Of Primes and Beginnings, the story of Irideth and the First War

[Draggy]

In seated beds and bowers made
They raked their plans over with fear
To call the war. Ah war
How sweet a sound was never
Heard. Crash the drums
Call the sirens
And let them know the war
To end all wars has come
And will destroy.

Their servants in their glitter
In their darkest pain
Of love and fear and loathing;
Of good or evil come
Strike the first, second, third blow
And smite down the lands.

But when it was over
There was only the middle ground
Where they could not return
And so saying stayed and waned
And lost their powers
As their kin watched sadly on.

In withering
And dying
And growing
Came others. New others
With less than those before
Until soon the Others were more
And more and the old blood
Vanished.

And the world turned over
And under
And Gods watched
And Demons and Angels
All cursed the powers.

Make war, make war!
But no war to become of it
As with sides taken and lines drawn
With unsteady hand.
None remained
Save memories hardened
...and the world turned...

by Bhryn

[Draggy]

In the time before time there existed two primal forces, Order and Havoc. In the expanse-less Void time these two forces churned and boiled shaping the Void in their struggling for supremacy where none could be had for though each wished dominance and to see the worlds flourish in their own perceived image, neither could exist without the other. This realization took the form of the third and strongest force, Balance. Where the other primes existed, so too would Balance exist and ensure that no prime became too strong and tip the balance too far. To that end, the prime of balance created a place of existence set outside the void and decreed that the war of the Order and Havoc should take a physical form. Each warring prime immediately created their servants, Order fashioning strong exemplars of the might of law and order, and though these champions of stoic stability seemed infallible, each working as part of the whole instead of for themselves, all were alike, predictable in every way and differing none from their cosmic design. Havoc on the other hand crafted servants of unending diversity and dissension spanning every shape, size, and design imaginable and each a free soul that thought for itself, except that the servants of chaos each wished to be the leader of their grand crusade against Order. The strongest of Havoc’s minions gathered those who would follow under them, but their bands were small and disorganized lacking the sheer discipline and organization of Order’s servants.

When the first battle waged it was a clash unlike any other. The Children of Law fought with every stratagem and tactic they knew, carefully planning where and when to strike, but the Broods of Chaos proved a formidable foe reacting in ways that their enemies hadn’t contemplated. Neither side could gain the advantage, but their war made reality caused the multiverse to change and take shape around them. As the battle waged on, each side began to plot and plan devising new methods in which to assail their enemy. It was in this period which the primes of Creation and Destruction were roused from their slumber, drawn by the pleas of the Primal Children who cried for a way to defeat their enemies. Creation showed them the seeds of life and showed them how to craft, heal their wounds, and bring new life into the world. Destruction, on the other hand, showed them the ways to destroy their enemy, to deceive them and ruin them from the darkness, and whispered to them the insidious secrets of Mortality with which they could snuff the very essence of their foes from existence.

The war once again raged, but this time it was an unimaginable madness as the Primal Children turned on each other as well as their enemies. Corrupted and turned by the influence of the final two Primes, the Children who had heeded Creation and Destruction turned upon each other and fought, forgetting what side they fought for until the battlefield was swathed in the blood of the Children.

Finally when it was too much to bear, Balance stepped in. There was only one way to decide and it could not be this madness. The Children themselves would have to choose. For some the decision was easy. They chose to stay true to their creators. Others found that the weight of morality that had been placed upon them by Creation and Destruction was too much to fight truly for their creators. Instead the divided themselves between the Primes of Creation and Destruction dedicating themselves to their new masters and their cause. Of those that were left, a bare few had seen enough. They turned from the other Primes altogether and pleaded with Balance to be favored. They were taken as champions of balance, foreswearing the war of their creators and vowing to keep the peace.

It is of those that were undecided that our tale begins for the Prime of Balance decreed that they must make their decision and it must be their own. They were bound to the battlefield of their ancestors there to wane and become mortal where they would struggle to find the path they would choose. If they could find within themselves the power of their beliefs then they might once again rise. If they could not…

The Primal Children wept as their brethren were left behind on the soil of the battlefield which they named Irideth to mean “The Trial of True Colors” in their native tongue. And so began the Descent…