Origin

The Beginning

In the period of time known as the Pre Dawn, Hlorn and Enysia were lesser gods on the Material Plane. They dreamed of a world without war, deceit or hate. Their dream began to obsess them. Eventually, they found a power to make their utopia a reality, and escape into it’s peace. It allowed them to clone the Material Plane in secret. Only they knew of its existence and how to get there.

They named it Veldus.

When Veldus gave birth it had land and sea. But no plants or trees. No beast of the land or sea or air. And no intelligent life. No Humans, no Dwarves, no Elves, none of them.

A clean slate. A utopia. Hlorn and Enysia decided to have two children: Lothina and Selwin. They lived on Veldus in peace.

Lothina was given the power to create beasts of the land, plants, and trees. Selwin was given the power to create beasts of the sea and air, and influence over rivers and lakes. Ages went by, with Lothina and Selwin slowly populating Veldus. Soon, they ran out of room. Fighting ensued.

At first, Hlorn and Enysia were able to manage their children’s quarrels. They figured children bickering and fighting was natural and to be expected. Plus, nothing escalated into imbalance. But it did show a weakness in their family bond. A weakness that could be exploited, if someone so desired…

Humans Arrive

Korick is a deceitful god filled with envy. Nothing is known of him from before his arrival to Veldus. It is still a mystery how he found Veldus, and how he was able to arrive. But he did.

His arrival went unnoticed by Hlorn and his family for a long time. Korick lived in the shadows, where he learned about the family weakness. He grew angry as he watched Lothina and Selwin bicker and fight in utopia. As Korick saw it, they didn’t appreciate what they had. And he began to believe they didn’t deserve Veldus either…

Korick devised a plan to bring a colony of Humans from the Material Plane to Veldus. He settled them in what is modern-day Dynntium. Fearing notice from Hlorn and his family, Korick decided to start a small colony. Ultimately, the colony was a failure and died out after only a couple of generations. Korick decided to try again, but with a larger initial colony and a new location. This time, he settled them in modern-day Belrdium.

The second colony did not fail! But this time, Korick was noticed…

Lothina spotted Korick and the foreign creatures he brought while she was planting a new forest nearby. At first she was curious and assumed they were creations of Selwin, so she stayed at the forest’s edge and watched.

Her curiosity quickly turn to shock at the sight of them cutting her trees and killing the beasts of the land. She sought her father immediately. Just like Lothina, Selwin didn’t know of Humans but Hlorn and Enysia still had memory of them from the Pre Dawn when they lived on the Material Plane.

Soon they learned the Humans were using the fallen carcasses of Lothina’s children to influence the rivers. The Humans also hunted the beasts of the air and sea. Both Lothina and Selwin wanted to destroy the Humans.

But Enysia felt sympathy for the Humans. She was certain they had been tricked by Korick, and meant no harm. She pleaded with Hlorn to instead spare them. To devise a plan to capture Korick, and banish him back to the Material Plane. Along with all of the Humans.

Lothina and Selwin were blinded by their rage. The pain from the Humans was too great, so they could not see Korick as the root cause. They demaned the Humans pay for the destruction they caused. Both argued that Humans were a threat to Veldus and to the family, a matter that could not be handled lightly.

Crippled by a non-confrontational desposition and an unwillingness to accept the full gravity of the situation, Hlorn failed to help his family find a solution.

Initially, he did not care if the Humans were killed or not, and stated his only concern was peace for his family. But as time passed, and the problem grew, his sympathy for the Humans and Enysia’s position began to fade. If it meant the death of the Humans or the death of his family, he chose his family. But fearing the confrontation with his wife, he failed to act in time. Lothina and Selwin lost patience and took action.

They unleashed a furious attack on the colony by sending all manner of beasts to attack and causing terrible floods.

Keeping Hope

Enysia, still hopeful Hlorn would come to understand things as she did, decided to lend protection to the colony of Humans. Believing the Humans to be innocent and ignorant of the predicament, she taught them about the origin of Veldus. She taught them about her family, and about Korick. She explained her plan to rescue them away from Veldus, and banish Korick into the Abyss. She promised to help take them home.

The entire colony was thankful to be blessed with her presence, they made many sacrifices and statues of her, and learned everything she had to teach them. But none of them considered the Material Plane home any longer…

Enysia had forgotten how short Human lives were. Several Human generations had come and gone since Korick started the colony. Veldus was the only home these Humans had ever known.

Up to this moment, Enysia never considered the idea of some staying behind. Everyone was supposed to go back to the Material Plane. And now that she had spent time with them she began to care for them even more.

She let her family down, she still believed the Humans were innocent of this predicament, and she knew the Humans could not leave Veldus. She also knew her children’s rage would never subside. As long as the Humans remained, her children would wage war against them.

Overwhelmed with the feeling there was no other options, Ensyia provided the Humans tools to protect themselves, and to fight back against Korick.

Those who adopted her teachings and accepted her tools called themselves The Order of True Vengeance. They vow to protect the innocent, care for the sick, and shelter those in need. But more than anything, they seek True Vengeance upon Korick for bringing chaos to Veldus.

A New Beginning

From the shadows, Korick could see the colony of Humans was growing in size and strength because of Enysia’s help, and that Hlorn’s family was torn apart. His plan had worked.

This is when time on Veldus began to be recorded, and became known as The Great Awakening.