WORK IN PROGRESS
(Some info is subject to change.)
LORE
- The universe is made up of many different planes that separate worlds from each other. Some are connected to each other, others can become connected. Only those with incredible power can make gates to different planes.
- Long ago the Celestial Plane (where the deities live) and the Mortal Plane were interwoven. They existed in harmony, keeping a balance between gods and mankind.
- His Immortal Majesty, the great sun Nephilus, directed the gods and goddesses of his realm to populate the world of Alterra as a gift for his lover moon, Lezradine.
- They used their celestial power to create species, grow plants, build mountains, and shape the world. Some even blessed parts of it with their own souls for divine protection.
- Civilization, while new, was growing rapidly under the great guidance of Lezradine and the deities.
- Generally, all beings worshiped the Sun and Moon, but it was also discovered that worship gave power. The lesser deities desired to be loved in this world they helped create. So factions began to form that separated people in their beliefs. Beneath the worship of Nephilus and Lezradine, the other deities campaigned to get parts of mankind under their threshold as well.
- Inside the Celestial Plane also rested an ancient evil. It was captured and contained by Nephilus for centuries. They know it by the name of Ozirath. It corrupts life and seeks to bring about ultimate chaos, feeding off negative emotions to grow its influence. This newfound greed in the deities slowly fed Ozirath energy to break free of its bonds and strike out into the Mortal Plane.
- To hide from those hunting it, Ozirath burrowed itself in the souls of a few mortals. While it cannot create evil, it does enhance the darkness that is already existent in people's hearts. It finds hidden hatred within people and adds fuel to that fire, corrupting them wholly in their dark emotions.
- Feeding off the darkness allows Ozirath to start building a physical form that would pull all destructive power from its original plane to wield freely.
- With the influence of Ozirath running rampant, life on Alterra grew steadily unstable. The deities vied for the power of worship and those under their guidance waged wars in their name. Lezradine watched her beloved world begin to crumble under the weight of this darkness. These events led to what is known in history as The War of the Gods.
- Lezradine vowed to put an end to it by blessing certain individuals, imbuing them with parts of her soul. They were called the Daughters of the Moon. The power given to them by Lezradine helped them to ends wars and unite people once more, slowly stripping Ozirath of his strength.
- In a last attempt to survive, Ozirath convinced a rogue deity known as Heldorik to kill Lezradine. The deities are immortal and invulnerable. However, giving pieces of her soul to her Daughters meant that killing them would kill her soul, therefore destroying Lezradine once and for all.
- Heldorik set out and struck down the Daughters one by one until only a single child remained. Nephilus watched helplessly as his lover was slowly dying. In his grief he stepped into the Mortal Plane and with massive power sent a strong attack across the entire world of Alterra, dispelling Ozirath's presence in the mortals and killing Heldorik.
- The power of this attack ended up disrupting the two planes, ripping their connection from one another and crumbling the delicate gates. With his remaining strength, Nephilus secured the last remaining gate between the Celestial and Mortal Planes, the only remaining tie between the two realms. This gate is found on the land called Liat Delyvonette (lee-ay del-ee-von-et)
- After this devastating event, Nephilus and Lezradine disappeared. Their astral bodies remained in the sky circling the globe, but no one has heard from them since what is now known as the Fall of Ozirath.
- The disruption of the Planes left them separated, no longer interwoven. This stripped the divines of their invulnerability in the Mortal Plane. While still ageless, they were now susceptible to mortal illness and injury. Therefore a lot of them retreated to their Celestial homeland for protection in fear of death. Others stayed to watch over the mortals they vowed to protect or stayed to keep their worship alive.
- Over the course of centuries, all life became uncertain with the absence of the Sun and Moon. The gods and goddesses had no rulers, no direction, and the mortals lost their most beloved deities. Things started to change, and the stories started to become muddled in mystery.
- Small rumors spread that Lezradine was the true evil of history, deceiving Nephilus and hiding him away. Other legends shed a positive light on Ozirath, believing this dark force to instead be important for the balance of the world. As time went on the real history was forgotten... even by the gods.
- A faction known as the Sun Wardens has risen slowly in the shadows. They have strong beliefs against Lezradine and see any worship of her as immoral and an act against His Immortal Majesty the Sun. They believe that in order to bring Nephilus back to power they must first destroy all that Lezradine built. This meant getting the help of Ozirath who had barely survived Nephilus' attack. Their plan was to slowly bring the world to chaos once more. Burn it down in Nephilus' righteous flames in order to build it back to a newfound glory, and restore the Sun. They've also been on the hunt for the last surviving Daughter of the Moon.
- Another faction called The Order of Lezradine has heard whispers of the Sun Wardens and have set out to attempt to thwart their plans. This order protects and trains Druids as well as keeps the peace. Their other goal is to locate the Daughter of the Moon to save both her and Lezradine.
- There are different types of deities that make up a hierarchical structure. The first is Gods/Goddesses, which are celestials of a force/ideal and at the top of the chain. An example would be Iriana the Goddess of Order. Then there's Lesser Gods/Goddesses. They are the direct descendants of the formerly mentioned tier and manifest as a force or ideal under their parent's attribute. Such as Iriana's daughter Adalet, the Lesser Goddess of Justice. Since justice is one part to the entire makeup of order, she inherited this standing from her mother. These stages are both celestials. Next, there are Divines, who are not celestials but rather have a piece of a force or ideal that they embody. Kaito is a Divine of the Sea as he has a part of that power infused into his very being, but is not the all-powerful controller of the Sea like a God would be. Finally, there are Druids.
- Druids are individuals who either share distant bloodlines with a deity or have had their bloodlines blessed by one. This has allowed them to use celestial magic, but because of the separation of the Planes, the magic is unstable. In order to control it properly, they utilize ancient artifacts that are tied to the Celestial Plane. Only Druids, deities, and spirits can use magic in this world. Ever since the Fall of Ozirath, blessings are pretty much unheard of. Druids are now quite rare. Some see them as a threat, those who hate all celestial beings, and others wish to use them for power.
- Celestial blood, while carried down through bloodlines, is not always active. Therefore having a Druid in the family is a small chance at best. One sibling can have the celestial marker whereas the other doesn't. Deities mingling with mortals has become taboo over the centuries and it hardly even an occurrence nowadays. Most bloodlines start way back in history and it is very hard to trace.
- Another plane, simply known as the Enchanted Plane, is home to beings made up of pure magical essence. Some of these beings are called Spirits and are divided until two groups: Jyoti and Isha. The peaceful spirits are Jyoti and they never really interact with the Mortal Plane. Isha have been corrupted by arcane which makes them unstable and dangerous, they seek to cause destruction on the Mortal Plane. Spirits have the ability to bond their life force with an individual, which allows that person to use the spirit's magic. They call this person a Domisoul. The corrupt Isha sometimes forcefully take over a body. However this could be deadly as if the mortal dies then the spirit dies with them. There is no known way to separate a spirit once they've bonded. Every case to date has shown that Isha completely takes over their host and turn them into a demonic version of themselves. For a long time, there had never been a Jyoti Domisoul in history.
- The Sun Wardens seek to use Domisouls as a weapon of war, drawing out Isha to bond to unwilling bodies in order to utilize their powerful magic. However, these Domisouls are uncontrollable.
- A faction known as The Syndicate works as a protector against magic beings, hunting down and terminating spirit-based threats and the like, including the killing of Domisouls. They put the safety of the people above all regard for the life of the corrupted individual, believing them to be gone forever to the Spirit's control.
MAIN PLOT-LINE DETAILS
When the night is at its darkest,
And the horrors of the past creep awake,
The moon will call her Catalyst,
And the peace of the world shall break.
As terror has taken its hold,
And life begins to slowly fade,
Our Hope will unite the foretold,
To fight against the crusade.
Blood will stain this tale,
The rivers will run with red,
But the Savior will prevail,
And the darkness will finally end.
- Lezradine is in a sort of coma. Before making his attack, Nephilus hid her away unbeknownst to the other deities. He set a few loyal watchmen to make sure she remained safe and she has been there ever since the Fall of Ozirath. When the Daughters of the Moon were being slaughtered, the pieces of Lezradine's soul within them became trapped in the Netherworld (otherwise known as the Plane of Passing). This is where most go when their die. These pieces of her soul were not killed as initially believed. Instead, they are stuck in this plane, cut off, and the absence is what is killing the Moon. Lyra, the last surviving Daughter, is her final tether to life.
- A soulstone is a precious artifact that has been lost to history. It can extract the trapped pieces of the soul from the Netherworld, but only if the owner of the soul piece does it themselves. Technically, Lezradine would need to use the stone. However, since Lyra shares a part of her that means the stone would recognize her and allow her to retrieve them. Lyra is the key to saving the Moon if she can find a soulstone.
- Lyra is not aware that she is a Daughter of the Moon. She was not the original, instead the soul piece was passed on to her by her grandmother when she was born. No one else but Lezradine knowns that Lyra is a Daughter.
- Kaedmon is a Grim Reaper who brings souls to their final resting place in the Netherworld. His interesting ideology around the subject of peace has led to him interfering in the world using his position as a means to bring balance. He sees the inevitable death of Lezradine as a necessary evil and will try his best to keep her soul pieces from leaving the Netherworld... while also hunting down the final piece to seal the Moon's fate.
- The biggest threats in the world right now are the Sun Wardens and Ozirath, who while seemingly working together actually have different motives. Ozirath wants revenge on Nephilus whereas the Wardens worship the Sun. It has teamed with them simply to use their plot to gather power and influence, intent on betraying them when the moment is right and has finished its physical form. Back when the Sun and Moon disappeared, a prophet of old saw the return of Ozirath and gave a solution to defeating it once and for all. This prophecy was seemingly lost to the ages until The Order of Lezradine uncovers it in ancient texts. It read:
When the night is at its darkest,
And the horrors of the past creep awake,
The moon will call her Catalyst,
And the peace of the world shall break.
As terror has taken its hold,
And life begins to slowly fade,
Our Hope will unite the foretold,
To fight against the crusade.
Blood will stain this tale,
The rivers will run with red,
But the Savior will prevail,
And the darkness will finally end.
- The prophecy features three individuals: the Catalyst, the Hope, and the Savior. They do not know who they are or how to find them and unfortunately, a traitor in the Order took these findings to the Wardens. Lyra is the first key to the riddle. "The moon will call her Catalyst" refers to the last surviving Daughter. Lezradine is able to spiritually connect with Lyra, leading to her (and others) finding out her heritage. This puts everything into its final stages, therefore being a catalyst for the coming events. It is also her job to restore the Moon. Rivan, a Grand Druid within the Order, is the prophesied Hope. He is the first one to find Lyra, and he also finds the Savior. His role was uniting the three of them and bringing people to fight in the final battle. The final person is Quinn, Savior of the prophecy. He was born a pure celestial, the heart of Alterra itself. His existence is unprecedented as celestials are born perhaps once in a million years, but it was thought impossible for one to be born on the Mortal Plane. He has a power that rivals Nephilus, able to draw from multiple planes, and is the answer to destroying Ozirath for good.
- Much like Lyra, Quinn has no idea of his true heritage or his power. It's locked away by a seal that is broken when meeting the other two keys to the prophecy.
SUBPLOTS
- The tyrant of Galadan has gotten out of hand. After the devastating death of his wife, the Emperor became a changed man that was clouded by grief. He blamed the world for everything and did his best to punish for it. His eldest son Cassius and his only daughter Odessa are mounting a rebellion with the help of civilian forces to take him down from within and restore the kingdom.
- The Sun Wardens are attempting to start a war between the four great kingdoms. They're putting a lot of plans into motion that is disrupting political ties between the lands. One such plan is to kidnap a beloved prince of Kairul, Isadore, and take him over the Wildewyn border to frame his death.