Hanging the Planes
In the moment of peace that followed,
Oghma and
Gond gathered in the center of it all. Oghma shared the plan that he knew from The Gardener's memory. Carefully, Gond began to segment the planes according to The Binder's instructions. But even together they were weaker than
The Gardener, and in the havoc of the War, Law and Chaos had melded with Good and Evil, and their fragments were now inseparable. They separated the fundamental forces as best they could, but could not faithfully reproduce the four poles of their parent.
So they shaped the nine outer planes around Sylvane, leaving the vast Outlands between them to mediate. Oghma and Gond made their home in The Fulcrum at the center of the Outlands around which
Kasama turns.
Threading the Weave
Without The Gardener's strong arms to hold them in place, Oghma knew that Kasama would not hold. It was only a matter of time before all of it would be consumed by the sea once again. Gond's craft could hang the planes, but weren't enough to bind them together. He went to
Mystra for help, as she was among the most powerful of The Gardener's children. She listened attentively but somberly, because she could see what had to be done. Her parent had used their power to hold Kasama together, and she would follow suit, at the cost of her body.
The goddess soared between the planes with her beak a meticulous needle. She used her essence to draw out the fundamental forces as she pierced the planes, moving into a mesh that combined them all with her body, and pulled them together in an impermeable sphere. These ties brought all the fundamental forces together in balance and moderation, making them accessible far from their disparate points of origin. Oghma called this mesh Mystra's Weave, and spread the good news across Kasama. But when there is light, darkness is rarely far behind:
Shar followed Mystra in secret, threading her own essence alongside in The Shadow Weave.
Scuttling Death
During all this, Nemain's severed claws clamored along the charnel walls of her abyssal prison. These rotting appendages found one another in the darkness, and joined one another again in an arachnid of twisted divine flesh. This is how
Lolth left Nemain to fester in shrieking rage, scuttling away to bide her time in the shadowy caves of the Plane of Earth.
Sun, Moon, and Twinkling Stars
With things held in harmony once again,
Chauntea and
Silvanus looked upon the unshaped potential of Sylvane, and dreamed of how they might honor The Gardener's memory with it. Silvanus was the first to draw from his inspiration and make Life. First he breathed life into the beasts that wriggle in the earth, and the fungi that complete the circle between life and death. They knew that this would be the work of eons and new generations. In the perpetual darkness, they made their first children to toil by their sides.
Gond knew they were expecting a child, and set to work crafting a fine spherical lantern for the new babe. The lantern would be great enough to hang in the sky and light Sylvane. He spent ages in his forge, trying and failing to craft the perfect glass sphere. Some were too big, and their glass was stretched so thinly that they shattered when lit. Others were too small, and could not contain any meaningful flame. But the Wonderbringer is nothing if not patient, and after countless attempts he crafted Sol – a sphere that could contain the pure essence of fire well enough to light the world.
Gond gathered all of his things and hurried to present this gift to the new child. Gond's pride turned to embarrassment when he arrived – there were twins!
Lathander was born first and
Corellon followed, surprising everyone. Chauntea urged him to do his best, that any and all gifts would be appreciated. So Gond presented Lathander with Sol. The lantern was his birthright as eldest, after all. But the Wonderbringer was unsure what he could give Corellon. He reached into his bag of wonders, but none were good enough for a child.
As Gond frantically searched his belongings, Corellon giggled and reached beyond the bag. Gond turned around and saw nothing but the trail he left in his wake as he rushed along: shattered glass, twinkling in Sol's light. "You like these twinkling shards, Corellon?" he asked, "they aren't a gift…they're nothing but proof of my imperfection and patience."
Corellon took up the largest shard in their hand, and smiled watching it shimmer in the light. They joyfully reached for more. So Gond gave them all the scraps, and the Wonderbringer's trash became Corellon's Treasures. As Corellon grew older, they hung their treasures across the skies to twinkle with the memory of Sol, even when their brother's lantern was away lighting the other side of the world.
Nourishing Waters
Chauntea and Silvanus met where the essence of water was close to Sylvane, producing their third child: the tranquil
Eldath. From birth, she adored the sights and sounds of flowing water, laughing in babbling conversation with the bubbling trickle. As she learned to walk, the meandering rivers and creeks of her birthplace formed in the wake of her winding steps. Where she stumbled to the ground, the dimples she left behind filled up with water, forming ponds and lakes.
Green Valleys, Winding Trails
The world had been rendered more hospitable by the works of his children, and Silvanus began his long journey to create things that would thrive in their light and water. Everywhere he stepped, green things grew. And then with tenderness he shaped the beasts, one by one.
In the forest,
Erastil saw Silvanus at work, and planned to accompany him and share a feast in celebration of his good work. He fired his bow at a mighty elk, and knew that one would be enough. He pledged to hunt no more until their hunger returned, and he set out to join Silvanus, dragging his prize along behind him. As the two walked across Sylvane, Erastil's burden left a trail in their wake. Silvanus looked back and grew angry. "You brute! You have desecrated the wild lands!"
"No Silvanus, the plants will grow again, and I've hunted only what's needed to eat. Don't you know that beasts leave trails of their own all the time? Trails themselves can be part of nature's beauty." The two continued to argue until a fight broke out. After their blood was spilled, Erastil ripped the trail up from the ground and cast it into the wind, "fine then, there will be no trail!" He heaved the elk onto his shoulders and turned back the way he had come. This was the first instance of their eternally unresolved argument.
The trail blew on
the winds for a while, and eventually it woke up! "I should be on my way," it said, laughing. So
Avandra was born.
Betrayal and Icy Peaks
Silvanus climbed to the peak of the highest mountaintop where the Plane of Air was near. There he created the birds and other beasts of the skies. On this mountain top, as his leaves rustled in the cool winds, he was seduced by the whispering breeze. He succumbed to these whispers, and gave himself to
the four winds.
He wept, thinking of his wife. As his tears froze and their glacial form covered the mountain top. Silvanus turned his back on the glacier, "I will return to Chauntea, who is kind, Lathander, who is bold, Corellon, who brings me joy, and Eldath, who is the most beautiful."
At this, the Glacier splintered, churned, and shaped into a furious face with lips that blew an icy gale. The gale sent her father tumbling down the mountain side. "None is more beautiful than me! You may turn your back on me, but I will cover your children in ice until everywhere you look, you can see nothing but my reflection." And thus the glaciers of
Auril the unloved began their slow advance across Sylvane.
