Secret

**Colour:** Black

**Charge:** Gods

**School of Magic:** Weaving

**Chain End:** (no chain - Skarg is the Chained God)

**Description:**
 Skarg is the Father of the other seven gods, and the most powerful god.
 After killing Esterana, Skarg was chained to the ground in The Mortal and became the temple Elicyn.
 Most records of Skarg have been destroyed by the Faith, so it is
difficult to obtain an accurate representation of Skarg's appearance. In
 surviving records, Skarg is generally shown as a four-armed being with
an enormous mouth and a skeletal mask. Male.

**Magic System:** Black priests create scry glasses from obsidian that can be used to view distant locations and people.

**Role and Consequences:** The
 Cult of Skarg is based on the school of Skarg. The magic, which was
very powerful prior to the god's chaining, is severely dampened due to
the god's weakened power. The Cult uses black scry glasses to
communicate, and work to free Skarg from his prison.

### Esterana

**Element:** Palladium

**Colour:** White

**Charge:** Strangers

**School of Magic:** Mysticism

**Chain End:** (no chain)

**Description:**
 Esterana is dead - see below. As with Skarg, few depictions of Esterana
 still exist. However, surviving images show Esterana as an elderly
woman with elaborate dress and headgear studying a book. Female.

**Magic System:** White priests can create portals to the Rue out of palladium.

**Role and Consequences:** The
 few white priests in existence are not members of the Faith, but work
independently and often live alone due to their blasphemic powers. If
they get far enough in their personal research and training to construct
 portals to the Rue, they may explore the Rue and befriend its
inhabitants. Some take magical items or creatures from the Rue and sell
them for extremely large prices. Some of Esterana's demigods are still
alive, and work to preserve the memory of their dead mother.

## Death of Esterana

Esterana interfered with some war in the Mortal, freezing an entire army of hobgoblins
 in its tracks and turning them to pure white stone. Skarg believed that
 Esterana had gone too far in interfering with Mortal affairs, and
struck her down. The other six gods, in retaliation, restrained Skarg
and chained him to the Mortal, forming the temple Elicyn.

Esterana was responsible for transport between the Rue and the Mortal. Mages of Esterana's school of magic were able to communicate with and travel to the Rue, and often lived with faerie
 familiars. However, when Esterana was killed, this magic ceased to
work. This meant that almost all travel and communication between the
Rue and the Mortal no longer worked. Some humans were trapped in the
Rue, and some faeries were trapped in the Mortal. This has led to
several legendary individuals living in each realm, with varying
impacts.

The Nexus crystal magic used by the Ashard
 relied on the movement of the Ishi from the Rue to the Mortal. When
this movement stopped, the crystals were no longer able to be produced.
Over a few years, this led to the fall of Ashard society and the
destruction of the empire.

In Esterana's dying moment, she retrieved an ancient powerful artifact, the Whisper,
 from deep within the Rue and cast it into the Mortal. She knew that a
new stranger god is required to restore the connection between the Rue
and the Mortal, and a mortal being can only rise to godhood through the
Whisper. The faeries treasured this item and believed it to be stolen by
 mortals. The First Faerie placed a faerie child's soul into the body of the Astoran king in order to search for the artifact.

The Faith has
erased Esterana and Skarg from its teachings, instead teaching that the
chains are gifts from the gods that keep the world from splitting.