Prophecy of the Second Dawn

The Prophecy of the Second Dawn is a prophecy foretelling the arrival of Iona on to Amanor. According to the prophecy the Sun Goddess will descend from her place in the firmament to banish the forces of darkness from the world and deliver her worshippers from mortal toil, bringing about an age of utopistic peace not unlike the mythical Dawn Age that ended tens of thousands of years ago. The Prophecy of the Second Dawn is not accepted as canon by contemporary churches of the Empyreal Faith in the Heartlands.
Contents

History

The Prophecy of the Second Dawn was conceived in 2382 ER during the tumultuous times of the Age of Strife by an Egean sect of the Empyreal Faith known as the Heralds of Iona. Their priests used astrology and divination to determine the exact year of Iona's return to be 2506 ER. The prophecy and the sect were both condemned as heretical by the Imperial Church of the Eternal Sun in the year 2395 ER.

Cultural impact

In the dark times of war and turmoil that was the Age of Strife, the Prophecy of the Second Dawn was met with celebration by many a distressed citizen of Egea. The worship of Iona grew in popularity, but the Imperial Church of the Eternal Sun did not deign to acknowledge the prophecy -- or most other teachings of the Heralds for that matter -- as canon. Nonetheless, the Heralds kept on gaining new followers and their influence spread to the northern nation of Caraegwyn, where several temples were built in honor of the prophesied "Second Dawn."
To curb the development of this new faith the Imperial Church of the Eternal Sun finally condemned it as heretical in 2395 ER. The Imperial Church went to great efforts to convert Egean citizens from the beliefs of the Heralds towards more conventional worship of Iona. Within the Empire itself these efforts were largely succesful, but in Caraegwyn the Heralds endured. The Caraegweni movement found foothold especially among the wealthier populace of the Summer Kingdom -- nobles, merchants, wizards and the like. Gathered in small congregations of mostly priviledged individuals, the Heralds of Caraegwyn were unable to attain widespread popularity. The movement faded from public knowledge over the course of a few years.
Unknown to outsiders, the Heralds remaining in Caraegwyn had come up with a plan to preserve themselves for the coming of Iona more than 100 years in the future. Exiling themselves from civilized lands and severing all ties to their past lives, the Heralds sought the refuge of untamed wilds. Within three sheltered locations the Heralds entered a magical sleep. Alchemically engineered to mathematical perfection, their slumber was designed to end on the first day of 2506 ER, the year during which Iona was prophecied to return and usher in the utopia of the Second Dawn. The final number of Heralds that went into this magical sleep was perhaps in the several hundreds.

Other names
Prophecy of the Heralds, Prophecy of the New Morning

Date of First Recording

2382

Date of Setting

2506

Related Ethnicities
Egeans
Caéled
Related Organizations
Empyreal Faith

Heralds in Caraegwyn

In the Summer Kingdom the Heralds of the Eternal Morning secluded themselves in three secret temples. Each temple was lead by a custodian who oversaw the long slumber of his underlings.

Leadership

Grand Hierophant Ulfang
Archmage and artificier; official leader of the caraegweni Heralds. Custodian of the southern temple.
Hierophant Madrik
Wealthy noble and de facto leader of the caraegweni Heralds. Custodian of the western temple.
Hierophant Fedelmid
Devout cleric and learned scholar. Custodian of the northern temple, the largest of the three.

Variations

In Caraegwyn, one Hierophant Fedelmid was obsessed with the prophecy and its details, thinking that there were some inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the original transcript provided to him by his fellow Heralds in Egea. Fedelmid was a cleric and a scholar well versed in astrology. For his many services to the Herald movement in Caraegwyn he was appointed the custodian of the largest Herald temple in the Summer Kingdom: a secluded temple complex attached to a mountain-top observatory. As custodian, Fedelmid was allowed to keep himself awake as the other Heralds of his temple entered their long slumber. He spent many lonely years in the observatory gazing at the stars and studying divide portents, attempting to clarify the prophecy the better to prepare for his goddess' arrival.
Fedelmid's efforts were ultimately successful. Much to his dismay, the things that he first belived to be only minor inaccuracies were later revealed to be terrible errors. His work had begun due to the perfectionist nature of his character, it had continued over the waning years for the glory of Iona, but it ended with soul-wrenching dread and existential terror.
Fedelmid arrived at a heavily corrected and greatly expanded version of the prophecy by the end of 2404 ER. His most terrible revelation was that, according to arduous research and countless rechecks, it was not Iona that would be making her divine appearance on Amanor in 2506 ER but rather some terrible force of darkness and evil. And the so-called Second Dawn would not be the salvation of Man but the undoing of all -- the plunging of the world into an age of unimaginable suffering.
It is unknown what exactly happened to Hierophant Fedelmid, but he somehow dissapeared from his temple without rousing his fellow Heralds from their sleep. His temple and observatory were ransacked in 2500 ER by malicious worshippers of the Old Gods who killed all the Heralds sleeping within.

The sun is setting for Amanor. As careless gods clash in conflicts eternal, timeless evil awakens in the darkness beyond time and ken where boundless behemoths drift in oceans of emptiness and dead gods lie dreaming. The Old Ones stir in their slumber and their blasphemous whispers echo from the void.

When the rest of the fallen is defiled once more, when the tide of death rises and the brightest light fades, when the ageless stars fall from their high homes, and the skies weep tears of blood, many will become one and the rivers shall run red.

The servants of the king are doomed to fail. The god of a thousand masks will have his way. But the Cursed Lady will be his undoing, descending from a darkened sky through a web of lies. And yet to triumph over such evil, she must abandon her heritage and forsake her birthright. As her plans finally unfold, the unlighted halls of the nethermost kadaths will echo her laughter.

The Book of the Dead will be the end just as it is the beginning. And at the end of time, a choice must be made. And mere mortals, not gods, will hold the fate of the universe in their hands.

— Hierophant Fedelmid's prophecy