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Tysindor
Tysindor is the city of thegods, though its exact location is shrouded in legend. Many believe it is hidden in the clouds, with the world sprawling at its feet. Others think it lies beyond the frozen seas, where the known world ends and another one begins. Wherever this Realm of the Gods may be, its dimensions and unearthly splendourare inconceivable to the human mind. It is believed that the light of the city isso brilliant it fills all eternity.
The Creation of the World. The rise of Man. The war of the Gods.
The goddess Scraf is the creator of worlds, the origin of all origins. The world had conceived in her womb and was brought into being by her boundless love. Each and every continent, every mountain and ocean, every single tree and every plant is her heart, her soul, and the fruit of her handiwork.
However, she desired to fill the world with even more life, and to achieve that, she needed help. She felt she would not be able to keep everything in balance by herself, and, deep within her soul, she was lonely. Thus, she created other men and endowed them with powers equal to her own.
Notal and Maleck were the first to arrive. Though brothers, they were opposites – the lord of the skies and the lord of the abyss, whose contrasting natures upheld the balance of the world. Notal was wise and understanding, and obeyed the Earth mother’s every word. Maleck was the shadow, with a duty to criticize and to judge. However, both brothers adored the goddess. They fought for her affection, and this affection subsequently turned to love. Scraf and Notal gave life to further children, Strom and Ithé. The young siblings were tasked with expanding their parents’ realm and with upholding the balance in every tiny detail. Maleck’s role was customarily ignored by his brothers and sisters, which angered him. The real cause behind his rage, however, was jealousy towards his brother and his creator.
Thus, Maleck broke free of the rules and limits of the system set up by the goddess, and founded a world of his own in the abyss: the underworld. He soon started a war against his siblings and created his ferocious beasts. These creatures were sometimes huge, other times very small, but all of them wielded immense power. One of his surprise attacks succeeded; Maleck overcame his siblings and managed to abduct the goddess Scraf. He kept the creator imprisoned, but it was increasingly difficult for him to conceal the love he felt for her. While his brothers and sisters were plotting their revenge with Notal’s leadership, he kept the foremother as his love-slave. Scraf gave life to a bastard, Horbeck. The boy grew up quickly and soon became Maleck’s general, the god of war. As the war raged ever bloodier, Notal elevated men whom he previously had considered no better than animals, and endowed them with the knowledge and weapons to which until then only the gods had been entitled.
Decades turned into centuries as the gods warred against each other. Maleck, who himself took part in the creation of living things on earth, was astonished to see the power of man. Notal’s move proved efficient against his brother’s beasts. Though the gods despised humans, their strength could no longer be questioned. Maleck’s hosts were crushed, and the god was gradually driven back to his own world.
Notal soon freed the goddess Scraf and with the help of their children decisively defeated the bastard general Horbeck, and later the rebel god Maleck himself. The goddess slew Horbeck herself and erased him from eternity. But she was unable to kill Maleck as his strength by then had exceeded hers and the power of all other gods. Notal and their children managed to break him to pieces, though, and scattered his consciousness all over the stars. Maleck’s servants were all destroyed and fell into oblivion. A thousand years of peace ensued.
Men, “the lords of old”, lived like the gods themselves, sat side by side with them in mutual trust. But the strength bestowed upon them soon twisted into an insatiable desire for power. Humans rebelled against their creators and claimed the imperial throne for themselves. They believed the gods would not exist without them. Notal was appalled at the feebleness of their creations and banished them from the palace of Tysindor.
But the words he had heard from the lips of man, in truth, reminded him of Maleck. Notal and Scraf realized that evil could not be eradicated from the world, though it can be confined. They created a new Maleck in their own image, and enchained him in the boiling subterranean magma to await all those who refused to live in the peaceful and harmonious world they had built.
But the great gods are merciful. … if man lives an exemplary life in his shortened time, accepts the power of his creators and begs for their forgiveness, his sins might be pardoned and, after his death, he can return to Tysindor, where he is free to eat from the bushel of plenty and, through the gods’ unconditional love, can regain his immortality. However, if he is unable to shed his vices, he shall burn in Maleck’s fiery hell for all eternity.
Time and the seasons
During the war of the gods, the world was knocked off its usual course. Seasons doubled in length. Long, freezing winters alternated with scorching hot summers. These extreme seasons were not favourable to any living thing. Rivers and lands either dried out or froze solid. People starved… everyone prayed for the war to end. And more and more joined the fight of the gods, which proved to be decisive. After the gods defeated the traitor Maleck, they endeavoured to restore the order of nature. Every season was the responsibility of a great god who reigned in turns, but the length of the cycle remained twice as long. However, for the glory of the gods, northerners still measure years according to the change of seasons they protect.
Scraf - Mother of the gods. Goddess of creation. Earth. Knowledge. Creation. Protector of summer.
Notal – King of the Gods, firstborn son and husband to the goddess Scraf. Brother to Maleck. Sky. Power. Order. Protector of Winter.
Strom – Child of Scraf and Notal, Husband to Ithé. Rain. Storm. The god of water. Protector of Autumn.
Ithé – Child of Notal and Scraf. Wife to Strom. Beauty. Wisdom. Trees and plants. Protector of Spring.
Maleck - The god of the underworld. Brother to Notal. The rebellious god. Fire. Judgment. Order through chaos. Treason. Power of renewal. Maleck recreated is the servant of the gods. Master torturer of doomed souls.
Horbeck – Horbeck – Bastard son to Scraf and Maleck. Darkness. War. Death. The dark god of destruction. (Referred to by many as the ancient Maleck, as his power derives from the first Maleck.)