Creation
Birth And Descend
In the beginning, there was chaos, all-encompassing and unavoidable. But after what felt like an eternity small lumps of chaos seemed to come together and form specks of dust, separating from the background noise. Not long and these specks grew into two clouds. Both beaming with unbound primal energy, waiting to break out. Suddenly they both collapsed and silence fell upon the universe. And as the remaining dust settled two orbs stood in each cloud's wake. One glowing bright yellow bursting with energy the other dimmed covered in bright red cracks waiting to release the energy trapped inside.
Birthed from these orbs the goddess Cathena and the god Adon descended to Altea. There they both awoke for the first time. Unknowing what they were and how they got here, they started to explore their surroundings. But there was nothing, as wide as their eyes could see everything around them was just flat barren land. And as they wandered in search of anything they noticed the presence of strange energy revealing itself as streaks of white across the sky, seemingly encompassing all of Altea. It was Cathena who reached out first and tried to touch it and as she did the energy bound to her, turning it into a bright yellow.
Adon soon followed suit but while the energy bound to him it turned into a dimmed dark red instead. Surprised by the obvious difference he reached further accidentally spreading his bound energy across the barren land, sculpting it, forming hills, rivers, and mountains. Seeing what Adon created Cathena reached even further and as she'd spread her bound energy across the newly formed landscape grass started to grow, trees formed and from trees, forests, filled with living creatures. In awe of the living creations, Adon envisioned his own unique beings trying to command his bound energy to manifest them into the world, but instead of new life his energy touched most of Cathena's living creations and while doing so they instantly perished.
Shocked by the effect of the uncontrolled energy and not wanting to be the demise of Cathena's creations Adon loosened his grip letting parts of the energy flow back. And as Cathena continued to breathe life into every corner of Altea, he decided to finish sculpting it to his vision.
Equilibrium
As they both continued to form Altea, the encompassing energy darkened. What was a bright white before now resembled a grey, void of all the beauty it once possessed. Forming wells of dark streaks, attracting each other growing bigger and bigger until a drop of seemingly corrupted energy formed and fell. Where it touched the ground all life perished, what was once green grassland turned into a grey wasteland. Living inhabitants deceased and died soon after. Oblivious to the change Cathena and Adon continued until their vision was manifested.
After ages of forming and altering the terrain to their will, it was finished. Altea had been formed from barren land into a paradise. But as they inspected their work they noticed bits of land that seemed dark and void of life. These Deadlands, seemingly expanding with every passing moment, claiming land to be corrupted and life consumed. Devastated by the loss of life, Cathena tried to contain the corruption pushing it back, trying to breathe life back into the land. But she could not touch it, the moment she'd entered the Deadlands her bond to the energy was severed, unable to reconnect until outside of its influence. It was Adon who observed a change in the encompassing energy of Altea, seemingly desperate to bind to him, screaming to be wielded.
After moments of hesitation, he gave into the energy's desire, knowing what would happen. Once bound to him it reached across all of Altea, touching every life it could find determining whether it should live or die, and those unfortunate deemed to perish ceased to exist. With every death he felt the energy, that was formerly a tainted gray, gradually lighten up, halting the expansion of the Deadlands.
Cathena, content as she noticed the Deadlands seemed to have stopped consuming her creations, turned to look and saw what Adon did. Furious at his deeds she tried to confront him. Adon realizing what had happened explained to her that the energy needed to be used in equal parts, that their unequal wielding of power seemed to have caused the energy to corrupt and pool, but now that the balance is restored corruption has halted.
It was at that time that Adon proposed a pact, that Cathena will continue to breathe life into every corner of Altea and he will wait his turn, letting life be for as long as he deems necessary but when its time has come he will claim it. Still unwilling to believe that her beautiful creations can cause such pestilence, Cathena reluctantly agreed.
"Life needs to die, not now or later, but when its time has come, and I'll be there to reap it." - Adon
Broken Equilibrium
For eons, equilibrium was maintained, the Deadlands contained and the cycle of life and death unbroken. At that time, Adon and Cathena parted ways. Adon exploring the possibilities of his powers, desperate to find a way to cure the Deadlands and regain the corrupt energy lost, assuming that Cathena did the same. Instead, she was set to find a way to protect her creatures from Adon's touch. Blinded by the love for her own creation Cathena didn't hold the pact with Adon in high regard. Being obsessed with the idea of manifesting enough of her own energy into her creatures to be able to grant them eternal life, while circumventing the expansion of the Deadlands.
Knowing what Cathena was trying to conceive, the energy bound to her seemed to withdraw the moment she wanted to transfer it to her creations. But as Cathena explored further, she observed that the energy was allowing her to infuse it with dead subjects, and even allowing her to withdraw it from them rather than from the constant flow of energy around Altea. The realization came quickly, she needed a way of caging the energy, creating a well that only she can tap into, where it would be impossible for it to withdraw from her. To create that well she called to Adon, he should craft a crystal powerful enough to cage the energy.
"Lend me your power Adon, for I have found a way to trap the energy which will empower us to cure the Deadlands." - Cathena
Astounded by her surprising breakthrough, Adon didn't hesitate to help her. Once the crystal was crafted Cathena started to gather as much energy as she could and redirected it into the dead stone. Filled to the brim with bustling energy the crystal started to glow bright yellow and as Cathena tapped into her own well of energy creating a young tree seedling, infusing it with all the energy she caged, it didn't withdraw. With the greatest care, she planted the seedling, waiting and watching the tree grow bigger and bigger, hoping to have crafted eternal life that could not be touched by Adon's power.
But after years of continued growth, the tree started to crack at the base, birthing beings that looked like a reflection of herself, with minor differences. It was at that moment that the first elves came to be and Cathena proclaimed them Iolas and Ayda, which from that moment on were known as the Eldest Elves. Born into adulthood the elven twins didn't seem to age even after they had lived many centuries, evidence that Cathena indeed created eternal life.
The Great War
With the cycle of life and death broken and the equilibrium destroyed corrupt energy soon started to form again, with the Deadlands continuing their deadly expansion. Adon realizing that Cathena had broken their pact and hence destroyed the very basis of existence proclaimed war.
But as Cathena and Adon were equal in power they created divine weapons to help combat the opposing side. These weapons, gods in their own right, were created from energy and material. Each symbolizing their respective powers, Cathena created Latra the goddess of order, Albon god of light, and Ivo god of nature. While Adon created Bal god of chaos, Mala goddess of shadow, and Via goddess of tempest.
In the end, Cathena defeated Adon, beheaded she pinned his eyes as bright red comets onto the night sky, carelessly throwing his body towards Altea, essentially breaking the land into three. Adon's bond to the energy severed she consumed all of it, ultimately becoming the goddess of life and death.
The Third Era
INFO: The Third Era is the period in which the game will take place.
By the time of the Third Era, most details of the Great War were long forgotten, and the role of Cathena in everyday life changed drastically.
In most of the three continents, she became the prominent deity, worshipped by almost all mortals. Praying to her in the light of new life and the shadow cast by loss. Now and then people of faith reported signs of her, feeding the belief that Cathena, from time to time, was meddling with the affairs of mortals.
But a prophecy foretold, the danger to yet banished, that every 300 years when the eyes of Adon, Sian, and Odea, are closest to Altea, Adon can rise from the dead. The story of the gods does not end yet...
Continue to follow the history of Altea here:
