Lore

The Gods Welcome You

I am Xi.

I have created all that is. I am the beginning, the current, and the end.

For eternities untold, my children's petty trifles and bickering manifested in the material universe as manipulation of the cosmos and the firmaments, garnering followers at any cost, and infinite, unending war. As I forged world after world, I grew weary of their strife. Eventually, they also grew weary of the endless wars. When I was ready to complete the masterpiece that mortals call the prime material plane, I created Syseria.

Sanctuary of the Lost... Playground of the Damned... Home of the Cursed... Syseria has been called many things by its somewhat bitter inhabitants. The sheer vastness of this world is daunting to all its people, although portals, airships, and spacefaring are utilized to remedy this. It has a beautiful golden-yellow sun, and an offset orbit and an abstract axis of rotation that is constantly changing. Such frequent changes to the nature of Syseria has produced a vast array of anomalies in geography and climate: warm lakes spring up near glaciers, desert winds blow over lands neighboring forests─all giving a myriad of diverse creatures and plentiful flora and fauna the chance to breathe life into Syseria.

Throughout Syseria, superabundant levels of magical energy are utilized, especially when it comes to social infrastructure. What might be called excessive on other worlds is rather common in this world, as magical devices and energies are utilized for communication, construction and demolition, and even travel schematics. To a spellcaster or Psion, this may mean little, because they do not wield a magical power greater than what one would expect.

Syseria's most intelligent species are ingenuitive, accomplished, and able. Thwarting the Chaos Age and ending the Dark Times was a colossal, godly feat. Mortal species learned of magical energies and how to shape them into powerful spells. Dwarves and others invented many wondrous machines and feats of engineering which Syserians value and use daily. All in all, they have advanced from primitive cave people, wielding spears fashioned from stone, to what they are today, and in the process have built up great empires quite successfully.

The peoples of Syseria are in some ways different from the other worlds I have made. They are aware that they are on a spherical planet that orbits a sun spinning through wildspace. When major events and catastrophes happen, they do not automatically assume the gods no longer favor them. Their mindset is comparatively sophisticated, with higher rates of literacy, increased university attendance, and while superstition exists among them, it is not the sole mode of thinking for people who create mental models of the universe.

One might wonder, then, why its inhabitants can be so bitter.

You see, Syseria has one other name: Land of Bloodstone. When Terrakus, King of Evil, visited Syseria, he discovered bits of solid matter that were intertwined with the very fabric of life: energies, both magical and mundane. Volution, Sun, Time, and Void to name a few. It is possible that more exist, although it remains to be seen.

These threads of raw reality have made Syseria the target of the schemes of many power hungry individuals, including my own children at times. While it is true that they had a treaty not to intervene with Syserian affairs (see Syserian History,) Kynteelas, Lord of Deception, nonetheless managed to manipulate time in such a way that he was not part of the pact. As a result, he was able to travel to Syseria and obtain the bloodstones.

Chaos Stones did not originate on Syseria, and were certainly never appropriate for the material universe. The mortal plane is exactly where they ended up, however, when the Devas portals failed and exploded. These bits of Chaos ravaged everything they touched, and brought forth creatures of chaos, heralding the beginning of The Dark Times.

Even though most of the bloodstone has been teleported away or has departed from Syseria of its own accord, enough remains in the darkest corners of the world that the tingling rush of raw power can still be felt. The most powerful spellcasters can still be disintegrated upon practice of their craft. And if you stop all movement, hold your breath, and listen carefully, the cackling of mad demons can still be heard.

I, Xi, the Lord of Creation, had intended this world to be my greatest triumph, a gem of perfection. This was the only task in which I have endeavored that I failed.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_CALIDORN]

Calidorn Welcomes You

I am Calidorn Izzinbor. I am a manifestation of an unknown god who oversees time, created in corporeal form because time was being manipulated in diabolic ways to “restore" (introduce) Chaos to the world. My job is to make sure it does not happen, and to help ensure that time cannot be manipulated by just anybody.

While The God of Deception, Kynteelas' existed on Syseria, He unearthed, among other things, a positively amazing substance: Bloodstone. Bloodstone is a defining, essential force of Syseria, omnipotent and omnipresent.

It’s as if Xi put all of his will, creative force, and energy into these stones and hoarded them to Syseria because it thought Bloodstones would benefit mortals.

They did not.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_BLOODSTONES]

Bloodstones

Each of the nine constituent components comprising the universe: chaos, time, magic, sun, void, volution, thought, spirit, and weird, are concentrated into stones. Each of these nine forces directly affect magic, godhood, and spellcasters. Each god in Syseria’s pantheon is bound to one “aspect,” (e.g. her or his stone type). Each and every caster of spells (no matter the variant) is equally bound to one aspect.

Bloodstones are the embodiment of the driving forces that rule, drive, inspire, and empower all that is, was, and will be. There are many bloodstones of many different types, and likely they exist on many different worlds, but Syseria is currently the only one that has discovered them. Bloodstones are the material embodiment of the forces that sculpt the universe and the entirety of the prime material plane. They represent all things, all energies, and all manner of concepts that mere mortals could never hope to comprehend. They embody and define reality. Mere mortals can never harness their power to any end other than their annihilation. Rather, they are more like the paintbrushes of the gods.

All bloodstones share certain traits. They give off energy, indeed their very fabric is intertwined with all the omnipotence of every universe.

In their material forms, bloodstones appear as pebbles, stones, monoliths, or boulders of various size, shapes, and colors, sometimes as tiny as a grain of sand, and rarer than the rarest of precious gems. Their potency, however, vastly exceeds that of any other known magic.

If their power can be harnessed (a truly rare situation), they can level entire cities, create or destroy armies, corrupt the most powerful and pure of heroes, and cause insanity, or worse, turn the victim into a being of the power it embodies merely by touching it.

Its power can only be utilized by gods, demi-gods, and powerful demons or devils. A mortal's chance of using a bloodstone without suffering the ill effects is nil. Further, some stones require special situations or rituals to be effective. The negative effects of attempting to use them, however, will be felt regardless.

There's no need to go looking for bloodstone, you won't find it (some say it finds you) You don't want to find it. While powerful in the hands of those who can control it, it corrupts and destroys those who can't. Attempting to destroy it is also a pointless endeavor.

While most bloodstone has departed from Syseria, there still remains enough to cast a dark shadow across the world.

It is by these definitions that the nine major classifications of bloodstone have come about: Time, Chaos, Magic, Nova (or Sun), Void, Thought (or Dream), Weird, Soul, and Volution.

Dwarven worshipers of Udidia also believe the planets themselves to be bloodstones of Material. By definition, their belief is untrue, however it is not without credence. But it is well known that all bloodstones are (relatively) small in size, and cannot be touched and should not be approached. A planet obviously does not fall into this category.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_TIME_STONES]

Time Stones

There is no single unimpeachable “true” or “static” timeline—indeed, time is not a line. The past exists as an equal reality with the present, which in turn is as real as events that have not yet happened, the future.

When the many worlds were forged by the Father God, his sons and daughters bickered and fought amongst themselves, using the Father God's worlds as their battlegrounds, and their inhabitants as their pawns. These wars continued for a million eternities, and will continue forever; there is no resolution.

Until Syseria.

The last of the worlds forged by the Father God, Syseria was made to be a gem of triumph whose inhabitants would flourish without war, greed, or any ambitious concerns─a “perfect” world. The Father God forced his children into a pact they made with each other and the Father God himself, never to directly intervene with the affairs of Syseria.

However, Terrakus, the now dead god of evil and woe, had other plans.

With godly intervention impossible on Syseria, Terrakus could prepare a nesting place for himself and his minions, where they could grow in power and number unabated, and begin a systematic takeover and/or destruction of this and other worlds, thus destroying the other gods by killing their followers. This coupled with the catastrophic extinction of all living sentient beings in the material universe, he believed, would parlay into victory in the final battle of the Everwar, the unending eternal war between demons and gods.

Terrakus secretly told Kynteelas, the god of deception, of his plans, and sided with him to accomplish a wholly unprecedented feat: to successfully deceive and betray the Father God. Through manipulation of the events of the past, and of time itself, Terrakus and Kynteelas had never existed when the agreement was made to refrain from meddling with the affairs of Syseria and the Syserians. Kynteelas betrayed Terrakus and the god of evil and woe ceased to exist.

To explain how this is possible, think of time as a river. Although the true nature of time usually cannot be comprehended by mortals, this is a fair analogy. (You may read my primer for more in-depth analysis.) One can actually dam the flow of time, and channel it. This is what Kynteelas did. He channeled his own existence into a tributary of his own making, and rejoined our river after the pact was made.

Manipulating time is dangerous, to be sure, but the cosmos is more resilient than you might think. If you go back 40 years and kill your parents, the universe simply works itself out. You probably won't cause a paradox.

Changing the past might put a rock at an earlier point in the river. The river will just flow around the rock and find its level. What you change may not snowball into entire chunks of reality being removed from the present, or worse, your own existence (thus creating the dreaded paradox.) However, your original intent could backfire drastically. For example, if you intend to remove a portion of history that seemed exceedingly evil, you could find that it had more than a little to do with what is currently thought of as "good," as people will learn from tragedy.

There are also dangers of traveling to the future. With the distant future, the most obvious is, you're not ready for it, and it's not ready for you. You could encounter a creature or technology that you don't understand or doesn't understand you, and it can possibly cause insanity, or some sort of mind-bending, or it may simply kill you outright. With the near future, knowing what happens to you, your loved ones, your home, or your possessions, can sometimes have disastrous effects. For example, if you see your own death, it can cause a terrible binge of bloodthirsty madness (which may, in turn, cause your death.)

Time travel, however, can be done, and is done, successfully. The principle of time travel is simple. You are at point A, you want to get to point B. You just need a way to travel.

We all have one method of travel: We all move forward through time at sixty seconds per minute, sixty minutes per hour, and twenty-four hours per day. Other methods include magical, and those that the Gods and Devas possessed, neither of which mortals can understand.

Real Time, the present, is the point at which the "main" (for lack of a better term) reality is. From this central nexus point, the past and future radiate outward in concentric cones of probabilities (this is a more accurate analogy than the river but also a little more difficult to understand).

Moving into the past or future by magical means is also possible. There is one thing to keep in mind: Nothing is carved in stone. Not the present, nor the past, and least of all the future. Reality extends outward from the point of the present in two cones of probability, past and future. Within structures exist many universes of possibilities.

When changing events of the past and returning to the present, one often finds drastic and sweeping changes have affected their lives and societies. The reason for this is obvious, history forges the present, therefore changing history changes the present. For example, if the king of the Empire City had an excellent plan for trading mined goods with elves and humans to generate more money, and it started a war between all three nations, then some powerful heroes may wish to change that fact. They go back and manage their way into the council appointed to bring the king's plan into law. Using whatever means necessary, they remove the idea from the king's head, and it is eventually forgotten. Thus, the war is never fought, and any effects of the war are never felt. This can happen, but more often than not, the war happens anyway through other means.

Changing the past may seemingly have instantaneous effects to those returning to a distant future, however, that is not the case. A period of time after the change passes where there is no deviation from the original timeline, save for the change made. However, there will soon be something in the original timeline that was supposed to be affected by what was changed. The effects of significant actions often snowball into entire parts of society simply not existing.

Changing the past can be thought of as erasing and rewriting a penciled script.

And the future can be thought of as a thumbnail sketch, a tentative rough draft of events to come. The future is only a possibility, sometimes not even the most likely one. Changing events of the future, however, never has any effect on the present, unless you were to prevent or encourage future time travelers who wish to go to the present or past.

No one is quite sure where time stones came from, although many a sage will theorize. The beginning of the universe is probably a good place to start, but that's only a guess. If you believe the "big bang" theory, then you might think of bits of time originating there.

The only way for mortals to travel through time on Syseria is with Time Stones. They are among the most difficult to control, and tend to have the most aloof personalities, fading in and out of existence, moving from place to place, or seemingly disappearing from the planet entirely (I'd wager they actually move through time.)

For more information, consult Calidorn's Primer.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_CHAOS_STONES]

Chaos Stones

An incomprehensibly long time ago, the first sentient species in existence, known as Devas, colonized all worlds by a means of magical and technological transportation that we still do not understand to this day.

It is theorized that the original Astral plane was pure liquid Chaos. The Devas managed the flow of this Chaos to travel, assisted by their magic, to every world currently thought to be in existence.

Some time after the first three species were established (again, the exact timeline is unknown even to me, God of Time), the portals malfunctioned, as is the nature of Chaos. Why and how this happened is unknown, but it caused all portals to explode simultaneously, destroying everything they were near, and spewing Chaos upon all the planets that the network was currently connected with. Thousands of worlds were decimated. The effect was cataclysmic on all the worlds it touched; some more than others, but all were essentially hurled into darkness.

Chaos bloodstone is the paradoxical embodiment of Chaos. The drow, duergar, and other underdark dwellers may have originally departed from their surface kin due to intervention from Chaos bloodstone.

After the explosion, The Chaos Wars ensued, and this was simply (and appropriately) entitled The Dark Times. Evil creatures were born from the tiny bits of Chaos sprinkled about the planet, including dragons, goblins, ogres, trolls, as well as other creatures that were hurled forth from the chaos plane, such as elementals, various astral travelers, demons, and other monstrosities that most prefer not knowing about. The time this began was unknown, it ended at 0 ADI (anno deorum numinis) (year of our gods) (Post Dark Times.)

Although many believe the following part of the story to be testimony to the Gods' causing the portals to explode, I firmly believe that it was only the nature of Chaos that destroyed the portals. The Devas assumed they could control Chaos, and, though leaving it bottled up as long as they did is a feat, it could never have remained that way, regardless of the Devas' supremacy.

After the first millennium, a war erupted in the Devas community. An Devas, fueled by chaos stone, appointed himself overlord and converted many others into beings of chaos. The Devas lost their battle, and in their final hour of desperation, cast a powerful cooperative spell to rid the world's knowledge of their deeds forever.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_MAGIC_STONES]

Magic Stones

As the blood, smoke, and dust of The Dark Times began to settle, and The Rebirth began, the wise lion-mage Rathus T'arq of the seven Heros of The Dark Times had decided that retirement was his ultimate desire, and traveled to his tower with the intention of giving up his adventuring days forever and living peacefully there.

However, to his dismay, he found that the Chaos Wars were all but over. Barbarians of the frozen wastes of the south were boiling up to invade, as the people were still recovering from the terrible war. The people of Cirisca called upon him to lead their armies in defense against the invading hordes. As the raiders migrated north, savage fought savage, and the battles that followed were horribly bloody.

These were mere tremors, however, echos of the past war, and the resilience of him and his people encouraged them to subside.

While sure that the threat was gone, Rathus decided to remain in Los Ashton for good measure. He was forced into a political game that he would've been happier without, and became a figurehead at which to point fingers and a pawn for his superiors' gambits. It was during his stay in Los Ashton that the first bloodstone of magic made its way into Rathus T'arq's possession.

Despite what you might think, these stones are more dangerous directly to spellcasters than anyone else. They contain the raw magical energy that magic-users shape, and godly amounts of it. In the event that a foolish mage should attempt to harness this energy, he is invariably blown into nothing but a red mist, or, in a best-case scenario, a horrible and irrevocable wild surge occurs. Rathus' wisdom got the better of his curiosity, and he teleported the stone back to the belly of the world after learning all he could from it.

It was deduced that these are the source of magical energy on Syseria, and confirmed later when a power-mad warlord by the name of Luciust took them to Tarsis. Tarsis was a world which once had no magical energy. For a time, during Luciust’s stay, there was enough magical energy for those near it to use their spells normally (as opposed to drawing from the living core of Tarsis).

Luciust's undoing was the stone, when he found that the untamed energy could not be controlled, and he was hurled into the Abyss to live out the rest of his days.

There is not much that can be done directly with the stones, but their existence and purpose is known. It is this proximity with the source that stimulates wide scale, frequent use of magic, and highly powerful magic.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_SUN_STONES]

Sun Stones

Syseria's sun was not always the yellow-orange hue it is today. Dwarven myths speak of a time when the life-giving sun was covered by a dark blue shell. It was the Dwarven god Pighye who cracked open the shell, allowing the sun's rays to shine upon the world.

The shell, however, shattered and was strewn about deep space. The larger pieces took on their own self-appointed tasks, forming the shell around the sphere, acting as asteroids, even forming into small planets.

The smaller pieces fell onto the planets, mostly causing a massive, uncontrolled growth of vegetation, wildlife, and even evolution. Sun stones give life, provide heat, and provide light. They are likely to vaporize any being unprepared to handle bloodstones who strays too close.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_VOID_STONES]

Void Stones

Void stones give us gravity, black holes, and tension. Gravity refers to the attractive force between bodies, such as dropping an object to the ground or one heavenly body orbiting about another. Voidstones bring cohesion & tension to the universe. They are the glue of the prime material plane. Without void stones, the universe would never have coalesced into any kind of cohesive form. Major Void stones are typically black holes, and cannot be approached. If even one major Void Stone is present upon a planet, that planet will be crushed. Not even light can escape the pull of a void stone.

The existence of Void makes it possible for a galaxy to exist, for a system of planets or sub-stars to orbit a sun, and for beings to exist upon a planet without being flung away by the planet's movement. They must stay far out in wildspace. When around planets or people, all matter collapses into them and destroys everything in the world. Of note, there is a giant Void Stone in the center of the galaxy. It is presumed that there is one at the center of all galaxies. It is for these reasons that relatively little is known about Void Stones.

Transmutomancers are relatively strange and mysterious, even among wizards. They carry containers that can hold this substance safely and negate the density. A teaspoon of Void Stone weighs about four hundred pounds.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_VOLUTION_STONES]

Volution Stones

Millions of years ago, these artifacts were placed on certain planets by an unknown entity, along with another placed on any orbiting moon(s), and a third, often moon or planetoid sized stone placed in orbit of an outer rim planet within said star system. The stones of Volution sought out certain forms of life─primates, for example─and encouraged them telepathically to engage in certain activities. Things like tying a small piece of string. Picking up a stone and throwing it to hit a target. Making strange and alien sounds with their mouths.

As epochs pass, these species may evolve to spacefaring capabilities. As such, they are likely to find the stone on the moon nearby which then sets off a beacon, directing them to another planet further out in their own system. Additionally, this alerts the Devas of when a species has achieved spacefaring. The purpose of the third is not known.

These sentient artifacts were scattered throughout the universe by the Devas during their Alljourney. Volution stones push forth sentience and evolution. They catalyze change and advancement. They are found on planets, moons, and in deep space. Direct contact often results in the absorption of the foolish adventurer's consciousness. She or he will “live on” in the stone, but will cease to be what they were in their corporeal form.

Volution stones can also generate stars. Moreover, Volution stones push the universe forward, making it possible for stars to form, and to die. They make it possible for all manner of beast and man to walk and evolve on various planets. They are a catalyst, an energy that drives all things to move and change. As such, they have an aspect of entropy that sets the universe in motion and moves things forward.

Volution stones have the apparently unique ability among bloodstones to spontaneously replicate themselves. Or some say, bilocate or multilocate. The distinction is perhaps moot.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_WEIRD_STONES]

Weird Stones

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Elit ullamcorper dignissim cras tincidunt lobortis feugiat vivamus at augue. Amet est placerat in egestas erat imperdiet sed. Quam id leo in vitae turpis massa. Laoreet id donec ultrices tincidunt arcu non sodales. Tempor id eu nisl nunc mi. Consectetur adipiscing elit ut aliquam. Non sodales neque sodales ut etiam sit amet. Ac tortor vitae purus faucibus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst vestibulum rhoncus. Placerat vestibulum lectus mauris ultrices eros in cursus. Ac placerat vestibulum lectus mauris. Sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes nascetur ridiculus. Iaculis at erat pellentesque adipiscing commodo elit at imperdiet.

Vitae congue mauris rhoncus aenean vel elit scelerisque mauris. Purus ut faucibus pulvinar elementum integer enim neque. Consectetur purus ut faucibus pulvinar elementum integer enim neque. Integer vitae justo eget magna fermentum iaculis. Consectetur a erat nam at lectus urna duis. Mattis molestie a iaculis at erat. Eget arcu dictum varius duis at consectetur lorem donec massa. Sed risus pretium quam vulputate dignissim suspendisse. Posuere lorem ipsum dolor sit. Ultrices gravida dictum fusce ut placerat orci nulla pellentesque. Condimentum mattis pellentesque id nibh tortor id. Ut sem viverra aliquet eget sit. Convallis a cras semper auctor neque vitae. Bibendum at varius vel pharetra vel turpis nunc eget. Neque gravida in fermentum et. Nisl purus in mollis nunc sed. Sem et tortor consequat id porta. Mauris pharetra et ultrices neque ornare aenean. Consectetur a erat nam at. Sem nulla pharetra diam sit amet nisl.

Lacus vel facilisis volutpat est velit. Adipiscing elit pellentesque habitant morbi. Nunc faucibus a pellentesque sit amet porttitor eget. Diam in arcu cursus euismod quis viverra. Ultricies lacus sed turpis tincidunt. Amet commodo nulla facilisi nullam vehicula ipsum a arcu cursus. Nibh cras pulvinar mattis nunc sed blandit. Elit duis tristique sollicitudin nibh sit. Ac turpis egestas maecenas pharetra convallis posuere morbi. At varius vel pharetra vel turpis nunc. Libero volutpat sed cras ornare arcu dui vivamus arcu. Dui sapien eget mi proin sed libero enim. Velit laoreet id donec ultrices tincidunt arcu non sodales. Lectus arcu bibendum at varius vel pharetra vel. Aliquet nec ullamcorper sit amet risus nullam eget felis. In massa tempor nec feugiat nisl pretium fusce. Integer vitae justo eget magna fermentum iaculis eu. Vestibulum morbi blandit cursus risus at. Etiam erat velit scelerisque in dictum non consectetur a.

Elementum eu facilisis sed odio morbi quis commodo odio. Ornare arcu dui vivamus arcu. Varius sit amet mattis vulputate. Nunc sed blandit libero volutpat. Metus vulputate eu scelerisque felis. Neque gravida in fermentum et. Semper auctor neque vitae tempus quam. Egestas sed sed risus pretium quam vulputate dignissim. Quisque non tellus orci ac auctor augue. Facilisi nullam vehicula ipsum a. Pretium viverra suspendisse potenti nullam.

Nibh sit amet commodo nulla. Enim tortor at auctor urna nunc id cursus. Tempor orci dapibus ultrices in iaculis nunc sed augue. Sapien pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et. Etiam non quam lacus suspendisse faucibus interdum posuere lorem ipsum. Sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit duis tristique sollicitudin. Lacus vestibulum sed arcu non odio. Leo in vitae turpis massa sed elementum tempus egestas. Pharetra massa massa ultricies mi. Mauris cursus mattis molestie a iaculis at erat pellentesque. Porttitor leo a diam sollicitudin tempor id eu nisl nunc. Accumsan in nisl nisi scelerisque. At lectus urna duis convallis convallis tellus id. Quisque id diam vel quam. In iaculis nunc sed augue lacus viverra. Orci dapibus ultrices in iaculis nunc sed.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_THOUGHT_STONES]

Thought Stones

Thought stones are unusual amongst the other bloodstones in that their appearance is comparatively recent, within the last millennium. It could be that the whole of sentient thought caused their spontaneous existence, or their appearance as the case may be. Whatever the case may be, these stones have magical properties tied to thought and the sentient mind. Thoughts exist as free floating entities that can be detected and interpreted for those who are attuned to them.

This magic enables Phantasmopsychemancers to take and implant others’ thoughts. Sometimes (within certain limitations such as distance and age), residual thoughts can be detected.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_SOUL_STONES]

Soul Stones

Soul Stones tie to necromancy and the spiritual. The God of Death, Nylis, is a neutral God whose responsibility it is to safeguard souls on their way to their proper eternity. He strictly disallows animating dead as use as undead soldiers or slaves. To do so, he must be tricked, but in tricking him and completing the necromantic desecration, the user of magic damns her or his own soul.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Est ultricies integer quis auctor. Ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit ut aliquam. Ut porttitor leo a diam sollicitudin tempor id eu. Tristique sollicitudin nibh sit amet. Cursus euismod quis viverra nibh cras pulvinar mattis nunc sed. Pellentesque sit amet porttitor eget dolor morbi. Facilisis magna etiam tempor orci eu lobortis elementum nibh. Arcu odio ut sem nulla pharetra diam. Quam quisque id diam vel. Nullam non nisi est sit amet facilisis magna. Duis ut diam quam nulla porttitor massa id neque. Pretium nibh ipsum consequat nisl vel pretium lectus quam id. Diam vulputate ut pharetra sit amet. In nisl nisi scelerisque eu ultrices vitae auctor eu. Sed libero enim sed faucibus turpis. Amet purus gravida quis blandit turpis cursus in hac. Dolor morbi non arcu risus. Tortor at auctor urna nunc. Amet commodo nulla facilisi nullam vehicula ipsum a arcu.

Malesuada fames ac turpis egestas integer. Mattis enim ut tellus elementum sagittis. Vulputate mi sit amet mauris commodo quis imperdiet. Purus in massa tempor nec feugiat nisl pretium fusce id. Orci eu lobortis elementum nibh tellus molestie nunc non blandit. In hendrerit gravida rutrum quisque. Est ultricies integer quis auctor elit. In aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt augue interdum velit. Ipsum faucibus vitae aliquet nec ullamcorper. Semper risus in hendrerit gravida rutrum. Nisi vitae suscipit tellus mauris a diam. Viverra nibh cras pulvinar mattis nunc sed blandit libero. Malesuada fames ac turpis egestas integer eget aliquet nibh praesent. Quisque sagittis purus sit amet volutpat consequat mauris nunc. Consequat semper viverra nam libero justo laoreet sit amet cursus. Malesuada pellentesque elit eget gravida cum sociis natoque. Tortor condimentum lacinia quis vel. Fermentum et sollicitudin ac orci. Nec nam aliquam sem et tortor. Sed tempus urna et pharetra pharetra massa massa.

Proin sed libero enim sed faucibus. Malesuada fames ac turpis egestas sed tempus urna. Convallis posuere morbi leo urna molestie at elementum eu facilisis. Accumsan tortor posuere ac ut consequat semper. Adipiscing elit duis tristique sollicitudin. Leo vel orci porta non pulvinar. Sed risus pretium quam vulputate dignissim. Quis commodo odio aenean sed. Aliquet lectus proin nibh nisl condimentum id venenatis. Porttitor massa id neque aliquam vestibulum morbi. Vivamus at augue eget arcu dictum varius duis. Tincidunt arcu non sodales neque sodales ut etiam. Volutpat commodo sed egestas egestas fringilla phasellus faucibus. Sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes nascetur. Netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas integer eget.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_CHRONICLE]

A Chronicle of Ages

Detailed herein is a timeline of Syserian history.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_DAYS_LONG_GONE]

The Syseria of Days Long Gone

Syseria is created. Before time had measurement, there was a void, a nothingness that enveloped the prime material plane. Xi took it upon himself to create something from the nothingness. It forged world after world, creating planets, stars, suns, and other more fell creations to spin through the void.

As The Father of Gods continued its process of world creation and turning voids into lush solar systems, there had already begun intense rivalries between its children. They collected followers from their worlds and used them as pawns against their opponents' pawns, often resulting in great wars lasting for decades, centuries, millenia.

This process was repeated a billion times even after it was painfully obvious to all participants that it was an endless, cyclic stalemate. It was at this point that the Father stepped in and ended this sequence. It first created a paragon of worlds, which was nurtured to the most potential inhabitability which could possibly be attained. It spun the fabric of life and energy into stones, and put it at the core of the planet. The gods, each representing their own sphere of influence, were then forced into a pact with each other and Xi himself, never to meddle directly with Syseria's affairs, and Syseria was born.

C. 30,000AL through C. 20,000AL

A species called Devas is born. The how and the why of this event is known only to Xi himself. They are different from their descendants, the elves.

They were proficient with spacefaring and colonized worlds in their Alljourney throughout the material plane. First the Devas traveled to each planet in their solar system (obviously, because many planets would have environments and atmospheres in which no life could survive, protection shields were placed around the Devas who traveled). They also took a part of themselves, their own essence, and used it to create a new species of workers to help them with their populating and building: dwarves. That's not to imply in any way that the Devas meant to enslave the dwarves, the Devas were as good and pure as the dwarves, and that's how it was meant to be. As the dwarves evolved, they built up great empires, vast networks of mines and tunnels through mighty mountains, and trading schemes with Devas societies. Dwarves and Devas lived in harmony.

The gods, however, opposed the Devas' experiments. They did not want the mortal beings of the universe to think they too were gods and could simply create life as they saw fit. Regardless, the Devas felt compelled to continue their work.

With their colossal psionic energies they erected portals as big as planets and gathered fleets to complete their divine task. They had, using a combination of both powerful magic and technology, erected a series of portals enabling interstellar travel. Because of the vast amount of magical, mental, and mundane energy used in the portals, only one or two were erected per solar system. It was normally placed on opposing ends of a planet, or, if not, at the largest land mass.

After the dwarves came the elves. Once again extracting a part of themselves for their creation, the Devas found the elves to have excellent longevity, dexterity, and intelligence. Elves built up tribes, societies, and eventually great nations.

Their devices and vessels were powered by thought alone. Meanwhile, Syseria remained undiscovered.

The next species created were humans. Humans were a failed experiment, originally intended to be more versatile than dwarves and elves, however, they ended up being chaotic (by Devas standards,) temperamental, overly ambitious, and short-lived.

While overseeing and controlling the evolution of species up to this point, they never directly intervened, and the Devas were fully aware that they were the creators of all species, although the other species were not.

Millennia passed this way, with the Devas traveling from one planet to another, colonizing as they went. Evolution on every planet was strengthened and quickened by the Devas, while they never directly interfered with the actual behavior of life.

The gods continued to warn the Devas that they disapproved of their behavior, but the Devas knew they would tolerate it, being the mild amount of intervention that it was, and colonizing is something the gods expect of sentient species anyway.

Ages pass this way, and in this time Devas create the species of Goblins and True Dragons. Massive portals are built in space, too big to exist on land.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_20KAL]

C. 20,000AL through C. 10,000AL

Syseria is discovered. The gods intervene. If the Devas subject Syseria to their experiments, their species will be destroyed. The Devas colonize this planet as they did all others, against the will of the gods.

As far as Syseria goes, it was perfect. More perfect than any world the Devas had previously found (yes, even out of the thousands they had founded before). It had a beautiful blue sun, lush with flora and virile fauna.

And it had one major thing that no other founded planet had before it: life. There were already creatures wandering about this planet, whose presence the Devas presumed to be a result of a chance combination of chemicals and materials, but that was not true. It was a new experience for the Devas, since they had never before seen a life form on any other planet that they had not created themselves.

When the Devas arrived on this world, it was clear to them that this was one of the most beautiful worlds the Gods had made. They began to do what they had done on all the worlds before Syseria: colonize and assist in the planet's evolution. The gods intervened at this point.

The Devas were warned that if they were to subject Syseria to their experiments, their species would be destroyed.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_10KAL]

C. 10,000AL through C. 5,000AL

The Devas' child species have achieved spacefaring in some parts of the universe. Devas machines are now believed to be indestructible to the rigors of space travel.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_5KAL]

C. 5,000AL through C. 1,000AL

Devas continue their mission of colonization. The Devas now believed that they were the true divinities of the universe, seeing as how a handful of their civilizations had already advanced to magical spacefaring, and still others were on their way. In the Devas's own opinion, by then they were gods.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_1KAL]

C. 1,000AL to C. 100AL

Devas summon the gods freely to do their bidding. They have lost all regard for their gods' designs, and now seek to mold the universe in their own image.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_100AL]

C. 100AL to the beginning of The Dark Times

Again the gods intervene. They tell the Devas to leave Syseria, stop what they are doing, and return to the upper planes to be judged. They refuse, and in return for the gods' relatively hospitable offer, they begin destroying gods.

Their portals touched places beyond the universe, in a place that we now call the Astral Plane resided pure Paradox entwined with the fabric of nonexistence. This incomprehensible place was a necessary waypoint for the Devas travel schemes for reasons unknown.

At the end of this age, all of these portals exploded, spewing this substance upon every world they touched.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_THE_DARK_TIMES]

The Dark Times

Although the timeline before The Dark Times is somewhat well-known, and the timeline after is basic elementary school history, this period chooses to remain shrouded in shadow. Its length is unknown, as time was not measured for the duration of this period. The year that it officially ended is 0 ADI (post-dark times.)

After the explosion, The Chaos Wars ensued, and this was simply (and appropriately) entitled The Dark Times. New evil creatures were born in massive numbers from the tiny bits of Chaos sprinkled about the planet, including orcs, ogres, trolls, as well as other creatures that were hurled forth from the chaos plane, such as elementals, various astral travelers, demons, and other monstrosities that most prefer not knowing about.

In addition to the explosions, the Gods were, at this point, fed up with the temerity of the Devas. They chose to destroy the two continents on which the portals had once stood with two massive lightning bolts. This event came to be known as MourningStar. The continents were intended to shatter into smaller islands and slowly drift apart, eventually settling into new, isolated lands. But Syserians had delved too deeply into the planet, with an avarice and greed that made even the gods stand up and take note. Their desperate need to procure and consume bloodstone and crystals drove them ever deeper into the planet crust, and then to the very core. Their mining weakened the natural integrity of the planet, and instead of the intended continental break, the entire planet shattered.

The force was so massive that it offset Syseria's rotation, causing new wobble, pitches, and yaws as each shard and planetoid orbits around the sun. The thunderclap caused every being on Syseria to go deaf. All AL oral tradition was lost entirely, and whatever language may have sounded like before MourningStar was forgotten. Written communication continued.

Huge swaths of history and knowledge were discarded and forgotten. Civilizations fell like leaves to the ground. Billions died. War and destruction reigned. The sky was dark, the gods were gone, the Devas had been reduced to squabbling tribes, and despair set in.

Amidst the chaos, the Devan community fractured. A power struggle ignited, culminating in the rise of Lucreif. Lucreif, fueled by chaos stone, appointed himself overlord and converted many other Devas into beings of chaos. The good Devas that remained lost their battle, and in their final hour of desperation, cast a powerful cooperative spell to cast Lucreif into the Abyss and rid the world's knowledge of the Devas' deeds forever.

The Devas who resided as Watcher communities decided not to reveal their secrets. They hoped that the portals could be restored one day, and their kind could go on with their work. Until then, they agreed that they must outcast themselves from the normal societies in order to keep their knowledge a secret, since they no longer had anywhere to go. They retired to the surviving wildernesses of the Shattered World, and lived in peace, without involving themselves with the matters of the other species.

The surviving true gods could then be rediscovered, and their light would turn things around for Syseria. From the depths of despair, magic arose, twisted and unpredictable. Psionics, associated with the Devas' corruption, were utterly rejected, abolished with seething hatred and loathing. The gods granted Syseria serenity from the Devas, but no longer from the gods themselves. They now communed freely with the people of Syseria, and granted them magic. Xi still did not allow them to come to Syseria in person, though, but myths and legends tell of deific scandals and double-crossing. They say that at some point during The Dark Times, the gods were forced to put their essences into living containers on the face of Syseria. Many gods were destroyed during this period, and according to legend, some are actually still present.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_TODAY]

Syseria’s Ancient History

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_1KADI]

100 ADI - 1,000 ADI

This era was categorized as a rebirth and rebuild, while most of Syseria rebounded from the devastation of The Dark Times. There were basic needs to be met, but also the people started to uncover remnants of the old world. What written history and information could be found is highly valuable and sought after by academia and the authorities.

Portals linking 13 of Syseria's major metropoli are found to still be functional or fixable. Once it was determined how to operate them, they could be used to travel to any portal city on the globe. A consortium was formed to manage and protect the portals: The Consortium of Portal Overseers.

Several Spaceports and Airports are found with some ships still functional. Syserians return to skyfaring and spacefaring. A network of transoceanic monorails is rebuilt to once again serve as cross-continental transportation for Syserians.

Sea travel, as always, remains en vogue.

Syseria’s Modern History

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_MODERN_DAY]

1,000 ADI - Modern Day

Invention, engineering, alchemy, and other forms of science are discovered and are beginning to be explored. Crystal towers are erected and magically networked allowing magical communication anywhere on the planet. Magic is infused into ocean-going vessels, allowing them to travel great distances quickly, and into wildspace.

[#_LORE_BACKSTORY_CURRENT_AND_FUTURE]

Current Age and The Future

I do not believe that the inhabitants of Syseria, with all their sophistication and learnedness, possess the foresight to know what the future of Syseria will bring. While many point to a new age of reason and spiritual enlightenment, others whisper of a possible return of the Dark Times. There will be no respite for the inhabitants, as their quest must never end. They are the greatest that mortal flesh can be, and their world is the most hospitable possible on the mortal plane. Their test will be for their own souls, and of the souls of all the prime material plane.