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Post by Kit on Apr 27, 2009 0:17:00 GMT -5
Genesis of grief
Long, long ago before the earth and the heaven's existed, two brothers lived in the world.
Able to read each other's hearts without so much as a glance, the two were fully satisfied.
The world was the two. The two were the world.
One day the Elder Diety accidentally broke the Younger Diety's treasured sword. Furious, the Younger Diety retaliated by slashing the Elder Diety's treasured spear with his broken sword. The spear was split in half and the Elder Diety erupted in anger.
And so, glaring at each other, one holding the broken spear, the other his broken spear they fought.
The War raged for seven days and seven nights. On the eighth day the younger Diety realized their foolishness and went to the Elder Diety to request a truce. But the Elder Diety, still blind with anger, saw this as an opening and thrust his spear. The spear pierced the chest of the Younger Diety and took his life.
The Younger Diety's final breath became the heaven's, and his fallen body became the earth. The fountain of blood erupted high and became the sun. The broken sword shattered and became the moons and stars in the heavens. Feeling great shame, the Elder Diety wept. His tears became rain and fell to earth, forming oceans in its deep contours.
From eternal tranquility, the world was set into motion.
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Post by Kit on Apr 27, 2009 0:50:32 GMT -5
New Life[/u]
The Elder diety mourned the loss of the Younger Diety for many years, but eventually he grew accustomed to his sad, lonely life.
One day, unable to bear his loneliness any longer, the Elder Diety removed one of his eyes and created a goddess. The new goddess looked at the Elder Diety and exclaimed: Thou art handsome. With this voice, the world was filled with sound.
The Elder Diety and the new goddess gave names to each other. The Elder Diety gained the name Sol the God of Creation and the goddess, Myulin the goddess of Harvest. Then the Elder Diety created a land of the dead in the darkest part of the world and sealed the spirit of the Younger Diety and gave him the name Cernunnos the Lord of the Dead. This was how things were named and given a purpose.
Sol gave birth to more gods and goddesses. Myulin gave the new gods names and Sol gave them purpose. One ruled the sun, another ruled the oceans. One ruled the weaving thread, and another the stoves. This was how the sun traveled the sky, the oceans beat against the shores, the loom spit out threads, and the stoves held the fire within. Sol then gave birth to trees, plants, beasts, birds, fishes, and insects. They were all spread throughout the world and found a place to live.
The world was filled with life.
Last to be created were the Elves. Sol created them in his image and he loved them best. Sol asked all the gods and all creatures to grant the Elves their blessings.
Each god, goddess, and creature happily gave its blessings to the Elves.
As a result, the elves were faster, stronger, smarter, and more beautiful than any other creature; and they were able to speak the language of all creatures.
However Curnunnos, the Lord of the Dead withheld his blessing from the elves. Unaware of darkness, the elven hearts were ever wrapped in light, but because of it the elves had an incredible innocence to them.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 18:43:43 GMT -5
The Fools[/u]
The gods entrusted the earth to the elves, and created their own realm in the heavens known as Airceltrai, the City of Dawn.
And so the elves ruled the earth and the gods ruled the heavens.
The gods built a path connecting the earth and the heavens and called it the Heavenly Path. The Heavenly Path was used to deliver the light of the heavens and the gods down to earth.
Gaurded by the light of the sun and the light of the gods, life on earth flourished and it seemed that peace would last forever.
But as time passed the elves began to believe that their powers equaled those of the gods. They built the aerial fortress, Fort Ouph in the sky to enter the realm of the gods and insisted that they be treated as gods. Sol was furious and he took from the elves all that were good in them. The elves became slower, weaker, and uglier than any other creature.
Myulin scorned these foolish creatures and named them Humans.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 18:58:50 GMT -5
The Despised[/u]
There were some who protested the treatment of the elves at the hands of the gods.
They were the elves who did not wish to go against the gods.
They stormed the heavenly path and threw themselves before the gods and cried, "Why must you punish us when it was not we who drew our swords against you?" The gods answered, "That is true but that is not the only sin." The elves asked again, "What do you mean by that, oh gods?" The gods answered back, "Very well then. When your brethren raised their swords against us, where were you and what were you doing?" To that the elves replied, "We were at the alter, praying to you gods. We prayed that the fools who disobey you would recieve your Divine Punishment." The gods retorted, "Were you not merely praying that your own lives be spared?!" The elves' faces turned red and they could not reply.
Suddenly, the gods showed their anger. "You are more foolish than the fools who do not know their place! Lower even than the Humans! From this day on, you will wear a mark showing your supposed innocence and piety!" And just when the thundering judgement was made, each of the elves that gathered at the Heavenly Path began to transform. They grew tails and their beautiful faces turned into those of beasts. When they saw how they had changed, they screamed in shame and dissapeared to dark corners of the world.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 19:20:01 GMT -5
Grunty Race[/u]
Having lost their wisdom, humans brought war and chaos to the world.
They had been reduced to creatures concerned only with domination, and so they commenced to make war on all the other races. Sol gazed down in sadness at the ruined earth and decided to use the goodness that he had taken from the elves to create the race of Grunties. He dispatched them to return peace to the world.
But the gods were afraid that the Grunties would suffer the same flaw as the elves and voiced objection to Sol's action.
And so, Sol cast a curse upon the Grunties and proclaimed: "Listen carefully to me. I have cast a spell on you. It is a curse and a magic word is it's key. If someone, even just one person on this earth says this word, a terrible calamity will befall on all of you."
The Grunties beseeched him, "Great lord, when this calamity occurs, how are we to escape it?" Sol nodded his head and answered, "You must not oppress others. You must not be bitter. You must not be envious. Have a good and pure heart and live your days peacefully."
The secret word was told to all gods and all creatures except for humans. The gods were satisfied and the Grunties were sent down to earth.
Without shedding a drop of blood, the Grunties stopped the violence of all the humans. Overjoyed, the gods created magical powers and gave it to the Grunties. But even with such great power, the Grunties did not fall prey to the sin of pride.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 19:33:19 GMT -5
Banquet of Conspiracy[/u]
The Grunties were loved by all creatures with the exception of the bitterly jealous humans.
This was because all of the things that made Grunties so wonderful had once belonged to the humans.
Humans began to look for Grunties' weaknesses and learned of the curse that Sol had cast on them. Overjoyed, the humans next set out to learn the secret word, but even the normally talkative monkey would not betray the secret word.
So the humans held a banquet and invited all the gods and creatures in order to fog their minds with drink.
One after another, the guests became intoxicated until finally only the snake, the strongest drinker, remained. The snake still would not tell the secret word, so the humans brought out their strongest drink and gave it to the snake. As expected, the snake became drunk and told the secret word to the humans.
The humans rejoiced and intoned the words.
Immediately, the Grunties lost their intelligence and found themselves unable to stand upright.
The humans called them Puchi Pongo and made them their beasts of burden. Then they proceeded to continue their war against the other races.
For telling the secret words, the snake was punished by having to forever crawl about the earth on it's stomach.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 19:46:07 GMT -5
Path of Evil[/u] The Gods fell into despair over the human's deed.
They created a great gateway called Morrigu Barrow and blocked off earthly access to the Heavenly Path so that no one could enter heaven.
Along with the sealing of the Heavenly Path, the light of the gods was also blocked from earth. Without the protection of the gods, the earth gradually became wilder and began to be corrupted by a dark power called the Shadow. Corrupted by the Shadow, the earth overflowed with monsters and demons.
These demons roamed the world and killed everything in their path. Many creatures were lost as a result of their brutality.
Humans also came under attack by the monsters. They formed barriers in the major cities and closed themselves off. They fought against the monsters, but lost battle after battle. One by one, the cities were cut off from each other, and the barriers protecting the cities were destroyed one after another. Finally, only five cities remained standing.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 21:58:28 GMT -5
Goddess Aurora[/u]
The savior of mankind was a young apprentice magician.
He confined himself in the temple of Arche Koeln and prayed to the gods. In exchange for his life, he was able to call upon the six great spirits and two goddesses. The eight gods that were summoned were: Vulcan the Fire Spirit, Merrows the Water Spirit, Krake the Wood Spirit, Yarthkins the Earth Spirit, Lanceor the Lightning Spirit, Wyrneck the Darkness Spirit, Anu the Star Goddess, and Aurora the Goddess of light. The light of the gods shined once more on the blessed earth and the Shadow was contained.
Thanks to the new found peace, humans once again prospered, but it didn't last long. Once the threat of Shadow was gone, the humans began to fight with each other. After sealing the Shadow, the eight gods and goddesses remained on earth, but some were angered by the foolishness of humans and others grieved their wretchedness and left until finally, only Aurora remained. Fearing that the light of heaven would again depart the earth, humans placed eight curses on Aurora and sealed her inside the Hulle Granz Cathedral.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 22:09:17 GMT -5
Battle Against the Gods[/u]
When the gods learned that a goddess had been imprisoned, their fury knew no bounds and they vowed to destroy mankind. But the humans had no intention of meekly succumbing to extinction and used their magic powers to devise a weapon that they could use to fight against the gods. So began the war between the gods and the humans.
The humans were no match for the power of the gods. The Aerial City of Fort Ouph fell from the sky and the Highland City of Dun Loireag was crushed underneath it. The Cultural City of Carmina Gadelica was destroyed by the god of lightning and many lives were lost.
As a last resort, the humans took all of Aurora's power, transformed it into magic power and fired it at the heaven's. Heaven was engulfed in flame and the gods fled or fell burning to die upon the earth.
The humans sacrificed much as well. The Relic City, Lia Fail, from where the goddess' power was fired, was reduced to ashes and many excellent magicians died along with it.
And so ended the age of the gods.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 22:32:03 GMT -5
God's Rebirth[/u]
All the gods in heaven disapeared.
But a single god who remained on earth lived.
This was the God of Law, Folset, who gaurded the gate that blocked the Heavenly Path.
Winning the war against the gods, the humans wanted the wisdom and power of the gods and stormed Morrigu Barrow and demanded Folset to invite them in to the realm of the gods. But Folset refused to grant them entry.
At first, the humans pointed their weapons at Folset and demanded he open the gate. But Folset answered this: "Do whatever you wish. There I'd no way any of your weapons can harm me." The humans followed his words and tried to attack Folset in any way they could, but they were unable to harm even a single hair on his head.
Once they learned that force was to no avail, they tried to convince him to open the gates by seducing him with gifts.
After seeing the gifts, Folset said: "Build a mountain of gifts for me I'd you wish. I'll make a mountain twice that size in an instant." Before Folset was even finished completing his sentence, a mountain of gifts more lavish than the gifts of the humans sprang up before their eyes.
After learning that both force and flattery were of no avail, the humans got on their knees and begged pathetically. "If a power that is greater than Shadow emerges, we would fall into ruin. But if we could regain the wisdom and power that lies beyond this gate, we would be able to protect ourselves and not fight one another. So please open the gate." Folset laughed and answered them: "Was it not you who took up sword and shield and slew the gods? You should suffer for your sins." Protesting, the humans replied: "So are you saying we should have simply allowed the gods to drive us all to extinction?" Folset shook his head and answered: "Recall first the sins you have committed. Is it not just that sinners recieve judgement?" To this the humans could make no reply. Folset continued to speak: "But all beings have the right to atone for their sins. Human! Child of sin! If you want this gate opened, then bring back the lost gods. The gods will rise again, born from the dogma of the believers. If they are true gods, then I will open this gate. Bring back what has been lost and only then can you be pardoned."
And so the humans argued over God's Rebirth and once again made war against each other.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 22:54:50 GMT -5
World Without Gods[/u]
The world fell into stagnation without the gods.
With no one to command them, the sun stood in place and the tides ceased to ebb and flow. The looms gave forth no thread and the oven's no warmth. Mankind now had to perform all of these functions themselves.
Despite these hardships, humans did not cease their war with each other. Soon they invented different types of magical tools to improve their lives.
Ten years after the Great War with the gods, a researcher visited the ruins of Fort Ouph. Many have avoidedthe ruins of Fort Ouph, Lia Fail, Carmina Gadelica, and Dun Loireag after the Great War in fear and hatred that they were haunted by the spirits of the dead gods and goddesses.
This belief was further enhanced by the fact that most who set out to explore the ruins never came back.
However, this particular researcher did return and he brought along a creature with a body of a human and the head and tail of an animal. The creature was a Beast.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 23:12:15 GMT -5
Humans and Beasts[/u]
At first, humans and beasts were friendly with each other.
But while the beasts revered nature and old ways, the humans were too innovative.
It was the beasts who first discovered the creatures called Chim Chims. When the beasts saw the light of the gods in the Chim Chims they decided to revere them as a legacy to the gods. But the humans captured the Chim Chims to research them and after discovering a way to extract energy from them, used them to invent steam machines. The beasts protested this treatment, but the humans would not listen.
As the humans' use of steam technology advanced, they abandoned magic as old and obsolete. The beasts continued to revere magic culture and rejected steam technology. Humans scoffed at the beasts for being stubborn and small-minded, and beasts came to despise humans' foolishness.
Eventually, the beasts decided they could not leave the God's Rebirth to the fools and proclaimed that they too will participate in the God's Rebirth. Folset granted their participation. Humans were outraged. They believed that the God's Rebirth was their right.
The two sides' antagonism toward each other began to deepen and finally war broke out.
Humans gathered their armies and steam weapons, but found their weapon production was lagging behind. Desperate, they built the great factory of Breg Epona, but still they were unable to create the neccasary weapons.
Beasts were mighty in the ways of magic but small in numbers. They were unable to marshal a large enough army.
Humans were weaker but more numerous. Beasts were stronger but fewer in number.
And the war continued to rage on.
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Post by Kit on May 20, 2009 23:28:28 GMT -5
Three Dogmas[/u]
Both humans and beasts grew tired of the long years of war. However, neither side was able to strike a decisive blow and none knew a way to stop the cycle of wars and bring the entire gruesome conflict to an end.
In this never ending cycle, a new faction was born. Composed of both humans and beasts, the new faction concentrated ok the pure pursuit of power and incorperated the crest technology derided by humans and the steam technology loathed by beasts.
Both humans and beasts were afraid that this new faction would enter the wars, but they sent emissaries to both humans and beasts and called for a cease fire. At first, both races were hesitant, but they were both forced to accept from the sheer toll brought on by the war.
And so the war between the two races ended but the conflict continued. Beasts continued to insist on participating in the God's Rebirth and the new faction proclaimed their participation as well.
Humans chanted for "steam technology and innovation". Beasts were for "crest technology and tradition". And the new faction was for "the pursuit of pure power".
They began a quiet war without a show of force. No winner was decided in this war since no gods were born from any of these forces. The three-way war continued, and in time the factions came to be called the following:
Arvakv the Innovators Ogmios the Conservatives Teutates the Pursuers
To this day, the three-way war knows no end, and it queitly drives the world ever closer to it's doom.
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