The Gods of Valenor
The Gods of Valenor, also known as the New Gods, are a pantheon established well before the arrival of the Phan.
It is said that they were mortal before acquiring their divine powers, which they used to defeat the Old Gods, opening the world to a time of peace and prosperity.
Legend has it that Melethis and Danu were born in a remote village in a forgotten kingdom, it is only recalled that the kingdom is fiercely opposed to the rule of the Old Kingdom of Hegnor.
From an early age they showed to have uncommon abilities, each of them stood out for their particular opposition to Ancient Myths whose aberrant cults at the time dominated life on Valenor.
These cults committed acts of unprecedented ferocity and often wreaked havoc and death throughout the world, causing famine and disease.
Both showed talents and abilities akin to the forces of good, some as Druid (Danu), some as Magus (Melethis). After their union, the four children (Arva, Sela, Noctris and Sardar) also inherited the powers and spirit of their parents.
Over the course of long journeys their skills were continually stimulated and over the years they became more and more skilled, their fame grew and they began to have devoted followers who saw them as bearers of hope and change, this attracted the attention of the priests of the Ancient myths i who saw them as a threat to the stability and order of ancient gods.
A veritable manhunt was launched against them, their followers were tortured and killed, entire villages destroyed in an attempt to kill them.
In them, however, all this did nothing but strengthen the will to fight, even though they knew they were fighting a hopeless fight. Until, one day, they reached a mysterious and never identified structure in which they obtained magical artifacts, with these powerful objects they resumed the fight by challenging and winning various victories against the forces of the Ancient Myths.
Over time they were joined by figures who also became legends, including an Orc (Gharuk), a Triton (Thalassa), a young Avian (Leida) and the smith (Brumbarr) whose origin we do not know for sure. They soon became trusted friends and comrades.
These victories caused entire realms to renounce the religion imposed on them by the faithful of the Ancient Myths, driving out the cultists and destroying their wicked places of worship, starting to see the rebel adventurers as figures worthy of respect, the first step towards immortality.
The coalition continued to grow until it attracted the ire of the high priests of the Myths, who decided to destroy the rebellion once and for all. Immense armies were assembled and creatures summoned from beyond the Void; the heart of the army was made up of some immense Eldritch Aberrations, creatures summoned to annihilate all life forms they encountered in their path.
The terrible threat that loomed over the rebel kingdoms and the promise of massacres and devastation prompted all those who had freed themselves from the old gods to create their own army, entrusting it to the Heroes who had led them to this point.
We arrived at the battle in the plain of Cyric, the clash was immediately terrible and bloody, the rebel forces at first seemed able to prevail but, giving life to a huge mass sacrifice, the high priests of the Myths evoke a very manifestation of a Great Ancient.
Panic spread rapidly in the ranks of the rebels, many began to abandon the battlefield, others were obliterated by the new entity. Those who remained on the battlefield began to look towards the Heroes, praying them for a salvation that seemed impossible.
Given the immense danger, the Heroes decided to directly face the Horror coming from the stars, the clash was epic and for a long time uncertain, until with a last blow the heroes managed to kill the creature. The death of the Arcane Horror unleashed a cataclysm that destroyed the entire region of Cyric, causing it to sink into the waters of the ocean. In the following centuries this inner sea will take the name of Gulf of the Relics.
The survivors who had reached safety on the shores of the new sea saw the waters open, from which the Heroes suffused by an aura of light emerged, leading to safety the brave warriors who had remained at their side until the last.
After the battle, the survivors returned to their homes, reporting the news of the victory and above all the deeds of the Heroes. The annihilation of the army of the Cults, the tales of the deaths of the great priests and the stories about the Heroes gave way to a vast insurrection, even in territories that until then had been firmly controlled by the cultists of the Ancient Myths.
The Heroes had become Immortals, their way to godhood was open. It remained to take the last step and free Valenor forever from the yoke of the Myths.
The deeds of what they had accomplished in the plain of Cyric soon became a myth and the peoples began to turn to them as divinities, especially in the moments when the cults of the Myths threatened them; creating a first form of worship.
Aware of the fact that their enterprise was not over, it often happened that populations threatened by unspeakable horrors saw these luminous figures appear who faced danger to free them from the threat. The spread of the news that the Heroes had answered the prayers of their "faithful", caused the number of their followers to increase rapidly.
With the growth of their faithful and the creation of the first temples dedicated to them, the group of Heroes began to gather many spiritual energies, in constant and inexorable growth.
For about a century, the chronicles that have remained have reported clashes between the heroes, their followers, and the last forces of the Ancient Myths; during this time the faith placed in them has only strengthened and increased their spiritual energy.
After a long time even the Ancient Myths, who did not pay attention to what happened to mortals, had to realize the loss of spiritual energy and the ever more looming presence of this group of immortals that was about to rise to divinity. To put an end to this annoying problem for them, and taking advantage of the alignment of the planets of the Valenor system, they choose to channel all their remaining energies into an Avatar of immense power, far superior to that evoked by the high priests a century earlier.
The avatar manifested itself in the form of Dagon, a grotesque humanoid more than fifty meters tall, resembling an enormously oversized Deep One with a fish-like face, gills and slimy, scaly skin.
Taking advantage of the distance of the Heroes, this gigantic creature came out of the waters razing the great city of Zamalis and everything in its path to the ground.
At that time the mighty Kingdom of Avedon had become the center of the cult of the Heroes, to whom a temple had been dedicated, which was located on the path of Dagon. To save the temple and defeat the creature, all the priests and paladins of the kingdom were gathered.
In the Glenarm Valley, which has since taken the name of the Sacred Valley, hundreds of Priests recited in unison the most common prayer to the Heroes, while the Paladins tried desperately to slow the creature before it reached the temple, falling by the dozens under the blows of the hideous titan. At the height of the prayer the Heroes appeared on the field, for the first time in divine form; their figures tens of meters high began to face the monster. Thanks to the prayers and faith of their followers, they gathered enormous otherworldly energies into their weapons and with them pierced the form of Dagon.
These energies broke the bond between Dagon and the Ancients, who quickly consumed the monstrous creature. The spiritual energy was such that in addition to causing the death of Dagon, the bond that united him to the Ancients came up and they were overwhelmed. Only the Ancients capable of traversing the dimensions saved themselves from destruction, returning to the Void from which they had come, and to which they now returned defeated and deprived of many of their energies and powers.
It is well known that The Prophet of Garalba is becoming powerful enough to one day be counted among the gods.
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