Aelgan History

The "Creation" of Aelga


    A world consumed in death. That was Aelga, at the beginning of time. Undeath was centered here by its Old Gods; life born, and snuffed out, to be brought back in their image. But war destroyed this. Three major pantheons laid claim to Aelga: the four Creators of Elements, the three Kings of Order, Life, and Death, and the numerous Divines, optimizing various traits among them. The Creators wished to turn Aelga from its undeath, and turn it into a world of mixed elements, of fire, water, earth, and sky together in harmony. Uninhabitable, but glorious.
   The Kings wished to conquer Aelga, make it massive city-monuments to their glory. Policed and inhabited by their various servants, the world would be cold in thought and feeling, but a shrine to the other gods, showing their power. But the Divines, the Kings' eternal enemies, wished to take a slice of Aelga for each of them, to warp and do with as they pleased; to bring warmth and light and emotion to the dead world. But an agreement among them could not be reached, and so war raged.
   But as with all conflicts, a climax soon came forth. As the earth rolled, fire raged, automatons and godly beings fought on the surface, the upheaval woke an Old God. Long dormant, the Old God was hardly pleased to see its beautiful undeath changed and wrecked, and so it set out to war itself. A master of death magic, the single being was immensely powerful, and for one time, the gods turned to fight the Old God. It took all of them to finally push the Old God back into hibernation, but at dreadful cost. The Kings of Order and Life perished, their magic and purview spreading out from their bodies to cover the landscape, though twisted by the death all around them. The Creators of the Elements died as one, bodies forming their elements and infusing the planet, further sealing the Old Gods and bringing warmth to the planet. All that was left were the few remaining Divines, and Soldred, King of Death.
   But the Divines became divided in purpose. Four became the Shadows, the gods of poison, murder, secrecy, and dark magic. Another became the Blood Queen, progenitor of the vampire disease, while her sister became the Huntress, goddess and mother of beasts and weres. Four became the Stars, embodying altruism, medicine, valor, and order. Quite quickly, they became the dominant of the celestial order, pushing Soldred aside.
   It was at this time that the first races began to form in the chaotic boil that was early Aelga. The scientific dwarves were the first, carving out their tunnels and cities and making a thriving civilization underground. But the Divines were fearful of them digging too deep, past the Created Earth and into the ground of the Old Ones, and so they acted, creating the mighty Wurms to keep them from digging too deeply. But still they dug, and the Shadow of Poison acted. Trapping a large group of dwarves with a ground quake, he changed them into the fierce, fast-breeding goblins, sicking them against the dwarves. This time, the dwarves united to fight the goblins, creating the war that lasts to this day.
   On the surface, the fair elves began to walk among the newly grown forests, discovering magic from the fragments of the gods and their artifacts. Soon, they created cities, and built mighty towers into the dusky sky to study the source of the magic. But again, the Divines were afraid, but this time, they were afraid the elves could make war against them, and weaken them further, or worse, awaken the Old Gods. So they took a page from the Shadow of Poison, and cursed half of their populace into the massive, stupid giants, who made war on the elves, forcing them away from magic and to martial prowess.
   But it was the arrival of humanity that spelled doom for the superiority of the Divines. Two separate cultures grew out of humanity: the tall, fair-haired Svaln, who settled in the northernmost continent of Aelga, and made it their own, calling the kingdom Svalnhelm. They were warriors and poets, mighty and boisterous to behold, and their warriors easily shattered the elven outposts in the north. To the south, a smaller, dark-haired tribe settled the southern continent, building large cities to defend themselves against the on-going Elf-Giant war. But soon, they could not stand by as pitiful tribesmen, and united under the lead of the first Emperor Falgaan.
   With tactics taken from captured elf tacticians and books, they made war against both sides, pushing the elves from their homeland of Fairland, and setting fire to the moorhome of the giants. Demoralized by the loss of their home, the elves shattered under the iron boot of the human army, being taken as slaves or fleeing into the forests. The giants fought a long and bitter war against the Empire, but were eventually wiped out by the much more numerous humans. As the last giant longboat sailed north, the Falgaan Empire was born, and Fairland was rebuilt into the Imperial City. And once again, the gods were afraid.
   On Svalnhelm, the gods created and sent the vicious trolls, which devastated many a village and killed thousands. To add insult to injury, they stole the crown of the Svalnhelm king, giving it to their troll leader, Broken Fang. The heart of the northmen was shattered, and they were fearful. Against the Empire, the gods sent the dragons, mighty fire-breathing lizards which could roast a city or army in seconds, causing mayhem against mankind. And for several years, it seemed that humanity too would fall. But it was not to be.
   Horgest, the son of the late King of Svalnhelm, raised a mighty group of warriors from the scattered villages, and carved a bloody path to the troll king. And before the amassed army, he slew him, and set his head on a pike... and cast it into the bitter seas. Horrified and angered, the trolls attempted to rush up the mountainside towards the king-slayer, only to bring the loose snow and rocks down on them, wiping the entire troll army out, and sending the rest fleeing into the caves. It is said the echoes of Horgest's victory cry can still be heard in the valley, and he became a god to his people.
   But the Empire truly inspired the Stars. Using guile that stunned the Shadows, the Emperor himself and his best assassins sneaked into the main dragons' lair, and poisoned/stole all of the eggs. When the Dragons found out, the most powerful male flew out... and straight into a nest of ballistas, which brought the mighty beast to the ground and killed him. Impressed, the Shadows convened the Stars, and gave a plan of their own. If the humans could defeat their beasts, they could conceivably defeat whatever they hated the most. Therefore, why earn their ire, when they could earn their adoration? And so the Divine worship began amongst the humans, with dream-spoken prophets speaking and teaching and performing miracles. Within a hundred years, the Divines were a major fixture in the lives of all in the humans of both the Empire, and the Svaln.
   But not all the Divines approved. Why favor a race that could undo the world? But the Eight could not be dissuaded, and the rest could only watch in disapproval. But some could do more than just watch. Soldred, the last King, watched the humans thrive, and he glowered in hatred. He had wanted their souls for his army, like so many dwarves and elves before them. But he could wait, and plan, and let the world itself eat at them, weaken them... Death had all the time in the world.

Hello there! My name is Kit, and this is the start of Aelga: A World of Life and Death. This blog will be the home of my world-creating team, currently myself and my friend, Kay. It will be a little while before I am ready to show my creation to the rest of the internet, but I am excited at this start!