Rise of the Ascended

Once the world was dark and full of terror. Nightmares ruled here, strolling our lands, dominating all before them. The old gods forgotten, the primordials long wiped away from our realm, dead or fled. Leaving us mere mortals to our fate in a world they had fumbled and then abandoned. We were small, but with great hearts. Yet we were no match for the things from the darkest realms of reality, the creatures conjured from behind the Aether, from the Void itself. We were tortured, hunted for sport, subjugated. Society ceased to exist. Empires faded, forgotten, technology, lost forever. The very essence of our world, our home, tainted.

However we survived. The children of the chosen survived. Three of man, two of elf, the titan-blooded, the gnomes, the halfmen and the dwarves. All others were twisted and tainted beyond salvation, where once they may have been our equals, they fell, forever broken shells. They fell to temptation. However we clung on, all of our ancestors, waiting, believing!!!

Their faith was rewarded, for nigh on a thousand years after the last primordial fled our realm, when we were little more than tribal nomads huddling and hiding from the terrors and monsters that ruled our home, they came to us. The Ascended, the nine champions whom would end the Sundering. The nine whom would become divine. The nine whom would lead us to freedom!

Sir Kartheart, the bold, the brave, the shield of the Tundra Realms!

Talia, the lady of the Leaves, the mistress of the wylde, for whom plants and animals would bend to serve.

Boran the Bloodhound, master of the hunt, reaver of Nightmares!

Feyheart the wanderer, master of maps, the eternal ministrel!

Varis Tomain, the blessed, the lucky, the foolish, the brave!

Deat-Kra, the time-keeper, the judge, the eternal Justice!

Cormaq Thunderhand, the inventor, the tinkerer, the master at arms!

Captain Black Jeremiah, the sea dog, the privateer, the master of the waves!

Vosana Falconhand, mistress of the clouds, Sun queen, sky-spear!

These nine individuals rallied their kindred and led the first and most whole and holy crusade across Valerick, cleansing the lands, slaying and banishing all horrors and nightmares before them, sealing the tears in reality, and eventually, earning their right and the power to Ascend well beyond our mortal realm, ousting the dead remnants of the old gods, those whom had chosen to ignore and stop care-taking their realm, and took their place. Thus did the age of Reclaimation begin. Thus did civilization as we know it begin.

The mythos of the Ascended is thick throughout Valerick, and is a defining feature in the global culture of the world, even as there are favorites or philosophies drawn in different ways from each of the nine gods. They guide the many views of the world and universe, and it is this legend, and the traits of these nine figures, which ultimately in different combinations for different cultures, explain well...nothing short of the meaning of existence and life. The principles of this long, detailed, and complex shared story, and the principles and moral guidances of each of its principle heroes, are a foundational defining principle in how anyone on Valerick views and establishes their understanding of life and the world around them, and ends up a foundational building block of how they establish their own sense of morality.