The Way of the Aethir/The Chronicles of the Storm

VERY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Foreward

Ye who lay eyes upon this sacred text know that in the year 1020, did the world shake itself to its very foundations. This is why yon tale doth be told.

I gave up my life
To follow another destiny
To find the hidden sun
The source of the spark and the flame
-Octavian Schwarzherzig

Of the Aethir

The Aethir are not omnipotent, omnipresent beings like the fictions worshipped by the misguided souls of other faiths. Laguz had many children who dwell in all corners of the world.

Anaria

An Elder daughter of Laguz, often argued to be his first child, she along with her brother Hrömir are preeminent in the Obsidian Isles and the surrounding area. Anaria appears as a woman with subtle curves, her skin is comprised of silver scales. Her eyes are as sapphires and her hair is seaweed. Wise beyond measure, she is a fickle diety, her temperment mirroring the sea. Calm one moment, and a raging hurricane the next. She prefers offerings of pearls. She has taken several partners over the ages, and birthed several children.

Hrömir

Brother of Anaria, mighty Hrömir is the eternal flame of the Volcano! His wrath is terrible, but his warmth is eternal!

In the days of the Early Gathering, the children of Anaria gathered with sword and spear to take what was destined. The shining sapphire serpeant of the sea uncoiled and prepared to strike. Fangs bared, the sea serpeant had its prey before it... But was thwarted by the Black Lion, who preferred to let its prey escape to safety before hunting.

Lion and Serpent could not breach the lair of their prey, and began to hunt the Phoenix who guarded the back way into the quarry's layer. The Phoenix and the Golden Knight fought together... Until the plague struck, crippling Kings and Generals.

Before long lizards began to act curiously, and animals began to follow man and woman alike. Terrible swarms of spiders began to migrate. Whales beached themselves, and fishermen had to work extra hard to haul in their catches...

Then Krostakhan from his Crustaceous Throne commanded his children seize the beaches. Crabs swarmed, driving away all who dared tread upon their sandy domain. Hrömir began to stir, his anger building. Caves began to smell of sulfur, a warning of his great wrath. Soon his home, the great Chaos Volcano began to smoke and sputter, choking all nearby. The earth shook and landslides blocked travel. So great was Hrömir's wrath than Anaria herself could not keep the seas from sharing Hrömir's anger, and the tides became lethal.

Priests panicked and grovelled to Laguz for forgiveness, desperate for redemption. The Alexandrians scorned these false prophets and turned instead to the firey haired Sibyl, whose prophdcies of doom and destruction they embraced with a sense of grim destiny. Sibyl's wails of "Dissolution" from her place in the Chaos Temple could be heard all the way in Perdan City. A chant rose, unbidden from many Alexandrians,

Let the blackening dissolution start
The ether shining, impurified
Let's burn out the vile from the dark

I see the black sun rising
Fall, material God
Opus magnum, seize redemption
My uprising, find the sun and the moon
Absolution, seize redemption

Now, the elements are at peace
Come the reddening, gaze upon the sky
Seven planets, silver and gold
The seven metals aligned
Point the way to paradise,
To the Golden Apple,
Dark destiny, ashen soil
Embrace the gift of fruitful toil.


Heed the daughter of Hrömir,
Child of Chaos and her wail,
Sibyl with hair of flame,
Sapphire, Trident and Sail,
Embrace dissolution!

Heed the Black Heart under blazing skies,
A rain of stone and fire and death,
Heed the Black Heart!
So sayeth Sibyl Fire Hair!

It was foretold, by generations of old, That a leader of men, a weaver of tides would come forth! He would forsake the Golden Lion for the Black Lion, and embrace the Serpent of the Sea! Shining sapphire and burning ruby guide his steps until he is cast adrift! Adrift amidst tides of destiny! The sky would rain earth upon him, Hrömir's test! Surrendered to the mercy of the sea, he will face the test of Anaria! He who returns from these will be the Tidemaster and lead the faithful to their great destiny!

The Tidemaster, revealer of the hidden sun. He is the Spark and the Flame! It is he who will finalize the dominion of man! He who will snatch the Golden Apple from the clutches of the Wicked! Slay he who opposes the will of the Tidemaster! Break their bones, peel their flesh! Feed them to Anaria's children! Feed them to Hrömir! Suffer not the inquity of the Elf! Offenders of Ativ and Nivled! The coming of the Tidemaster will hersald the downfall of the Elf! Let nothing remain of them but ash beneath our feet!

Remember Bruce Cruscavas, father of our Faith. Three strengths he gave us:

The Sea Serpeant's swift strike,
The Sea Serpeant's endless cunning,
The Sea Serpeant's taste for the enemy's hot blood.

Cry to the heaven's oh warriors, for he has been taken! Let your heart be as his and cry havoc! Let the deniers fall as wheat before the scythe! Drown the false in Anaria's cold embrace! Cleanse the Trinitist taint, for their monstrous pocket faith is naught but a sham! An ecclesiastical hustle to part fools from their money! They spit in the eyes of the Aethir!

Listen not the falsehoods of others, who worship shadows, stars and Nether-beings. May the Faceless take those who turn from the Aethir to the lies of mortal man! To deny the faithless of their wealth and possessions is to appease the wrath of Hrömir, so long as he recieves his tithe! Mind not the bleeting of sheep! The strong take, and the weak either become strong or perish, for the good of all mankind!

The gods of the Alexandrian Pantheon vary. Few are actually worshipped, most are merely appeased. It is fitting, given the chaotic and wrathful environment in which the Alexandrians dwell, that the Aethir they know are also chaotic and wrathful.

-Abthalas, the Devourer. Feared by sailors, it is said where thick fog and myst can be found, so can Abthalas, waiting to devour the ships of the unwary.

-Krostakhan, Master of Crabs. His wrath was seen recently all over the East Continent as crabs invaded the shores and attacked any who dared approach their domain.

-Kobrug, the Great Water Lizard. Fear the lizards mortal.

-Anaria, the Queen of the Seas. One of the few aethir worshipped instead of feared. She is the stern, but devoted mother of Alexandria and all who brave the seas. Daughter of Laguz and chief of the Alexandrian Pantheon. She gave birth to Ulthad and Abthalas.

-Ativ and Nivled, two brothers who are the Lords of Lightning. Twin sons of Hrömir.

-The Faceless Ones, a numberless group of lesser spirits that together act as a vengeful entity akin to an aethir. They are the souls of the drowned, looking to ever add to their ranks. The First was a still born son of Anaria, who drew the souls of the drowned to him, drawing them into an unholy hivemind, tormented by horrifying echoes of the First's stillbirth.

-Hrömir, the Volcano Lord. A god whose anger is slow to awaken, but cataclysmic when it does.

-Ulthad, son of Anaria, appears as a great turtle, and embodies the virtues of wisdom and patience.