Prologue

 Prologue

It was a time that wasn’t so long ago when the world knew peace, Before the darkness before all the wars, of course anyone who dare say or believe my words wouldn’t be alive today. Well unless of course, if you speak with an elf who may have witnessed it or heard it second hand but the truth be told I know it to be true because I was there on this world we call Gaia, my mother. And no I don't mean metaphorically. Gaia is the goddess and mother of the gods and I am her son Deneir. But I'm getting ahead of myself I should start at the beginning.

Chapter 1

Mythos of the deities 

In the first age Ako and his brother came from the Celestial mother, whom created the universe.. Nothing more is know of The celestial mother but many a discussion have been made as to whether she still exist anymore. As for the Void his true name was loose a long ago along with his compassion. Little is know what started this fight between Ako and the Void.

    Our world all started with Ako the keeper of the Sun forge. Wherever Ako went there was light and even as one looks upon the darkest night, Ako torches can been seen from afar. So, as the days ends and the stars come out to light the way.  Ako travels in search of the Void in hopes to bring the light in and ridding the universe of the darkness. 

   The journey took him to Gaia where he fall madly in love with the goddess. Gaia and her children the forest kings had long admired the stars he had forge on his journeys that brought him here. For a moment in time Ako forgot about the Void, and Gaia and Ako grew closer. They had many children that brought happiness to the both of them.

  Both the dwarves and elves of old, tell of the joy the Deities felt and shared in the twilight under the stars. But all things come to an end and one day Gaia grew ill and fell into a deep sleep and so did her forest kings. It was the start of the first winter ever and The Children of the Ako fell over themselves in search of answers. Luna sent her children the elves to comb the forest in search of the cause. Reporting back that all the forest kings had fell into hibernation. Non would answer them, not even in their holy groves. The forest of the world had gone silent. 

      Mordadin called on his dwarves to search the darkest valleys and deepest caves for the source of this curse. But they came back empty handed as well with no clues as to the changing of the time. Mystra the mother of magic researched endlessly in grimoires and tomes of old. She spoke with spirits and elementals near and far. She learned nothing more than her brothers and sisters had. 

It was Deneir’s love for secrets and disregard of boundaries like his father’s library that lead him to notes on the Void from Ako’s journals. Ako forgives Denier of his trespassing and admits that he had all but forgotten the Void and his duties. Ako shares his journey of old and how the Void feared the light. With this new knowledge and hope that it was the Void that brought about the curse. 

The children work to build a new star brighter than any Ako had made before to melt away the snow and awaken Gaia. Oghma whom aided his sister Mystra in research the curse, led to what would light the world. He was the architect behind what would later be the sun forge that Mordadin and Ako crafted in fire. 

As the sun forge was built and set ablaze the world felt the beginning of the first spring and the Forest kings arose and they reached new highs and their domains grew. Gaia awoke but she was frail and still ill from the curse. She thanked her children and spoke of her sleep riddled with nightmares of the things to come. Gaia saw her children weeping as their forest fell.

    With spring came the great hunt. The leader of this hunt was Tempus and his brother Arvoreen. Najm guided them through the forest she knew from her many hunts in the past to the source of the curse. In the new light of the sun nothing could be hidden. 

      Here the siblings would meet the first fallen forest king. Twisted and dark as soot, the once pure Forest King had become a troll that’s hunger knew no bound. For it had devoured its domain and look to engulf its brother in the neighboring valley. The once proud forest king fell and with it revealed the curse. The domain of the fallen king had become a swamp as dark as its new skin. After slaying the fallen king. They collected  the water as well as remains of the fallen king before the valley was set ablaze for fear that it would infest its neighboring brother. This would later be known as the arid desert of the east. As the deities fire burn so hot that nothing grew for some time. The clouds evaporated for miles and no rain touch the lands of the once fertile forest, all that remain was ash that turn too sand.

     From the fallen king remains, all was revealed. The Void had for the first time created something. Never had Ako ever seen this. The Void had always destroyed all it touched but now it had learned to create and it was a twisted version of itself. The fallen forest king was dropped into the Well of the Forgotten to be sealed away for all time. Ako sent his children out to lookout for any more signs of the Void. 

 Part II

      Tempus, Arvoreen, and Najm go back out in search of what has cursed their mother but find no new fallen kings. Even after months of searching, Tempus pushes them to stay around where the fallen forest king came from. Najm tells Tempus that they need to look beyond the fallen king’s territory. But Tempus refused.

      Unable to make him listen, Najm storms off leaving Arvoreen divided. Trying to keep them together by chasing Najm and pleading for her to stay, but she wouldn't be swayed. At her wits end with her brother she heads back home. When Arvoreen returns to Tempus he follows aimlessly, unsure if Tempus was right to stay but too loyal to question his older brother.

Back home where Gaia rested as Sharindlar the goddess of healing soothes her pains and pleads to her mother Gaia to speak to her forest kings to find those among them that have fallen ill before she loses all her forest kings. Gaia react out and no word of illness came back but there were those that would not speak to her. When Najm returns home, she learns of those that would not speak.

Najm travels too the far reaches of the Forest king’s domains in the south where she finds more than she bargains for. Before her was an army of trolls and a vast wasteland so dark the sky could not be seen. She returns home to tell word of what she had seen. 

       As they prepare to attack the army of the trolls, Amberra pleads to her siblings to be merciful to the fallen forest kings. This is when Issek, eager to please his father, runs ahead of the other deities and runs into the army of trolls. Unable to catch up with him the deities loose Issek in the sea of trolls. As the army is being crush by the deities in the fields. Issek is dragged into the caves below. Bound to a flat boulder with chains and his head hung over the edge. They forces him to drink the water of the Void. He suffers disfigurement and become the first God to fall into the hands of the Void. Issek later will became known as ‘Issek of the jug’. After his transformation he was dragged deeper into the caves to avoid his siblings and join the last of the fleeting army of trolls to the lake of the Void. 

       The battle ends when the deities reach the lake and stop their pursuit of the army. Mordadin speaks up when he sees the lake is feeding the underground rivers. He tells his siblings that he believes that the lake is the source of water for the fallen kings and that if they don’t destroy it, more Forest kings will turn. All join in purifying the lake unknowingly giving the remaining trolls and Issek time to escape. 

When the deities return, they see that Gaia has started to recover but they are grief stricken by the loss of Issek. In time Gaia gains her strength back and her forest king’s bloom. The others deities still search for their missing brother in hopes of bringing him home. During this time of grief Gaia and Ako bring the newborn twins to the family in hopes of helping to accept the lost of Issek. The twins would later bring an end to deities walking with mortals with but one simple mistake and a secret of their true father, It was the Void. when Gaia had fallen into a slumber, is when the Void pretended to be his twin brother Ako so he could lay with Gaia and the twins where the result. Ako Took them in as his own, even though he fear they my turn to the darkness like his brother.

The twins grew up as children do and they play often together. One day by the well of the forgotten when one of them name Dexus catches his cloak on the edge of the well. He loses his balance. Dexus fell, and in doing so his hand was submerged into the water of the void. Fearful of punishment, Dexus sister covered her bothers hand in his ripped cloak. But as all children learn the truth will come out. Ako was unable to stop the void from overcoming it consumed his arm in black. Unable to stop the spread Ako and his children had no choice but to put him in a deep sleep to slow down the growth until they could find a cure.

 Dexus sister, Erevan, blamed herself at first and insisted on see her brother. Fearful she would get sick too, Ako hid Dexus from her and the other deities. Erevan later blamed her father for the well and the water that cursed her brother. She couldn't believe her father didn’t have the cure. Feeling helpless she hid from her father and submerged herself in study becoming a student of Deneir and learning the secrets of Mystra to prepare for the day she could save her brother. 

She became the mother of the first humans and they grew in numbers that match the domains of the forest kings. Outnumbering both dwarves and elves she marched them into the house of the deities to demand her brother back. Teaching the knowledge she had learned by her siblings to her people, her army was not to be mistaken as weak but a force to be feared. Unable to raise a hand to his child, Ako banished the deities from the mortal world. With no one leading the armies, war raged without them and the god war ended with weakened armies. The Forest kings would not lift a hand to harm the children of the deities.

   This was the time that Issek rose up. In this time of weakness, the army of the trolls attacked. The world had been plunged into darkness with no one to lead the people who once walked among the deities. It was sheer luck that they fought off the army of Issek. Some would say that only the Void and Issek remain on Gaia. Well this what they will tell you if you among the Derinkuyu and the Newhuwan. But the truth be told is that Akko himself return to Gaia. Changing the tide of battle by feed Issek till he feel into a slumber. Then pulling his gargantuan body into the shadowy deep waters. Like his younger brother, Issek wait to be awoken. So both brothers slumbering, far from the reach of those that would want them free.

Part III

     Because the deities were banished from Gaia, they could not reach their people. This enraged Erevan for she believes she was so close to having her twin brother back. Unable to reach her new found children she watches helplessly as they fought the other races. When all was over, she left the house of the deities to sulk in solitary. The other deities wait for Ako’s orders but he left to his library to find a way to cure his sons. Seeing that the family is in morning Gaia told the others to see what they can do in their own way to help Ako and see that Erevan is cared for. Erevan and Gaia speak for a time but it seems that nothing between Ako and her will change. So, Gaia just supports her daughter with hope that in time they will come to a compromise. 

The other deities whisper to their most faithful and told them of what they need to bring things back into order. But some of the children had felt as though they have been abandoned and they look to the other deities for comfort. This troubles the deities but they consult with their siblings that so long as they don’t turn to the Void they isn’t ill will even if a few my feel this way. The years that followed where dark and chaotic with little hope that the world of Gaia would be brought back in balance. Humans hunted the other races like animals and enslaved those that they conquered. The other races withdraw into the wild or went to war with the humans. It was in these dark times after so much of civilization had fallen, destroyed or was lost. From the dark the voices of the deities calling out to those that would listen. This few that listen became the druids and clerics of today.    

   As the years went on and the deities bring the people back into the light. The races start to divide into groups not separated by race but by deities and ideology. This nations took on the persona of the deities. The faithful had answers the call from their deities by molding their nations into their vision of the patronage. So as it is in the heavens so is it on Gaia. This is thanks to the gifts of the avatars. They are known as  the Artifacts of sovereignty to the people. It was this artifacts that help them mold there nations and gave them the right to sovereignty.

All the while the Void and the trolls move on with their plan. Slowly Erevan comes out and spends time with her siblings and learns of their Arts and she finds new light. Erevan tells her people to prepare for the day of the awakening. And so, begins the Age of Summer, sometime called the Age of Dusk. Where the deities are divided by those closest to them. The army of the trolls and Issek their new found leader build their number from the many races. Turning them into servants of the void. Some have been so changed that they will never be able to go back twisted and turned into humanoids that crave the flesh of their former race. The true army of the Void hides in the shadow of the night and deep within the earth out of the eyes sight of those that would learn of their growing number. The time is almost near and the cities will learn of what it is to be consumed by the army of the Void. The deities are unable to return. So they set those of faithful on the path to bring order and peace to the world. We can only hope that the faithful will be ready for the new age that is coming.