Luxxoros

Child. Young one. Fresh spawn of the corpse; Luxxoros. I shall regale you with a story of our pantheon, for our pantheon is that which shapes our world. It begins with the twin gods, Shub-luxxorath and Shub-teneborath. Some scholars believe beings exist: greater even than the twin gods. We call them the Ultimus, though any attempt at understanding these beings beyond merely naming them would surely drive one mad.   In ancient times, it is known that each of the twin gods was tasked with protecting a primordial essence. Shub-luxxorath protected the essence of light, while Shub-teneborath protected the dark. Shub-teneborath, however, coveted the light essence over his own. Eventually, out of jealousy, Shub-teneborath assaulted Shub-luxxorath in an attempt to steal the essence of light. In the process, Shub-luxxorath sacrificed himself to protect the essence of light, entombing it within his corpse. From the depths of Shub-luxxorath’s light-imbued corpse, the first mortals were born: the Veterni.   The first Veterni, Veternibus, became their king, and the Veterni lived in harmony with nature for a long period of time. In order to spite the deceased Shub-luxxorath, Shub-teneborath spread the dark essence over the newly formed plane of Luxxoros, resulting in the birth of a new mortal race, the Homini - or mankind. Now the first man, Yog-hominibus, became the god-emperor of mankind. Mankind emerged on the mainlands of Luxxoros, and decimated all life in that place, turning what was once flourishing forests and flowing springs of sweet water into nothing but boundless plains of ash and bone, the ruins of ancient cities dotting the landscape. This new mortal race dominated the Veterni inhabiting the mainlands, corrupting them into a ghoulish race of grovelling bags of skin and bone. The mainlands, the birthplace of mankind, is now known as the Deadlands. Mankind went on to create technology, society, fearsome machinations, and more.   Eventually, mankind would learn that their nature was unsustainable. They learned to live in harmony with the light essence, and fled from the Deadlands to other continents and islands of Luxxoros, where nature still thrived. While these other landmasses were more sparsely populated, Veterni cities still existed in these places. In particular was the extensive subterranean city of Emberhold in the isles of Sanguiria. This city was constructed as a tomb for Veternibus, and features a vertical tunnel directly to the birthplace of the Veterni; the Womb of Luxxoros; the light essence. When the Homini found this city, their society mingled with that of the Veterni, creating modern Humans. The new Human society established the Sanguirian Empire, spreading the new mixed-race species of mortal across the plane, constructing their new capital city of Aura Londia, and expanding to encompass almost 2/3rds of Luxxoros.   Today, despite Shub-teneborath being their creator, the Humankind of Sanguiria often consider him evil. Instead, the worship of Shub-luxxorath is widespread. Humankind shuns the dark essence and laments their origins, while they treasure the light essence. Though in recent decades, the light essence has begun to fade. Humans regularly embark on pilgrimages to the religious capital of their empire, Emberhold, where they travel deep below the surface of Luxxoros to sacrifice their essence, which consists primarily of the dark, to feed the light essence in a fatal ritual. In addition to the fading light essence, the Sanguirian Empire maintains a very fragile peace with the pureblood Homini empires, which could be broken at any minute by the slightest offence on either side.