Story
Hundreds of years ago, a terrible plague ravaged the lands of Eldrian. The Mage Council, the scholarly rulers of humankind, watched their people die around them and their fear grew. As their desperate studies into the ethereal force of mana that flowed through the world delved ever deeper, they came to a terrible solution – one that, if unsuccessful, would likely shatter their very world into fragments. They chose two of their number; a male and a female, a pragmatist and an empathist. Upon those two the Mage Council cast the most terrifyingly powerful web of magic ever dreamed of. Those two humans were infused with and disintegrated by mana, woven into the very fabric of reality and made one with the world and with life. Those two were made into gods. And as the gods opened their eyes onto power unimagined, humanity was healed.
Life went on.
The two gods, Shalana and Tykisan, learned to harness their powers, learned to shape and control mana – and, therefore, life itself. They granted to their most devote followers immortality to do their will throughout the lands, and there was peace.
Centuries later, a man named Gestanis was born. As he grew, he began studies to become a mage, and was successful beyond precedent. By the time he reached adulthood, he controlled more power than any one member of the Mage Council itself. However, the thought of joining that august assembly held no appeal for him – where is the power in sitting in conference, compared to what he could accomplish with his own will and magics? Separating himself from the rest of the mages, he devoted his studies to the relationship between mana and life. The land around his demesnes became uninhabitable as dreadful experiments were discarded from his presence; horrifying, twisted creatures that Gestanis had created with his magic.
Then, one day, Gestanis discovered the same secret that the Mage Council of old had. Summoning all of his dark power, he created horrific legions of monsters to do his will. At his command, armies of perverse mutations swept the land, slaying any living creature they could find. The Mage Council went out with all their companions and apprentices to battle the threat. As Shalana and Tykisan saw what was happening to the world, they, in turn, directed their own avatars in battle against Gestanis’ armies. And, as the world was distracted, Gestanis struck at the very heavens.
In the midst of the horrible battle ravaging Eldrian, the great mage cast the spells to bind himself into the mana around him, to make himself a god as were Shalana and Tykisan before him. Horrified, the two gods fought against his power, desperate to repel his attempts to sieze control over life itself. Finally, with a cataclysmic wrenching of power, the two gods slew the ambitious Gestanis. Unfortunately for humanity, the chaos he had created wasn’t anywhere near over.
Although the ferocious battle (later dubbed the Heaven’s Gate War) was ended, troubles in the world continued. The armies of Gestanis had lost their unity when their dominating master was destroyed, but they were too powerful and numerous to be slain entirely, and fled to infest pockets of land where they continued to hunt any beings they could find. Shalana and Tykisan, in their titanic struggles to repel Gestanis, expended vast amounts of power and had to withdraw to heal themselves, lessening their influence in the world. Amongst humankind, superstition and fear gained a foothold. Tykisan, who cared for humanity but was often seen as cruel due to his cold, logical choices, was blamed for much of the destruction wrought upon human cities. In the following riots, what was perhaps the single most important effect of the gods’ withdrawal became apparent; the immortality of their avatars was no longer complete. Although they could still heal from the most grievous of wounds, they had to rely greatly on their own inner strength to do so now, and those lacking the power could now be slain. Although the extremists were prevented from breaking out into another war, lasting enmities were formed, and Tykisan and his followers continue to be distrusted or even hated in most places. Travel and trade became difficult, as tribes of Gestanis’ creations haunted the wilderness and humanity no longer had infallible defenders.
This is the state of the world of Eldrian; this is the setting for Death’s Sanctuary.
