Al'terra (Myth, Lore, and Legend)

## Myth, Lore, and Legend

Al'terra, in it's 5,000 year history, certainly hold many legends within its depths.

   **The Galesh** - a creature feared and trembled of that lives in the fog and mists between Nolvac and Al'terra. Although commonly just a scare for young children, it is a legitimate fear off the East coast, enough to strike fear into the heart of soldiers. It is often describe as a dog, a hound, ten times the size of a man (think Clifford) with eyes and fur of smoke. It is perhaps something Nolvac has conjured out of the fear the Al'terrians have.

**The Vreda Fvalak** are six legged horses, powerful a swift, with eyes and feet dipped in the sea, running across the sea, travelling by water, fierce and just. They cannot be ridden, rare and free spirits said to live in the waves. When during the times of mix breeds - are these the original horses? - they are no longer found freely, but perhaps only live in the head waters.

   **The All-sign** is a theoretical creature that acts as a herald a lot of the time in the stories regarding the Nine, with the face and mane of Numinor, with antlers of the deer in the North, forelegs of a horse from the East, hind legs of a goat of the West, and the lion's tail. The All-

sign is authoritative, proper, and deep eyed.

**An Allip** is a rare lion cub born in the wild that develops horns - seeing one is supposed to be a rare sign of good luck.

Part cat, part bird creatures - with various versions of them in art, are **Kinnics**. In some depictions, they have feathers on the back of their legs, their sides, the tip of their tail. In others, full wings and the back of paws. They are the guardians and gatekeepers of the dead. Their myths are proliferated at battles and wars, seen in the mist, in the twilight, accompanying spirits from one world to the next.

**The Olesont, the Storm Spirit**, a thoughtful and rather gigantic cat with the head of an eagle and an almost fish like tale. It sits on high places - ledges and mountains, sometimes seen just before a storm, or a large change in history.

**Brulls** are a series of creatures resembling bears that are kingdom and country neutral, said to have the stais in their coats, and great tellers of past and future only seen in solitary, mostly in the cold. To meet one is to see the importance of times future.

### Acadeny Specific Legends

**Roln -**Said to be dark, ghostly spirits from the realsm of prophecy and dream, they materilaise on the island of the Academy, manifesting a semi permanant visions and ghosts

**The Obeus** - The massive six legged crawling cross between a tasmanian devil and a marmot, that crawls along the cost and has a taste for blood - not killing but maining and wounding.

**Rhishti** - Small bird like creatures, that come out of the mist and water, cause confusion and hysteria in victims, often they surprise their victims

**The Mystere** - Said to be the son of one of the gods, though no one can say which, the spirit that specifically watches over the sacred ground the Academy is on, a gigantic entity that could be real, causing the waves in the sea, walking around and over the land, growling and snarling.No one knows if the ceature is male or female.

## **Mythology**

**The creation myth** - When the world was but a rumble of suns and stardust, out of the dark and light, Life bent and shifted to step the great Nine - nine forms and shapes to model the ultimate perfection, nine different and equal perfections. Together, they roared the universe into being, beginning with the land, the volcanoes, mountains, forests and swamps. They walked the land, creating as they went, each in their own way. Together, as one, they converged on Al'terra, where they put their paws, the world was set to perfection. There here, the cradle of the world, they birthed all manner of creatures - including humans - giving all food and drink and space and intelligence. Many of their creations rejected this gift.

**The Curses** - The six curses are six forms of punishment inflicted by the Nine as punishment – Fear( Dragga/Drajja in Al’terran), Pain (Burning by fire), Despair (Drowning by water), Anger (trapped in small places without escape), Destruction (burnt/rent souls (destroyed)), and Obliteration (Amnesia).
**The Volcano** - When the Nine walked the earth, their first creation was Razan, a perfect human child, happy and joyful. When Razan was let to dance across the earth, the sacred lands, their actions got out of hand and when the Nine beckoned the child back, their calls went unheeded. With a grumble and roar, Numinor, Sesadi, and Vush brought forth the first volcano, Storm's Breath, from the earth. It rained fire and smoke from its maw. Looking  up in horror, Razan ran back to the embrace of the Nine. They showed her that these things were to be feared and trembled out, but also brought life - a flaming bird arose from the maw, a pheonix, a sign of life in gravest danger. She curled under their paws that night.
**The First Moon** - On the first night of Razan's birth, the world was dark a not meant for the eyes of a pure born human. Animals came from high and low to surround but the human couldn't see. Ren took pity on their sight and gave all creatures the gift of a silver orb. Its fullness is thanked routinely as one of the many wonderful gifts.

More on this is Myths including how the Nine outfought and outwitted all the rest, who rosemary is used, winter is lifeless, where Heat comes form, why the ocean is blue, why the dogs chase things, often around the central figure - a human called Razan sometimes male sometimes female