Coven of the Ancients
The Unmade can track their history back to the Coven of Ancients. This group of seven mages sought to distance themselves from the world of man that they found so corrupting. The Ancients settled in the country of Keech to the east of the dwarven citadel of Koolm.
Quickly dissension arose. The Coven, an important group of wizard-philosophers, began teaching the then radical belief that there might be more than one God other than The AllFather; indeed, that there might be as many Gods as there were "universes"! They quickly became targets of monks of the Austeres. Legend says that the Coven were taken captive and suffered unspeakable torture but were able to free themselves by transcending to a new state of being.
The Coven had seen, firsthand, the beauty that was the Ether. So compelling was the sight that they taught that all life elsewhere was "a spontaneous outbreak," an "unguided mistake" that needed correction. The Natural State was death and what came afterward. The Coven and all the Unmade were also part of this "grand error," but having seen the truth, they were duty bound to remain until the known 'verse was swept clean of all Human life. Some years later, The Coven chose a successor. It was Oltovm the Builder, the officer who had laid the foundation of the Conversion to The Conciousness; the creator of the process to make the Unmade. Oltovm set out with the Coven to return to the Threshold. It was an arduous journey, months long. Some in their company wondered aloud if The Coven had ever seen the Threshold at all, and they started to doubt his word. But then it was found. Oltovm describes the Threshold as:
"Surrounded by great tidal forces of reality and chaos, treacherous to navigate near, but exotically beautiful, hinting at the dark wonders that lurk beyond."Days were spent waiting for the tidal forces to ease, and then finally the Threshold opened. The Coven ordered all the Unmade except Oltovm to turn their backs as approach was made, and that forever established how a Unmade nears the open Threshold: aftward first. Indeed, no living Unmade except a Lord Marshall may cast his eyes upon the Ether. On the Threshold the men stood, the once and future Lord Marshalls, both now gazing into the beautiful strangeness of The Ether. What words passed between them was never recorded. But while Oltovm held his place, The Coven of Ancients strode into the Ether and were never seen again.
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