The Celosene Purges

## The Celosene Purges were a series of mostly secret conflicts among Spirits, Shaman, and Primalists beginning in the Age of Rebirth and ending in the middle Age of Sistona.

The Celosene Purges, also called the Shaman Wars or the Scouring, were a series of vicious conflicts among spirits and spiritually aware mortals. The conflicts began when Celos (Vin'ka for "Mastery"), a powerful spirit of Clarity and Control which fed on the psychic energies of the early elven government officials in their largest city-state. It was ousted from it's feeding grounds by a potent spirit of Growth and Control calling itself Verador (Green in Vin'ka). Verador was so successful it eventually became the spirit of Veradorianis itself, leaving the other spirit without dominion or fuel. Celos was forced to wander, feeding on the power of various petty dictators and tribal heads, always ousted by shaman and spirits of Freedom, Creation, and Autonomy among others. Eventually, it had enough, and enacted a plan to change its circumstance.

### The Celosene

Celos gathered to itself as many like minded spirits as it could, along with brain-purged or willingly converted shaman, and made slow war on the world, hoping to re-shape it into a place of perfect Clarity and Control under one mortal ruler, or perhaps a few oligarchs. The Celosene, as this conglomeration of spirits and shaman-slaves came to be known, were feared by the Primally aware throughout the world. They used that fear to impose their vision on reality, resulting in a state of spiritual war.

The Gods and the Continuation of the Conflicts

Myrael attempted to stage a fourth Night of the Black Mirror to stop them, but was denied by Dmalthtome because this was not a principally mortal conflict. However, despite the fact that the main contenders were spirits, the conflicts took place technically on the Material plane, and so direct interference was forbidden. Those gods concerned with what was happening could, and did, send their own spiritual servants and even some avatars into the fray. However, Celos' actions had awakened many of the Somnambula. The infusion of numerous previously unaligned spirits on both sides caused an unprecedented degree of chaos in the spirit realm, which then drew in more and more mortals. The fighting devolved into protracted geurilla conflicts lasting for literal ages.

The Invisible Pogroms

The ongoing battles sparked magical, physical, and primal wars among the various shamanic peoples. The shaman population was decimated and they lost their influence with many peoples, but the Primalists fared worse. Shamanism is simply a traditional way to use magic to interact with and perceive the spirit world; they have no inherent control over Primal energy and must use spells or ask spirits for help. Primalists are more like spirits given flesh.They were capable of shaping the spirit world and killing spirits as needed if they could be enticed to fight. Celos found them too hard to control, and every non-Aberrant child displaying Primal abilities was killed for thousands of years, leaving none of them to reproduce and spread their abilities (theoretically anybody can be born with the talent to use Primal Expressions, but like magic the most potent gifts usually run in families). The subtler spirits arranged for children to fall from cliffs or drown. The not-so-subtle spirits simply manifested and ripped them apart.

The End of the War

The conflicts only ended when the Voices of Justice, a choir of the True Dead and spirits of Law, Music and, Grief united under the Bright Soul of Vishania Gazaan, sang the dark song that drove the Celosene mad and made
them devour themselves, including Celos, in their bid for yet more control. While the war did end their, a heavy price was paid.

The Aftermath

In addition to making sure no notably potent Primalists existed for thousands of years, the shaman wars put a massive dent in several populations, notably the Southern Firbolg. The last Black Orcs of Mount Garzunond, each and every one innately talented in spirit sight and the art of battling the unseen, died defending their sacred mountain from mobs of humans, lizardfolk, and elves driven mad by the Celosene. Their war axes, which cut spirit as well as flesh, were preserved by the peoples surrounding the mountain until they were given to the Skull Dance.