Journey

THE SHATTERING

Each old god governs a fundamental domain or element—such as twilight, secrets, war, death, nature, or chaos. Their powers are vast and often incomprehensible to mortals.

They shaped the land, created magical ley lines, and influenced the course of history through their followers and bloodlines.

After the Shattering, the old gods were cast down, imprisoned, or fragmented. Their temples lie in ruins, and their worship has mostly faded into legend or secret cults.

Some mortals, like Kaelen, carry the blood of the old gods, granting them latent powers and a mysterious connection to these ancient beings.

Aelthar: God of twilight and forgotten secrets, central to Kaelen’s lineage.

Other gods might represent war, death, nature, or chaos, each with their own myths and remnants scattered across Eldraeth

The Shattering was caused by a monumental conflict among the old gods themselves, fueled by betrayal, ambition, and the fear of losing control over the mortal realm.

Causes of the Shattering

Divine Rivalry and Betrayal

The old gods, once united in their dominion over Eldraeth, grew divided by jealousy and competing desires for supremacy. A faction led by a powerful god—often believed to be Aelthar, the god of twilight and forgotten secrets—was betrayed by other gods who feared his growing influence and secret knowledge.

Forbidden Magic and Hubris:

The gods experimented with forbidden magics to extend their power and control beyond the mortal realm. This reckless use of arcane forces destabilized the divine plane and the fabric of reality, weakening the gods and making them vulnerable.

Mortal Interference:

As mortal kingdoms grew in power, some mortals sought to challenge the gods, either through rebellion or by harnessing divine relics. This mortal defiance exacerbated tensions among the gods, who blamed each other for the weakening of their influence.

Cataclysmic Battle:

The culmination was a devastating war among the gods, fought across both the divine and mortal realms. The conflict shattered the divine realm itself, causing the gods to lose their physical forms or be imprisoned in hidden planes, and severing their direct connection to Eldraeth.

The Shattering is a cataclysmic event in the world of Eldraeth, marking the fall and fragmentation of the old gods' power and influence over the mortal realm. It was a divine upheaval that fractured both the realm of the gods and the world itself, severing the direct connection between the old gods and Eldraeth.

This event led to several profound consequences:

The old gods were cast down, their divine essence scattered and their worship fading into myth and superstition.

The world became scarred with ruins, cursed lands, and lingering magical corruption—remnants of the Shattering's destructive force.

Mortal kingdoms rose in the power vacuum left by the gods' fall, often persecuting those with bloodlines connected to the old gods.

The Shattering created a fractured spiritual and political landscape, with cults and factions seeking to reclaim or exploit the lost divine power.

Aelthar one of the old gods who once held great power and influence over the world before the cataclysmic event called the Shattering.

Aelthar governs the twilight—the boundary between day and night, light and darkness—and embodies hidden knowledge, mysteries, and secrets lost to time. His influence is subtle but profound, touching on the unseen and the forgotten.

Aelthar was betrayed by other gods who feared his growing power and secret knowledge. During the Shattering, he was imprisoned or bound in a hidden realm, limiting his ability to influence the world but not destroying his essence.

Though largely forgotten by most mortals, Aelthar’s bloodline survives in secret descendants like Kaelen Varric, granting them latent powers and visions tied to the old god’s essence. His worship persists in secret cults and ancient texts.

Aelthar represents the duality of light and shadow, knowledge and mystery, and the enduring presence of forgotten truths beneath the surface of the world.