Forgotten

The Magic-Bringer, Betrayer of Gods

If the world is as it is today, it is through her actions. If magic has blessed us, it is through her martyr. We no longer know her name, lost to the abyss, banished from our memories by Samara the Heartbroken. Yet her story was given to us, so that we may remember her actions. It is a tale of love, a tale of betrayal, a tale of heartbreak. Here is her tragedy...

— Introduction to the "Epic of the Magic-Bringer", by Thayadur Al'Jemel.

Forgotten, as she is often referred to by Danatelians, is the hero of the famed Epic of the Magic-Bringer. Her name, identity and appearance are unknown, even though her adventure to reach the realm of Gods is known by almost all who live in the Danatelian Lands, be they Saohri or not. She is said to be the one to have brought magic to the Realm of Mortals, and has started the Age of Magic.

Epic of the Magic-Bringer

The only record of her life is in the "Epic of the Magic-Bringer", a tale written by the Nasbarin Thayadur Al'Jemel in the year 1 I.A. It recounts the journey of Forgotten, the odds she faced and the many places she visited as she travelled to find Samara. She discovered many places and mythical creatures, and she is one of the only mortals to have ever reached the Sea of Dusk while still alive.

Forgotten

Little is known about the protagonist of the Epic. She is described as a young Danatelian woman, of unknown appearance and origins. It is assumed she is young and resourceful, often using her wits and smarts to get herself out of tricky situations. She is also manipulative and ambitious, and her objective is to bring magic to all mortals.

Mahsati the Musician

In a second iteration of the myth written by Thayadur, the Epic of the Lovers, the hero is instead described as a gentle and romantic musician by the name of Mahsati. She travelled to the Sea of Dusk in hopes of asking Samara her help with the affairs of the heart, resulting in the creation of Habayan.

Discovering the Palace of the Winds

by Edmund Dulac

In what is perhaps one of the most detailed passages of the Epic, the hero finds a mysterious and abandoned construction, older than anything built by the Danatelians themselves.

The passage describes the building as almost foreign, its architecture unlike anything the hero had ever seen. Strange writings and glyphs covered almost every inch of wall, amongst gigantic engravings of mysterious beings and objects. The ground within the temple is cold and smooth beneath the rubble and earth.

The wind blew through the windows and cracks of the ancient structure, and in distance the hero could swear she heard the sounds of music. She searched long for their source, carried by the breeze through the corridors, a simple torch lighting her way through the giant hallways, as her shadow crept along the walls.

She reached what seemed to be the main room of the ruins, a wide and empty circular chamber, the ceiling rising high above her and painted with stars. She watched them, and saw constellations she could not recognise. At the centre she found a small artefact, with strange words written on them that she could not decipher.

Following Explorations

The Epic gives little detail about where that temple was, but some adventurers claim they have seen similar structures in the wilderness. Search for the Palace of the Winds, as it was named by explorers, are still going on, each day bringing them closer to discovering it. Some scholars who have studied the Epic claim the mysterious glyphs mentioned refer to that of the lost Baseikan culture, even though they is no direct evidence to support these claims.

Betraying Samara

In what is considered the climax of the epic, the hero finally meets the goddess of love and magic, Samara the Enchantress. She finds her in the divine garden, tending to her plants, and the hero makes her move. She manages to seduce the goddess, burrowing her way into her heart until she was close enough to hold it in her hands.

The goddess fell in love, and she betrayed her.

— Extract from the "Epic of the Magic-Bringer"

by Edmund Dulac

Jarn-Agus the Ettin

During her travels, the hero encountered and escaped many dangers, each barring her route towards the realm of Gods. In a notable encounter, her road was blocked by Jarn-Agus the Ettin, guardian of the river that flowed into the Sea of Dusk. He refused to let her pass, and she was too small and weak to take him down on her own. Instead, she was forced to resort to ruse.

She bid her time, slowly getting to know the two heads, until they no longer saw her as a threat. Then, as the Ettin let one of its head while the other kept an eye on her, she got to know each head more personally. Jarn was boastful and strong, and considered himself the elder of the two, while Agus was younger and jealous of Jarn's power over him. Through careful manipulation, she managed to turn the heads against one another, driving them to their deaths.

On the Ettin's fatal day, a minor dispute between the heads escalated to a much larger conflict, eventually leading to the Ettin murdering itself at the height of their fight. Forgotten hid while they fought, and was able to sail the river towards the next step of her journey.

One night, after the Weaver had fallen asleep in the arms of her lover, Forgotten stole the key to the Tapestry Room, and slipped into the darkness. She made her way across the house of Samara, until she reached the locked doors. Quiet as a shadow, she unlocked them and slid inside, and released the Weave from its binds. It flew away to the Realm of Mortals, and so magic came to be.

Punishment and Death

Samara awoke to an empty bed, and a broken heart. She saw herself as the fool she had been taken for, robbed of the love she held and the trust she had poured into the hero. Hurt and heartbroken, she called her fellow gods for help. Together, they banished the hero from the memories of all who knew her. She would live the rest of her life alone, unknown, forgotten.

— Extract from the "Epic of the Magic-Bringer"

The Epic ends as the hero returns to the Realm of Mortals to suffer her fate. She is said to retire in the forest, to live the end of her days as a hermit, though the text does not elaborate on that. By most in the @danatelian, she is considered a hero, who brought magic and freed them from unnecessary suffering.

A few controversies and debates surround the life of the hero. Can the Epic really be trusted? Did she even really exist? After all, it was given to Thayadur in a dream by Samara, and tales by Nasbarin are often romanticised and more dramatic than what actually happened, and rely heavily on interpretation of the dreams by the author, making them very unreliable resources.

Samara by Edmund Dulac

Priests of Samara the Enchantress and other gods will say that it is not the place of mere mortals to question the words of the Gods and their interpreters, but even among them debates will arise over the possible interpretations of the Epic. But there is one definite piece of evidence: there was no magic, until one day there was. The Epic, and the tales of the Magic-Bringer remain the only hypothesis as to why and how magic came to be, and there seems no alternative but to accept the story as true.