Creation

The world of Thaelis-Y'Arda has a rich and deep history, an overview of which is detailed below, from the time of its creation to the present day.

## In the Beginning

In
the beginning, there was only the emptiness of space and the uniform chaos and blackness
that filled it. Within the Void, Oblivion is said to
have rested dormant, infinite in its depths and glorious in its perfection. The
eternal silence soothed the awful entities that are said to have swum through
an aphotic paradise, odd in their proportions and grateful for the darkness
which bathed them in timeless bliss. Nothing aged, nothing died and everything
hung unseen in immaculate splendour.

## The Coming of the Primordial Spirits

### **The Birth of Existence**

First, and for no conceivable reason, the Over-Soul emerged from the Void, its essence that of existence itself - unlimited, immortal and timeless. Its emergence from Chaos created the foundation for what was to come next.

### **The Start of Time**

Second there emerged Tey'Kor-Akx, who spoke the first word and set in motion ineffable Law and Time, violating the body of Oblivion and disrupting its perfect form with the imposition of Order. Theories differ as to whether Tey'Kor-Akx actually spoke the first word or was in fact born of it.

Tey'Kor-Akx decreed that time would proceed in cycles, and that each cycle would be composed of 99 days. It is now believed that the turning of each cycle is in fact a rotation on the surface of a colossal metaphysical clock counting down to some unknowable event.

Unable to correct this mistake, Oblivion, in a murderous rage, sought to reform the world, bringing it back to perfect darkness. However, it could not attack Time, as that was against the Law. As Oblivion's eye opened in its fury, the Moon appeared in the black of space. Then it formulated another plan. If Chaos could not harm Order directly, then it would simply annihilate that which allowed Order to persist - existence itself. Oblivion descended upon the Over-Soul, the ferocity of its assault shattering it into countless shards.

Knowing that should the Darkness digest the fragments of the Over-Soul, Order would be toppled, Tey'Kor-Akx used the Word to bring about Creation, which it bound with Time so as to prevent Oblivion from entering it. It then stored the fragments of the Over-Soul inside it, keeping them from Annihilation. However, some of the largest souls were sequestered by Oblivion, which chose not to erase them in lieu of what had just transpired. In addition, every fragment of soul had been touched by the Dark during the Shattering, and this taint allowed Oblivion to erect a pillar to Annihilation within the world.

The Esoteric Art of Chronomancy was formulated by Tey'Kor-Akx and taught to its children, the great temporals known as trolls. These great spirits were tasked with protecting the Order of Time from relapse into Chaos - should the bubble surrounding Creation be overcome, demons would surely invade en masse and rend the world asunder, eradicating all souls. Then Tey'Kor-Akx spoke great words of power that brought forth the forms of the other Primordials, which it would task with the maintenance of the world to come.

### **The Coming of the Light**

Third to appear was Mithras, was spoken forth and who hovered in the darkness as a great orb of golden light. Recognising its strength, Tey'Kor-Akx conversed with it and gained its alliance against Oblivion. Mithras was to lead the world that was to come and protect it from the ravages of darkness that would seek to tear it apart. Its light would allow Creation's inhabitants to see reality and to master themselves through close attention.

### **The Emergence of Stone**

Fourth to appear was Nito, who when spoken forth crawled from the Void as a great slab of stone. Recognising its loyalty, Tey'Kor-Akx gave it the responsibility of supporting all of the world that was to come with the emergence of further entities. Nito's blood was iron and ran in veins through the stone. It was decreed that the stone would serve as a medium for recording the passage of time and the documentation of history, so that creatures could learn from their mistakes and maintain cultural vivacity.

### **The Matasks Create the Underworld**

The matask, great spirits and the children of Tey'Kor-Akx, descended to the body of Nito and built great cities beneath its surface, their tunnels forming the networks that to this day make up the Underworld and the oceans' trenches. These ancient beetle-like entities were the first inhabitants of the world.

### **The Coming of Water**

Fifth to be spoken forth was Dagon, who roiled through space as an amorphous cascading globe. Recognising its depth, Tey'Kor-Akx tasked it with the investigation of every corner of the world that was to come and the gathering of great knowledge within its waters. Dagon lay across Nito's back and formed an endless, unbroken ocean, uninhabited by life of any sort. It was commanded that the waters should watch all that transpired henceforth and retained the deep knowledge that recorded history could not articulate.

### **The Bunyip inhabit the Endless Ocean**

The second form of troll to descend to the world were the bunyip, who ruled the fathomless waters while the matasks delved through the stone below them. These crab-like trolls dwelt upon the water-logged back of Nito. They are not aware that the first minion of Oblivion, the tentacled goddess that would come to be known as Kraken, had already entered Creation.

### **The Coming of Air**

Sixth to be spoken of was Urana, who drifted through the Void, playful and joyous. Recognising its generous nature, Tey'Kor-Akx tasked it with sowing oxygen over Nito and Dagon, laying the foundation for the emergence of life in times to come. Urana brought the first waves to the ocean, and began seeding it with the materials needed for aquatic life.

### **The Coming of Fire and Ice**

Seventh and eighth to appear were Ignis and Sif, who blazed with great heat and great cold, respectively. Recognising their rivalry, Tey'Kor-Akx imprisoned them on opposite sides of the world, Ignis below and Sif above.

### **The Emergence of Life**

Ninth to appear was Orboros, who flowed forth as a tide of vital energy. Recognising its peacefulness, Tey'Kor-Akx gave it the responsibility of populating the world with growth, paving the way for plant, animal and eventually sapient life.

### **Gnoggus has the** **First Dream**

The tenth primordial, Dr'Oon was born when the first among the grendels, Gnoggus-Kracus, formulated the blueprints for a design that he thought could save the world from its inevitable annihilation - that of flesh itself. So great was the imagination required to create such an idea that it birthed a great spirit which would become the substance of dreams and creativity itself.

### **The Tree of Life and Death**

Orboros formed an intimate bond with Nito, and at the centre of the world a great stone tree began to sprout, a monolith that anchored the force of life in the world as Nito took dominion over death. The sap of the Tree of Life and Death was silver, and as its roots spread throughout the Underworld, so did veins of this metal. It is thought that this tree's creation was brought about through an exchange of gifts between the two primordials. Orboros created the earthworm, and presented it to Nito so that the cycle of life and death could be linked through its activities. So pleased was Nito with this gift that its clergy to this day bear the worm as its holy symbol. In return, Nito gave of its own blood and Orboros took the iron and modified it into copper, which is found running through soil above the Underworld.

Nito's child, Yindaron, fashioned a spiritual divide between life and death, leading to the creation of the Land of the Dead, and also drew up designs for ghosts - vessels which would transport the souls of mortals until they found their way to the Soul Foundry of Nito itself. it is believed that Gnoggus himself was a friend to primordial stone, and learned from Tey'Kor-Akx and Nito the proper conduct of souls, which he then used to create the Esoteric Path of Sacred Necromancy.

### **The Binding of Thaelis-Y'Arda by Time**

Tey'Kor-Akx dictates that henceforth time shall advance with the turning of distinct cycles. Each cycle shall consist of 99 days and 11 chains, each of which shall be dedicated to one of the Primordials, drawing upon its divine essence.

The first chain, from the 1st to the 9th day, shall be presided over by itself and the temporals, a time when the fabric between dimensions shall be reinforced and repaired.

The second chain, from the 10th to the 18th day, shall be presided over by Orboros and its gaeas, which shall render the soils of the world fertile in the wake of the previous winter and the Moon's gaze.

The third chain, from the 19th to the 27th day, shall be presided over by Dagon, whose waters shall be restless, bringing forth both the fish of the deep and the rains from the sky.

The fourth chain, from the 28th to the 36th day, shall be presided over by Nito, who will sanctify the necessity of death and the chambers of the Underworld.

The fifth chain, from the 37th to the 45th day, shall be presided over by Ignis, who will elevate the temperature of all lands and catalyse the growth of plants.

The sixth chain, from the 46th to the 54th day, shall be presided over by Mithras, whose rays of light shall brighten the world and bring providence to the struggling life below.

The seventh chain, from the 55th to the 63rd day, shall be presided over by Urana, whose winds shall bear forth the seeds of nature to foreign soils where they shall wait for the new cycle.

The eighth chain, from the 64th to the 72nd day, shall be presided over by Dr'Oon, who shall usher forth the stars from the boundaries of Creation and heighten the perceptions of mortal minds.

The ninth chain, from the 73rd to the 81st day, shall be presided over by the Void, and a profound stillness shall be present to those with the attention to notice its odd sereneness.

The tenth chain, from the 82nd to the 90th day, shall be presided over by Sif, whose cold tidings shall remind the denizens of the world of the threats that are to come in its wake.

The eleventh and final chain, from the 91st to the 99th day, must be dedicated to Oblivion, as this is the Law. Its demons shall test the strength of Creation's fringes and seek to dim the light within.

## **The Dawn of Flesh and the Birth of Land**

From the coming of the light until the end of the 1st Era, there was no conventional night and daytime; light and darkness rippled across the sky in equal measure as angels and demons fought incessantly in the upper reaches of the sky. The resulting light climate was one of constant twilight, a suspension between blackness and illumination.

The first creations of the trolls began to be set loose in the oceans when Gnoggus taught the art of flesh-crafting, and initially included aquatic arthropods alongside other tentacled horrors of unknown origin. In addition, various seaweeds began to spring from the seabed.

### **Designing the Soul Vessel**

Flesh was an invention of Gnoggus and is a synthesis of various kinds of spirit. Cells and tissues were synthesised from facet spirits of earth and water, the blood fashioned from facets of air and bones from facets of the Underworld. Facets of fire and cold allowed variable body temperature and the facets of light were incorporated under the mandate of Tey'Kor-Akx so that the soul could be anchored inside the living vessel and granted the limitation of mortality. Finally, the mind was fashioned from spirits of dream, granting the flesh-bound the capacity for free will - that which would either save the world, or destroy it.

### **The Astacus and Khepri are Created**

The earliest forms of sapient life, the astacus, are created by the bunyip in the first attempt to generate sapient life. These strange, lobster-like huldre built their colonies upon the sea bed deep below the surface and erected stone temples to their creators there. At roughly this time, the matask created their servants, the reclusive beetle-race known as the khepri.

### **The Iku-Turso and Morkoth are Created**

The goddess Kraken watches the methods employed by the bunyip to synthesize flesh, and proceeds to steal their secrets to fashion minions of her own. The tentacled iku-turso and their monstrous morkoth slaves are created within the ancient darkness of the deep ocean trenches, and build the earliest temples to both Kraken and to Oblivion. It is theorised that the first warlocks within the world were found among the iku-turso.

### **The War in the Deep**

The bunyip and astacus battle the iku-turso and morkoth within the oceans and will continue to do so for hundreds of cycles. During this time, the Esoteric Path of Evocation was created by the bunyip in order to repel the demons invited into the oceans by iku-turso warlocks.

### **The Rise of Naen, the First Continent**

Ignis, discontent with its imprisonment within Nito and wishing to explore the world above, attempted to break through to the air above with titanic force. The first attempt it made saw the rise of the continent of Naen with its mountain ranges intact.

### **The Creation of Mikhul Delvin and the Birth of Gwythaints**

Zoor'Ztsh appears in the world. Using the fragments of the Over-Soul it kept from the world, Oblivion created its own flesh vessel after having watched the troll Gnoggus from the Void. Crafting the first dragon in its own terrible image, it birthed Zoor'Ztsh within the depths of the Black Spire, a vast entity of demon-flesh tasked with bringing the spread of misery and woe.

Oblivion commanded its first avatar to enact a blasphemous ritual. The completion of this dark task saw the spawning of thirteen children of Zoor'Ztsh, the first gwythaints.

### **The Rise of Araia, the Second Continent**

Successive attempts by Ignis to escape resulted in the creation of a second continent (Araia).

### **The Birth of the Eldritch**

The fourth and final variety of troll to enter Thaelis-Y'Arda were the eldritch, who entered the Tree of Life and Death, emerging on its stone branches as great acorns. While these spirits slept in their cradles, the Tree whispered the secrets of nature to them so that they might devise measures to defend it from darkness. It is said that this is the time that these trolls created the formulas that make up the Esoteric Path of Witchery. After many cycles, the acorns dropped from the tree into the ocean below, which carried them to the coasts of Araia, where they germinated and grew into their adult forms, creating the world's first forest which covered the eastern region of that continent.

### **The First Terrestrial Plants, Apple Trees, Appear**

These plants sprang from the earth and were the result of a pact between Orboros and the Eldritch which was made to honour the Sun.

### **Grass Appears within Vaishun**

This rapidly propagating plant was created by Leucrotta, and rapidly its seeds were dispersed across the oceans to colonise all other lands.

### **The Orcs are Created**

The eldritch create the first sapient humanoid dwelling exclusively on land, the orc, from wood and soil.

### **Pine Trees Appear**

These were created by Amarok when he gathered the essence of orcish nightmares and used it to corrupt apple trees. It is said that all pines were sown into the world by Amarok's avatar, the mysterious entity known only as the Whistler.

### **The Dawn of Agriculture**

Upon communion with the eldritch, the bunyip of the depths exercised their Esoteric Arts to make magical pacts with the spirits of Dagon and Urana, obliging the clouds to carry water to the orcs on the land above so that they might practise agriculture to sustain themselves. The eldritch and bunyip then taught the farming arts to the orcs, marking the birth of the first land-bound civilisation.

### **The Rise of Vaishun, the Third Continent**

And then a third (Vaishun). On its third attempt, it succeeded and the first volcanoes were formed. As it tried to enter the sky above, its enemy Sif attacked it viciously, driving it back underground to bide its time.The burst of giant flame that birthed Vaishun led the orcs to dub it the Continent of Fire, and it is believed that Ignis lies directly beneath this body of land to this day.

## **The Founding of the Old Religions**

### **The Orcs are taught the Esoteric Paths of Magic**

First, Tey'Kor-Akx teaches his orcish clergy of the Esoteric Path of Chronomancy. These great leaders gain huge wisdom through the practice of their art and come to lead orc society in an even-handed and peaceful manner.

Second, Nogus visits the orcs and teaches them the secrets of the Esoteric Path of Necromancy. Due to their supreme insights into the souls of individuals, the sacred necromancers become the judges of orc society. They bring the rites of mummification to the world for the very first time.

Third, the greatest among the bunyip, a vast troll known as V'Briaxx, emerged from the sea to teach the arts of Evocation devised by her during the War in the Deep. With the birth of orcish summoners, communities became safer and more prosperous.

Fourth, the eldritch which had watched the orcs closely within the forest formed by their bodies decided that they had proven themselves pure enough to gain knowledge of the secret Esoteric Path of Witchery. With their newly-found power over the harmony of the natural world, medicine and other benefits came swiftly to this ancient people.

Finally, a great matask calling itself Phothulek tunnelled up from beneath the earth to impart knowledge of the fifth and final Esoteric Path, that of Animancy. This knowledge held by the orcish domini preserved their communities from insanity and mental suffering for hundreds of cycles.

### **The First Churches to the Primordials are Built.**

The orcs erect great stone monoliths throughout their homeland, Urchano "Orc Home", in honour of the primordial spirits except Oblivion.

## T**he 1st Era: The Start of Recorded Time**

### **1E c.0: The Orcs Create the First Sundial**

By tracking the movements of Mithras through the sky, the orcs begin to tell the passage of time, and soon afterwards they begin to record a written history.

### **1E c.124: Saoshyant and the Verethras are Born**

Mithras becomes the second Primordial to divide its essence, giving rise to the second Primeval Dragon, Saoshyant, who would serve its parent as royal executioner. Saoshyant descended to the world and birthed his offspring, the breed of golden dragons known as the verethras, which became close allies of the orcs and defended them against attacks from the gwythaints that served Oblivion.

### **1E c.140: Ningishzida and the Nidhoggs are Born**

Nito was next to share its power into two halves, creating the third Primeval Dragon, Ningishzida, as a guardian to watch over the sacred Tree of Life and Death, Isildragg. Ningishzida birthed his children to better guard the centre of the world, and the great-shelled nidhoggs were born, knowing that their task was of vital importance.

### **1E c.153: Tiamat and the Nagas are Born**

Dagon divided its spiritual being and gave rise to the fourth Primeval Dragon, Tiamat. The great serpent patrolled the vast oceans, her intellect and imagination conceiving a number of far-reaching plots as she gleaned the secrets of magic through her naga children.

### **1E c.175: Quetzalcoatl and the Wyverns are Born**

Urana divided its body and Quetzalcoatl, the fifth Primeval Dragon, was born. He soared the upper reaches of the sky, and surveyed the lands below, the beating of his wings bringing the winds to all corners. His children, the bipedal wyverns, made their homes in the highest reaches of the world.

### **1E c.188: Mammon and the Kulshedras are Born**

Confined within its stone tomb, Ignis placed its desire to explore and taste of the world into the sixth Primeval Dragon, Mammon. This fiery wyrm ascended to the surface world and brought about the breed of dragons known as the kulshedras, but he and his progeny soon fell into bitter jealousy of other creatures.

### **1E c.201: Aipaloovik and the Negafooks are Born**

As Sif circled the skies over the three continents, it split its power and created the seventh Primeval Dragon, known as Aipaloovik, to aid in the spread of havoc during Wintertime. The dragon's progeny, the negafooks, soon followed, and followed their elder as the great Wraith Wind travelled across Thaelis-Y'Arda's surface.

### **1E c.226: Ladon and the Linnorms are Born**

Orboros was the next to divide the power of life, birthing the eighth Primeval Dragon, Ladon. Ladon soon became the mother to a number of great spawn, the wingless dragons known as linnorms, which claimed dominion over the deepest swamps of the world.

### **1E c.245: Nyara'Tang and the Jabberwocks are Born**

Dr'Oon was the last elder to divide itself, forming the ninth and final Primeval Dragon, Nyara'Tang, from the ether of fantasy. This great beast soon spawned its numerous children, the jabberwocks, which came to rule the kingdoms of the Dreamlands as wise kings of this strange realm.

### **1E c.950: Zoor'Ztsh Attempts to Destroy the Tree of Life and Death**

The First Dragon's great assault on the anchor of mortality was fierce, but he was driven off by Ningishzida and its children after a titanic battle.

### **1E c.1448: The Orcs Unearth the Apocrypha of Nihilism**

Orcish farmers unearth a great orange stone of unknown origin, inscribed in a language revealed to be Tartarian, the speech of Oblivion itself. Upon translation, the stone tells of the death of the Sun and a dark future, where the Flame that Dances shall bring an end to the world as it has been known, and all shall be enslaved by coils of entropic shadow. Shortly afterwards, a number of the greatest orc theologians begin experiencing hideous dreams and descend into obsessive insanity, giving themselves over to Chaos. These traitors to their kind became the first orcish warlocks, and were driven from their homelands to take seed in the dark crevices of Creation.

### **1E c.1531: The Acheri Appear**

Zoor'Ztsh creates an army of hideous scaled humanoids which he commands to populate the continent of Vaishun in preparation for the eradication of other life forms. The acheri were the first dracoids to be created.

### **1E c.1687: The Ferrum Appear**

Nito created the first talos from the body of iron itself, and this stout race constructed great cities within the Underworld beneath northern Naen.

### **1E c.1972: The Ferrum Encounter the Orcs**

Friendly diplomacy follows, and the orcs are presented with silver for the first time, in exchange for the secrets of magic. Nogus teaches the orc necromancers how to fashion the first arcane mirrors, and how their reflective properties might be used to amplify the effects of the Second Esoteric Path. However, the astacus are concerned that their land-bound allies are divulging sacred knowledge to untrustworthy species.

### **1E c.2075: The Minotaurs Appear**

Orboros creates this proud and majestic race from cattle which consumed the sacred golden apples of its trees, and they built an extensive primitivist civilisation throughout the lands now known as Arktorah, the southern half of Araia.

### **1E c.2256: The Minotaurs Encounter the Orcs**

Friendly relations are established between the races, and the orcs trade the knowledge of magic for apples. In addition, the minotaurs become proxy allies with the ferrum peoples through the orcs.

### **1E c.2314: Ferrum Explorers Encounter the Morkoth**

Ferrum pioneers venturing into the deepest regions of the Underworld discover underground waterways within which they find horrific scenes of sacrifice and demon-worship. Pursued for a time by loping, shambling fish-humanoids, some of them escape and although traumatised, they warn their people of a threat brewing in deep waters and dark places. The word spreads rapidly to the orcs, minotaurs and dragons.

### **1E c.2487: The Cyclopes Appear**

Created by Nogus, these beings were created with a single eye that could see the souls of those around them. This ability allowed them to rapidly become masters of the sacred Path of Necromancy. They built their obscure civilisation beneath the mountains to the north of orcish lands.

### **1E c.2680: The Ameret Appear**

Saoshyant created these regal dracoids, the second of their kind to be brought into the world, in order to eradicate the growing threat of the acheri, which occupied much of Vaishun at this time. From the day of their creation, the ameret warred with the despicable spawn of Zoor'Ztsh, gradually driving them back, in the face of superior numbers, into the underworld from whence they came. Wherever they cleared the land of acheri, they established their well-built stone cities. This enraged Zoor'Ztsh greatly, and he swore vengeance upon the Absolute Dragon of Light.

### **1E c.2833: The Tritons Appear**

Dagon, having judged the threat of Kraken's servants to be a significant threat, fashioned a race of its own fish-people to counter their armies and bolster the ranks of the astacus. The tritons were created and began to construct great fortress-cities of coral and rock beneath the waves and also built numerous outposts at the rims of the oceans' deepest trenches to keep watch over the depths. Good relations were quickly established between they and the lobster-people of the bunyip.

### **1E c.3046: The Chthons Appear**

Created by Ningishzida, these dracoids were the third to exist, and were tasked by their nidhogg masters with aiding in the defence of Isildragg against darkness. They built their nest-cities within the Underworld, amongst the roots of the great Tree.

### **1E c.3201: The Aroe Appear**

These woody humanoids were created by the oak trolls as guardians of their realm and assistants in their works. They established friendly relations with the orcs.

### **1E c.3455: The Typhon Appear**

Tiamat creates her race of dracoids from the essence of her deadly venom, which she mixed with the blood of snakes. Able to inhabit both water and terrestrial environments, these snake-people were the fourth dracoids to exist, and inhabited the isles to the east of southern Vaishun, claiming them as their own. However, they would soon come to spread around the world in search of knowledge that could be used by their creator dragon.

### **1E c.4335: The It'Ept Appear**

The origin of these strange and reclusive humanoids was, and is, unknown. What is known is that they built a civilisation within the ancient jungle valleys south of Nanak.

### **1E c.5121: The Aurot Appear**

The children of Urana were said to have built cloud cities atop the tallest mountains of the world, and been friends to the wyverns.

## **The End of the 1st Era: The Twilight War**

### **1E c6542: Oblivion Attacks Mithras; Dawn and Dusk are Born**

After having boded its time for thousands of cycles, Oblivion mounted its fiercest attack on Mithras, the Sun since the dawn of Order. This brutal assault caught the Sun off-guard, and it suffered injury at the fangs of night. Its blood fell in a shower upon the world below. Thus, the metal known as gold came to Thaelis-Y'Arda. Having watched Mithras fend off the darkness after a difficult struggle, Tey'Kor-Akx decided that it would be best for the night and day to be held separate from one another. During the struggle between Oblivion and its rival, the spirits took the form of great dragons, and fragments of horn had been cut from each of them in battle. These broken shards intermingled and gave birth to the twin gods Delech and Arikel. Seizing the opportunity, Tey'Kor-Akx commanded these twins to keep guard over the bridges between nighttime and day, and to prevent Oblivion from slipping across to attack the Sun again.

## **The 2nd Era:**

### **2E c.666: The War in the Heavens**

The Sixty-Six seraphs serving the Sun as the greatest of angels descend into madness, cannibalising one another until only one remains in order to ascend to the position of Mithras's avatar. Disgusted at the abomination hovering before it, the Sun cast the hybrid seraph from Heaven, and he plummeted through the earth and stone to rest within the Underworld.

### **The Sixty-Six Creates the Kingdom of Hell within the Underworld**

Here, he begins tempting mortals into moral compromise in order to imprison their souls and use their essence to fuel his power, that he might one day rise to challenge the Sun and prevail over darkness.

### **2E c.6744: The Kitsuni Appear**

These fox-folk construct their Empire within the peninsula of Yondo, naming it after their greatest city, Marl. This civilisation would come to be known as the Empire of Lies, for its political system based almost entirely upon intricate networks of deception strung between different sects. it is said that for every truth spoken between so-called friends, ten lies were exchanged.

### **2E c.9578: The Humans Appear**

The children of Manus are molded from the clay of the Ichthys River, and infused with adaptability itself. They rapidly begin to conquer other races and construct a number of large cities upon Naen and Vaishun.

### **The Hundred-Cycles War**

The Protectorate within Lypter refuse to submit to the royalty of Delekosk, and war breaks out as King Jhosh seeks to claim the Bridge City for himself. After a crippling defeat in the marshlands south of their city, the Lyptan leaders surrender and accept membership in the Jhoshan Empire.

## **The End of the 2nd Era: The Forging of the 99 Crowns**

Tensions within the Court of Order finally come to a head as the various Orders antagonise one another.

### **The Great Divide**

A divine war in which the Order of Law struck out against the Order of Trolls, blaming the occult for the increasing presence of darkness within the world. The conflict raged across Thaelis-Y'Arda for a full cycle, leading to the deaths of many gods and the imprisonment of various trolls within hidden places of the world.

### **The Creation of the Divine Calendar**

Tey'Kor-Akx intervened through the fashioning of the cycle into a divine calendar. It forged each day into a crown, and 99 of the divinities considered most worthy were granted one of these cosmic artefacts. The war ended, but the enmity between Law and Magic remains through to the present day, with the Protectorate relentlessly persecuting the followers of the Esoteric Paths and their temporal masters.

## **The 3rd Era: Darkness Rises as Empires Fall**

### **The War of Steel**

The dorogar legions sail west and begin to test the strength of the southern human territories within the Jhoshan Empire, and gradually press further north, leaving a trail of burning towns and butchered corpses in their wake. Just as they arrive at the walls of Okaleth, a cataclysm cuts their invasion off short.

### **The Fall of Winter**

Sif antagonises Ignis for the last time, taunting it from above its resting place in Vaishun. The elder of fire erupts from its prison in a fury, creating the burnt wasteland now known as Ignisland in the north-east of the continent. Ignis clashes with its nemesis briefly, inflicting horrendous injuries upon Winter. As Ignis returned to its subterranean lair, the elder of cold flew south in its death throes, before plunging into the ocean between the southern tips of Naen and Vaishun, freezing the water solid and creating a bridge between the continents.

### **The City of Okaleth is Lost**

The titanic blizzards that sweep from Sif's dying body bury the surrounding lands under miles of snow and ice, sealing Okaleth and the dorogar armies in a frozen tomb. To the east, the dorogar withstand the storms inside their tower of solid steel, which is so tall that after the chaos subsided, it still rises over one thousand feet above the icy surface of the glaciers that envelop it.

### **The Vampires Appear**

Upon hearing of the true nature of their civilisation's demise, the kitsuni swear vengeance upon all vampires for their treachery.

## **The End of the 3rd Era: The Scourge of Shadows**

### **The It'Ept and the Girestab are Eradicated by Demons**

Tempted by Mikhalinn, the It'Ept trigger the annihilation of their lightless civilisation, inviting the demons of the Outer Darkness into the lands between Nanak and Gazabarad as a weapon to defeat their enemies, the girestab.

### **Arikel Abandons the Twilight Bridge of Dawn**

This event leads Arikel to leave the Twilight Bridge of Dawn to stave off what she regards a the end of Creation. Before the foul spawn of Oblivion are banished from the world, they erase both species and dissolve huge holes in reality that bore the entire depth of the world, and leave a malaise of hideous demon-taint on the jungles above.

### **Mithras is Killed by Oblivion**

With Arikel absent from her eternal vigil, Oblivion seizes its chance and slips across the Bridge of Dawn, descending upon the body of Mithras while it is caught off-guard and horribly slaughtering the Sun. Mithras has its heart torn from its body, which then falls to the surface of the world as a huge mass of solid gold. This triggers the start of numerous cycles of complete darkness as Oblivion dominates the daytime as well as the night. Mikhalinn signals for the armies of Annihilation to march upon all civilisation to wipe life from the world.

### **The Verethras are all but Eradicated**

The kulshedras and the gwythaints collude to bring down the majority of the dragons of light.

### **The Maahes Empire Falls to the Scourge**

Their cavern-city in northern Nanak is invaded from the underworld by hordes of acheri, and the basts are forced to flee to the north. The armies of darkness facilitates a mass slave revolt amongst the sirrush, who slaughter both maahes and acheri alike. The leader of the sirrush slaves, Gorlog Dasgrak, takes the heads of three maahes royals.

### **The Sirrush are Liberated from Slavery**

The lizard-folk return to their ancestral homeland of Suranneol, a brutal people conditioned for cruelty through thousands of cycles of harsh slavery under the maahes lash. Convinced that the Annihilator intentionally freed them from their servitude, they construct a great mobile temple to Mother Ladon and Father Oblivion, the Breaker of Chains. Rampaging through the swamplands, they devour all in their path. Gorlog Dasgrak's word is the only semblance of law.

### **Sorin-Sam Slays Mikhalinn**

The avatars of day and night clash on the fields outside of Tolnor, and bring each other down simultaneously. Mikhalinn's soul departs for the Outer Darkness to rejoin with its dark master, and Sorin-Sam is chosen for apotheosis by the Order of Freedom.

### **The Maahes are Eradicated**

The last of the proud maahes are slain upon the plains of Haneiya, fending off the hordes of Oblivion, just before the minions of night are routed by the death of Mikhalinn.

### **Arikel is Exiled from Creation**

After the Scourge has been defeated, the Court of Order decrees the goddess banished from the world for her negligence, and sentences her to continuing her vigil over twilight from the cold emptiness of the Outer Darkness. As she is removed from reality, she appears as a violet star in the blackness. The consensus is equivocal, until her own twin brother votes for her exclusion, tipping the balance against her.

## **The 4th Era: A Scarred World**

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