B
Bɪsʜᴏᴘ
Guest
Original poster
Light and Darkness... Good and Evil... Just, and unjust... This is the eternal conflict that all of creation must always endure with great vigilance. One that can never be overcome, prevented, or solved. We as that of which has been created by either the divine vastness of space and knowledge, or by divine creators known only by lore as "Gods", it matters not our origin. Conflict.. Endless conflict is within our nature, and has been since the day of our creation. Whether it a flaw -- a simple accident upon creation -- or an intentional structure of our nature matters not, for there is no cure, and there is no proper way to understand it.
For thousands a millenia, we as creation have served one simple purpose: To obey and follow that to which is our undeniable fate. Our fate has always been to be created, to live, and then to die by that to which is our own hand.
Never have we stepped beyond the precipice of our nature, our guide. Never have we known the means to diverge from what we were thus created from, for and to be. We as creation is granted the freedom to act upon our nature, but we are not allowed to choose it. This is a simple reality, a simple truth, and one that has gone unchallenged for uncountable ages.
Change has taken hold upon fate. Change has been born in the heart of the simplest and most naive of creatures: Mankind. Where an eternal conflict has raged endlessly between other immortal-like spawns of creation, humanity has long since been the child of them all; a simple and most likely to go extinct race. Young and fragile, the humans held no bearing upon the world and the fate that creation had set to it. Of course, until one man stood to defy both nature and fate all together, and step forth as the voice of wisdom of mankind and guide it into a new era, and along with them all other forms of creation as well. This man was known as "The Catalyst"; one man to bring change and a means to an end to a once unchanging cycle.
A new dawn for mankind had begun, and following was the rest of creation as well. Establishing their hold over the world of Afeos, Humanity had taken it upon themselves to guide and lead all of creation, as all of creation once did for them. Upon raising their sword and offering its handle to another, a new concept had been developed: Alliances. Through will alone, nearly all of creation had overcome the concept of endless conflict, and realized that there was a way to alter that of which they once believed to be their nature.
But not all things are meant to be undone.. The Undal -- an advanced and immortal race of pale skin and red eyed humanoids who stretched their flesh and born themselves from the skies -- had despised Humanity and the rest of creation for altering that to which they believed was their undeniable fate and nature, and believed that there was sin and corruption in the intent of man. Once unchallenged enforcers of fate and judgement, the Undal had always taken it upon themselves to use their advanced reasoning and methods of Magick to see to the correction of anything in creation to stray from their fate, and erase them from existence...
Conflict had sank its fangs into creation once more, and the Undal had taken action against Mankind with the intent to drive them to extinction for their seemingly sinful crimes of defying fate and altering their nature. But of course, Humanity had stepped upon the concept of philosophy, and as such they believed that they held a right to earn their position as equals to the Undal. Though unfortunate this result was, there was no means to an end, without first tearing out that to which threatens all else. And thus spawned a conflict that would slowly reveal the question that perhaps Mankind was wrong, and that there was indeed no means to an end with fate...
Several other children of creation had drawn themselves into the conflict between man and Undal: Three races had taken to believing in the philosophy of Humanity, believing that their nature had to be more complex than simple conflict and destruction.
The Dunavir; a race of halflings, small but mighty that were born of the stone that was Afeos ages after the dawn of creation had formed an alliance with Mankind, supplying Humanity with the weapons and arms that conflict demanded, and in return expected victory on their behalf.
Because of their origin, the Dunavir are the mightiest of craftsmen in all of Afeos, and as such once stood as a neutral party in all conflict for the sake of feeding their nature's desire for wealth and rich things. A greedy race, they chose to defy their age-old traditions of neutrality because they believed that the Undal would not stop at Humanity, and would go as far as to aim at exterminating all of creation, and as such was not in their best interest...
The Eldwaen; as well a race of immortal-like children of creation bent to the solving method of Magick had taken side with Humanity. Far less capable than the Undal in Magick usage and militaristic methods, the Eldwaen believed that just because they were not nearly as advanced as their fellow immortals, that they were not to be ignored and treated lesser. Though also firm believers of abiding by natures' guide for all of creation, they do not believe nearly as firmly in the concept of fate as the Undal do, and wish to take it upon themselves to see which is truly the greater belief.
Finally, the Hywin; descendants of Humanity, the Hywin were children of Man who dedicated their existence to the discovery and mastery of the divine affinity of Magick, and through their ages of study, the Hywin had developed into a half mortal, half immortal race that had firmly structured the flow of Magick through their veins, and with this knowledge, desired to prove to the Undal just how ignorant they were to believe that no other child of creation could challenge them for their right as "Enforcers"...
But these alliances were necessary, for not only were the Undal so great an enemy in and of themselves, they as well had the support of the Typhus; an ultimate winged race of immortal beasts that held unimaginable wisdom, strength and capabilities. The Typhus were once believed to be descendants of Gods, for their age and wisdom had far outdated that to which anything else of creation had hoped to comprehend, while other believed they were simply the true Enforcers of fate, and through the defiance of men and other children of creation had spawned once more to the surface of life, and begun to dominate as they once did ages ago.
Decades past and the war continued to rage without end. Heavy losses encountered on both sides, and Mankind was losing grasp over their alliances, for faith in victory had begun to falter and fade.. It was believed however, that the loss did not sit with fate or a lack of strength, but that the races that had come together were allies in nothing but name, and refused to acknowledge as to who was to lead them to victory, and to whom would walk away credited. Born from this conflict was political warfare, and eventually led to unexpected bloodshed between powers... In the end, hope had indeed begun to fade from the hearts of these children of creation, and the more that they lost, the closer to defeat they came.
It was not long before a spark had been struck in the hearts of men once more however. Through the simple concept of passion, drive and desire, The Catalyst had discovered something that he had believed himself incapable of ever feeling before: Love. Stumbling upon a single woman of hybrid origin, she sat as the child of both a Undal and a Human. Through simple connection of eyes entered into a far more deep connection of souls, and it was not before long that their desire for one another had grown beyond deniable, and eventually spawned a compromise within the war...
Soon discovered to be the daughter of the High-King of the Undal, the Catalyst believed to take advantage of her origin, while also gaining what he desired most. Through a neutral meeting ground, the Catalyst and the High-King --along with ambassadors of all the other races-- had drawn themselves to a finalized agreement: the Catalyst would join hand with the Princess of the Undal in marriage, but only were he to admit such a meeting to be fate, and accept such for the rest of his days. Eager to put an end to the conflict that had long since taken its toll and be with the one he loved, the man accepted the agreement, while all other races felt just as he did in the desire to end it all. Hope had once again sparked in the hearts of creation, and a moment of peace had been granted to those who welcomed the compromise with open arms.
But of course it was not long before defiance had grown within this moment of tranquility. Some could not simply lay down their spite and hatred for the Undal for the years of agony that they had "Enforced" upon them, and as such resulted in a new dawn of conflict...
Harruld Tulgaris; a mighty strategist and victor of many battles had refused to accept this as an end result, and as such took it upon himself to find the Catalyst --who had for decades now been seen as the divine guide of mankind-- and question his methods. When answered with what he believed simple cowardly acts, Tulgaris had heard enough, and drove his blade into the heart of the Catalyst. His newly wedded wife entering soon after, Tulgaris had alerted the guards, and accused the Catalyst's wife of being the traitor; a spy sent by the High-King of the Undal.
With the Catalyst slain and the Princess fleeing back to her father's side, Harruld Tulgaris had risen in place of the "Catalyst", but rather such a title, he had begun a new string of tradition and a permanent etch into history: King...