A Brief History of Avaleen

"The Seed stirred, not from hunger, but from boredom. It longed for a place to rest its pulse, a place to cradle its unfulfilled hunger. So it reached into the Quiet Void and found the Forgotten Thread, and with one violent stretch of its hand, the Thread snapped— And in that sound, the stars were born."

- The Fifth Houris Scroll

Th Houris Scrolls are a collection of stories, saved from the ruins of the Noma stronghold Houris. The authors are unknown but this is an example of creation myths that exist in Avaleen,

A History of Avaleen

Where did Avaleen come from? That is a question shrouded in mystery throughout time and civilization. It is a question that everyone has pondered in some way at some point, from the most exalted, well-travelled hero to the simplest farmhand who has never set foot outside their village.
Everyone has their own ideas about where the world comes from. And while the thoughts are many, they all have some things in common. As they are all born from jumbled misunderstands of ancient myths told orally from bard to bard, from father to daughter, filtered into religious rewritings of history that favor the teachings of a given deity.
But Avaleen is known for having created folk who can do the impossible - like speaking the full and accurate truth of Avaleen and her lands. The following account of the Myth of Avaleen is a joint effort of the foremost scholars at A'triyes Academy in Oliria and the global seekers of knowledge from the Dusk Order. It was unearthed through diligent investigations by scholars who sifted through crumbling scrolls and forgotten tombs, piecing together fragments of ancient lore. These revelations, long buried beneath layers of dust and time, spoke of a world born not of divine purpose, but from an ancient, fractured, curious will.
The details are often debated, and the question of why still remains. Those who hunger for purpose are called to adventure into the unknown places of the world.

Myth of Avaleen

Before the history of this world can be explored, its context must be established. The world of Avaleen is home to four major continents, two poles, dozens of nations, and an untold number of hidden civilizations within wondrous wilderness.
Each nation, from the most powerful to the smallest nomadic clan, has its own version of where its story began. Different cultures have creations myths that eventually in one way or another converge with history. But while some have merit, others do not. There is no definitive answer to our question, save asking the deities themselves. And we are won't to do that.
Even so, in this report, we are fairly confident to have outlined the most accurate account of our world's humble inception based on findings, fragments, and ancient texts from across the world.

The Stirring

In the beginning, there was only Nothing. Then, from the depths of the endlessness, something stirred. A ripple in the Nothingness. It was not a spark, nor a flame, but the first stirring of thought, will, and desire. Nothing became the Primordial Void, an endless expanse of nothingness, silent and still. It was neither empty nor full, neither dark nor light. It simply was. A vast ocean of potential where time, matter, and form had not yet come into existence.
From this Void, the Titans emerged. The Titans were neither gods nor mortals, but something older, far more ancient. Their bodies were composed of the raw elements of the world—stone, fire, water, air, and the very fabric of reality. They were the architects of existence, and their wills shaped the cosmos. The Titans were vast, their forms impossible to comprehend, their minds complex beyond mortal understanding. They were the first stirrings of creation itself.
The first Titan was Aroth, the Titan of Time and Space. He stretched the fabric of the Void, pulling it apart, and from the space between, he birthed the first stars—great cosmic flames that filled the endless abyss. He shaped the passage of time, creating the cycle of day and night, seasons, and the ticking of existence itself.
Then came Ishthara, born of the void’s silent pull, its stillness and emptiness. Ishthara’s touch gave shape to the world, pulling together fragments of matter and binding them in the first mountains and valleys and crust. What mineral she discarded she crunched into a ball and threw away. This became Gio - Avaleen's first moon.
Following Ishthara came Varaak, the Titan of Fire and Flame, who wove the first volcanoes and set the earth ablaze with heat and energy. From his touch, the sun was born. Its eternal flame igniting the world with light and warmth, and the first cradle of life potential.
Then came Olthra, the Titan of Water and Flow, who shaped the oceans, rivers, and lakes. With Olthra’s touch, the second cradle of life began to pulse and grow in the primordial waters. Where Ishthara had carved, Olthra filled, bringing motion to the world and setting the tides in motion. The world began to spin and darkness and light chased each other across the new lands and seas.
The last of the Titans to emerge was Rhyssar, the Titan of Air and Winds. Rhyssar blew through the world, stirring the skies, creating the winds and the storms. His breath was both one of aid and one of unbridled destruction.
The newborn world turned, and the eons passed. The Titans each shaped their domains and began to experiment with the world they had created, testing the forces of nature. Ishthara, the Titan of Earth, breathed life into the soil, giving it the ability to grow. Vast, petrified forests sprang up where the winds of Rhyssar and the water of Olthra met. Rivers carved through mountains, and seas stretched out across the world.
Where Isthtara's touch fell, plants began to bloom. Thus the first spark of life in a world was shaped, though the world was still empty and silent. 
Varaak, the Titan of Fire, tested the limits of his power. With some bursts of flame, he ignited the land, creating spark and growth. From this creatures of fire were born. Small, and fleeting, but full of energy. Oltara, the Titan of Water saw this and began to shape creates of water in the deep seas, imbuing them with the power to live and thrive in the aquatic world they had created. Rhyssar, with his winds, gave breath to the skies. Creates of air took form, able to soar and drift on the currents that filled Avaleen's newly formed atmosphere. Aroth saw this and guided the stars, weaving constellations into the night sky, marking the heavens with patterns that only the wise could decipher.

The First Sundering

Together, these Primordial Titans crafted Avaleen. A world of unimaginable beauty and boundless potential. But as they shaped the land, a great rift began to form between them. The Titans were beings of such power that they began to disagree on what should become of the world they had created. Aroth, the Titan of Time, sought to preserve the balance of order and cycles. Isthara, the Titan of Matter, wanted the world to be a place of pure creation and stability. Olthran, the Titan of Life, wished to give the world untamed freedom and chaos, while Rhyssar, the Titan of Wind, longed to see the world in constant motion, ever-changing and evolving.
The world, once full of harmony, began to fracture as the Titans’ ambitions clashed. Their once united effort splintered, and Avaleen grew chaotic. A beautiful, untamed world where life flourished, but conflict stirred beneath the surface.
As the Titans quarreled, their battles and disagreements caused great upheaval across Avaleen. Cataclysmic storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods ravaged the lands. The Titans realized that their conflict would destroy the world they had created if it continued.
Despite the creation of life, the Titans could not escape their inherent nature: their power was too great. As the world grew, so did their reach and influence, until their very presence began to warp the fabric of reality itself. The raw, unchecked power of the Titans tore at the world, pulling the fabric of existence in different directions.
Amid this chaos, a group of deities descended upon Avaleen. These gods were not born from the Titans' own creation, but rather from distant realms beyond the fabric of the world. Forces that existed outside the laws of Avaleen itself. Their arrival was sudden and incomprehensible to the Titans, for these gods hailed from planes and dimensions that existed beyond even the understanding of the ancient behemoths. Still, the gods were welcomed and a fragile peace once again embraced the world as the first mortal races emerged.
But a thousand years, two, three, more, is a long time and the Titans grew obsessed with their creations, seeking control over domains that were never meant to be controlled or theirs to control. How and why the cataclysmic eon-lasting Primordial War broke out between the Titans and the Gods is a secret shrouded from mortal eyes. We only know that it happened. And that this war led to the First Sundering. A great cataclysm that shattered the Titan's power and fragmented their once unified forms.
The earth trembled, the seas roared, the forests fell, and the winds screamed as the wills of the Titans and the Gods collided and tore at Avaleen's surface. The Sundering did not kill the Titans, but it scattered them across the world. Their forms broken and disjointed. Some became mountain ranges, volcanoes, rivers, and forests of a lesser, more verdant shape - their physical forms forever intertwined with the land. Others remained as dormant forces, influencing the world from beneath the surface and beyond the Veil. Shaping the cycles of time and the forces of nature that govern Avaleen today.

The Legacy of the Titans

From the wreckage of the battle, new life emerged. The world, shaped by the elemental forces of the Titans, began to thrive with sentient life as the new gods began their rile. The first beasts and mortals grew from the soil of Avaleen, worshipping the land, the elements, and the very forces that shaped their world. They were the descendants of the Titan's creations, inheriting their raw power and their deep connection to the earth. The gods saw them and rejoiced.
Though the Titans are no longer seen as living, breathing beings, their influence continues to reverberate throughout the world. Its seasons, lands, tides, all of these are reminders of the Titans' presence once upon a primordial time. And though the gods may now rule, the legacy of the Titans, with their power of the raw elements, remains the guiding force in the world. It is, after all, because of them the elemental planes exist as each Titan tried to funnel some part of their power away from the fragile surface of Avaleen.

The Age of Celestials

Avaleen's history is shaped by the ebb and flow of power, ambition, and discovery. The Age of Celestials marked Avaleen’s transformation from a world of untamed primal forces to one of divine order and mortal ascension. This era began in the wake of the Primordial War.
When the war ended, the Titans’ colossal forms crumbled into Avaleen’s geography. Mountains of their bones, rivers of their ichor, and forests became nourished by their fading power. In their place rose the Celestials, a pantheon of inscrutable gods from beyond the stars. Unlike the Titans, who embodied raw, natural forces, the Celestials were creatures of logic and ambition, and their arrival marked a new chapter in Avaleen’s history.
When the battlefield of Avaleen lay in ruin, torn apart by the elemental fury of the Primordial Titans and the relentless might of the new Pantheon led by Ignis, there was a vacuum of power that hungered to be filled.
The conflict had not merely been one for power but of ideology too. Chaos and primal freedom versus structure and divine order. When the Titans fell, their defeat marked the end of their dominion over Avaleen, but it also unmasked a betrayal that would forever alter the celestial pantheon.
Among the ranks of the gods, a faction had turned against their kin in secret. These celestials, lured by the Titans’ unbridled power or perhaps seduced by their vision of a free and untamed Avaleen, had allied with the Primordials, wielding divine strength to bolster their chaotic cause. For centuries, their betrayal fractured the pantheon, leaving the gods to wage war not only against the titans but against their own.
When the Titans at last were vanquished, the surviving gods turned their wrath upon the traitors. Though victorious, the gods knew that slaying their kin outright would destabilize the fabric of reality itself, for the now-called Fallen were bound to the cosmic laws they represented. Instead, Ignis devised a punishment far more enduring and cruel: an eternal banishment.
Though locked away in their prison plane, the Fallen were not silent. Their prisons exists at the fringes of the Cosmic Sea, their influence slipping through the cracks of the mortal and divine realms. From their exile, the Fallen send whispers into Avaleen, corrupting mortal hearts and sowing discord. Their power is diminished but far from extinguished, and their influence continues to shape Avaleen’s history.
Cultists and warlocks, drawn to the promise of forbidden power, seek out the Fallen’s whispers, becoming their mortal instruments. Artifacts of the Fallen, imbued with fragments of their divine essence, occasionally resurface, their corrupting influence stirring chaos wherever they appear.
But that is today, and this is then. The remaining deities reshaped Avaleen not as architects of life-force but as stewards of structure and purpose. They brought order to chaos, enforcing laws of nature that had once been fluid under the Titans’ rule. But it was not without strife. Kingdoms and empires clashws over resources, beliefs, and territories. The gods themselves not unified, and though they worked together to maintain balance, their differing ideologies sometimes caused rifts that rippled through the world.
Yet it is an indisputable fact that the mortal races began to flourish under the protection and guidance of the deities. Elves took on roles as scholars and mystics, uncovering the ancient secrets of Avaleen, preserving yesterday for tomorrow. Dwarves became master craftsmen and builders, using their knowledge to construct cities and fortresses. Humans, versatile and adaptable, began to spread across the continents, founding empires and kingdoms while gnomes advanced in arts of invention and alchemy, and giants, though diminished, remained as powerful stewards of the land.
During this time, the celestials physically walked among the mortals, their radiant forms inspiring awe and reverence. They shared knowledge of arcane arts, the construction of great works, and the secrets of the stars. Yet their presence also brought fear. The celestials were not all so kind, nor were they cruel. They were inscrutable, their motivations as unknowable as the forces they embodied. They simply were according to their nature and schisms began to form between the celestials and the mortals.
Some gods viewed mortals as fragile and fleeting, needing careful guidance. Others saw them as tools, their lives woven into grand cosmic designs. Others wanted to control them, while yet others wanted let them evolve on their own accords. This divide would eventually lead to the deities leaving the material plane altogether.
But even though the gods retreated to their distant planes, their influence lingers and is ever-present. Apparitions and visions of divine beings guide or haunt mortals, and the Celestial Age became marked by their cryptic prophecies and selective interventions. The mortal races — elves, dwarves, humans, gnomes, noma, and others — flourish in this divine shadow, but they have begun to claim their own destiny, delving into the secrets of the Titans and the gods alike.

In summary: While Avaleen prospered in many ways in this Age, it was also a world of tension. The rise of arcane invention challenges the authority of the gods, while the Fallen Gods sow discord among nations. Hidden in forgotten ruins, artifacts of the Titans and Celestials alike hold powers that could tip the balance of the age.

Avaleen, forged by Titans and ruled by gods, now stands on the cusp of an era defined by mortal ambition and cosmic reckoning.

Age of Arcanists

The Rise of the Arcane Arts as the gods retired was truly a time of marvels, when the people of Avaleen turned away from divine oversight and embraced their own boundless, unlimited potential. It was an age of discovery and creation, where magic became as ubiquitous as the air itself. No longer bound by the laws of nature alone, Avaleen flourished under the mastery of arcane arts. The leylines - veins of magical energy coursing through the world - were tapped and harnessed, empowering mortals to reshape their reality.
Without the gods, the pain of past conflicts forged a rare unity among the mortal races, and peace prevailed. Magic replaced what divine intervention had once provided, and mortals found power not in prayers but in themselves and the world they inhabited. It was during this time that the Portals, a massive and intricate network of teleportation circles, sigils, and anchors spanning the ancient races' three main realms: Faerie, the Material Plane, and Shade Realm were built. This vast system of travel knit Avaleen together in ways previously unimagined.
Two major cities stood as the pinnacles of this age: Agartha in the Faerie Realm, the "Shining Labyrinth," and Japhaia in the Shade Realm, the "Crimson Spire." Scholars flocked to Agartha, delving into the mysteries of the cosmos. Japhaia, in contrast, was a bastion of daring experimentation, where arcane and magitech blended to reshape the world.
Their wonders were unparalleled: enchanted skyships that sailed the winds, planar gates that connected worlds, and automatons that toiled tirelessly to build an age of prosperity.
Yet, with great heights come great perils. The twin cities became overzealous in their mastery of planar energies. Their experiments fractured the delicate balance of the Veil, threatening the fabric of Avaleen itself. When their interdimensional anchors failed, Agartha and Japhaia came crashing back into the Material Plane in an event remembered as The Second Sundering. The cities’ fall unleashed waves of arcane devastation, rupturing the leylines and destabilizing magic across the world. Spells failed, constructs crumbled, and vast regions became zones of wild, unpredictable magic, or dead zones where no magic could function at all.
Despite the devastation, Avaleen's people endured. The alliances forged in the Age of Arcanists held strong, and new heroes rose to fight back. Though the Veil was out of reach and the arcane arts were no longer as reliable as they once were, mortals adapted to their changed world. In the ruins of Agartha and Japhaia, they found fragments of the knowledge that had once defined their golden age. The leylines, though chaotic, still pulsed with potential, offering both opportunities and dangers to those bold enough to explore them.
The Age of Arcane is remembered as a time of boundless ambition and unparalleled progress. It was a time when mortals proved that they could shape their own destinies, free from divine interference. Yet it also serves as a cautionary tale, a reminder that even the most wondrous achievements can crumble under the weight of unchecked hubris. The people of Avaleen now walk forward with the scars of their past and the hope of a future yet to be written.

The Second Sundering

The Second Sundering was the cataclysmic crescendo of the Shadow Wars, a bitter conflict between the akati fey elves and the illevan shadow drow that spanned generations but had not touched Avaleen much until that day.
At the heart of their strife lay the Portals. The akati, planar wanderers and wielders of raw, untamed magic, believed the Portals should remain free and under Ayursha's control as she was the goddess that had granted them the Veil. The illevan, masters of precision, engineering and arcane refinement, sought to control and regulate the Portals, claiming their governance as creators would ensure safety and progress. This fundamental disagreement festered into a war fueled by hubris, ambition, and the whispered manipulations of unseen forces.
The conflict escalated as both sides unleashed devastating magics, culminating in experiments so reckless they shattered the very fabric of reality. Their hubris led to disaster. Drawn inexorably to the same point on the material plane, the ancient and arcane-rich city of Ghor Minthra, Japhaia and Agartha collided in a cataclysmic event that sent shockwaves across all planes of existence.
The Sundering, as it came to be known, obliterated Ghor Minthra, leaving its ruins buried beneath the debris of the fallen cities. The leylines, once the lifeblood of Avaleen’s magic, fractured and writhed uncontrollably. Vast tracts of land were scarred, some rendered barren and lifeless while others became wild zones of volatile magic. The Portals themselves, once the coveted prize of the war, were destabilized, their magic unpredictable and dangerous. Yet some still function, even if their function is rudimentary at best.
In the aftermath of centuries of reignited war, the devastation forced the warring factions to confront the consequences of their ambition. The Accords were forged, a fragile peace that served more as a means to stave off further mutual destruction than a genuine resolution of their differences. The akati and the illevan pledged cooperation, yet their distrust ran deep.
For a brief time, the world knew a semblance of calm. Nature reclaimed the ruins of Ghor Minthra, its spires entangled with vines and moss, its arcane crystals dimmed beneath centuries of overgrowth. Yet the scars of the Sundering remained, both in the land and in the hearts of those who had survived.
The Sundering stands as a grim testament to the cost of unchecked power and unyielding pride. Despite a tenuous peace, it also left Avaleen fractured in more ways than one. The Shadow Wars ended not with victory, but with loss shared by all, leaving the akati and illevan to navigate a future shadowed by the weight of their past.

Purpose

To claim a cohesive truth about the history of Avaleen that can serve as a counter to all the religious and political propaganda surrounding the past. It is however known that this might be wrong. But unless one of the deities come forward, this is the best that mortals have.

Read the Document

A Brief History of Avaleen

A History of Avaleen

Where did Avaleen come from? That is a question shrouded in mystery throughout time and civilization. It is a question that everyone has pondered in some way at some point, from the most exalted, well-travelled hero to the simplest farmhand who has never set foot outside their village.
Everyone has their own ideas about where the world comes from. And while the thoughts are many, they all have some things in common. As they are all born from jumbled misunderstands of ancient myths told orally from bard to bard, from father to daughter, filtered into religious rewritings of history that favor the teachings of a given deity.
But Avaleen is known for having created folk who can do the impossible - like speaking the full and accurate truth of Avaleen and her lands. The following account of the Myth of Avaleen is a joint effort of the foremost scholars at A'triyes Academy in Oliria and the global seekers of knowledge from the Dusk Order. It was unearthed through diligent investigations by scholars who sifted through crumbling scrolls and forgotten tombs, piecing together fragments of ancient lore. These revelations, long buried beneath layers of dust and time, spoke of a world born not of divine purpose, but from an ancient, fractured, curious will.
The details are often debated, and the question of why still remains. Those who hunger for purpose are called to adventure into the unknown places of the world.

Myth of Avaleen

Before the history of this world can be explored, its context must be established. The world of Avaleen is home to four major continents, two poles, dozens of nations, and an untold number of hidden civilizations within wondrous wilderness.
Each nation, from the most powerful to the smallest nomadic clan, has its own version of where its story began. Different cultures have creations myths that eventually in one way or another converge with history. But while some have merit, others do not. There is no definitive answer to our question, save asking the deities themselves. And we are won't to do that.
Even so, in this report, we are fairly confident to have outlined the most accurate account of our world's humble inception based on findings, fragments, and ancient texts from across the world.

The Stirring

In the beginning, there was only Nothing. Then, from the depths of the endlessness, something stirred. A ripple in the Nothingness. It was not a spark, nor a flame, but the first stirring of thought, will, and desire. Nothing became the Primordial Void, an endless expanse of nothingness, silent and still. It was neither empty nor full, neither dark nor light. It simply was. A vast ocean of potential where time, matter, and form had not yet come into existence.
From this Void, the Titans emerged. The Titans were neither gods nor mortals, but something older, far more ancient. Their bodies were composed of the raw elements of the world—stone, fire, water, air, and the very fabric of reality. They were the architects of existence, and their wills shaped the cosmos. The Titans were vast, their forms impossible to comprehend, their minds complex beyond mortal understanding. They were the first stirrings of creation itself.
The first Titan was Aroth, the Titan of Time and Space. He stretched the fabric of the Void, pulling it apart, and from the space between, he birthed the first stars—great cosmic flames that filled the endless abyss. He shaped the passage of time, creating the cycle of day and night, seasons, and the ticking of existence itself.
Then came Ishthara, born of the void’s silent pull, its stillness and emptiness. Ishthara’s touch gave shape to the world, pulling together fragments of matter and binding them in the first mountains and valleys and crust. What mineral she discarded she crunched into a ball and threw away. This became Gio - Avaleen's first moon.
Following Ishthara came Varaak, the Titan of Fire and Flame, who wove the first volcanoes and set the earth ablaze with heat and energy. From his touch, the sun was born. Its eternal flame igniting the world with light and warmth, and the first cradle of life potential.
Then came Olthra, the Titan of Water and Flow, who shaped the oceans, rivers, and lakes. With Olthra’s touch, the second cradle of life began to pulse and grow in the primordial waters. Where Ishthara had carved, Olthra filled, bringing motion to the world and setting the tides in motion. The world began to spin and darkness and light chased each other across the new lands and seas.
The last of the Titans to emerge was Rhyssar, the Titan of Air and Winds. Rhyssar blew through the world, stirring the skies, creating the winds and the storms. His breath was both one of aid and one of unbridled destruction.
The newborn world turned, and the eons passed. The Titans each shaped their domains and began to experiment with the world they had created, testing the forces of nature. Ishthara, the Titan of Earth, breathed life into the soil, giving it the ability to grow. Vast, petrified forests sprang up where the winds of Rhyssar and the water of Olthra met. Rivers carved through mountains, and seas stretched out across the world.
Where Isthtara's touch fell, plants began to bloom. Thus the first spark of life in a world was shaped, though the world was still empty and silent.
Varaak, the Titan of Fire, tested the limits of his power. With some bursts of flame, he ignited the land, creating spark and growth. From this creatures of fire were born. Small, and fleeting, but full of energy. Oltara, the Titan of Water saw this and began to shape creates of water in the deep seas, imbuing them with the power to live and thrive in the aquatic world they had created. Rhyssar, with his winds, gave breath to the skies. Creates of air took form, able to soar and drift on the currents that filled Avaleen's newly formed atmosphere. Aroth saw this and guided the stars, weaving constellations into the night sky, marking the heavens with patterns that only the wise could decipher.

The First Sundering

Together, these Primordial Titans crafted Avaleen. A world of unimaginable beauty and boundless potential. But as they shaped the land, a great rift began to form between them. The Titans were beings of such power that they began to disagree on what should become of the world they had created. Aroth, the Titan of Time, sought to preserve the balance of order and cycles. Isthara, the Titan of Matter, wanted the world to be a place of pure creation and stability. Olthran, the Titan of Life, wished to give the world untamed freedom and chaos, while Rhyssar, the Titan of Wind, longed to see the world in constant motion, ever-changing and evolving.
The world, once full of harmony, began to fracture as the Titans’ ambitions clashed. Their once united effort splintered, and Avaleen grew chaotic. A beautiful, untamed world where life flourished, but conflict stirred beneath the surface.
As the Titans quarreled, their battles and disagreements caused great upheaval across Avaleen. Cataclysmic storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods ravaged the lands. The Titans realized that their conflict would destroy the world they had created if it continued.
Despite the creation of life, the Titans could not escape their inherent nature: their power was too great. As the world grew, so did their reach and influence, until their very presence began to warp the fabric of reality itself. The raw, unchecked power of the Titans tore at the world, pulling the fabric of existence in different directions.
Amid this chaos, a group of deities descended upon Avaleen. These gods were not born from the Titans' own creation, but rather from distant realms beyond the fabric of the world. Forces that existed outside the laws of Avaleen itself. Their arrival was sudden and incomprehensible to the Titans, for these gods hailed from planes and dimensions that existed beyond even the understanding of the ancient behemoths. Still, the gods were welcomed and a fragile peace once again embraced the world as the first mortal races emerged.
But a thousand years, two, three, more, is a long time and the Titans grew obsessed with their creations, seeking control over domains that were never meant to be controlled or theirs to control. How and why the cataclysmic eon-lasting Primordial War broke out between the Titans and the Gods is a secret shrouded from mortal eyes. We only know that it happened. And that this war led to the First Sundering. A great cataclysm that shattered the Titan's power and fragmented their once unified forms.
The earth trembled, the seas roared, the forests fell, and the winds screamed as the wills of the Titans and the Gods collided and tore at Avaleen's surface. The Sundering did not kill the Titans, but it scattered them across the world. Their forms broken and disjointed. Some became mountain ranges, volcanoes, rivers, and forests of a lesser, more verdant shape - their physical forms forever intertwined with the land. Others remained as dormant forces, influencing the world from beneath the surface and beyond the Veil. Shaping the cycles of time and the forces of nature that govern Avaleen today.

The Legacy of the Titans

From the wreckage of the battle, new life emerged. The world, shaped by the elemental forces of the Titans, began to thrive with sentient life as the new gods began their rile. The first beasts and mortals grew from the soil of Avaleen, worshipping the land, the elements, and the very forces that shaped their world. They were the descendants of the Titan's creations, inheriting their raw power and their deep connection to the earth. The gods saw them and rejoiced.
Though the Titans are no longer seen as living, breathing beings, their influence continues to reverberate throughout the world. Its seasons, lands, tides, all of these are reminders of the Titans' presence once upon a primordial time. And though the gods may now rule, the legacy of the Titans, with their power of the raw elements, remains the guiding force in the world. It is, after all, because of them the elemental planes exist as each Titan tried to funnel some part of their power away from the fragile surface of Avaleen.

The Age of Celestials

Avaleen's history is shaped by the ebb and flow of power, ambition, and discovery. The Age of Celestials marked Avaleen’s transformation from a world of untamed primal forces to one of divine order and mortal ascension. This era began in the wake of the Primordial War.
When the war ended, the Titans’ colossal forms crumbled into Avaleen’s geography. Mountains of their bones, rivers of their ichor, and forests became nourished by their fading power. In their place rose the Celestials, a pantheon of inscrutable gods from beyond the stars. Unlike the Titans, who embodied raw, natural forces, the Celestials were creatures of logic and ambition, and their arrival marked a new chapter in Avaleen’s history.
When the battlefield of Avaleen lay in ruin, torn apart by the elemental fury of the Primordial Titans and the relentless might of the new Pantheon led by Ignis, there was a vacuum of power that hungered to be filled.
The conflict had not merely been one for power but of ideology too. Chaos and primal freedom versus structure and divine order. When the Titans fell, their defeat marked the end of their dominion over Avaleen, but it also unmasked a betrayal that would forever alter the celestial pantheon.
Among the ranks of the gods, a faction had turned against their kin in secret. These celestials, lured by the Titans’ unbridled power or perhaps seduced by their vision of a free and untamed Avaleen, had allied with the Primordials, wielding divine strength to bolster their chaotic cause. For centuries, their betrayal fractured the pantheon, leaving the gods to wage war not only against the titans but against their own.
When the Titans at last were vanquished, the surviving gods turned their wrath upon the traitors. Though victorious, the gods knew that slaying their kin outright would destabilize the fabric of reality itself, for the now-called Fallen were bound to the cosmic laws they represented. Instead, Ignis devised a punishment far more enduring and cruel: an eternal banishment.
Though locked away in their prison plane, the Fallen were not silent. Their prisons exists at the fringes of the Cosmic Sea, their influence slipping through the cracks of the mortal and divine realms. From their exile, the Fallen send whispers into Avaleen, corrupting mortal hearts and sowing discord. Their power is diminished but far from extinguished, and their influence continues to shape Avaleen’s history.
Cultists and warlocks, drawn to the promise of forbidden power, seek out the Fallen’s whispers, becoming their mortal instruments. Artifacts of the Fallen, imbued with fragments of their divine essence, occasionally resurface, their corrupting influence stirring chaos wherever they appear.
But that is today, and this is then. The remaining deities reshaped Avaleen not as architects of life-force but as stewards of structure and purpose. They brought order to chaos, enforcing laws of nature that had once been fluid under the Titans’ rule. But it was not without strife. Kingdoms and empires clashws over resources, beliefs, and territories. The gods themselves not unified, and though they worked together to maintain balance, their differing ideologies sometimes caused rifts that rippled through the world.
Yet it is an indisputable fact that the mortal races began to flourish under the protection and guidance of the deities. Elves took on roles as scholars and mystics, uncovering the ancient secrets of Avaleen, preserving yesterday for tomorrow. Dwarves became master craftsmen and builders, using their knowledge to construct cities and fortresses. Humans, versatile and adaptable, began to spread across the continents, founding empires and kingdoms while gnomes advanced in arts of invention and alchemy, and giants, though diminished, remained as powerful stewards of the land.
During this time, the celestials physically walked among the mortals, their radiant forms inspiring awe and reverence. They shared knowledge of arcane arts, the construction of great works, and the secrets of the stars. Yet their presence also brought fear. The celestials were not all so kind, nor were they cruel. They were inscrutable, their motivations as unknowable as the forces they embodied. They simply were according to their nature and schisms began to form between the celestials and the mortals.
Some gods viewed mortals as fragile and fleeting, needing careful guidance. Others saw them as tools, their lives woven into grand cosmic designs. Others wanted to control them, while yet others wanted let them evolve on their own accords. This divide would eventually lead to the deities leaving the material plane altogether.
But even though the gods retreated to their distant planes, their influence lingers and is ever-present. Apparitions and visions of divine beings guide or haunt mortals, and the Celestial Age became marked by their cryptic prophecies and selective interventions. The mortal races — elves, dwarves, humans, gnomes, noma, and others — flourish in this divine shadow, but they have begun to claim their own destiny, delving into the secrets of the Titans and the gods alike.

In summary: While Avaleen prospered in many ways in this Age, it was also a world of tension.

The rise of arcane invention challenges the authority of the gods,

while the Fallen Gods sow discord among nations. Hidden in

forgotten ruins, artifacts of the Titans and Celestials alike hold

powers that could tip the balance of the age.

Avaleen, forged by Titans and ruled by gods, now stands on the cusp of an era defined by mortal ambition and cosmic reckoning.

Age of Arcanists

The Rise of the Arcane Arts as the gods retired was truly a time of marvels, when the people of Avaleen turned away from divine oversight and embraced their own boundless, unlimited potential. It was an age of discovery and creation, where magic became as ubiquitous as the air itself. No longer bound by the laws of nature alone, Avaleen flourished under the mastery of arcane arts. The leylines - veins of magical energy coursing through the world - were tapped and harnessed, empowering mortals to reshape their reality.
Without the gods, the pain of past conflicts forged a rare unity among the mortal races, and peace prevailed. Magic replaced what divine intervention had once provided, and mortals found power not in prayers but in themselves and the world they inhabited. It was during this time that the Portals, a massive and intricate network of teleportation circles, sigils, and anchors spanning the ancient races' three main realms: Faerie, the Material Plane, and Shade Realm were built. This vast system of travel knit Avaleen together in ways previously unimagined.
Two major cities stood as the pinnacles of this age: Agartha in the Faerie Realm, the "Shining Labyrinth," and Japhaia in the Shade Realm, the "Crimson Spire." Scholars flocked to Agartha, delving into the mysteries of the cosmos. Japhaia, in contrast, was a bastion of daring experimentation, where arcane and magitech blended to reshape the world.
Their wonders were unparalleled: enchanted skyships that sailed the winds, planar gates that connected worlds, and automatons that toiled tirelessly to build an age of prosperity.
Yet, with great heights come great perils. The twin cities became overzealous in their mastery of planar energies. Their experiments fractured the delicate balance of the Veil, threatening the fabric of Avaleen itself. When their interdimensional anchors failed, Agartha and Japhaia came crashing back into the Material Plane in an event remembered as The Second Sundering. The cities’ fall unleashed waves of arcane devastation, rupturing the leylines and destabilizing magic across the world. Spells failed, constructs crumbled, and vast regions became zones of wild, unpredictable magic, or dead zones where no magic could function at all.
Despite the devastation, Avaleen's people endured. The alliances forged in the Age of Arcanists held strong, and new heroes rose to fight back. Though the Veil was out of reach and the arcane arts were no longer as reliable as they once were, mortals adapted to their changed world. In the ruins of Agartha and Japhaia, they found fragments of the knowledge that had once defined their golden age. The leylines, though chaotic, still pulsed with potential, offering both opportunities and dangers to those bold enough to explore them.
The Age of Arcane is remembered as a time of boundless ambition and unparalleled progress. It was a time when mortals proved that they could shape their own destinies, free from divine interference. Yet it also serves as a cautionary tale, a reminder that even the most wondrous achievements can crumble under the weight of unchecked hubris. The people of Avaleen now walk forward with the scars of their past and the hope of a future yet to be written.

The Second Sundering

The Second Sundering was the cataclysmic crescendo of the Shadow Wars, a bitter conflict between the akati fey elves and the illevan shadow drow that spanned generations but had not touched Avaleen much until that day.
At the heart of their strife lay the Portals. The akati, planar wanderers and wielders of raw, untamed magic, believed the Portals should remain free and under Ayursha's control as she was the goddess that had granted them the Veil. The illevan, masters of precision, engineering and arcane refinement, sought to control and regulate the Portals, claiming their governance as creators would ensure safety and progress. This fundamental disagreement festered into a war fueled by hubris, ambition, and the whispered manipulations of unseen forces.
The conflict escalated as both sides unleashed devastating magics, culminating in experiments so reckless they shattered the very fabric of reality. Their hubris led to disaster. Drawn inexorably to the same point on the material plane, the ancient and arcane-rich city of Ghor Minthra, Japhaia and Agartha collided in a cataclysmic event that sent shockwaves across all planes of existence.
The Sundering, as it came to be known, obliterated Ghor Minthra, leaving its ruins buried beneath the debris of the fallen cities. The leylines, once the lifeblood of Avaleen’s magic, fractured and writhed uncontrollably. Vast tracts of land were scarred, some rendered barren and lifeless while others became wild zones of volatile magic. The Portals themselves, once the coveted prize of the war, were destabilized, their magic unpredictable and dangerous. Yet some still function, even if their function is rudimentary at best.
In the aftermath of centuries of reignited war, the devastation forced the warring factions to confront the consequences of their ambition. The Accords were forged, a fragile peace that served more as a means to stave off further mutual destruction than a genuine resolution of their differences. The akati and the illevan pledged cooperation, yet their distrust ran deep.
For a brief time, the world knew a semblance of calm. Nature reclaimed the ruins of Ghor Minthra, its spires entangled with vines and moss, its arcane crystals dimmed beneath centuries of overgrowth. Yet the scars of the Sundering remained, both in the land and in the hearts of those who had survived.
The Sundering stands as a grim testament to the cost of unchecked power and unyielding pride. Despite a tenuous peace, it also left Avaleen fractured in more ways than one. The Shadow Wars ended not with victory, but with loss shared by all, leaving the akati and illevan to navigate a future shadowed by the weight of their past.

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Type

Manuscript, Historical

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

108 CE

Myth

The Stirring - The Creation Myth of Avaleen

Location

Avaleen

Signatories (Organizations)

• The Dusk Order