The Evergrowth

THE EVERGROWTH

The Evergrowth is an ancient Primal Titan (a god-like being that was not a true Primordial) that acted as an invasive hive-mind of life-giving primordial within the prmeval world of Aeth. Acting as a crude communal sentient being connecting to the Spirit of Life within Aetheus, acting as a single massive carnivorous organism. Its sole purpose was to bond with all sentient and nonsentient life, and consume all living matter to expand and grow in greater form. In response to the great threat of the Primordials upon the Great Collision it fought against the Primordials for dominance of the new world over many millennia. Its greatest challenge came with the Primordial Titan Morgoron and his spawned race of Collossai, which sought to claim the world for the Primordials and shape it in their own image, as they have done within the Elemental Chaos. Thus the Primordial Green and 'Evergrowth', reacted in unison against such threats, dominating everything in sight. Nothing could hold it at bay.
The Evergrowth was held together by three central minds that connected all of the Evergrowth together, the Arbotan. They were connected to the different vibrant masses of plant-life that the Evergrowth occupied across the world, and each felt the same sensations, pains and experiences as one another, but each could think for itself.

• Ghastwarm (Gayst-war-m), the primal mind of the worlds swamps, marshes, decaying and vibrant fungal forests.
• Grae'Aerbor (Gray-ay-ur-bor), the primal mind of the worlds forest land.
• Vangorvl (Van-gor-vel), the primal mind of the worlds dense jungles.

Eventually, during the Third and final Epoch of the Primal Age, they were slain by the Collossai; mountains given life during the prehistoric time of Aeth. The Collossai's descendants, driven to extinction by the combat between the Evergrowth, each of the titanic beings fragments left beheld smaller versions of their powerful and destructive being, evolving into smarter and less immortal and numerous beings through the Spirit of Life - losing their greater prominence in strength, size and intelligence with each new generation. Once beheld by a great earthen and volcanic titan known as the "Morgoron". Morgorons descendants were the Collossai, and thus the Collossai were driven to extinction by the Verdiants, the descendants of the Arbotan, giving rise to more new lineages of species - from Morgorons line of the Collossai came the Agrons, then the Orgrons and Cyclops, then the Ogres, Firbolgs and Goliaths, then the Orocs and Orcs.
From the Arbotan, over the many millennia of the constant war, their spores flew into the air after their death cries and the silence of the Overgrowth (losing their collective hive-mind connection, becoming sentient individual creatures with echoes of their former progenitors memories). These spores and their titanic corpses gave rise to the huge Verdiants, individual life-giving beings of nature that evolved over time across the world into the jungles, forests and natural regions. The Verdiants, during their war against the Goron (the lineages of Morgoron) in turn gave rise to the plantlike giants known as the Genesar to combat against the devolved children of the Collossai. Their line further devolved into different off-shoots - beastly multiheaded plant monsters known as the Mandragosa that consumed all they could and grew larger and bigger, but became mindless beasts; plant-like humanoids known as the Botani that came to worship the Verdiants and their lost lineages to the Arbotan. Through the Botani, came the rise and spread of the world's natural Treants who began to shepherd the trees of Grae'Aerbor & Vangorvl into further sentience. The Botani further devolved into the beings known as Dryads and Hamadryads, who felt a special connection to their home trees, and aided the Treants into protecting nature and the trees that gave them life - but many of these sought protection within the Feywild and became nature-bound creatures that tended to the Spirit of Life.
The Agrons were hunted to extinction by their own children, the Ogron and Cyclops, as they were nothing more than devolving brutes of sheer primal strength. The Ogron and Cyclops competed for power, and through the aid of the Orcs the Cyclops were victorious - the Ogron and their petty dumb children, the Ogres were driven away from the land by the rising prominence of the Orcs, swearing fealty to anew divine source - Lorkhan the 'One-Eye Storm'. The true inheritor of Morgoron. They led the way against the Evergrowth's descendants, the Primordial Green and Fallen Ogron, claiming dominance over the ancient continent of Vangolia.

HISTORY

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The Primordials came to battle the Primordial Green after the collision united the worlds of Aeth and Theus together, the one powerful Primordial of Aeth known as the Evergrowth blossomed within the ancient lands of Vangolia and Gwynngilliad - its form embedded within the earth of the eastern continent. It spread its tendril-like vines and strangled every primitive beast and being that they could reach, draining the life-force of the natural regions for itself. As it grew, the Evergrowth consumed more and more, their hunger and need to expand knowing no end. They blossomed into living mountains of tangled brambles and noxious pods - the Arbotan. Wherever their tendrils crept over the earth, lush forests, jungles and swamps took root, and before long, a labyrinth of deep wilds stretched to the far corners of the East Continent.
The primordial energy and essence of the Spirit of Life consumed by the Evergrowth ignited crude communal sentience within the Evergrowth, and its surrounding wilds, allowing the plants to act as a single massive organism. If any major threat arose, the Evergrwoth reacted in unison. However, such threats were non-existent, for the Evergrowth dominated everything in sight.
The Primordial Titans, who was intrigued by the continent, foresaw the doom for the world if the Evergrowth was allowed to grow unchecked, as it would eventually consume everything on the world, including the Primordials and Divines. Once that happened, they believed the Evergrowth would devour itself, and Aetheus would be left a wasteland devoid of life. Thus, the Primordial Titans would need to neutralise the Arbortan, the hearts and minds of the Evergrowths power.

THE BATTLE WITH MORGORON

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The Great Titans considered destroying the Arbortan himself, but since their power was so great it risked irreparably damaging or even shattering Aetheus and because they could not stand to guard over the continent forever, they decided to create a mighty servant from the image of a fallen Primal Titan to uproot the Arbotan. Using a massive elemental storm, the Primordials caused a mountain to groan to life, ignited by the heart of the Elemental Chaos, igniting in fire and lava and named it Morgoron. Morgoron began marching across the world to conquer the Evergrowth. He confronted and defeated the nearest Arbotan before tearing it from the world's surface with ease. The other Arbotan shivered in agony at the destruction of their kin. Mere roots would not topple Morgoron; instead, the Arbotan would need to adapt.
Each Arbotan drained the surrounding wilds of life essence, leaving behind only withered tracts of land. Infused with these energies, the Arbotan arose to walk the world. There were three, each embodying a different region of the Evergrowth - one whose hide was covered in swamps and mushroom thickets, Ghastwarm - one who was covered in primal forestlands, Vangorvl - one who wore a fleece of dense jungle, Grae'Aerbor. As one the Arbotan moved against Morgoron, and Vangolia buckled under the weight of the warring giants. the Primordial Titans watched the battle from afar across Aetheus. The three were determined to protect the Evergrowth at any cost, and through their communal sentience, they moved in perfect unison against Morgoron, nearly overwhelming him.
However, like their creator, Morgoron possessed a will of steel and refused to give up. As the calamitous battle raged, the tide shifted between each side. The smallest of the Arbotan, Ghastwarm, suffered the most and was first to fall, Morgoron took hold of it and tore it in half - the rotting body would later transform into one of the regions of Vangolia. Morgoron pressed his attack against Graerbor and crushed it between his hands. Grae'Aerbor collapsed to the ground, where its broken husk would slowly sink into the earth and become the region of the jungle. Only one remained, Vangorvl, but Morgoron was weakened and scarred by battle. Vangorvl sensed its opponent's weakness but would need more power to defeat the giant. It leeched life from the essence of the bodies of the other Arbotan, absorbing them and growing to a monstrous size. Still, it remained cautious, evading Morgoron's direct assaults while entangling him in thousands of small vines that gradually burrowed into the cracks and wounds on his skin. Morgoron considered them a mere nuisance and ignored them until it was too late. The vines wrenched open his existing wounds and tore open new fissures across his body. Morgoron collapsed beneath his own weight and crumbled to pieces, the bulk of his corpse forming a mountain range at the edge of the region later known as the Morgoron Mountains.

The Fall of the Last Arbotan

During the battle between Morgoron and the Arbotan, pieces of their bodies had fallen to the earth and gave rise to new types of creatures. From the seeds and roots of the Arbotan, many unique beings sprouted, the greatest of which was the Verdiants, while from the largest boulders that had toppled from Morgoron, the Collossai arose. Much of the stony debris that had fallen from the giant also contained the elements of fire, air, earth and water, leading to the birth of myriads of primal elementals (Primentals). The Primordial Titans were confident that the Collossai would be able to destroy the last Arbotan Vangorvl and bring balance to Vangolia, and to aid them he crafted great discs inscribed with titan runes from the body of Morgoron and fused them to the Collossai, creating armour that granted them strength and resilience. In the meantime, the last Arbotan and Verdiants had begun to retake lands Morgoron had taken from the Evergrowth. As the Primordial Titans unleashed the Collosai against the last Arbotan, they felt a disturbance and left to investigate with the promise they would return one day. They never did.
The Collossai would never know of their progenitor's fate at the hands of the Dragons & Divines and fully expected their master to return. They were determined to bring balance to Vangolia before that happened, but it was an enormous task, for the Evergrowth had enveloped much of the world and the Arbotan Vangorvl now eclipsed Morgoron in size. It would have to be drawn away from the Evergrowth if the Collossai had any chance of succeeding, and so they drew its ire by hacking away at the forests at the Evergrowth's edge. Vangorvl rallied the Verdiants and they stormed the Collossai, which retreated into the barren ravines and hills that would give them the advantage. The last Arbotan followed them as it saw the Collossai as only pale imitations of Morgoron, and when it left the borders of the Evergrowth the Collossai attacked with their full might. The ensuing war shook Vangolia for thousands of years, with control of the continent constantly shifting back and forth between the two forces.
The battles over time took their toll on the Collossai. Just as they had broken off from Morgoron, pieces of their bodies broke away and were affected by the life-giving spores of the dead Arbotan, to which they came to life as the Agron. The Collossai called on the Agron to fight the Overgrowth, but they did not obey. Some did indeed battle the forces of the last Arbotan, but not out of loyalty to the Collossai, and others simply left the battlefield to seek out areas of volcanic activity. The collosai's numbers were dwindling and they had to take drastic action or they would fail. The titan discs that made their armour contained immense power, and that power would stop the Overgrowth. The Collossai piled onto the last Arbotan, and unleashed the energy in unison, creating a massive explosion. It shattered the bodies of the Last Arbotan and the Collossai and sent the pieces all across Vangolia and the world. The last Arbotans death rattle blazed through every root and leaf of the world, causing lush tracts of forests to wither and instantly killing hundreds of Verdiants where they stood. For one brief moment, the entirety of the Overgrowth trembled with the shared agony of the last Arbotan's death. Then there was silence. The last Arbotan's demise has destroyed the communal sentience of Vangolia's wilds, destroying the communal link to all plant-life across the world and thus the death of the Primal Titan of the Overgrowth. Unlike the fallen Collossai, the Last Arbotan's body still contained potent life energies. Wherever fragments of the being fell to the earth, forests and jungles arose, while the bulk of its body formed a vibrant region. From its remains rose the giant Genesar, and the other descendants - the Botani and the Mandragosa.

CHILDREN OF THE PRIMAL GIANT

During the battle between Morgoron and the Arbotan, pieces of their bodies had fallen to the earth and given rise to new types of creatures, affected and devolved from the natural spores of the dead Arbotan. Though not as mighty as Morgoron, their shadows still loomed large over the land. Much of the stony debris that had fallen from the Giant also contained the elements of fire, air, earth and water, which coalesced into pools of power from which the Elemental Spirits took shape for the first time within Vangolia's history - something made possible by the Arbotan and their consumption of much of the Spirit of Life affecting the Primal Titan of the Overgrowth, allowing the elemental spirits to grow in power. The elementals were initially few in number, but their population exploded after Morgoron's defeat. Causing countless elementals to emerge around his mountainous remains. They lamented his death and vowed to dwell in his corpse's shadow forever, with their home being the remains of Morgoron's head, which formed a small island in the middle of a volcanic caldera and tranquil lakebed. This place would become known by mortal cultures as the Throne of the Elements.
With the aid of power granted to them by Titans, the Collossai eventually sacrificed themselves to destroy the last Arbotan, killing hundreds of Verdiants and destroying the communal sentience of the Evergrowth. The life energies and spores released by the last Arbotan's destruction caused many new forms of plant life to arise, but also settled on and weakened the bodies of the Collossai - pieces of them, just as the Collossai had been pieces of Mognoron. This led to the spread of the Agron, who further devolved into the smaller but more intelligent Ogron, from them they devolved into the Ogres, Orc, Cyclops, Firbolg and Goliath races. The descendants of Morgoron, collectively known as the Goron, would continue their battle with the descendants of the Arbotan, the Primals, for millennia.

ECHOES OF THE ARBOTAN

The Agron would gradually give rise to lesser creatures - the ogron, ogres, cyclops, goliaths, orocs and orcs. The common ancestry of this so-called giant-kin or Goron did not make them allies, but it did infuse them with a shadow of Morgoron's influence, and all of them were opposed to the verdant wilds. The Verdiants and other plant-based life were known collectively as the Primals, and they traced their lineage back to the Arbotan; much like the Giant-Kin, many of them had arisen in the aftermath of the last Arbotan's destruction, but while the numerous spores and seedlings released from the last Arbotan's corpse had weakened the creatures of stone, they had the opposite effect on plant life, granting existing plant species sentience and causing new beings to take shape within the Jungles. Among these were the diminutive Podlings and Sporelings, Shrubben, Rootoa, Bloomaks, as well as the intelligent and prolific Botani, and their descendant ilk, the Treants, Dryads and Hamadryads. Faint memories of the Overgrowth lingered in the Botani's minds, but they did not know the full truth of the Arbotans or their battles with Morgoron and the Collossai. Even so, what little the Botani knew of the Evergrowth had a profound impact on their culture, leading them to revere the Verdiants as gods due to seeing the larger creatures as echoes of the Arbotan.

THE BIRTH OF AGNARL

Many years later, during the Arcane Era, when the mortal races grew and spread across the world, a treant known as Gnarl wandered the dense lands of Vangolia. From the Verdiants, it learned of the Evergrowth, the Arbotan, and the ancient past of Vangolia - but they did not realise the great war between Morgoron or the efforts of the Arbotan. Over millennia, it used its magics to strengthen its fellow primals in their war against the Giant-Kin while also honing its own abilities to influence and control its kin. it found particular potential in the Botani and became their caretaker, teaching them the truth of the Arborants and unique ways to harness nature magic. Gnarl eventually became aware of the burgeoning magocratic civilisation, which it saw as an immense affront to nature and an even greater threat than the Giant-Kin. Gnarl departed in search of a weapon to use against the Venatori Magocrats, and discovered a massive fossilized root - one of the last remaining intact pieces of Arbotan. The treant returned to its lands and rallied the Botani, telling them that they would use the root to craft a new Arborant, greater than any that had come before it, to cast the magocrats from their lofty spire. Gnarl planted the root deep within the earth and began a great ritual to nourish it. Thousands of Botani willingly sacrificed themselves, and Gnarl infused their spirits into the root. Gradually, leaves and branches sprouted from the earth and grew into a mound of thorny brambles and leathery fronds. Gnarl named the burgeoning Arborant "Agnarl". Meanwhile, the Primals prepared for war, awakening new Verdiants from their birthing pools while Gnarl channelled the spirit of life into the forest to gift thousands of trees with intelligence, naming them the Gnarled. Tens of thousands of Primals gathered to await Agnarls awakening.
The Venatori Magocrats initially ignored the stirrings of the Gnarled, believing them to be part of the war between the Giant-Kin and Primals, but began to worry when the few scouts that returned described armies of living trees, bushes, thorns and plant-life, Botani and Genesar, as well as a monstrous creature that was already larger than a Verdiant (Agnarl). The leaders of the Venatori magocrats quickly mobilised into an invasion force and struck at the heart of the Primals lands, ignoring the other primals and focused solely on destroying Agnarl. Brutal fighting erupted between the Magocrats and the Primals, but despite the magic powers at their command, the Magorats could not break the Primals. Gnarl entered a trance that allowed it to touch the minds of the Primals and coordinate their movements, driving the magocrats back into the skies. Nearly half of the Venatori forces had fallen, but they proposed a solution. Venatori priests had devised an ingenious weapon that could channel the energies of the sun to devastating effect. As the Magocrats began work on the device, Gnarl quickened Agnarls maturation, ordering more botani to sacrifice themselves so that the Arborant could be awakened before the Magocrats could regroup.
Finally, Agnarl stirred, rising up from the ground as the forests trembled at its first step. Gnarl entered a trance once again to reach out their mind to Agnarl and the other primals in order for them to march upon the Venatori. The Venatori realized they could not complete their weapon in time, but a small number of their sorcerers volunteered to assassinate the Primal's leader. They shrouded themselves in shadow and stalked through the forests until they found Gnarl, but the treant sensed their presence and quickly disposed of them, though not before the sorcerers had managed to cast a withering curse upon the Treant. Gnarl's death sent the Primals into disarray, and for a time they halted at the edge of the field of battle. Before resuming their march. However, the delay had been enough for the Venatori to complete their work. Just as Agnarl reached their spire, the Venatori ignited their weapon. A violent tremor shook the spire as solar energies roared through it and a white-hot beam exploded from the mechanism to lance through Agnarl's chest, blowing it apart in a cloud of spores and ash. The mages weapon continued to burn bright and sliced through the Botani, the Verdiant, and Gnarled, incinerating thousands in an instant. The few that survived retreated away in terror, but they were engulfed in flames by the Mages order. The forests that crept into the Venatori territory were seared away. Once the attack halted, blackened earth and smouldering roots stretched as far as the eye could see. The Evergrowth had been annihilated and would never return again.