Second Mythic War

The Second Mythic War was, according to the principles of Senlo Dei, a war that erupted soon after the creation of Lai Lioran and Donia.

## Summary

### Setting

As the world took some time to repair itself and the Ember Council cleaned the ashes of the last war, several new deities were introduced into the pantheon. The just Skal had been born from Sunari and Mazdril's affair. Sylvas had asked Adina for a wife, and so she made him a companion: Yanras. The two would soon have a young daughter together: the agriculture goddess Kureno. Just after the First Mythic War, Aeko and Zoli had become adoptive parents to a pair of mortal twins named Haarsz and Javius, who had lost their parents in the conflict and later were granted godhood by Adina.

The world of Lerania, which had been battered and bruised in the prior war, was slowly recovering due to the efforts of Adina, Sylvas, Yanras, and Kureno. Zoli, too, was given special permission to visit the Material Plane, as he would use his power to create the sun, so that Donia wouldn't be shroud in darkness when he went back to his own home plane. During these visits to the Material Plane, in which he worked on the sun's construction, he slowly grew to become more acquainted with Adina, and the two formed a close bond with one another. Desiring a rematch of the previous war, Zhav once again made an alliance with Mazdril, and the two kidnapped Adina. In immediate retaliation, Zoli once again armed himself to fight.

For this war, the alliances were largely similar. Zoli, Seyvim, and Skunrei once again fought by each other's side, but were now joined by Aeldus (disgusted with Adina's kidnapping), Aeko, as well as the twins Haarsz and Javius. Alongside Zhav and Mazdril were Kaeor and Samdar, who sought to honor their old pact. Sylvas, Yanras, Leumus, and Kureno remained outside of the conflict, as they saw themselves as the wardens of Donia during Adina's absence. Sunari had gone in hiding among the First Races as she raised Skal, seeking to avoid having her son participate in the conflict.

### Zhav's War

In order to stave off Moradi from the conflict, Zhav brewed a potion that would force the deity to sleep. Once unconscious, Zhav stole Moradi's Azareme, the sickle the god had used to harvest mortal souls. With the power of death in his hands, Zhav began forcing his will onto Adina and, in the course of a few years, the two had several children: Ombri, the god of twilight; Miskir, the god of thievery; Cillis, the goddess of pain; and Bestil, the goddess of plague, famine, and poisons. As Zhav attended to his home, Mazdril invaded Donia, baiting his enemies into battle after battle by slaughtering the First Races on the planet, destroying temples, and undoing the work of the nature gods.

On nearly every front, Zoli's alliance was losing the war. Part of Donia was frozen over as Kaeor and Miskir gained the advantage over Seyvim; however, in the crossfire of their battle, Leumus' sacred pet rabbit Moorglow was killed. With this, Leumus abandoned neutrality and joined in the conflict, joining Seyvim's side. However, this would not be enough, and Kaeor would use a charming spell made by Bestil to court Leumus, forcing her to leave the fight and find companionship with Sunari as she raised her new son: Amrus. Skunrei's spellcasting efforts would be halted by the pain of Cillis, who would distract him long enough for Ombri to blind him. Zoli himself would not be immune to the horrors of the war, either. Fighting alongside Haarsz and Javius against Miskir, the god of thievery, the forces of Zhav managed to redirect the fight to the seas (despite Aeldus' efforts), where an angry Samdar trapped them, dragging Zoli into the depths. Restrained, Zhav finally took this moment to strike, using Kastarei (a blade made by Adina) slice Zoli across the torso, draining his blood into the sea and killing the sun god.

Unknown to Zhav, however, Kastarei had been given a special enchantment by Adina. Adina could not fully destroy, and neither could the blade. Instead, the blade would create things more powerful than the ones they had slain.

### The Tide Turns

After the slaying of Zoli, the alliance of the sun-god collapsed and the world of Donia was put under Zhav's domain. However, he quickly began to lose allies. Zoli's blood in the seas had managed to create an offspring between the sun god and Samdar: the young god of wealth, Shontel. Strangely, Leumus came out of hiding when she heard about this, and decided to cooperate with Samdar to raise their children together, forming a bond between the two goddess that would last throughout the ages. Suddenly, Samdar was filled with regret as she saw the First Races suffer under the realm of Zhav. Aeldus was the only member of the original alliance under Zoli who continued to fight against Zhav, traveling throughout mortal villages and attempting to inspire hope. Aeldus stopped his ventures, however, when he traveled to a village that happened to be the hiding place of Sunari. There, Zhav came and randomly slew a child of each family should any member of the family see Aeldus. Unfortunately, the young Deiplau, a demigod daughter of Sunari, saw the god, and was killed for it.

Zhav had put many of the mortals to work building shrines and other buildings dedicated to his worship, killing those he deemed weak and fostering a culture of fanatical worship. To this, all his children save for Cillis turned against him, as they believed they required humanity in order to fulfill their divine purpose. With the world largely at peace, Mazdril also felt betrayed, as he was no longer able to wage war. As all this drama occurred near the top of the godly bureaucracy, a new, young god sprung forth from Zoli's corpse, which rested at the bottom of the sea. This new being, naming themself Parsei, was the product of Kastarei's wound to Zoli. Placed by Samdar onto the land, Parsei was raised by her adoptive mother: Chazuri, who tended to many of the young in their village. Among the mortals, Parsei began to heal the sick and inspire his small village, eventually getting the attention of a disguised Sunari, who asked him to visit.

Sunari had given birth to four other children with different mortal fathers. These children were the demigods Bailan, Etrian, Makeion, and Teradil. Parsei slayed these young but, using his godly powers, only deprived them of their mortality, resurrecting them as full-born gods. Parsei aligned with them, and together with Skal went to visit Aeldus. There, Aeldus told them of the story of the gods, and this new alliance formed together, dedicated to toppling Zhav's empire. Suddenly, the alliance revived, Parsei declared a rebellion, and soon the other gods flocked to the banners. Aeko, Amrus, Deiplau, Haarsz, Javius, Kureno, Mazdril, Miskir, Ombri, Seyvim, Shontel, Skunrei, Sunari, Sylvas, and Yanras joined the alliance at the start. Samdar and Leumus later joined, seeking vengeance for Zoli. Seeing the writing on the walls, Cillis and Kaeor declared neutrality, going into hiding.

### The End of the War

Heavily outnumbered, Zhav tried his best to retain his forces and control the empire that he had created. In the final battle, located at the center of Lerania, the combined allies of Parsei managed to separate Zhav's forces from the door to the Underworld just long enough for Parsei to go through and resurrect the long-dead Zoli, along with the young goddess Deiplau. With Zoli brought back to life, he returned to the mortal world to engage with Zhav's forces, buying time for Parsei to awaken Moradi from his slumber. With a quick summary from Makeion, Moradi was given the summary of the events in the war and furious, he rose to the battlefield to confront Zhav. In the last day of fighting, Moradi managed to regain Azareme, and the expanded Ember Council captured Zhav.

### The Fourth Moot

Finally, the expanded Ember Council met with all the Greater Deities, Lesser Deities, and Antilai to discuss what to do with Zhav while trapping the angry god in time. It was finally decreed that Zhav was to be slain, and the gods would all depart to their realms. And so, Moradi used Azareme to kill the plotting god, officially ending the Second Mythic War.