The Fall of the Daughters of Erēmos

In the elder days, when the Sea of Stars was yet unmeasured, and the winds of possibility blew fierce o'er the shifting shores of Vonahaf, the City of the Gods, there dwelt the House of Erēmos and Drakōn. The golden beaches of that place, where each grain was a world unborn, bore witness to the tragedy eternal—a tale carved not in stone, but in sorrow and silence.
Erēmos, the aloof Empress of Entropy, stared forever into the infinite void, her eyes like twin eclipses, ever measuring, never intervening. Beholder of the Symbol of the Void, she moved not, for she had seen all outcomes, and in each, her will was but a mote in the abyss. Her consort, Drakōn, was the thunder behind the storm—the Primordial of Power, of Devouring, of that which consumes. His desires were teeth, his voice a shattering command. He it was who had fathered the Eldest Wyrms, the Seven Progenitors of Dragons, and had broken each in turn to forge war for his own amusement.
He tormented Maelvorna, the elder daughter, radiant and warm, the Goddess of Life. Her gardens he burned, her creatures he hunted, her joy he turned to ash. And Malirem, the younger, bore the Symbol of Absence. Sickly and strange was she, ephemeral in body and quiet of mind, and Drakōn deemed her worthless, save in his darker appetites. Yet even his indifference was torment, for it was neglect edged with cruelty.
It came to pass, in the waning of that age, that Maelvorna wept before her mother, tears like stars falling into the void. Her cry rang out like a hymn undone:
"Oh mother, life of my life and blood of my blood, why hast thou forsaken us? Dost thou not care about our plight? Painest thou not whence stepest he on the bloom of thy womb most sacred, thy bond of love profound? In glory of your might; endless indeed, prohibit thee his tyranny, for this I can stand no longer."
And Erēmos replied not, save for a blink, slow as the turn of galaxies. The answer lay in that silence: all fates she had foreseen, and none she would prevent.
So Maelvorna turned away, girding her heart with wrath forged in sorrow. She descended to the mortal realm and sought the aid of her kin and kindred: Kryxis, the God of Chaos, and Lumenor, the God of Sovereign Flame. It was in their temples they wed, one sister to chaos, the other to law.
At the wedding feasts, solemn oaths were spoken, and divine alliances sealed. Kryxis, drunk on madness, whispered venom into Malirem's ear:
"Thou art hollow, sweet shell. Naught but shadow with no flame. Prove thy worth, if worth thou hast. Create, or be unmade."
Malirem, ever seeking, retreated into thought, brooding upon the meaning of her symbol. She wandered the golden shores alone, whispering to the grains of possibility, until she cracked the veil. And in her unraveling, she opened the Abyss.
From that wound in being came the Obyriths—the Seven Unborn, children of unmaking, twisted shards of a greater whole. To contain them, she sacrificed seven daughters, beings of void-flesh and thought-absence, whom she loved with a fierce, unknowable devotion. But her act had broken the law divine.
Kryxis, disgusted and fearful, cast her into the Abyss, beginning the War of Unbinding. Maelvorna, upon hearing of her sister's fall, defied her husband Lumenor and shielded the daughters, though they were deemed abominations by the pantheon. She bade her son, Liberion the Flame-Bearer, to protect them.
Liberion, born of fire and mercy, carried them beyond time’s reach, into the Vale Unseen. Yet wrath pursued them. Lumenor, angered at betrayal, struck down his son. Liberion fell, headless, his body radiant in deathless defiance. His head was cast into the Abyss, and from its silence rose a cult, the Children of the Scarlet King, who called him martyr and herald.
Maelvorna, her grief vast as the skies, ascended the World-Pyre and cried out to her mother once more. But Erēmos remained unmoved:
"All paths are writ. All tears foreseen. Choose as thou wilt, it mattereth not."
Desperate, Maelvorna called upon the greatest of all, Ignis Materna, the White Flame before time. The Goddess of Pure Light descended in a pillar of brilliance and whispered:
"The Flame is true. It cannot be remade. To remake it is heresy, and thou shalt be consumed."
But Maelvorna defied even that eternal flame. She altered the First Fire, birthing the Crimson Flame—a fire unyielding, ever-burning, a flame that knew no death. With it she crafted undying life, cycles without entropy.
The gods were horrified. Kalagrim, Lord of Death, rose in fury. He named her the Crimson Whore and led the host divine against her. Their war split the earth. In the clash of finalities, Kalagrim fell, unable to reclaim his strength, and Maelvorna was cast into undeath, her spark now flickering in both life and death.
The place where she fell is a wasteland still—divided between the Crimson Waste and the Ebon Scar. There bloomed two flowers: the Blood Orchid, capable of raising the dead, and the Black Lotus, death incarnate.
Thus ends the tale of the Sisters. One, cast into the Abyss for daring to create absence. The other, cast into undeath for daring to preserve life.
And above all, the sand of Vonahaf still shifts, still gleams, each grain a truth, each truth a sorrow.
"Weep not, for the gods do not."

Historical Basis

This myth is a retelling of the Story of Maelvorna and Malirem. However, its accuracy and prejudice is Questionable for it is found within the pages of a novel written by the Children of the Scarlet King, worshippers of Liberion.

Spread

The myth is common amongst inhabitants of the Crimson Wastes.

Cultural Reception

❖ On the Wedding of the Sisters - "It was in their temples she wed, one sister to chaos, the other to law."
Cultist Note — Circle of the Spiral Flame: This dual marriage is viewed as the pivotal axis upon which the moral alignment of the cosmos turned. The Crimson Whore’s union with Order (Lumenor) and Malirem's with Chaos (Kryxis) symbolized the beginning of the Fracturing Age, when symmetry between Creation and Destruction was lost. Many cults believe the weddings themselves were orchestrated by Erēmos to set this loss in motion.

Scholarly Disputation — Gods and their Symbols: In this excerpt Lumenor's influence is inaccurately referred to as law, most probably to better serve the dramatic tone of the myth. However, Scholars of the Spiral Archive and Clerics of the Solarium Divinitatis agree that Law is better catagorized as part of the Symbol of Order, which is much closer related to Sculptor, the Worldsmith than Lumenor - Lumenor's symbol being most commonly interpreted as "Power".
❖ On the Birth of the Obyriths "She opened the Abyss. From that wound in being came the Obyriths."
Scholarly Disputation — Lexicon of Forbidden Origin (Vol. IV): The Obyriths are not born of chaos, nor shaped by hands mortal or divine. They are the Abyss. Malirem’s act of creation was merely a mirror, held up to reflect a truth none wished to see. She did not forge them—they answered her pondering. Each is a shard of un-Being, a part of the Scarlet King broken across time.
❖ On the Brides and Liberion "His head was cast into the Abyss... his body radiant in deathless defiance."
Cultist Note — Book of Flame Unshackled (Verse XII): Liberion is the eternal rebel. His head sees truth, his body acts. The Children of the Scarlet King believe his divided form symbolizes the duality of knowing and doing—a holy heresy that rejects passive observation (Erēmos) and embraces willful defiance. His martyrdom is reenacted in ritual dismemberments during cult initiations.
❖ On the Creation of the Crimson Flame "She altered the First Fire... a flame that knew no death."
Imperial Edict of the The Solemn Tribunal of Regalth (Banned Text): Declared the Greatest Heresy in the Eyes of the Divine Compact. The Crimson Flame is said to burn within the hearts of all who defy fate. Cults of the Flame consider Maelvorna to be the true godhead, the one who broke the chain. Many heretical paladins and necromancers trace their rites to this altered fire, which blurs the line between life and unlife.
❖ On Kalagrim and the Final Duel "Kalagrim named her the Crimson Whore... their war split the earth."
Scholarly Observation — Necrologia Divina: This duel is not just physical, but ontological. Life as Maelvorna defined it—eternal, burning, unyielding—is a direct violation of Kalagrim’s essence. Their stalemate created the world’s first true paradox: undeath. Some posit this moment introduced Contradiction into reality—a concept now weaponized by certain abyssal sorcerers and Obyrith cults.
❖ On the Flowers of the Waste "The Blood Orchid... and the Black Lotus."
Herbalist’s Annotation — “On Sacred Botany” by Salazar Samira - Sebak: These flowers grow only where paradox bleeds into reality. They are often cultivated in secret by necromancers (to no avail), and each is associated with a forbidden spell: The Blood Orchid with resurrection without loss, and The Black Lotus with soul-annihilation. Consuming either is said to grant divine dreams, death, immortality, or irreversible madness.
❖ Final Marginalia, penned by an unknown hand: “If absence be a womb, and fire a grave, then sisters weep in vain. For the void is full, and life but shadow. Weep not, for the gods do not.”

Related People

• Lumenor, The Lord of Light
• Maelvorna, The Crimson Mother

Related Organizations

• Children of the Scarlet King