The Opened

The first nine prophets of the Gods led by Yenal, prophet of Tarek, God of the Earth. Other member are:

* Helto - 2nd of The Opened, best friend to Yenal, Prophet of Sisba, Goddess of the Sea
* Pat  - 3rd of The Opened, Prophet of Mobtwoa, God of the Sky
* Temmes - 4th of The Opened, Prophet of Wiliptia, Goddess of Life (animals and plantlife)
* Shaim  - 5th of The Opened, Prophet of Rynuix, God of Strength
* Mahb  - 6th of The Opened, Prophet of Loomis, Goddess of Emotion
* Keypar  - 7th of The Opened, Prophet of Conite, God of Food and Health
* Elijan  - 8th of The Opened, Prophet of Colimer, Goddess of Faith
* Luscet - 9th of The Opened, Prophet of Kurtor, God of Death and the Underworld

The name The Opened comes from the Nine members were the ones who were "opened" to the sight of the gods and were the first true believers. They later become known as "The Nine"

## Founding

500 years before the Great Exile, A noble Warrior in the small village of Wildevale named Yenal received a visit from Tarek, the most powerful of the Gods, appeared to him and taught him about the Gods and their powers, Tarek told Yenal to preach about the Gods as far throughout the world as he could go. Many thought Yenal to be crazed and they did not listen to him. Where he was once well renowned in Wildevale, most everybody turned their backs on him. However, when a disgraced knight by the name of Helto, who Yenal fought with and was friends with, decided to hear Yenal had to say he joined his side. Helto had two friends, Pat and Temmes who joined their cause. Shaim joined their cause a while later when he entered Wildevale on travel. The five left Wildevale to preach what they learned from the Gods. They reached the small village of Rhoedar, and were joined by Mahb and Keypar. Traveling to a small village near the Centre River, they were joined by Elijan. It was a long journey until they found their last member. Because Tarek had told Yenal that he would have nine Opened members he would not give up. When they finally reached the shore of the Great Sea at the Donnet Docks, they found Luscet, from the isle of Krekt who they mistook for a criminal at first but concluded he was in fact the final member willing to join their cause. That night after The Opened First Meal of codfish, garlic, and cheese each member received a dream visit from one of the gods, the god that they would be the initial prophet for.

## Road Home

### Rooster Inn

When word had gotten around Wildevale and surrounding villages about the blasphemers, many grew angry and some began taking up arms. Since The Opened had found their nine members they thought it best to head home. A few days into their journey they were crossed by three drunken men outside of an inn. After a deal of yelling one of them started throwing punches at Shaim, who immediately threw one punch and knocked him unconscious. The second man picked up rocks and began throwing them at the group while the third man grabbed a nearby rusty sword and charged. The Opened won the skirmish without any wounds and killed the second two men who attacked them. They gave the bodies proper burials outside the Rooster Inn gave the unconscious man a bed and spent the night.

### Taverse

#### Fight at the Tavern

After another few days of travel they arrived at the village of Taverse, and went to a tavern. When they walked in about 15 to 20 men recognized who they were and surrounded the nine and many drew weapons. Yenal began his usual speech about the gods even when knowing that these men did not want to hear it. When one man, presumably a cook got tired of it he said "fuck your gods" and threw a kitchen knife at Yenal, missing by a few inches and sticking in the wall behind him. Yenal, staying completely calm the whole time, finished his verse, took the knife out of the wall, announced to the whole tavern "In the name of Tarek" and threw the knife back at the cook, landing in his neck, killing him instantly. He did this to let everybody know that they fight in the name of their gods and nothing else. Preparing for the battle, Helto announced "In the name of Sisba" causing the other members of the nine to announce the same for their gods. The fight ended with all 15 to 20 men dead and the nine escaping with only minor wounds.

#### Forming the sigils

The next morning while leaving Taverse a woman cried out for help from an alley, causing Elijan to run to her aid. She was being attacked by two men who Elijan scared off and helped the woman to her feet before the arrival of the other eight Opened. She thanked him and offered them all at meal at her shop because they had not eaten anywhere, being refused from everywhere because of the fight at the Tavern. She was a tailor and when in her shop, Yenal received a message from Tarek that they should never hide who they are, and that in fact they should make it visible so everybody knows who they are. Since they were in a tailor's shop Yenal figured that fastening sigils to their chest should make sure everybody knew who they were. Since he was the prophet of Tarek, god of the earth, he chose a mountain to be his sigil. The other members chose theirs as well and the woman began creating them. Helto chose a wave, Pat chose a sun, Temmes chose a rabbit, Shaim chose a flexed arm, Mahb chose a heart, Keypar chose a loaf of bread, Elijan chose a pair of hands in prayer, and Luscet chose a skull.

### Yenal's Mountain

When the Nine members traveled off the main road to avoid the many altercations they have been getting in the spent the night in the wilderness on a small mountain next to a lake. That night they all received dreams from their gods. When they woke they seemed to be more than men, they could see visions and have other god like powers that dealt with their specific god. Keypar managed to grow food right where they stood to feed them for breakfast. Helto took the water from the lake, cleaned it and gave it to The Nine to drink. Each member struggled with their new powers at first as they were hard to control and their full potential was unknown.

## Building The Temple of The Nine

###### The Temple of The Eight

When they were they were close to arriving in Wildevale, the self appointed leader of the village, Orbane, wanted to keep The Opened out of the village but knew that they would fight their way. Orbane ordered Efren, a scientist to find a way to keep them out. Efren biologically created Creatures and used them to defend the city. Which they successfully did sending The Opened north to find another place to stay. When they reached a semi forested area next to the sea near the small village of Junilar. There is where they found the first supporters of their cause. With the help of a few dozen villagers, they deforested the area and build a very large temple with a large main room and nine smaller rooms, each with a statue and altar dedicated to one of the nine gods.

## The Fall

For four consecutive days, when The Nine and their followers woke up in the morning there was a mysterious death that occurred overnight. On the fifth night Yenal stayed awake to see if he could see what was going on. After getting tired and drifting off to sleep he is awoken by rats scurrying by and turns around to see Luscet, wielding a dagger coming towards him. Quickly, Yenal grabbed his own dagger and defended against Luscet's attack. While, fighting Yenal demands to know why he would be killing the innocent people to which Luscet responds by saying that his God, Kurtor, told him to. Winning the fight and knocking Luscet unconscious, Yenal ties him up and wakes up the other 7 to warn them that Luscet and Kurtor are evil. After days of intense prayer, the 8 other Gods use their power to banish Kurtor from their supernatural spirit world and remove his Godlike powers which in turn "kills" the spirit of Kurtor and actually kills Luscet. The Eight took Luscet's body and took it miles away from the temple and buried his body in the middle of a small wooded area in between Lake Long and Lake Short. They then became known as The Eight rather than The Nine and they destroyed the ninth room in the temple dedicated to Kurtor and threw Luscet's dagger into the King's Bay (which at the time was unnamed). Because of the murder of one of their members, followers became skeptical to whether or not to continue to follow The Opened.

## The Rise

After tensions calmed down and The Eight could prove to their followers that they were not evil like Luscet, many more joined their following, rather than a few dozen they had 2,000 followers from the village of Junilar and surrounding area. They managed to create a small hierarchy of leadership in their small community and provided enough food from farms, hunting, and fishing. The villages began building the village larger into a town and eventually into a small city. Villagers were trained how to fight and an armorer and weapon shop opened up to provide for all of them. They built and led the community around faith in the Gods, and held preaching sessions every ten days to teach everyone willing to learn about the Gods. The Eight also took time in prayer and developed their supernatural, spiritual skills which became stronger and more controlled. Their followers started to believe that they were in fact the Gods themselves. They had some very devout followers known as Heltons that dedicated their lives to the Gods. They even appointed a High Helton, a man by the name of Polure.

## The Battle for Wildevale

### Before the Battle

The Members of the Eight wanted a return home to Wildevale, however the army raised by Orbane had reached a total of 8,500 fighting men as well as an estimated 3,200 enhanced Creatures that have become reportedly more powerful, more ferocious and designed for killing. The Eight managed to raise 856 soldiers that they trained themselves, including women. They were poorly equipped with weapons and armor but they felt that their prayer would bring the Gods to their side. Each soldier was given an individual blessing from every God before departing. The makeshift Opened army began marching south with less than a hundred horses but optimistic fighters. Orbane's army and Efren's Creatures got word of the march and began setting up defense for the city although they expected the battle to be a slaughter so not much effort was put into the planning. Many citizens from the city found a place to watch the battle take place expecting an easy victory.

### The Battle

They arrived at the main gate of the city, Yenal and Helto walked forward to find 11 guards, one went to warn the rest of the army of the arrival, the other ten drew their swords and walked towards Yenal and Helto, to attack. The two calmly and slowly drew the swords and killed the ten guards very quickly. The Opened and their followers entered the city and killed every soldier who attacked them but nobody who stood defenseless. They were rarely killed or wounded but the ones who were wounded were treated by Keypar and a small group of healers to give them strength. Before long the Creatures were released and meant trouble for the Opened because they were fast and tricky and came in packs and were very hard to fight. They took out many fighters for the Opened before the Eight called upon the Gods for assistance. The prophets did what they could using their spirits to overpower the Creatures and enemies fighters. It shifted the battle back in their favor, but they were still losing fighters. The turning point in the battle was when Pat saw Elijan quietly praying on top of a building rather than fighting. When confronted Elijan was scared and when asked why he hasn't used his spirits, he responded simply with "It's unstable." Elijan looked around to see the battle not going their way, stood up stretched out his arms and lights of blue and red and green began forming around him. When it got bigger and brighter, Elijan began to shake and eventually let go. The ball of energy was thrown and exploded in the middle of the city, seemingly killing most of the remaining enemies soldiers and Creatures and sent the rest fleeing from the city. Elijan collapsed but it seemed that they had won the fight. The other six prophets entered Orbane's residence, killed him and later found Efren in his workshop and killed him as well, and threw them both into the Sea.

### Aftermath

Many citizens fled the city out of fear but many saw the power of the Gods and began to follow the Opened and their Gods. In total, less than half of their army, 392 people were killed whereas nearly 7,000 men and 2,500 Creatures were killed on the enemy side. Elijan was brought to the remaining Opened, as much as they prayed and healed he could not be saved and knew he would die. He requested to be surrounded by his closest followers and with them he said a few words, prayed for them all, and then died. He was buried under the building he cast his spirit of energy and the building was turned into a monument of his sacrifice. They found and destroyed Efren's mostly empty workshop but found many books and notepads missing or destroyed. Now that the city was theirs they decided to begin forming their new city and community. They appointed a trusted follower who showed good leadership named Terlong to be the first leader, or Mona of Wildevale.

## The New Life

The city was rebuilt far surpassing its former glory and people were coming from all over the world to join the faith in the new Gods. There was such a large area taken up by new citizens that it was no longer just a city. The original city of Wildevale remained where is was with walls around and the surrounding area was still part of the community. That and any additions would be considered part of Yenallum, which Terlong named after their brave leader, Yenal. The remaining seven Opened built another temple in the city with mostly the same design as the original in Junilar. They became teachers and prayer leaders and they took on men and women to become Heltons, however when in training they are known as Patons. Society advanced rapidly with shops and ways of life became more staple for people. A small government was formed as well as a small yet strong army. Many major events began to be documented and a new calendar was formed which marked the day after the battle as the first day of the first month of the first year after AR (After Return). The Opened lived out their days preaching in Wildevale although making trips outside the city to preach to others. When they died they were buried underneath the altar dedicated to the God they were the prophet of.