Of Fayan and the End Times

*From Talbot Derin, Malan Cleric of Tarasmur and Magistrate of the Khadra’khal Bazaar to gathered parties on Fayan and her “children”:*

“Medres is a child goddess. Indeed, she and her sibllings, Zelres and Urthes, are the children of Fayan, the Elder Goddess of Murderous Death, an evil if there was any.

This is where it gets complicated and if you hunt undead you will want to know the whole story. Before Fayan existed, there was no murder. Not per se, though I’m certain Sythlia would disagree. See, when her consort Ævyn was slain, she begged the concept of Death — not yet a fully formed god which is nothing more than a sphere of conceptual possibility given form and independent thought — for control over Death in her newly created realm, the Material Plane.

This proves deities have their weaknesses; Sythlia had to bargain for control over how life ended in a plane she crafted from the energy of the universe but death — or the concept of it — preexisted even her.

Moving on. When she made that request, Death literally was torn in two. A child of the Tirsar ‘requesting’ something is akin to us giving birth. It’s not a question, it’s an act of creation. Make sense so far?  Good.

Death had to continue to exist otherwise Life would be out of balance. So it split from a parent, Death, into a brother and sister: Fayer and Fayan.

Fayer, the brother, is as neutral and uncaring as a god could be. He serves the original function of balance to Life but now ensures that those that possess material bodies — like you and I — have those bodies return to the earth to provide nutrients so that life may continue elsewhere. In the Fayerite religion, some sects hold it forbidden to ever be resurrected or reincarnated and likewise, to ever murder or bring premature death to someone or something. They do not eat meat and only consume portions of plants so that nothing may intentionally die. This is why there are not many of those sects around: they…tend to pass out from starvation.

Other Fayerite sects believes theirs is to prevent unlife — which cheats the natural process — in its entirety and enter the world fully capable of destroying undead.

Other sects still will kill anything for food but make sure each and every single bit of the creature that sacrificed itself so another may live is used in a productive and recycled fashion.

Now enter Fayan, the sister to Death. See, Ævyn was murdered, the first murder, and Death became divided. Ævyn was not killed for food as would occur in a natural setting. No, no… Ævyn was slain out of a desire to change the course of events, a selfish act. This, my friends, was murder. Death couldn’t resolve this so it split.

Fayan, a creature born from selfishness and greed, from lust and wrath, came to Sythlia in her grieving state and was the one Sythlia wished to see. For though her wish for control over death in her realm was presented, it was wrapped in deceit fueled by selfishness. Sythlia was now able to restore life: the revenants were created, Sythlia’s stay of death to the deserving. But with that came an alteration of the magic that had slipped into the world by Ævyn’s spilled blood: resurrection and reincarnation were now possible but since Fayan was involved, so was the creation of undead made possible and manifest.

Fayan had her hands full. People and creatures started murdering each other now that knowledge of it was released in the world. Some say evil didn’t truly exist until that very moment but Fayan was yet done.

Again, selfishness ruled her actions. Ævyn was an elf and the reason why she existed in the first place. Remember, his murder caused Sythlia to unwittingly divide Death. Or perhaps it was part of ‘Her Plan’. Either way, Fayan visited each of the three kings of the race of elves, the most established of all the races and from whence Ævyn had come. She slew each of them and their blood was poured into what we call the ‘Pond of Lament’.  From the Slindar’il’s blood, the purest life of them all, was fashioned an unliving female child of perverted innocence: Medres. From the blood of the Myrad’il, the most noble of all elves, was fashioned a corrupted male child that knew only of lies and deceit: Urthes. And from the focused and skilled Adri’il, an androgynous child representing neither male nor female and yet both was fashioned: Zelres who is utter chaos brought to life. Medres is cold and calculating just like the one that created her. Her only motive is /not/ to destroy life but to bring about death in any form. Fayan gave her the ability to raise the dead so the process (and balance) of life would be upset. A direct fly in the face of her brother, a selfish and evil act.

Some believe the mere presence of the undead in the world in some way prevents the thriving of life. That is to say a day may come when all children by living creatures will be stillborn. That is when the power of the undead balance the power of the living and neither of which may be created or born until the balance is shifted once more. And by that time, the world will be a place of nightmare.”