The Age of Creation (Althéa Specific)

 

(DURING THE TIME OF LAW AND CHAOS)

 

The Birth of Men

 

THE WESTERN CONTINENTS OF BORANTA & NARMORA

 

Adon placed two groups of men in the northern lands of the Great Western Continent that was later to be named Boranta. The first group were set just north of a lake, (later to be called the Noble Waters Lake), the others just east of a river, later to be called xxxxx. Adon spent most time with the men of the first group. Eki, on the other hand, spent more time with the second group, and during a time when Adon rested. In this way, the two groups became affiliated towards Adon or Eki.

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Of the group that Adon visited mostly, its members eventually split three ways. The first group was led by a man called Boran and were the group that followed closest the ways of Adon. He led his peoples south and set up a town, named after himself, on the coast of a beautiful lake. It flourished and was later to become a great city marking the capital of the lands of Boranta. Valron was the leader of the second group that heard the voice of Adon. He, however, preferred to go north to flatter lands and plains, where he and his followers could live more closely to nature. His was a wild and chaotic love, but still towards Adon. The third group of the split developed a love of water. Their need to sail and to be close to the coast stole them to the north. There they found an island which became known as the Isle of Talleth, after the leader that led them here. From here they loved Adon in their own way.

 

Of the group that Eki visited mostly, bitterness was early sown. He told them not to trust any of those west of the river, who spoke with words about equality. He changed their outlook by destroying this worth, teaching “strong rulers breed strong nations”. He twisted their understanding by teaching “only the strongest survive”. His poison of corruption continued in his subtle tones as they learnt of “bad breeding will create weak nations” and that “weakness is the death of a nation”. Fed on such lies, a hate of those to the west could not fail to arise. This group eventually split into two, each a seething group of organized hate and distrust of those to the west. They believed Eki and followed their leaders Talan and Devor, who were the strongest in the two groups, to the north and south extremes of the eastern coast.

 

At the same time that Adon placed men within Boranta, he also set a group of men in the southern lands of the Great Western Continent, later to be called Narmora. The group were placed just west of some mountains between the two rivers, later to be named the xxxxx and xxxxx. This group was influenced equally by Adon and Eki and the forces of law and chaos. The group eventually split four ways.

 

Narmor invited all those that followed a law and the ways of Adon to build a great town in which they could all reside. This, the first group did, and the town eventually grew to be the city of Narmor. There were others that believed in Adon, but not in the structure of a law. Led away by Orian, they became the tribal nation of Orian in the lands west of Narmor. Dragnol and Irion were influenced more by the words of Eki and departed to make their own nations. Irion built a town further south on the banks of a great river, later to be called xxxxx. Dragnol led his people to the north and became a tribal nation just west of those of Orian.

 

Eki also placed a group of men within the southern lands of Narmora, just south of some mountains, later referred to as the xxxxx Mountains. These were unknown to Adon and had the sole attention of Eki. From them he formed a vicious group of men led by a man called Xaviar. His two sons, Xanard and Xerech killed their father in a contest for power and so gained rule of his people. Each decided to take lands, one east of a river now known as xxxxx and the other to the west of it. Each had his followers and ruled a powerful nation.

 

THE EASTERN CONTINENTS OF COLLOSTRA & MORTALLIA

 

Where Adon had concentrated on the Great Western Continent, so Eki concentrated more on the Great Eastern Continent. Eki placed two groups within this land from which two powerful leaders by the name of Collos and Mortall grew. Their followers would become vast and powerful and the land become known as the Lands of Collostra and Mortallia, even before the time of the First Kingdoms.

 

At around 85 P.M.T. when Adon was bringing word to his creations, so Eki was talking to his own and Collostran and Mortallan men of the Great Eastern Continent were living to the will of Eki. Adon, however, was not totally unaware of the situation and took action to give these men the option to chose which way to follow. To this end, at around 84 P.M.T., Adon placed a group of men between the two great evil forces. Erentor became the great leader of this people (who became known as the Erentorians) and it was their duty to teach the ways of Adon. A seemingly impossible task, the Erentorians went among the evil to teach alternative ways.

 

Years passed and the groups of evil men eventually split, brought on by a mixture of confusion by the Erentorians and an inner struggle for power, causing the parting of the ways. Around 81 P.M.T. Artor split from the Collostrans with his followers and headed north. At the same time, Brushan caused a second split from the Collostran group and led his people south. Those to the east of the Great Eastern Land did not have it any easier. There they had the same confusion and struggles, with the Mortallans having their own areas of dissent and departures. Akard found followers and led his people to the north, whereas Haltard and Illach, preferring a less structured society, led their followers to the south. There they founded the evil tribes of the Haltard Plains and those of the Isle of Illach.

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Adon noticed that while the evil of the Great Eastern Continent was being divided, their numbers remained the same, and so around 80 P.M.T. Adon placed another group of men (his final group) to the north of the Erentorians to aid them in the teaching of his ways. Clardon was the  leader of this group of men and he became a great leader, forming the Clardonians. He was among those first to discover the Erentorians to the south and help form the strong alliance between the two. The placing of this final group marked the beginning of the end of the time of Law and Chaos.

 

Around the year 50 P.M.T. there were some of those of the original placing of Eki that came across the Erentorians and Clardonians in their search for new lands. They listened to the ways of Adon and in their time of need were converted to his ways. Two tribal nations came about this way, led by and remembered for their insightful leaders, Valdeer and Rostere. They homed in lands that bordered the Erentorians and are the only groups of men known in the history of Althéa to turn from the evil path of Eki to the righteous path of Adon. This conversion was a mixed blessing, for while it showed men could be “saved” and brought into the light of Adon, it was also to be the root cause that led to the Power Wars.

 

At around 40 P.M.T. during the early days of the time of the First Kingdoms, most roads and links had been built between the divided nations. This allowed for reasonable trade and helped form unsteady alliances between the different evil factions; some more steady than others. It was understood that everything was unfolding to the plans of Eki, and that while Adon was able to delay him now and again, he still moved towards his objective. Before long, Eki would have enough strength in followers to turn his attentions to take complete control of the World of Althéa. Where opportunities arose, Eki manifested in men a contempt for the weak and in the year 30 P.M.T. he finally chose to strike out towards the Great Western Continent with all that would follow his lead. This action started the Power Wars.

 

The Birth of Elves

 

The elves were created in a simultaneous motion to men. Adon, upon seeing the ways of men and their adverse beliefs, decided to create a race that would be more concerned for their environment and other creatures; and so the elves were formed. While Eki continued to corrupt the ways of men, he mostly overlooked this simultaneous creation, believing it to be of little importance compared to the creation of men. Only after their placing did Eki see their beneficial affects to Adon and it was then that Eki turned his attentions to dividing the elves. Adon determined where the elves would be most useful and balanced their numbers throughout Althéa. They were to be the caretakers of the lands and seas. When their numbers grew, Eki went amid them and began to plant seeds of distrust among themselves and other races, especially men. So it was some elves split from their groups and lived away from where men might travel.

 

The elves split five ways: There were those that took to the water and became known as Aquatic Elves. They still traded with their fellow land elves, but remained apart from and neutral to other humanoids. Then there were the High Elves, the main group of elves that held onto their faith and swayed only a little at the words of Eki. Although they remained friendly to men, they still lived away in their own groups, albeit generally only a short distance away. Next were the Grey Elves, the noblest of the elves. Originally referred to as Faerie, they later acquired the title of “Grey” (as in the colour) when their style of magik was observed to be different to any other Colour Magik known to men. The “Greys” did not heed any words of Eki, seeing him for who he was. These elves parted from their brethren and remained headstrong doing the work of Adon, with or without the help of the other elves or men. In this way, these elves have become the true keepers and tenders of the lands of Althéa. They work away from men and fellow elves and only associate with the latter for short periods of time. The avoidance is not out of fear, but a feeling that their task is more easily achieved in solitude. Then there were the Wood Elves (or Sylvan Elves). These elves were the most swayed by the words of Eki. They began to fear other elves and all other races; they split from their fellow elves and found distant woodlands and primeval forests to set up new homes. They were not as intelligent as their fellow elves and although they continued the work of Adon, they did so in a less educated way. They became so close to nature as to almost being part of it. Finally there were the elves that fully succumbed to the will of Eki. These were the Black Elves (or Drow). Descended from the original groups, these elves now inhabit the “Underworld” and rule subterranean realms. At the words of Eki, their very nature changed. They began working for themselves and kept the things they made from other races. They were driven from the groups as being selfish and cruel. Arguments and feuds broke out between these elves and others of their kind, until in the end they were driven underground. There they regrouped and their numbers grew once more; now having a force equal, but opposite in nature, to their cousins, the Grey Elves.

 

This was the greatest evil that Eki caused amongst the noble race of elves and his greatest pleasure. For this reason he concentrated on the Drow, pleased enough that the other elves were divided. The Drow would be his work on this race and to them he appointed a great demon queen to be their god. Her name was Lilleth (Lolth in some worlds) and through her he won their prayers as well as their attention.

 

The Birth of Other Humanoid Races

 

Adon looked upon his first two creations and saw how they had been manipulated by the words and ways of Eki. So Adon created another race, the dwarves. To these he gave the  mountains and hills as their homes and made it in their nature to be like these in that they would be stubborn and slow to change. They were known according to the type of terrain they lived in, either as Hill Dwarves or Mountain Dwarves. Adon spoke to the dwarves and told them the ways of their race. Through the image of Moradin and others he would come and speak to them of the true way. Then their stubborn nature would keep them firm. Adon, however, had not reckoned upon the cunning of Eki. For in time Eki used the stubborn nature of the dwarves to his advantage. The dwarves were created to believe in gods and their faith was strong. So Eki appeared to them in another form as equal in importance to any god they had previously worshipped. Gradually, in the form of Abbathor and others, he was able to steer some of the dwarves towards greed and his ways. So came the Grey Dwarves (or Duergar).

 

And so the dwarves, like the elves, eventually split. The most notable offspring from the dwarves was their gnome cousins. Adon, after seeing the dwarves corrupted, changed some of the dwarves into this slightly different form, hoping they would not be fooled by Eki. To this end, Adon made the gnomes less stubborn and more pure of heart. By this time, however, (the end of the time of Law and Chaos), Eki was turning his attentions to creating his own races rather than corrupting those of Adon and so did not have much to do with the gnomes. Instead, Eki began to create the now known evil races: goblins, kobolds, orcs etc.  He created many such races and spread them evenly over the face of Althéa. These races were humanoid in nature, yet twisted and made ugly. And as such, they were always a mockery and constant threat to the good races of Althéa.

 

The Birth of Non-Humanoid Monsters

 

Details of the creation of any specific non-humanoid creature (in the sense of a monster and not an animal) is not recorded in any manuscripts of any kind. However, it is known that their creation would have been before the coming of men and in the time known as Sound and Substance, when Eki would have created his own range of "fauna" by corrupting those created by Adon. As time passed from the Age of Creation to the Age of the Moons, magik was subdued and many (although not all) of these earlier creatures died at the removal of the magik. During the years that followed, known as the Meek Years, all three sides of the one God turned to further creature creation and the task of repopulating Althéa. So it was that this time witnessed the birth of many new creatures of both good and evil. Most were to survive the Debacle that was to come in the future and are the creatures that populate Althéa today. The further creation of new races or beasts has seldom taken place since this time. However, there are still occasions when there is a new “placing” upon the world of Althéa, but such events are now governed by Vol to ensure a dynamic equilibrium between good, evil, law and chaos remains.