Aeloros: Stolen Sky

This was a world of pure creation and majesty, guided and nurtured by benevolent shapers older than the heavens it was nestled in. To see this world was see a great work, of hope in the face of entropy. The caretakers and guardians of this great task were the Aelorii and the Titans respectively, under their charge was the management and defense this paradise. Life could be found in sapphire blue oceans, viridian green lush lands and emerald forests, with clouds of silk and skies of turquoise. The stars themselves seemed suspended in way as to provide a great canvas to order the land beneath them, such was their task. From the blood of the Aelorii came the plethora of life that walked the world, it was by their command that genesis began. Centuries passed unabated as the Aelorii continued as architects for this great work. But where the Aelorii found contentment, The Titans however found worry. They were the handcrafted defenders of this great work, and the cold black of the night crept into their mind. Ever vigilant for the discordant forces of the void between stars.   Then without warning, a deafening silence.   The divine song of the shapers to their creations was cut, it was as if these dutiful children could no longer hear the voice of their parents. A screaming shift of conjunction, where there was vision and clarity gave way to a crumbling dream and pulsing nightmare. Stillness weighed down upon them, and the great tapestry of the stars that had hang above them were no more. To the horror of all, the stars were all changed, an alien sky. Even the sun that gave them the day shone with a baleful unfamiliarity.   The Titans sprung into action, wracked with guilt and anger they felt immediately that they had missed the signs, they had failed. But this they did recognize, a portent of disorder, of entropy on the war path. Their greatest fears rang into their minds, centuries of preparation and vigilance rendered null in moments. Memories of aeons past governed their decisions, but they did not act as one. The Aelorii quickly saw a riven image , the Titans were divided as to how to prepare in the face of such damning silence and malevolent signs. The Titans largely broke away from one another, each with their own vision to prepare for a cruel future.   The Aelorii offered them help, for their blood granted them creation made manifest, a liquid Eden for the Titans to use to prepare their shared home. Each took this offering with humility, but it was not to remain so forever.   With liquid Eden in their possession, they created a multitude of races to fit their designs each to act as the wards for their respective Titan. The Aelorii were pleased with the creative abilities of the Titans and hoped that even without their loving creators to guide them, they would prevail. This dream was eventually shattered, as the Titans still disagreed with how to best to prepare, and to provide for these new races, they required resources and living space to grow.   The Eden War had begun. The world became gnarled and clawed by conflict, visceral images with fields of dead. Some acted in stalwart defense, others with demented laughter with dreams of glory. The electric sensation of violence and mayhem prevailed over diplomacy and hope. Ancient spells made the seas boil and hiss, and split the firmament with darting death. For the Aelorii, the suffering was too great, they felt those born of their blood suffer and die. A planet-wide familicide of which there could be no justification. Seeing the paranoia flickering in the Titans eyes, they sought to convince them from this course of action. Some Titans saw the error of their ways, and retreated into the far reaches of the world vowing to never again command a soul. Others could not be redirected, and instead captured Aelorii to only intensify their conquest. Those Aelorii that remained resolved themselves to travel to the seat of their birth and driving force of their work, they journeyed to a secluded place in the great north made by the Shapers themselves, the Pillars of Creation.   It was here that the Aelorii exhausted their final option, a great siphoning of power reverberated across the world. A streaming torrent of energy flowed from each seat of power to the great north. The warhosts turned in shock, fear in their eyes, they fell to their knees as they watched their Titans creators sputter and fail. Choking, wheezing, stumbling and screaming in pain, they fell and breathed their last. Their very flesh melted off of their forms and their blood flowed like rivers into the sea. A wall of light pulsed in waves from the great north before one stood still, unmoving around its perimeter, a ghostly wall of ravenous magic flickering and twisting. With each ocean wave, a rumble could be felt. Countless shapes began to emerge from the water and sand, some stumbled and crawled, others stood quickly. Gritty sand and wet clay gave way to soft skin and matted hair with wild searching eyes.   Humanity was born.   The other races quickly realized that along with the death of their creators, their magic died with them. Some of the races resolved to fight these fledgling arrivals, others retreated to lick their wounds. Some instead rallied with the newborns seeing in them a likeness to their creators. With the Titanomachy at an end , it was upon this rocky foundation that civilization as we most know it began. It has been nearly five millennia since that time, and ancient realms some still with rays of the great work dot the landscape. Man did not stand alone against the last fetters of the Eden War in that time, some of the Titanward elder races stood beside them in millennia long alliances. Yet, the old enemies remain, stirring, plotting and consorting with forces beyond their understanding. Few know much of the halcyon age where the Aelorii and Titans stood side by side against the march of entropy. Fewer still believe the Aelorii or any Titans still exist, and yet it is in this Age of Man where the rumblings of the future can be heard in all of its terror and majesty. Allegiances are tested, borders are smudged and homes burned, and it is here that history is made. Beneath a stolen sky, a future may yet be reclaimed to shield against the arrow of time.