Creation Story

## The History of the Pantheon

### God Creation

In its nascent state, the cosmos was a black, empty void. Nothing filled its depths and it stretched to an infinity of cold, dark empty places bounded within the sphere of reality. There was a single entity of pure magic within known as The Adamant. The Adamant could manipulate the cosmos to create whatever it wanted. It created things to study and observe. This lasted for untold years.

The Adamant grew old and sick, and soon realized that unless it made something with a mind, the cosmos would be empty once more. Thus as it breathed its final breath, two creatures were exhaled from within the Adamant. These creatures were the two Titans.

One Titan named himself Darengan. Darengan was proud and strong. Darengan created clothes for himself and his sister to keep them warm in the cosmos, and he created a powerful star that shone with the light of the dead Adamant. Once they were both warm and able to see, Darengan created a platinum keep lit by the light of the Adamant and named it his home. Within it, he imprisoned his sister. His sister named herself Alnasia , and she was a Titan whose heart was kind and whose mind was sharp. She made a field of grass for the two to live on, and created an orchard of fruit for them to eat, and within them she stores many seeds to nourish new trees.

Darengan was proud, but also lustful, and felt that Alnasia owed him her body. She could not resist his strength, but prepared a plot so that he would be killed. Each time she became pregnant, she hid the children within the seeds of an apple in the orchard. Darengan grew more violent daily. When she feared his violence might kill her, Alnasia fed him the apple.

The seeds took root within Darengan, and from within burst out six children. Darengan was injured, but swore to take revenge upon his treacherous wife. He slew Alnasia and spread her blood across the sky in a vast trail of red and violet which can be seen to this day.

Darengan was still hurt by the children who had sprung from within him, and as he died, demons formed within his blood and scattered themselves across the cosmos, always seeking to finish Darengan's vendetta against Alnasia's children and their creations. As the blood of Alnasia spread across the cosmos, so to did her magic.

Her six children soon took titles for themselves and became the Pantheon of gods. They were: Feyus the Alfar, Zarodossa the Arcva, Akatu the Ram, Zastillifar the Rendiol, Lesellia the Shapeshifter, and Darnus the Leviathan.

Each strove to create their own realm within the cosmos.

### World Creation

After a millennium of peace, the immortal gods convened for a feast to honour their Titan mother. Both Zastillifar and Darnus entered humanoid, to attend the feast. Lesellia took the form of a human woman. Akatu did not attend the feast.

When the five gods were all intoxicated within the platinum keep, several demons decided to attack. Although the gods repelled the assault, Akatu was alone and she was slain by the blade of a demon that cut her neck. The gods chased the demons away from her body, but there were unsuccessful in saving their sibling's life.

Akatu's body did not fade, however. It began to grow larger and larger. Soon her bones shattered and made mountains, her blood spilled into the oceans and made water, and her skin rotted and became the soil. Her muscles then morphed into all the plant and animal life that covers the world.

In memory for the dead god, her siblings named the world “deep wound” or “Altus” in their tongue. Akatu was not gone however, Akatu ascended into the Starlands, the cosmos beyond Altus and the

near-cosmos where the gods reside. The Starlands became a dark place shrouded in a veil of night. From there, Akatu wanders as a skeletal ram, shepherding the souls of the dead as they become stars and join her once more.

Feyus then created a race close to him in the Emerald Peaks. These were the Alfar, and in them he vested his light, his beauty, and his friendliness.

Lesellia was carefree, and made many race to settle civilizations. One of these races was the humans, and in them she vested her creativity, humility, and determination. Another race was the Ashanzu, and in these she put her cunning, her endurance, and her freedom. The final race was the Tokai, and in them she placed her wanderlust, her earthly urges, and her bravery. She created the moon to guide her wandering races across the earth.

Zarodossa created a race of beings in her image to rule over the petty races. These were the Arcva, and in them she vested her pride, her wisdom, and her grace.

Zastillifar did not care for the civilizations his siblings were spawning, and created a race of powerful Rendiols. In them he vested his strength, his greed, and his wrath.

### The Sun

While the others created races, Darnus was busy plotting. Darnus watched the Adamant reign in the sky and wished he could have its strength. As he swam the oceans, he decided that it would be his. So he made a deal with a powerful Demon named Axxaasto the Seer, who was formed from the eye of Darengan.

Axxaasto would push The Adamant from the sky into the waters of the ocean, where Darnus would eat it. Axxasto was spotted by Feyus as he approached the Adamant. Axxaasto fought Feyus in the sky, and the two battled for days and nights. The destruction unleashed an echoing Hellstorm, whose traces still illuminate the night sky over mountains to this day. Axxaasto was chased away from the Adamant, but Feyus was defeated. In order to prevent Darnus from eating him and growing stronger, Feyus became the sun. The sun shone light onto Altus and protected them from the demons made from the Blood of Darengan.

When the other gods learned of Darnus' treachery, he was imprisoned within the earth, never to be free until ten million suns had risen over Altus. The other demons who had helped him fled to beneath Altus to hide from the light of the sun which burns them by day.

### Ancient History

Thus the world was created and the gods gave it order. The early humans settled around the coasts. Myths and legends often fail to penetrate the years between the creation of the sun and the time when the first Arcva courts set out from their mountain resides to civilize the world. Warlords rose to power and amassed huge fortunes, only to fall in to obscurity where they sink deeper and deeper with each passing year.

The timeline of Altus is counted from when the court of arcva led by Fomros Rafil set out to form the Zarodom of Ghidovia. Their descent is said to be “year one” of Altus.

### Controversy

Some unenlightened scholars have claimed that the world of Altus is round. Their arguments, however flawed, may be found on the Flat Altus page.