Category: Democratic Socialists | ||
Civil Rights: Excellent |
Economy: Frightening |
Political Freedoms: Excellent |
Regional Influence: Squire
Location: The East Pacific
2
Legends of Brethren (wip)
The Aether has seen many worlds rise and fall before our own. One of the few that didn't fall is named Elysium, and it is unique in several ways. Most successful worlds in the Aether are domains of the Consuming Lords, sustained by the suffering and sin of others; they remain stable (stagnant?) through the iron grip of their rulers. Elysium, on the other hand, needs nothing whatsoever to maintain itself and only seeks to give. A Consuming Lord can be starved. The Powers of Elysium cannot. A Consuming Lord seeks to benefit itself through others; a Power of Elysium seeks to benefit others through itself. Though nothing about their origins is known for sure, it is suspected that the Lords and Powers chose their loving or cruel paths when they first came into existence. Elysium formed as Powers on the path of benevolence claimed one another as family -- the Consuming Lords have family too, but only that which is bound to them by blood and law. Being devoid of love, they cannot forge bonds with it.Elysium understood the fragility of Valsora when it was newly formed: the world was like a child, sweet and guileless, and the Consuming Lords take a special pleasure in tormenting children. So Iaoth departed Elysium to make a Valsoran sanctuary. She laid down her bones to become our mountains, her heart and blood to become the great stone trees. Becoming incarnate in this way, she gave up a large chunk of her freedom and power; this sacrifice was made willingly and gladly for the sake of the mortals who needed it. Such is the nature of a benevolent Power.
Naturally, the Consuming Lords despised this sacrifice, and they sent legions of demons against the newly wakened land. But Iaoth's trees bore even larger hordes of gargoyles as their fruit; they drove back the incursion within days, and the birth of gargoyles did not stop. Their numbers grew and grew, and to this day they fight tirelessly against the corruption knocking on our door.
Iaoth and her gargoyles were not alone. How could they be? The world was full of life at that time, bursting at the seams with it, and even the myriad of plants and animals did not have room for all that life. More had been waiting in the clay. It stirred when it felt Iaoth's reassuring presence, giving rise to the River Serpents as . . . not quite a new people. Something before that, able to blossom into sapience but needing time. Elysium saw this potential and cherished it; the Consuming Lords, on the other hand, wished to snatch it from the cradle and break it to their will.
The gargoyles defended the land, but even with their growing numbers, they were stretched too thin to also defend her people. Zerachiel stepped in to fill that gap, beating demons and their Lords back from the nascent people; those that inevitably slipped past him, into the Serpents' hearts, were rooted out by Aphaeleon.