Medese un Torill

Introduction

The tale of Medese and Torill is a byproduct of the history of Valore and the Children of Light, a story that is spoken somberly among the Myrrians:

In the beginning there was a vast unyielding chaos, one of fire and unending destruction. This chaos was named Khazadhul and it's body filled eternity and all the beings that existed knew only an existence of agony and malice. Amidst the chaos there were bubbles of light that floated through the vastness, places that the chaos could not penetrate. One of these lights was named Ada and her bubble of reality was new, born in a blinding flash that banished all the chaos within her reach. Within her stave there were four divine beings:

Lauriel the smith, the sculptor, the adamant. Her very hands shaped the cosmos; every meteor, every planet, every rock. She built worlds of ice, of water, of iron, and of stone. She brought to life the very images she dreamed of and the realm she created was one akin to her own passion; a realm of mystery and craft.

Orvastul the painter, bearer of suns. He birthed the stars and painted the void with glittering strokes and swirls. He fashioned every nebula, every nova, and every galaxy. Nirrium the seamstress, she had sewn the cosmos together with threads of darkness creating the motions of the planets and bringing a black veil upon the reach of Ada and with this she divided our reality into light and darkness. The darkness is the plane of physical manifestation, filled with all living things. The light was Ada and she flowed through all things. When the cycle of death was created all things would return to Ada, the light she breathed into them, and so it was that their passage into the ethereal plane was without turmoil or hardship and they knew only peace and bliss in their passing.

These three siblings had shaped our universe, our reality. The reach of Ada had become a peaceful place as the divines set the motions of the universe. It was, however, stagnant in it's ways. Plants and fauna were born naturally, but in their birth they entered an undying place where things grew and grew and grew. Nothing faded, nothing wilted, nothing rotted and so as he, Illdaste, had deliberated in silence, pondering what he would bring to the cosmos, he had finally reached his decision.

Illdaste brought time and with it all things died and were born anew.

The four were glad with there creation and they lived in awe at the wonders they crafted for billions of years.

Civilizations were born from the evolution of beasts. Meteors that pummelled silent worlds would be reformed into natural beauties of thriving flora with the flow of time. The cosmos was ever changing and it was Nirrium who loved it above all others and because of this she was often worshipped over her filia, for she was gentle in her deliberations and elegant in her neverending curiosity. Though Lauriel was the most powerful of them all, Nirrium was the most wise and fair in her judgement and so was seen as a goddess of knowledge and kindness.

As time went on they yearned to create once more and so they came together and they dreamed of a world that would be their homestead and so Lauriel crafted an orb of Athireal - a crystal that is the physical manifestation of Ada, her flesh and bone- and then they went on to create the world of Valore. They built a crust over this core of crystal using rock, dirt, and molten fire; veining it with the finest of minerals and the most beloved of gems. They covered it in water and set it's rotation around a giant golden star of Orvastuls highest favor. They pulled up continents with deep valleys and canyons, towering peaks of grey and white stone. They gathered fauna and flora that they admired the most and brought them to Valore and even made new species that existed nowhere else. They created a garden that they would come to love with such passion, a planet that was colossus compared to our earth. They allowed their Valore to circle it's sun as Illdaste shaped two moons that would orbit it; one of crystal and one of wandering stone. Lauriel shaped new worlds that would neighbour Valore and with these they had created the tide, shielded Valore from meteors, vagabond suns, and lost worlds. Nirrium brought to life her own creation, the Vissir, draconid creatures whose only rival in power and beauty would be the Visilik who were servants of Khazadhul.

Valore had began to form a more natural figure as her circulations passed. Her poles became caped in ice, the plant life grew to enormous heights, and the animals became ferocious and giant. The size of this world bred forth powerful things; Storms that tore violently over the oceans, terrible winters that could freeze the oceans and burning summers that we humans could not endure.

Even though Valore would be home to peoples of natural nascent, the four divines had shaped children in their images, the Children of Light.

The first of these children were the Illustara, who named themselves Sanahn in the language they created with the teachings of the Four Divines. They became advanced quickly, prodigies in the ways of art, language, and magic.

The City of Stars, Eltamir, was the first city built by the Sanahn. Created hundreds of years after their birth it was the only city created on their home continent of Va'unasta. The Sanahn average a height that shadows most humans at twelve feet tall. They are slender and toned with skin of ebony and hair the colour of ash and snow.

Their grand city was made of obsidian and a smooth white stone name avalone. Mighty towers, temples, and palaces of labyrinthian design there stood and the streets had been lined with trees bearing blue flowers and ornate lanterns. The Illustara were not humbled before their gods and considered themselves almost equals to their creators, demigods by their own rights.

Their city was made in inspiration of the night sky and when night would fall the city would be cast in a golden glow that could be seen from such a distance. Starlight was their most beloved creation, a fluid that glows in mockery of their sun and they filled lanterns of crystal with it. At night the city could not be told apart from the glittering night sky and during the day it stood black and white against the horizon.

Now the Illustar were a divided peoples after the construction of Eltamir and after a few thousands years of luxury and peace the Illustara departed from their solitary kingdom. The worshipers of the moons were named Nayir'ostan and they held very little love for their homeland, a land of sharp grey mountains, blanketed in trees with plateaus of yellow grass and semi-arid steppes. A temperate land with gentle fauna and long winters. The trees that grew there lived through long nights and terrible winters and so even they wore shades of dark hues.

The Nayir travelled across Va'unasta and came to the western shores. There they built ships upon the gravel beaches and sailed across the still ocean where they came to inhabit the snowy land of Tayor. There, in the snowy regions, they had built longhouses of wood and draped themselves in heavy furs and were a peaceful people who raged no wars and hunted only out of need.

One tribe of the Illustara travelled southwards, crossing the sea between the lands of Va'unasta and Sebri'ati. They settled upon the northern island a few miles off the coast of Sebir'ati and there they built the city of Natanya, red against the shimmering blue sea. The two tribes of Illiban and Quallastin travelled northwards and found themselves sailing across the icy sea to the tundra and permafrost of Morlathain, which covered the northernmost part of Valore. The Quallastin stayed in Morlathain and would live alongside the Aktoe, a people kin to the Vissir whose name would become the Sedhna in later forms of the Myrrian language.

The Illiban trekked far across Morlathain and when at last they came to the other side of that cold and unforgiving realm, they had built ships again and took to the sea once more, sailing ever southwards. They discovered the continent of Asaltamun and there they would build their homes, their kingdoms, their empires. The northernmost region of Asaltamun resembles Va'unasta greatly, but as the Illiban travelled southwards they found that the climate became humid.

Asaltamun became a land of blinding white deserts and vast rainforests, a land of death and shadows. The islands that snaked along the western side of Asaltamun, near the central regions of the vast country, were chaparral in their vegetation and the peoples who made their homes there were grown fairer than any of the Illiban. Upon one of these island, that would one day be named the country of Kzvelta, was the city of Zjinn; It was a city of rounded towers of clay and straw, with great temples and domical huts.

The Asaltamesse established an empire that would be rivalled in influence and grandiose only by the Myrrians, but when such a time was to come they would be no longer known as the Illiban.

Now concerning the second Child of Light, the Myrrians:

The Myrrians were made using the blood of the Illustara and though they were shorter in stature they were considered fairer than their older siblings. Their skin was of a copper tone, their bodies lean, and they were far more intelligent than the Illustara and were humbled in their ways. The land of Sebri'ati was their birthplace, born atop the mountain of Alobastan, and they would take no migrations except to the stars.

Alobastan was a stout mountain that rose from a vast stretch of green plains. It was part of a mountain range that stretched to the north and then thinned as it travelled westwards. Alobastan stood as a lonely runt next to the gulf of Ysi'tir.

The Myrrians were not given knowledge by the four divines, but rather taught by the Illustara who travelled to the central region of Sebri'ati and found them there upon theor scared mountain.

The Myrrians tempered their own language, created technology far more organic and advanced then their eldest sibling, and became great builders and engineers, learned greatly in the ways of metalwork and magic.

Encircling the mountain was the city of Alavosa, constructed by the first Hirtose [empress] of the Myrrian empire, Irkes.

Irkes was the wisest of the first Myrrians and was a fierce hunter who often led the most dangerous hunts, defending her peoples from attacks of ravenous monsters. The Myrrians respected and loved her and her feats would be sung about for ages to come. She was only a few hundred years old when the Illustar had come to them, teaching them many things. It was Irkes who discovered rich veins of alvantium beneath their sacred mountain; a pure white metal that would be used in the Myrrians constructions, both technological and architectural wise.

Irkes established a simplistic design with a very futuristic style when compared to the Illustara, geometrically pleasing and with a gilded aureate aesthetic. She focused on housing complexes that expanded beneath the earth and stood almost identical to each other, with only varying heights and width. The city was grid-like and encircled the base of the mountain.

Irkes ruled for nearly three thousand years before succumbing to sickness and passing on to the light. Avkires was the second Hirtose and in the regards of her construction projects she built mighty temples of worship to the guiding spirits and the mother Ada. She established the education system that was mandatory for the young, and built public archives that would grant all free access to all things known by the Myrrians. Great farms and gardens were built in spiraling towers.

The structures were pyramids, rectangular, and monolithic. The masonry was sublime and the walls of these structures were decorated with veins of gold carved flowers. The wide streets were veined between tiling with Athireal, which powered the city, offering a seemingly perpetual source of energy. The streets were decorated with statues of fantastical figures and floral sculptures. The streets had always been filled with the songs of temple virtuosos; singing of love, of heartache, of pain, of nature. Channels were led through the city from the gulf and gardens built along there banks.

The city grew larger with the ages until it was a sprawling metropolis that would become the grand capital for the galactic Myrrian empire.

Alavosa was not the only Myrrian city for after two-hundred thousands years Sebri'ati had been divided into provinces as the population grew.

Prisava was the central province. Irides was the province north of Prisava and its capital city was Dathodas.

To the west and southwest of Prisava are the provinces of Alodis and Virtana, which were once the united province of Kalsyka. Their capitals, in succession, are Andir and Bastion. Across the gulf of Ysi'tir is the province of Niv'yirrim and its capital Yisit located near the border where Idirse and Niv'yirrim meet.

South of Alavosa is the province of Allukri and to the east of Allukri is the province of Shior, which snakes along the border of Prisava and crops out around the gulf where it is divided from Niv'yirrim by a strait that feeds the ocean into the gulf of Ysi'tir.

The third of the children of light were the Lara. They were created by combining the blood of Myrrians and of primates from the Continent of Nuar’durn. The Lara are the ancient ancestors of humans and are far more ferocious than we are. Of the eighteen tribes that grew to be, only two are of prevalence in this story for their history is an expansive one and is a long tale of its own accord.

The Country of Ovaldum houses three great cities; Orth'valnur, Tambarat, and Shiss. Ovaldum is the northwestern country of Nuar'durn and is home to the Fair Lara of the Elegium kingdom, Arthawe.

The gigantic mountains of the country Ovaldum provides the perfect home for the vissir. The vissir are massive beasts and they are, those specifically of Ovaldum, covered in pale grey scales, bony ridges, and armour that change pigment and allows them to blend in with their rocky and wooded terrain. They have long lizard-like bodies with six powerful leathery wings and spiked tails. The vissir are intelligent beings and many within the mountains of Ovaldum live alongside the Lara. These Lara are larger and sinewious than there kin of Elegium and are named the Oenoa.

At the meeting point of history between these three peoples the Lara were a simple people living hearty lives in their mountain citadels.

The Myrrians had built mighty cities and wonders all across Sebri'ati, including the temple of the Immortals that sits atop Alobastan like a noble acropolis.

The Illustara had completed the construction of their well that descended deep into the world and met at the core of the planet and it was a place of worship to Ada.

Trade and communication was vibrant amongst all the children of the light, with the galactic empire of the Myrrians bringing back riches and exotic luxuries from the far reaches of the cosmos. The Illustara had kept to their namesake and many had taken to the stars, becoming scholars and rangers who travelled to the edges of the universe to record all known things.

Eight hundred thousand years after the first child of light were brought into existence there came a great tragedy: The Scarring of Ada.

The Myrrian empire is a combination of a theocratic and a technocratic state and because of their virtues of wisdom, discipline, and faith they held Illdaste in the highest regard. The construction of the temple of the Immortals was overseen by Illdaste, alongside the Hirtose of Alavosa at that time who was known as Myssaltav.

The scarring of Ada was a crime that would be committed by one who would come to know a pain and torment beyond the comprehension of any of us.