The History of the World and the Dusk of the Elves:

Being a telling of the creation of the world and its peoples according to the Council of the Priestesses of the Moon

 

Believed by: The Moon Elves primarily, but also the Star, Stone and Cave Elves for the most part, with little variation. Of the Drukar, the Blood Elves are the only ones who flat out disagree with the Moon Elves on their version of the creation myth

 

In the beginning there was darkness. Within that darkness the Universe gave birth to the divine and the infernal, the Inkari and the Nameless. Of the Inkari there were nine: Eza, Kain, Borius, Telaziel, Esmus, Karia, Delilah, Tirael, and Suriel. Of the Nameless there were ten: The First, Zeaboam, Lotekai, Selan, Azriel, Wazanest, Dosani, Raetavek, Kanatek, and Tikedrion. Born of opposing natures, the Inkari of the Spectral and the Nameless of the Umbral, both forces did go to war with one another for thousands of years, yet one could not destroy the other, and there was balance.

 

Since the Inkari and the Nameless could not destroy one another, they each created lesser beings of one another to continue their war. Of the Inkari were born 100 Draken and 1000 Fey, and of the Nameless were born 100 Seriph and 1000 Kaiser. Yet despite their might, these demigods could not harm one another any more than their creators could harm one another. Their war at a stalemate, the two forces ignored one another for a time and Eza began to create. Jealous of his brother, Kain followed behind Eza and destroyed what he created. Finally, having taken as much as he could of his creations' destruction, Eza turned on Kain and struck him with his might. Terrified by the power Eza showed, the other male Inkari fell behind Kain to face him. To show his power, Eza held all four of them off. Their war consumed worlds.

 

While the Inkari fought one another, the Nameless were free to do as they willed throughout the stars.

Weary of the war that raged between their brothers, the four sisters of the Inkari sought a way to end the conflict. They came up with a binding that would seal away one half of the combatants into a stone and gave it to the youngest of their number, Suriel the Goddess of Darkness who loved all things in the universe. She took the stone to Eza, because she trusted his desire to create over Kain's willingness to destroy. Eza took the stone and her warnings that it would only work in the Physical Plane which served as balance between the Spectral and the Umbral Planes.

 

It was then that Eza created the world of Stehreel. He poured into the world all of his experience in creation, giving birth to all manner of creatures and plants. He did make it the most beautiful world in all of creation, but within it there was a secret corruption. Hidden from Eza's sight, the Nameless had taken up residence within the world, silently corrupting his creations and twisting them away from the Spectral to the Umbral. When the world was finished, Eza invited his brothers to face him in the Physical Plane, and as soon as they arrived he cast the stone at their feet and bound them all away. Showing pride he had not shown before, Eza proclaimed himself the One God, and flung the prison with his brothers away from himself into the mountains of the world, declaring them Lost Gods.

 

At that moment, in the midst of his pride, two beings sprang from the heart of Eza to land on the surface of the world. One was as fair as the dawn and the other as dark as the night. They looked upon one another, and the fair one saw that his brother was different. Disgusted by that difference, the fair one, called Kaeledor, attacked his brother to destroy him. The dark one, called Saeder, defended himself and the two fought in the sight of Eza. The God of Light, approving of the fair one and not the dark, which was abhorrent to his light, threw Saeder to the dark side of the world and proclaimed Kaeledor and the Eldar his chosen people. Saeder, alone and godless, turned to the moons above him. While Kaeledor could only see three in that sky, Saeder saw all four; even Suriel who was darker than the sky around her. Saeder begged of the moons that they should offer him surcease from his lonely exile. One by one the moons agreed to be his goddesses, but Suriel looked upon him and fell in love. She came to the surface of the world before him and offered herself not as his goddess, but as his wife.

 

Unknown to all of them, the Nameless, terrified of the creations of Eza, the Elves like no other things in all existence, gave birth in secret to the Hkahnihn below the world to ever oppose the Elves.

 

After thousands of years in the light of the moons, the Drukar had grown to be a powerful people. The Moon Elves, spiritual leaders of the people and priestesses of the Moon Goddesses, led the Cave Elves, Star Elves, Blood Elves, and Stone Elves in as much as anyone could lead such disparate peoples. It was then that an abomination occurred. A woman of the Eldar people lured a man of the Moon Elves away from his people. She dominated him and drove him into the vilest of sins. From their union was born a terrible creation: one who was neither Eldar nor Drukar whose name will not be spoken.

 

Blaming the Moon Elves for the sacrilege of the Eldar woman, the Eldar went to war against the Drukar. It was a war that would last over one hundred years. Near the end of the war, when the combined might of the Eldar armies had burned their way through families and fields to the lands at the heart of the Drukar territories, the High Priestesses of the Moons raised their combined voice to the sky above to beg assistance of the Goddesses. Sick of the death and destruction, the Goddesses chose not to turn their hands to slaying even the Eldar. They could offer the Drukar only one boon. They turned their faces away from the world of Stehreel so that darkness fell across the land in the absence of their light. The darkness was so thick that the Eldar armies could not see to fight the Drukar, but the Drukar could see just fine.

 

The tide of the war turned in favor of the Drukar, now able to fight the Eldar at an advantage in the dark places of the world. The armies of the Drukar, led by the Moon Elf priestesses, pushed the armies of the Eldar back even almost to the heart of the lands of light. In desperation, fearing the righteous vengeance of the Drukar, the Eldar turned to beseech Eza for help. Disgusted by the hubris of the Eldar Priests, Eza turned his back on them and the sun blacked out of the sky entirely. The darkness that enfolded the world was so thick that none could see to kill.

 

The darkness would last for three full days and was only broken when the unthinkable occurred. The Abomination, he who was neither Eldar nor Drukar whose name will not be spoken, found the stone that held the Lost Gods prisoner.

The Abomination took up the stone that was the prison of the Lost Gods in the darkness of the absent sun and moons, and cast it from the mountaintop. The stone shattered against the ground and with a howling, terrible sound, the Lost Gods returned in fire and destruction. The sun and moons returned to the sky in an instant and in one blinding, terrible moment, the world was shattered by Cataclysm.

 

Kain turned on the Abomination that had released he and his brothers and lit him aflame in vulgar thanks for the aid. Screaming, the Abomination fell into the sea but it is said he yet burns to this day. Raising his fist, the god of Flame smote the world and broke it open, his fire reaching even to the heart of the world where the Nameless lurked in silence. The Great Demons came furious from the deep and Kain lied to them, claiming that the Elves are the ones that had caused the fire that slew their children in the deep. They roamed the world, slaying the Elves and leaving catastrophe in their wake. None were safe from their unholy power. Inscrutably weak after the way he had stood against the other Inkari in the beginning, Eza was easily subdued by his brothers and could not raise a hand to save his children. All seemed lost, and if things had continued as they were the world would have ended in fire and blood that very day. But things were not allowed to continue as they were.

 

At that moment when hope was lost in the inferno of the Cataclysm, Suriel, who had gone into seclusion after Saeder passed from the world to mourn his loss, rose from the ashes of destruction and cast herself before all of the Inkari and the Nameless.

 

"Behold!" she cried through bitter tears to see so many dead in the devastation, "I will not allow you to continue this destruction! You will slay my children and the children of my brother Eza no longer!"

 

And with her own life force she sealed all of the Inkari and all of the Nameless in an Eternal Binding that shall never be broken. Eza was bound to the Sun, Karia was bound to the bronze moon, Delilah to the purple moon, and Tirael to the orange moon. Kain was bound to the heart of the world with the Nameless, Borius was bound to a tree that grew to immense proportions with his might, Telaziel was bound to the waters of the north that froze around him, and Esmus was bound to the heights of the tallest mountain where he cast his mind to the four winds.

 

After that, the world would dwell in peace for thousands of years as the people sought to rebuild the lives that had been shattered by the Abomination, the Cataclysm, and the sin of the Nameless.
~Fin~