Sunday, March 18, 2012

End of the First Aeon

Χαος removes his cloak of darkness from the world, and blasts a large forested area of the planet with concentrated chaos and uncertainty, anchoring his enchantment to the very fabric of reality.

Within this area, nothing is constant. Even the laws that govern nature itself find themselves twisted and random. Creatures that venture in wander around in a fugue, and leave the area changed... sometimes in subtle ways, other times not so subtle. Some enter and are never seen again.


And there was much rejoicing as the sun returned. The Forest of Chaos arises, and as wonderous as it is, most avoid it for they fear the effects it has upon them. Some creatures adapt to the chaotic environment and are wonderous and terrible indeed.

Far below in the subterranean tunnels carved by the Dragons, down one of the deepest branches, an earthquake opens a small passageway into a hidden grotto. Χαος touches the mind of a lone Alexandrian known for his love of exploring caves, and leads him to the passageway.

Inside he finds the remains of an ancient Elemental, and a most disturbing prophecy etched onto the cavern walls.

Four shall ride out
Three shall return
The icons of power
Shall they yield
When Titans sleep
And Gods have Gone
Then Only Shall Mortals Rule
But the Might of the Titans
Shall remain
Wielded in Object and Ire
To Ultimately Destroy the World
Unless A Path of Perfect Balance Is Found.


Menrva, Tinia and Uni split the Alexandrans into 3 groups and each god adopts one of the groups as their own. Menrva gives her people the gifts of the warrior. Tinia gives her people the gifts of the scientist and Uni gives her people the gifts of the mage. Alexandra retires to the heavens to watch what will unfold.

And so it is that the Farshoom and the Pathi sleep, for the Pathi are nearly wiped out and without the Pathi, the Farshoom have no purpose. As they sleep, so do all gods but Xyrear and the Three Sisters. The Shardi retreat to the tunnels, and the Dragons enter a long sleep but shall return in due time. The Elementals are eternal, but keep to themselves, so for a while the Alexandrians have the world to themselves and there is much peace, but the efforts and will of the titans begins to fade, as the Aeon passes. Word of the prophesy is recorded, and the Alexandrians prepare for the coming of the Gods, living in harmony with the world.

An obelisk arises with 10 gems set to preserve the world in its direst need.

Banio's efforts to create the Nothing is destroyed, a single action chosen by the Void, by right of Decree to revoke.

Finally, just as the last efforts and influences of the titans fade, echoes and emblems of the power, and a single item of great power is taken and hidden, captured until the Third Aeon, representing the power of each Titan (save Banio who was never a true Titan to begin with.)

And so ends the Aeon.

(Thanks to all my players. Details on the next game to come soon ;) )

Monday, March 12, 2012

Three Aeons - 3rd Era

So that they may be enlightened, Sawda-Saiph introduces skepticism to the world.

And so there was much skepticism, and disbelief in the world. This primarily has the effect right off the bat of lessening ALL of the powers of the gods by a significant degree, and given the general level of destruction and doom, this is damaging to them, but it is particularly damaging to Pathi and his three 'children gods', which leads to a counter assault by the three city states that remain, killing many, though they are still badly outnumbered.

Alexandra, in a mischievous mood, introduces asexual reproduction to the world.

The Void, also in a mischievous mood, decrees that the world is coy, gives flowers to itself and reproduces four or five times. This causes a mighty earthquake which is felt by all on the world, as four (or perhaps five) tiny worldlets go floating off into the heavens that have ocean, an atmosphere, a penchant to eventually grow and the seeds for life.

Χαος awakens to find the world in a great state of flux. Madness and order, betrayal and growth... clearly things have been exciting in his absence. New Laws to constrain the creativity of chaos. New Gods scurrying around like ants, believing they have the power to move worlds. These upstarts will need to be put in their place. All in good time.

Time to mix things up a bit.

Reaching out into the world, Χαος gathers bits of essence from all the major races: dragon scales from the slumbering lizards deep in their lairs; bits of living crystal from the Shardi; fire and ice and rock from the elementals. All beings, even the Pathi, contribute to his collection. Drawing life force from the spirit of the planet itself, Χαος uses his diverse conglomerate of materials to fashion a new race.

From the spirit of the planet, as all things are connected in some small way, the entire new race is connected in a very large way. Strong mental acuity links each individual with the whole, regardless of physical distance. Working as a sort of hivemind, each individual has a sense of free-will through his own actions, yet all thought and emotion passes through and is felt by the collective - at least partially, if not fully. In the same manner, all Karma passes through the collective... good karma from one group balancing and cancelling out negative karma from another group.

From the Dragons, this new race gains the power to alter. Not the environment like the Dragons, but themselves. Using this power they are able to shift and blend in with any race they come in contact with. Combined with their psionic tendancies they are also able to communicate in the same language as the race they are mimicking.

From the Alexandrians, a broad sort of wisdom and intelligence that allows them to operate their hivemind fluidly on such a large scale, and quickly grasp complex ideas. However, also from the Alexandrians comes a touch of their madness. The pleasure and pain parts of their brain fuse such that they feel neither emotion individually, but rather a complex mashing of the two regardless of the stimuli.

From the Shardi, the abilty to see how things interact with each other. Less from a physical engineering point of view, and more from the cerebral conceptual side. Combined with the wisdom from the Alexandrians, and their own innate chaotic birthright, leads to schemes and machinations on a global level that would drive one to insantiy if they tried to unravel and comprehend them.

From the Pathi, ambition and a feeling of superiority, as well as an understanding of death and how it fits in the circle of life.

From the Elementals, the patience of those who measure time in centuries instead of hours. For while an individual may have a short life, the hivemind will live forever.

Satisfied with his creation, Χαος spreads them far and wide through out the planet. As their first test, to prove their worth to their creator, he compels them to begin plotting to exterminate every last Pathi. Because after all, a god with no followers is not much of a god.

Χαος creates a new race, and compels them to plot the genocide of the Pathi

The Farshoom are created, and mighty are they to behold. They are vast in number, and their belief is strong. Their belief is in the titan Χαος, who cannot use such power (and really what would he need with it anyway?) but they are young and mighty. Their ignorance gets them in trouble at first as their arrogance at first makes them unpopular with some, but the deeper individuals around them, especially the Alexandrian seers, they are soon recognized for the potentially they hold. Within a generation, their numbers begin to swell, and they are slowly turning the tide against the Pathi. Within three generations, they have become the dominant race on the planet, crushing the Pathi in war again and and again, such that even the Pathi's twisted reality ...twisting...ability is not enough to stop their relentless march. It is truly the Age of the Farshoom, and mighty are their works of stone.

And their firm unyielding belief in Χαος is such that both Klensar and Pathi are reduced in power. Klensar is pleased that his foe is being weakened but displeased in his reduction in power....and broods.


Χαος officially announces his presence to the world. His Obelisks flare violently to life and lightning spider-webs through the sky as his presence palpably rumbles across the atmosphere. Chaotic particles pop to life from the aether and fade from reality randomly. Entire species of plants get written out of existence, only to be replaced by something even more complex.

Eventually things settle down to a rather omnious silence.

Χαος makes his return well known.

The world is in shock and awe at this. Pathi trembles and curses, Klensar is pleased at some form, any form of hope against the encroaching darkness. The races of the world are generally happy (except of course the Pathi) with the Shardi and the Dragons in particularly pleased, and the Dragons pour forth from their waiting chambers in the center of the earth and get ready for war.

Χαος releases a weak form of the rust plague amongst the Shardi, specifically mutated to affect their crystalline make-up.

Shardi Rot is indeed a blight upon the race, and it inflicts much misery. The Farshoom develop a powerful medicine which reduces its effects, but it is by no means a cure.

Alexandra gives birth to three gods: Menrva, Tinia and Uni and sends them to the surface of the planet. The three find the highest point near Alexandra's children, and upon it create a temple, a dwelling for themselves. Near the temple. Tinia strikes the ground with his staff and a large rock emerges from the ground; Uni transforms the rock to a fountain with three faces, with open mouths; Menrva causes water to pour forth from each of the the mouths in the fountain. They wait to see what the Alexandrans will do.

And so Menrva, Tinia and Uni are born. They instantly make a positive impact on the Alexandrians and a temple is made where the worship flows in. In only a decade their theoretical power exceeds that of their mother. Uri makes the fountain and it is blessed, that all who enter it are healed.


Χαος alters the Shardi Rot to be bioluminescent.

And there was light.

Χαος infects the remaining Pathi with the sporadic madness that curses the Alexandrians.

The Pathi have set up Pathi farms so that they can reproduce in ten times their number. Their dark and twisted discipline helps them accomplish this and the tide begins to turn again...until periodically 1 in 10 of them decides that looking at the stars for four or five months at a time and doing nothing else is fun. Or composing poetry.

It should be noted, that Pathi poetry largely consists of torture, rape and making non Pathi miserable....and it is horrifically written, but the sheer randomness of it makes the disciplines required by the farms impossible as they all turn on each other, with whole clans of Pathi turning on each other, allowing the Farshoom to mop many of them up.


Χαος cloaks the world in absolute darkness.

And the world is cloaked in darkness, a thick layer directly underneath Alexandra's shielding shroad but that still obfuscates the sun. And the plants begin to die again, but most of them, bottlenecked by the last time this happened, have seeds, merely awaiting living light again.

Banio creates the Nothing, which shall consume all things upon the end of the Aeon.

By Void decree, the Vale of Tiitloc shall be immune to this, but so shall the sun, stars and moons since they predate death. The Nothing may be stemmed with three acts countering it.

Banio covers the world in a never ending petulant rotting smell that all races can sense and experience as unpleasant.

And the world is covered in a never ending stench of great foulness. And there is much misery. Belief in general plummets.

Banio robs the world of sleep.

Without sleep, there is no dreaming and without dreaming, the creatures of the world, save the Shardi, who never slept, madness and despair slowly covers the world. The Alexandrian poetry becomes morose and dark, waxing fond of imagined memories of the sun and of fresh air. The Dragons, freed of the balancing curse, actually enjoy their wakefullness and soar about the world, trying to ignore the ever present rot around them.