amaranthine, they were also known as. As many as six thousand of them existed, all immortal and all knowing, but not all powerful. As time marched on, civilisations themselves became Wanderers, single-minded beings who were physical representations of their civilisations. They took on impossible non-euclidean forms, communicating through dreams or the Unseen Place. Common Wanderers included cosmic larvae, planet-sized physical creatures that spread life throughout the stars, and space gardeners, who nurtured life on planets. On Volas, the first civilisation emerged from a Wanderer known as Divtal. He gave them the gift of fire and the gift of creativity, before passing on to leave his body as a source of energy for the growing civilisation. Nowadays, this is known as Ambrosia.

On Mintri's dual planets, a great ocean is formed on each, shaped by the by the moth Hanera himself. He gives the seas life and allow them to thrive. Only Chluran, fate itself, pulled the two planets together, locking them in a never-ending ballet. On Ancestor, a civilisation emerged from the stone and dirt, named themselves the Clay Peoples, and began construction on labyrinths just beneath the garden planet's surface. On Tyemai's four planets, an advanced civilisation rises within the blink of the cosmos' eye. Calling themselves the Rinrith, they begin trade within the system, using carcasses of cosmic larvae to travel the distances between planets. On Bloom, the vicious undead led by Altus himself are tricked, some converted by Cairith into living creatures, the Faulki. Across the universe, Volas, Mintri, Ancestor, Tyemai and Bloom's stories are repeated and told millions of times over, but never reaching as far. These five worlds kept the torch of civilisation going.

The Rinrith, proud engineers, create great contraptions that allow them to travel faster than the speed of light, and send missions to other systems, but never find life. In spite of the apocalypse, the Faulki develop a civilisation too, tiny towns that exist in the hearts of hidden, forgotten valleys. The spirit of Gaspard is bestowed upon the Faulki, giving them the quality of bravery in the light of impossible odds. The Clay Peoples develop odd fascinations with the stars, and become avid cosmic watchers. They construct larger and larger flying craft to allow them to reach the stars. Like their Labyrinths, their flying craft are monuments to their existence, and continue to float high in the sky for many a millennia after they are gone. Volas' people, known as Terrans, begin small nation-states across their planet, beginning trade and wars.

### Chapter 3: **The Many Apocalypses**

However, like all civilisations, the Clay People begin to disappear. Not through any fault of their own, just the fortune of Clhuran turning against them. Year on year, their numbers slowly decrease, until one day, there are only two hundred left. The last two hundred Clay People make their way to the Heart of the Labyrinth, at the very centre of the maze, and like the clay they came from, they returned to it. The world of Ancestor, for the first time in one hundred thousand years, is quiet. The only ones left are the Silent Beings, Wanderers of the metaphysical type. The Silent Beings slowly begin to create a Grand Archive of the Clay Peoples civilisation and history. Their cities are left to be retaken by nature, their labyrinths left rotting secrets, hiding beneath the surface, and their crafts drift forever in Ancestor's atmosphere. Some Wanderers visit Ancestor, none stay. Eventually, the Grand Archive fades into obscurity, as the Silent Beings live up to their name, disappearing into the Unseen Place. With them, so do the secrets of Ancestor and its people.

The Terrans become arrogant and self-destructive, and in the heat of the moment, somewhere in a dark place in on Volas, someone presses a button, launching weapons more destructive than Altus, the hawk of destruction herself. And somewhere else, in a similarly dark place on Volas, someone else presses a different button, retaliating. And, somewhere else, someone presses a button that sends a rocket containing a weapon containing a vial containing a poison that will envelop the moon of Volas. Wanderers and Amaranthine alike can do nothing but watch as the Terrans destroy their civilisation. A sea of flames engulfs the planet. Some of the smarter Terrans, exploring the planet's core, escape into the Shifting Plane as a last resort to flee the destruction, and are spat back out onto Ancestor. What follows on Volas are a series of smaller apocalypses. The planet's surface, already sensitive, collapses into itself. The shattered pieces of the moon rain down on Volas. And every last living creature, every forest, every Terran save for a special few are wiped out in less than a week. What follows is the long night, where dust and dirt launched into the atmosphere blocked all light from hitting the surface of the planet. For three thousand years the planet of Volas toiled without light, and after this, another hundred thousand follow without life.

Otherwhere, the few hundred Terrans who escape to Ancestor start their civilisation anew,