Luxia Atrum is a vast world filled with diversity, innovation, and magic. Gods walk amongst mortals, divine plague ripples throughout the earth, and both men and divine are at a constant fight for the privelege of ascension.
"There is very little proof of life before the Distortion. In fact, the very concept of “Distortion” is widely debated amongst scholars, priests, and other high-standing individuals. Some consider the belief of the world before ‘Wonderhall’ to be heretical, worthy of trial or even death. Others believe that proof of the old world is actively being destroyed and censored. Perhaps it is out of fear that us mortals will repeat the mistakes that were made to destroy the Old World in the first place. Or perhaps these New Order Gods are obscuring these facts for their own reasons."
“-Most of what we know of the world before the Distortion is from old religious texts and holy sites. A pantheon consisting of two gods, a world split in half. A long running tension between the Dark World (the continents governed by Theocracy and Knighthood) and the Light World (the other half of the world run by Witchcraft). Things were simpler than they are now. Magic was very primitive, the earth was untainted by the spreading Wildlands infection. There were no fae to terrorize the Old World’s mortals. However, the brewing hubris and animosity between the Light and Dark Worlds, and their faith in the two Creators, caused the two Gods to become completely embroiled in war.”
“The Gray War is the part of our history that escapes us the most. Old texts make it seem like it went on for centuries, but at the same time speak as if it was so cataclysmic that it was over within seconds. It’s confirmed it was bloody; innocents and warmongers alike were spared no mercy. Most of the world’s population was claimed by the war, and those who were spared fell victim to divinity poisoning radiating off the corpses of the fallen Creators. The lines begin to blur here. Most who believe in the Old World, the Distortion, and the Gray War believe that the existing life left over from this time period was the first generation of fae we have today. Some theorize that at the center of Wonderhall you can see the corpses of the fallen Creators, thus explaining it as the center of the Wildlands.”
It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in the Old World or Distortion, it is a commonly held belief that the current iteration of Luxia Atrum was born from the heart of the Wildlands, Wonderhall. The first living beings were Gods, and they helped shaped the world you live in today. From these Gods birthed angels, and from these angels birthed a need for mortals to serve. There were four original Gods. The oldest of the two were that of life and death, Lifebringer Ika and Deathbringer Iva. Then there were the younger, Achillea and Lilium, the sun and moon Gods respectively. These Gods are referred to as the Heavenly Quartet.
Their relationship was initially symbiotic. Ika’s purpose was to make life, Iva’s purpose was to create the cycle of death. Life needed warmth and light to thrive, gifted by Achillea. Though the light also needed darkness to prevent the earth from becoming a scorched hellscape, and so the night gifted by Lilium.
The original Godly creations were powerful, filled to the brim with magic and potential. Though despite the love the Heavenly Quartet had for their creations, they found themselves unable to truly connect or care for them. It was almost as if they were on a separate layer of existence and unable to touch the children they had made. A thin veil lay between their divine plane and the world which held their children. Sensing how this could become problematic, the Heavenly Quartet all took pieces of themselves to make powerful facets to rule the world in their image. This, in turn, created the four Origin Gods that properly made the world and mortals as we know it now.
Lyria, Sinfoia, Helycka, and Mitsuko. These are the names of the four Origin Gods. Amongst those Gods was a fifth, the disgraced Fae King Caoimhe. The birth of Caoimhe remains a mystery, and how they were able to come into existence and rival the power of the Origin Gods remains unanswered. While the Gods worked and toiled over creating the ideal mortals, Caoimhe still clung to ideals of magic and fantasy. The four Gods wanted a world with a clear distinction between mortal and divine. They wanted a world where the only power mortals had were the earth they stood on and the sword they held in their hands.
Caoimhe thought differently. ‘What a horrible world. A boring and dull world. To live without spellcasting and witchery, to live without the power to call upon your beloved Gods. To deny mortals to be betrothed with worship and magic.’ The Fae King was always a black sheep amongst the Gods. An idealist, reckless and naive. To Caoimhe boredom was a fate worse than death. The Gods took little note of Caoimhe’s suggestions when building this new world. But the Fae King was anything but humble. If polite insistence was not enough to sway their peers, Caoimhe would sabotage their plans of the perfect, powerless mortal.
Favoring magic and witchcraft Caoimhe’s abilities were powerful but volatile. While the four God’s began to build their ideal mortals, Caoimhe used their magics and the fever of the dedicated fae who followed them to infect these new children with the ability to cast spells and steal power from the Gods they were birthed from. Once soft and unimposing mortals were turned into creatures like the fae. Turned into emotional beasts that could tear down the angels that tried to quell their tantrums. But the damage was irreparable.
Favoring magic and witchcraft Caoimhe’s abilities were powerful but volatile. While the four God’s began to build their ideal mortals, Caoimhe used their magics and the fever of the dedicated fae who followed them to infect these new children with the ability to cast spells and steal power from the Gods they were birthed from. Once soft and unimposing mortals were turned into creatures like the fae. Turned into emotional beasts that could tear down the angels that tried to quell their tantrums. But the damage was irreparable.
The Gods, being creatures with no concept of time, move slowly. Far too slow to stop the spread of this corrupt population. Whenever they killed 300 blight inflicted mortals, another 500 would be born. Their onslaught would be proven to be fruitless. They had to admit defeat. But the underlings they had created could never know that this was not a part of the plan. If the Gods wanted the world they created to remain stable, they had to accept these new mortals capable of magic and prayer. They had to make their power seem deliberate, like a gift they should be thankful to their higher powers for. And so, the four Gods twisted the story of these mortals' innate magic. Taking the blame off of Caoimhe and making themselves out to be the gracious heroes of their creations.
Caoimhe, obviously at the center of this, needed to be dealt with for the sin of interfering with this divine vision. As the Gods created their new thrones in their corners of the world, they imprisoned Caoimhe to the center of the earth. Here Caoimhe has lay dormant for hundreds of years, but the lasting effects of their body being plunged into the abyss is still being felt.
Caoimhe’s spite radiates throughout the earth, creating distortion known as the “Wildlands”. The Wildlands can be found all throughout the world. They are pockets of distortion that bend the laws of reality in the places which they manifest. Fae and other creatures that favor more chaotic forms of magic usually reside here, as they are the only ones who can survive the influence of Caoimhe’s lingering spite. These Wildlands all radiate from the elusive continent in the midst of the world known as Wonderhall, the capital of the fae realm and Caoimhe’s domain.
