Lightfall

No event in the history of Ma’rune has had a greater impact than those leading up to Lightfall. Before, the gods and goddesses would roam the world, choosing mortals to act as their champions, blessing those who upheld their values and smiting down others. But after Lightfall, the world was shattered.

After Lightfall, the gods were gone.

“You see it, don’t you?” The woman sweeps her arm out to one side, a grand gesture, flourishing at the crystalline veil flickering before your very eyes. “The chasm between what is, and what once was.”

Something draws you closer. A warmth, pooling at your centre, comforting and caressing as your gaze wanders of the veil. It stretches upwards for miles, to both the left and right for many more.

Barely registering your own movements, you raise a hand, slowly, ever so slowly, fingers outstretched. But that fire within cools and suddenly you falter. All at once it feels as though dread fills you, creeping in through the tips of your outstretched fingers - now curled cautiously, no longer reaching for the unknown - and crawling up your arm, over your shoulder, through your chest, until it grips your heart in a frozen vice.

“It is far too late for fear, Champion,” the woman says, filled with venomous pity. Her eyes, dark storm clouds, narrow at your unmoving form.

Fear fills your lungs. You glance away, only to find yourself once again staring at the veil, paralyzed with the knowledge that this ancient creation will be no kinder to you than the scorned goddess standing a mere ten feet from you.

Prelude - Researching Divine Essence

Rivena Lozeen and her older brother, Karrus, were two of the greatest Rift Arcanists in history. Eager to push their boundaries, they began looking into the usage of divine essence as a medium. Such ideas seemed outlandish to other arcanists at the time but Rivena and Karrus were determined to succeed.

This research would form a rift between the siblings. Rivena, the wiser of the two and a far better researcher than her brother, was able to create a couple of viable theories. Jealous of her mounting successes, Karrus would steal the journals which contained her research and flee to the northernmost region of Ca’astan, where he would begin to test Rivena’s theories, only to be met with resounding failures.

Meanwhile, Rivena would be consumed by rage. Fueled by it, and starting completely from scratch, she would forgo researching theories entirely, opting to push her body to its very limits in order to test the practicality of using divine essence.

It would not be long at all before Rivena succeeded.

We are told by our fellow arcanists that the rifts we wield come from our own essence. That only our raw essence can power our abilities.

But why should we believe that as fact? Why is this the truth, when there have been so few of us to corroborate it? Surely if we can alter reality itself, then we are tapping into the other essences - that of the arcane and nature. I believe this to be our truth. And if we can tap into all three core essences, perhaps we can take it one step further.

The Gods and Goddesses that watch over us have their own essence - one beyond that of our raw essence. Powerful and ancient and… divine.

If we could use that, just imagine what we could create. The lives we could change.

Rivena Lozeen,
Journal entry from 5 Frosts End Moon, year unknown

Conflict - Sundering the World

With runes carved into her very skin, acting as syphons for Rivena to consume and control divine essence, she began the search for her brother. She scoured every corner of the world. Bribing and threatening strangers as she went on the off chance that they may have seen him, until finally someone was able to direct her to his new homestead.

Karrus remained unaware of the threat until it turned up on his doorstep.

In a rage, Rivena drew upon her powers and destroyed the life which Karrus had made for himself on the back of her stolen research. His home, the town he lived in, his wife and children - all gone in the blink of an eye. It left Karrus with no choice but to fight his sister.

He engaged her in a battle of rifts, tearing at reality in order to gain the upperhand, but it was all for nought. Drawing upon his raw essence alone could not match the divine essence that Rivena now wielded. Though he fought valiantly, in the end it was Rivena who would reign victorious.

But his death was not the end. Rivena, driven by her rage, had lost control of the divine essence she was syphoning. It lashed out chaotically, stretching across the world and threatening to sunder it completely.

The Gods and Goddesses, upon seeing this threat to all life on Ma’rune, saw no choice but to step in. After all, it was their essence loose upon the world. Only they would be powerful enough to stop it.

Valis stands, stunned at the sight. She remembers this woman - Rivena, so sweet and curious - who had come to her with questions on her tongue and wonder in her eyes. Remembers offering her a fraction of her power, such a small price for a Goddess to pay, in exchange for pretty words and broken promises.

Looking at Rivena now, Valis understands all too deeply the mortal concept of regret.

She can feel her own essence tearing through the air. It crackles like lightning, arcing through the winds and rain, erratic, directionless. But she can feel the tingling sensation of other essences too. Familiar, like the sweet, rich scent that clings to Adrieldas. Or the burning, righteous flames that smolder like Idwan’s.

Am I fooling myself? A trick of my senses and wishful thinking? Or were they, too, called here by their own foolish mistakes?

A glance to her left, gaze falling to Adrieldas, to Rielek - who lies battered and broken in every sense a Goddess should not. That sight alone lights a new feeling in her soul. One of ice and fire coiling in her chest, chaotic and raw, and as she glances back at Rivena she begins to understand another mortal concept.

That of vengeance.

The battle proved difficult, even for the deities that had gathered to try and stop Rivena. For her powers were their own.

Sielat, cunning and clever, understanding mortal wants and needs far better than her divine family, knew that there was no stopping Rivena. Too much damage had already been done and fighting would serve only to injure the Gods and Goddesses. She turned to Ma’rune, the Creator, and convinced him that the only way to stop Rivena’s destruction from spreading would be to separate her from the source.

Together, Ma’rune and Sielat constructed a veil to act as a wall between the divine realm and the mortal one. But they had to act quickly and, with the Gods and Goddesses so spread out across the world, not all of them could make it back in time before the veil was sealed for good. Among the trapped were Valis - who had struck the final blow against Rivena once the veil was sealed - and Sielat herself. Though Sielat’s trapping had been one of inevitability - the veil had to be sealed from both sides, so someone would have always needed to stay behind.

Across the entire world, the people watched as the veil was placed. They went from seeing a brilliant, blinding crystalline light stretching out across the sky - tendrils of pure divine essence - to complete and total darkness. As if all of a sudden night had fallen all across the world at the exact same time. Though the effect itself only lasted for a minute.

With the battle over and the veil hanging over Brygard’s Claw, the world was changed. The natural and arcane essences that ran freely through it were heavier. The people felt the void that the Gods and Goddesses departure had created, like a chasm in their very souls. Without the divine to guide them, they turned to each other for guidance, but instead found despair.

Location

The main location where Lightfall occurred is that where Rivena’s battle with the gods took place - Brygard’s Claw.

Major Players (Mortal)

Rivena the Soultorn
Karrus Lozeen

Major Players (Deities)

Valis
Ma’rune
Adrieldas
Sielat
Idwan

I remember that day so clearly.

The world in a panic. Family, friends, strangers from my village - first awestruck as those sparkling lights streaked across the midday sky, then filled with dread as they flashed away in the mere blink of an eye. Left shrouded in darkness… it felt like hours. We wondered if the sun would ever shine again, or if the stars would grace our night sky.

I know now that those perceived hours were only minutes. But still, thinking back on it, that dread clings to me once more. The day that light fell… it changed everything… I fear for my children, for their children… for the future itself…

Note from an unidentified man,
Written in ~10 AL

Repercussions

Lost Gods

Almost immediately, the main repercussions of Lightfall became apparent to the people of Ma’rune. The Gods and Goddesses, usually so entrenched in mortal lives, had gone silent. They no longer answered the cries of their loyal followers. Those who mocked and defiled the ways of the deities went unpunished.

Without their guidance, the people had to turn and rely on one another to uphold the tenets of the deities. Although this led to a number of issues:

• Some gods were forgotten, in particular those whose followers were not very outspoken
• A divide formed between dedicated followers of Valis / Sar and Van-Hael, which eventually saw the creation of two separate religions: the Church of Van-Hael and the Nightsingers

A Change in the Arcane

As the veil was designed to cut off Rivena from the source of divine essence, most of this was removed from the world alongside the Gods and Goddesses. However, as some deities were trapped (or simply chose to remain) in the mortal realm, their lingering divine essence merged with the arcane essence that occurs throughout the world.

This meant a slight change in the way that arcanists tapped into their abilities, so subtle that up until very recent years, no arcanist has actually been able to prove it. Though the deities have left the mortal realm, every arcanist is now intrinsically linked to them through that merged divine and arcane essence. What this truly means is yet to be uncovered.