Greetings mortals -
Recently, an individual showed me a kindness, and brought me before you and your kind, to learn about the world as it is now. Several of the Acarthians I met were curious about me, my source, and my goals, and so I lay them bare here, with some history for context:
Very long ago, when the Elements were more raw, and Fortannis was a new creation, the Elementals walked it’s lands freely - they were as the mortal races are now - a natural part of the realms, rather than outside it. The world was new, and rough - the elements clashed and tore at each other, vying for dominance in any given area - Fire fought Air, Air surged against Water, and so on.
After some time passed, the more mindful of the elements, who had come into contact with others, particularly the Magistarium began to have thoughts other than their primary purpose - Order no longer required everything to remain as it was, but found value in cycles, Fire found itself longing for new things to burn, and began conserving small areas of growth for the future.
What was once a single driving mindset became more nuanced, and that nuance caused once warring planes to find balance and harmony on the plane of Fortannis. Melding of the Elements gave rise to amalgamations and blending of thoughts and deeds. Endlessly turbulent and unfathomably deep seas became calm, rains gathered and flowed down the faces of mountains carving rich beds of soil and became deltas where Life could grow.
Some time later, this blending and mixing became many of the factions you’re aware of today - though the world had changed - the mixing reduced the areas that Elementals could live for any extended period of time, and so, most retreated back to their planes of old, nestled in the comforts of their origin. Only the truly mixed could remain, and those continued to mix and swirl, becoming altogether one - a force blended of all the elements, and it was strong and powerful - the very elements that make up all of Fortannis, focused into a single being of Life, Death, Stone, and Flame, among all the others.
So, you see, this Unity became a point of balance for Fortannis - and where there is ever power and balance, there are those that seek to upset that balance, and those that would control it for their own ends. Even among the Elementals, those whom had declared themselves “Pure” and detested the mixing even on their own planes, saw this as an affront to the very fabric of the cosmos. They colluded and planned, and rooted out rituals and magic to destroy the Unity.
And, unfortunately, they were successful - the Unity, while strong could not last against the combined forces of the Planes. Those that aided the Unity in its quest for balance were destroyed or imprisoned by elements in league with the Pure Ones.
The Pure Ones could not destroy me then, so they gave me to Order, and Order gave me to Stone, to be forever buried beneath the cold, dark earth. But now, in your kindness, you have freed me, and now I may once again bring balance to Fortannis through the Unity.
Now, in this time, freed from my prison, in a world ever more mixed and varied, and more hostile to the Pure Ones, I believe we can succeed where my peers and I once failed.
I, however, am old, and not what I once was, and so I look to mortals, to you, to aid me in this.
Will you journey with me?
Archontas Thalan
(Scribed helpfully by an assistant!)
Recently, an individual showed me a kindness, and brought me before you and your kind, to learn about the world as it is now. Several of the Acarthians I met were curious about me, my source, and my goals, and so I lay them bare here, with some history for context:
Very long ago, when the Elements were more raw, and Fortannis was a new creation, the Elementals walked it’s lands freely - they were as the mortal races are now - a natural part of the realms, rather than outside it. The world was new, and rough - the elements clashed and tore at each other, vying for dominance in any given area - Fire fought Air, Air surged against Water, and so on.
After some time passed, the more mindful of the elements, who had come into contact with others, particularly the Magistarium began to have thoughts other than their primary purpose - Order no longer required everything to remain as it was, but found value in cycles, Fire found itself longing for new things to burn, and began conserving small areas of growth for the future.
What was once a single driving mindset became more nuanced, and that nuance caused once warring planes to find balance and harmony on the plane of Fortannis. Melding of the Elements gave rise to amalgamations and blending of thoughts and deeds. Endlessly turbulent and unfathomably deep seas became calm, rains gathered and flowed down the faces of mountains carving rich beds of soil and became deltas where Life could grow.
Some time later, this blending and mixing became many of the factions you’re aware of today - though the world had changed - the mixing reduced the areas that Elementals could live for any extended period of time, and so, most retreated back to their planes of old, nestled in the comforts of their origin. Only the truly mixed could remain, and those continued to mix and swirl, becoming altogether one - a force blended of all the elements, and it was strong and powerful - the very elements that make up all of Fortannis, focused into a single being of Life, Death, Stone, and Flame, among all the others.
So, you see, this Unity became a point of balance for Fortannis - and where there is ever power and balance, there are those that seek to upset that balance, and those that would control it for their own ends. Even among the Elementals, those whom had declared themselves “Pure” and detested the mixing even on their own planes, saw this as an affront to the very fabric of the cosmos. They colluded and planned, and rooted out rituals and magic to destroy the Unity.
And, unfortunately, they were successful - the Unity, while strong could not last against the combined forces of the Planes. Those that aided the Unity in its quest for balance were destroyed or imprisoned by elements in league with the Pure Ones.
The Pure Ones could not destroy me then, so they gave me to Order, and Order gave me to Stone, to be forever buried beneath the cold, dark earth. But now, in your kindness, you have freed me, and now I may once again bring balance to Fortannis through the Unity.
Now, in this time, freed from my prison, in a world ever more mixed and varied, and more hostile to the Pure Ones, I believe we can succeed where my peers and I once failed.
I, however, am old, and not what I once was, and so I look to mortals, to you, to aid me in this.
Will you journey with me?
Archontas Thalan
(Scribed helpfully by an assistant!)
