Origin

Summary

Ancient texts from the end of the era of dragons describe a mythos like no other. You dust off the rest of the tablet and squint to make out the scrawled characters. Various words- what seem to be names- are scribbled out or scorched with black char.

The Tablets

Our world was born from . A limitless expanse of absolute darkness; filled to the brim with horrors, monsters, and many more unthinkables. It is only by virtue of Eight of Sixteen Eidolons that we broke free.

In the instant They decided to march against Their siblings, Their world was shattered into trillions of impossibly many fragments. Some so small they would exist only for a microsecond… others so large they’d collide and shatter once more. In this hail of planar shards, Four of the Eight who resisted change vanished. In Their vacant stead, four major planes coagulated.

The Faewild- the Void- Limbo- and .

The first to remain was the Void, which was more a remnant of the old than a fragment of the new. Those Four who did not march against Their existence desired only to preserve what was, not to progress into what wasn’t; thus, They clung to Their bleak, dark abysm, establishing the first plane as a memorial to what was lost. In the first tragedy, They established themselves as Lords of the Void, spurned on by the loss of Their matching Four.

The Faewild was the second to remain. It was claimed by Four of the Eight rebels; Those who wished for dominion over the new universe, and now the Fae Court. They clamored for this plane, for it was rich in mana and magic. Yet, ironically, while They could agree upon Their desire for dominion, They could not agree upon which should take the throne. Thus, They engaged in endless war, forming the Faewild into a realm of tumult and chaos.

was the third to remain. Unlike the Faewild and the Void, it was claimed by Those Four of the Eight rebels who sought balance. Together, They crafted a world founded upon equal prosperity, and established the cycle of Convergence as well as protected Their creations from invasion with creatures of grand size and magical power. Believing Their divine work to be complete, They fell into an equally divine slumber mere decades after the founding of our world.

Limbo was the fourth and final major plane to remain. Yet Limbo bore no bearer- no member of the Twelve to call it progeny. It was adrift, and while it remained as empty as the initial void of our world, it lacked caretakers to oversee it. Thus this vacuum of life became a growing one, stealing from all other planes the souls of the living and damning them to an eternity of battle in its desolate wastes. It was not until deigned to depart from the Void that it was given order, allowing adrift and damned souls to return to the lands of the living.

This is the tale of our world’s creation and cosmos, and yet so much is still untold.

’s departure forced envy and further mourning upon the remaining Three who stayed, for They now lacked their Fourth and thus their strength, homogeny, and resolution. Jealousy warped the heart of Vul’Karik of the Void, turning him to war and necromancy in a vile twist of the natural order. The vacancy for power spilled the true intentions of Paschia Fel, who began enslaving the wills of the living with cults of Witches and Warlocks. And the third, , has vanished into the shadows, forcing mystery and dire confusion upon every attentive being of power.

The Faewild is not without issue as well. In mere years alone, a treaty was reached between Oberon and Titania, which is now long since dissolved, that allowed Them to gain the upperhand over and . Their victory led to the latter’s unprecedented “deaths”, shattering Their forms into horrible cosmic amalgamations of what once was. Their plane is now even further drenched in bloodshed, fueled by revenge and a frightening uncertainty of what is real.

To deign to recognize the true name of an Eidolon, however, is to so boldly invoke Their attention. Before I am whisked from my hubris, understand this: beware the Convergence, beware the imbalance of the planes, and dare not any sensible soul to venture into the depths of where you do not belong.

Afterword

Since the creation and popularization of this tablet's tale, it's been established as the presiding belief system in Rhyst. Many have tried to fill the charred blanks, while others have set out to meet with the characters of myth- never to return. Every library bears an at least partial copy, while fairy tales and other such stories derive their motives from the ones explained here.

Few take them seriously- few take them with any salt at all. Yet now, as magic's use rises and we approach the event known as "Convergence", many look to stories of yore for guidance.