The codex of the infinite
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE AND SUBSTANCE
translated by
Domerain, wizard of Shale
from the ancient work known as
THE CODEX OF THE INFINITE
(numbered passages are direct quotes from the CODEX)
translated by
Domerain, wizard of Shale
from the ancient work known as
THE CODEX OF THE INFINITE
(numbered passages are direct quotes from the CODEX)
1-- In the beginning there was the Chaos, and from whence it came no man or God knows.
2-- The Chaos existed for time immemorial, and as it existed it fulfilled its nature and changed until it was no longer Chaos but something else from whence the first stirrings of life were born.
(DOMERAIN -- This is a passage that has caused sages difficulty for centuries. What it seems to be saying, and this is supported by works such as Dennairian's THE PLAGUE and Shilton's THE REACHING LIGHT, is this -- In order for the Chaos to remain chaotic it must become order; for the nature of chaos is change and, if it would remain perpetually chaotic, and therefore unchanging, it would be denying its nature. In other words, Order must eventually exist for Chaos to retain its identity, even if the order must come from the bowels of the Chaos itself. This is known as the exceptional rule -- There is an exception to every rule, including the rule that says there must be an exception to every rule. This is further explored in Jergen's NON-QUESTION, a work so confusing and so esoteric that everyone assumes it is filled with the knowledge of the God's themselves. I'm not so sure, however.)
3-- The stirrings eventually coalesced into form and identity and proclaimed itself alive. The voice of the living word reached into the Chaos and imprinted itself upon it saying, "I am. My thought is my own and the Chaos is no longer my desire. Let there be shape and form so others may follow in my stead." And in so saying, the word reached into the Chaos and removed all that was not Chaos and used it to form the Celestial Shell.
(DOMERAIN -- The Celestial Shell is an unconfirmed object. Supposedly it is the barrier between the known Universe and the substance known as Chaos. The Universe is within, and this includes everything we know, from as small as the pocket plane of Ennen to the massive and infinite Prime material plane. Nothing we know is outside the Shell and no native of the ordered Universe could possibly be expected to be able to rationalize its existence after any contact with the Chaos. Only once has contact with the Chaos been attempted, and this was by an elder God who did not survive the experience.)
4-- The word crafted the Shell and removed itself utterly from the Chaos that was once its home. The word then used its form to create light, the planes, the elements, and the energies. But the word was alone and its purpose was not fulfilled. Although the Universe was completed, it was empty, so the word sealed the door and spread its essence throughout the Universe. From the dissipance of the word, life was created.
(DOMERAIN -- The only mysterious part of this passage is the reference to "the door." Some sages believe this is simply a way of saying that the word decided its dissipance was unavoidable; that the phrase "so the word sealed the door" is just another way of saying "no turning back now." There is another school of thought on this, however. The other school believes that the door is an actual portal in the side of the Celestial Shell and that the word sealed it to preserve his creations until the day they return to the Chaos. The word clearly knew that there is no permanent escape to the Chaos, only a hiatus is possible, and that all would one day return to Chaos, only to spring forth from it again in an unending cycle. The door is for the inhabitants of the Shell to open after they have solved the mystery of their existence. This is because once the meaning of life is discovered, ultimate order has been achieved and the whole process must be repeated. There must be an exit to Chaos once this is done.)
--From this point out, Domerain almost completely abandons linear quoting from the Codex as his particular interest lies in the origins of humanity and the Codex is a very expansive and tangential work--
As far as we know, the Elder Gods (also called the Old Gods) were the first creatures awakened by the passing of the word. The Gods were fully aware of themselves when they were awakened and they had full access to their faculties. In essence, these Gods, the elder Gods, were born into their full state of Godly capacity, each possessing a fragment of the awareness that was the word. The Gods began to manipulate their surroundings and sculpted their own bodies, some forms of life, and the surface of Heremod. After an an unknown period of time - it could have been one year or a million years - the Elder Gods attempted to return to, or control the chaos, and almost all of them were struck down, paving the way for the New Gods. Not much is know is known about how or why this happened, only that it did. The identities of the Elder Gods who survived and perished is also not know.
The New Gods took the places of the Elder Gods. After they finished their molding, they did not make the same mistake as their predecessors. Rather, they created a place for themselves to live, Den, the City of Awakenings.
The New Gods were able to manipulate their surroundings because they had complete control over the En, the residue of Chaos that existed in all things, (in some things more than others, however) and the En was all encompassing. The En is what we call magic and its nature needs to be explained at this point.
There are two components needed to manipulate En, the En itself and the En Pool, also known as Dweomer. The En is in all things, and is essentially infinite, but the only way to reach it, to re-form it and control it, is by calling on the En Pool, a resource which is very finite. In essence, the En is the substance being manipulated and the En Pool is what you manipulate it with. In other words, when a wizard casts a Wall of Stone spell, he is not magically manipulating the stone, he is manipulating the En within the stone through a tap in the En Pool.
The En Pool is so called because it is very much like a pool of water, there is only so much of it to go around but many are thirsty. When the Gods began to use magic, the En Pool was being tapped only by them and magic was therefore very powerful. The elder Gods used oceans of En Pool in a single spell while today's mightiest wizards use only a tiny trickle in their entire lives. The mighty magic of the elder Gods is no more because the handful of beings using the Pool at the beginning has now been replaced by hundreds of thousands of beings. The En Pool's power is divided by the number of beings using it.
Many would ask, if the En Pool is like a pool of water, then why hasn't it been consumed by the legions of drinkers? This is because its nature is that of the pool and not the fluid within it. The En Pool is like a basin that is always full -- no matter how many come to drink, there will always be fluid, but only so many can drink at once and only so much fluid can be in the basin at the same time. Obviously, eight gallons of water cannot exist in a four gallon basin. The reason for this limit on Dweomer is not completely known. Some think the En Pool is the vapor of the Chaos and that only a certain amount of it can exist within the Shell, lest it be rent. Others think only so much En can be at motion at any one time or the Universe will be destroyed. At any rate, the limiting effect of the En Pool is well known and is a fact.
Back to the story of the Gods.
Using the En, the New Gods forged their city and created amusements for themselves, but it was not long before they grew bored and angry at each other. The Gods, so jaded as to be unsatisfied even with their limitless power, began to ponder the question of their own existence. Finally, one of the New Gods, who we know as Dane, spoke.
55-- "Brothers and Sisters," said Dane. "We must look to the word if we are to conquer the mystery of our stirrings. The word was only able to validate its existence after it had created others to share it. We must follow in its stead and tax our own imaginations. We must make others in our images and set them free to explore Den. Only through their stirrings will we find a solution to our own." Dane then reached into the bowels of Heremod and retrieved some clay. He formed the clay in his own image and breathed life into it. He named it man.
After a short time of arguing, all of the Gods followed in Dane's footsteps, using various materials to create their subjects.
The Dwarf God Magma, sculpted his from stone, the Orc God Dubruk, sculpted his from ice, and the un-named Elf God sculpted his from wood.
One thing they failed to notice, however, is that each creation took a bit of their power away and simply killing the creations (as a few of the Gods did) did not bring the power back. The New Gods grew frightened as they realized the weakening of their powers only after constructing thousands of subjects. The Codex described how they solved their dilemma in approximately a thousand pages, but I will synopsize it as follows: The Gods taught their subjects how to worship them, and this act returned the God's power to them. In other words, Gods not only appreciate worship, they require it if they are to have power.
One of the Gods, Brond by name, grew angry at Dane, claiming that Dane purposefully withheld this information, and that he wanted all the Gods to become weak so he could become their ruler through force. Dane denied the charges and the other Gods took his side. Dane had, however, earned the undying enmity of Brond through this exchange.
The Gods taught their subjects well, teaching them the use of the elements. The subjects learned how to build cities, forge iron, and paint and dance through the Gods. Only one thing was forbidden to the subjects -- the use of the En, for the Gods thought that if their subjects knew of the En, they would one day pose a threat.
The Gods began to experiment with their subjects and watch them, hoping that one of them would stumble onto the meaning of life. It did not take the Gods long to realize that this discovery was not soon in coming.
Several of the Gods began to grow weary of the wait and decided it would serve their time better to have their subjects avenge wrongs against them, rather than look for the elusive meaning of life. The subjects of these Gods began to war against their fellows and it was not long before the entire city of Den was at battle, in a tumultuous war known as The Closing of Den's Door (it is so named because this was the end result).
After the huge battle the Gods decided that their interests were so incompatible they must leave not only Den, but Heremod altogether, never to return. The Gods then voyaged to the outer planes to sculpt new homes for themselves, and all the Gods, save one, were permitted to reside where they chose. The one God not so permitted was Brond, as he had created Srike.
During the entire process of crafting, all the Gods were so busy with their own creations that they failed to notice that Brond had not created anything in his image or anyone else's. Finally, one of the Gods (of unconfirmed identity, but thought to be Urge, God of the Trolls) asked Brond this question:
899-- "Yea, brother Brond," quoth the God. "Why hast thou forsaken the act of creation? The word must be answered."
"Aye, brother," spoke Brond. "My image shall not be forgotten, nor shall my power. Whilst my fellows argue and experiment endlessly about the merits of minuscule beasts, verily, the fields outside Den are littered with their failed experiments, I am perfecting my creation," with this Brond took a deep breath and gazed across the City of the Gods. "It shall not be long before our kind abandons this place and flies to the Heavens, and on that momentous day, my creation will become the ruler here, just as I shall become the ruler above."
(As a matter of tangential interest, it should be noted that the reference to failed experiments outside Den is thought to refer to many of the species of unexplained monsters that can still be seen on Heremod today.)
Brond had been working on Srike, the first dragon, in secret, in a cavern far beneath the surface of Heremod. His plan had clearly been to wait until the Gods left the Prime Material Plane, and then release the dragon's might against their creations. His plan was discovered, however, by an unknown informer who told the Gods of his plan and gave them time to prepare for the coming of Srike. T hey did not seek to slay him, as they had a pact against direct destruction of each others creations, so they built a wall, known as the Spine, around Den that could withstand the might of the Beast. Brond was then confronted and, in a well known section of the Codex of the Infinite entitled THE TRIAL OF BROND, was punished for his aborted coup. His punishment was ghastly indeed: Brond was banished to an outer plane and had his form taken away, never again would his shape remain constant and never would it be possible for him to make a creation in his own image. Brond's rage engulfed the Universe.
Srike was released upon Heremod but found nothing save the huge wall around Den upon which to unleash its fury (he did not attack the creatures outside Den as his anger, and Brond's, was directed only at the successful creations). The races of humanity were trapped within Den, terrified that Srike would one day break through. This situation lasted until the coming of Robe.
But back to the Gods.
The Gods had travelled to the Outer Planes and each chose a plane of their own. They discovered that the planes were infinite but empty and that the only way to gain power from possession of them was through a process of personalization. The Gods had to make their planes their homes. After only a brief period of sculpting, the Gods realized that the more they explored their planes the more power they were able to siphon through them and it was not long before they abandoned use of the En Pool in favor of their new-found planar power. Some of the elder Gods were so taken with their new powers that they either ignored their creations on Heremod, or had less capable minions ruling in their place. Their negligence allowed Dwem, a little known lesser God who felt pity for the mortals who were trapped by Srike, to break the Primary Forbiddance and give the gift of the En to the races.
The Codex of the Infinite describes Dwem's actions and the process of learning by the races in approximately one thousand pages. The Short version is as follows: Dwem showed the art of Orichalcum processing (the most magical metal) to the elders of the races, and they in turn used amulets of the metal to help others learn the art of spellcasting. As soon as the mortal spellcasters were powerful enough to access the elemental planes, Dwem was found out and punished by being banished to Brond, where he was tortured for a thousand years. The Gods attempted to restrict access of the En to the mortals but were unsuccessful as the En is the stuff of Chaos and therefore beyond the God's power.
The greatest leader of all the mortal races at this time was Robe, leader of the humans and thought to be the son of Dwem, a God who spent more time amongst mortals than his own kind. It was decided that Robe should be the one to confront Srike. The mages of all the races then banded together and forged Srikesbane, an Orichalcum sword with potent, almost God level, magics. The sword was given to Robe who met with Srike on the bridge over the River of Angry Hearts, the moat that surrounded Den; in a battle of epic proportion, Robe slew Srike. The primary side effect of this battle involved Srike's blood. The droplets that flew into the water sprang forth moments later as the varieties of chromatic dragons, and the droplets that flew off Robe's holy sword sprang forth as the varieties of metallic dragons.
The races celebrated and proclaimed Robe the leader of the united races, a union created ostensibly to promote peace and harmony that lasted only until the walls of Den were out of sight. Robe then led the races out of Den through a path described as follows:
123,444-- The races united stretched out behind Robe as he led them out of the city of their imprisoning. The path of Robe's choosing was both far and near, distant and close, difficult and simple, for he led them on a path that took them farther away from the Gods.
This passage is thought to mean that Den was in the spirit world and that Robe led the races not only between places, but between planes. But this is another story.
2-- The Chaos existed for time immemorial, and as it existed it fulfilled its nature and changed until it was no longer Chaos but something else from whence the first stirrings of life were born.
(DOMERAIN -- This is a passage that has caused sages difficulty for centuries. What it seems to be saying, and this is supported by works such as Dennairian's THE PLAGUE and Shilton's THE REACHING LIGHT, is this -- In order for the Chaos to remain chaotic it must become order; for the nature of chaos is change and, if it would remain perpetually chaotic, and therefore unchanging, it would be denying its nature. In other words, Order must eventually exist for Chaos to retain its identity, even if the order must come from the bowels of the Chaos itself. This is known as the exceptional rule -- There is an exception to every rule, including the rule that says there must be an exception to every rule. This is further explored in Jergen's NON-QUESTION, a work so confusing and so esoteric that everyone assumes it is filled with the knowledge of the God's themselves. I'm not so sure, however.)
3-- The stirrings eventually coalesced into form and identity and proclaimed itself alive. The voice of the living word reached into the Chaos and imprinted itself upon it saying, "I am. My thought is my own and the Chaos is no longer my desire. Let there be shape and form so others may follow in my stead." And in so saying, the word reached into the Chaos and removed all that was not Chaos and used it to form the Celestial Shell.
(DOMERAIN -- The Celestial Shell is an unconfirmed object. Supposedly it is the barrier between the known Universe and the substance known as Chaos. The Universe is within, and this includes everything we know, from as small as the pocket plane of Ennen to the massive and infinite Prime material plane. Nothing we know is outside the Shell and no native of the ordered Universe could possibly be expected to be able to rationalize its existence after any contact with the Chaos. Only once has contact with the Chaos been attempted, and this was by an elder God who did not survive the experience.)
4-- The word crafted the Shell and removed itself utterly from the Chaos that was once its home. The word then used its form to create light, the planes, the elements, and the energies. But the word was alone and its purpose was not fulfilled. Although the Universe was completed, it was empty, so the word sealed the door and spread its essence throughout the Universe. From the dissipance of the word, life was created.
(DOMERAIN -- The only mysterious part of this passage is the reference to "the door." Some sages believe this is simply a way of saying that the word decided its dissipance was unavoidable; that the phrase "so the word sealed the door" is just another way of saying "no turning back now." There is another school of thought on this, however. The other school believes that the door is an actual portal in the side of the Celestial Shell and that the word sealed it to preserve his creations until the day they return to the Chaos. The word clearly knew that there is no permanent escape to the Chaos, only a hiatus is possible, and that all would one day return to Chaos, only to spring forth from it again in an unending cycle. The door is for the inhabitants of the Shell to open after they have solved the mystery of their existence. This is because once the meaning of life is discovered, ultimate order has been achieved and the whole process must be repeated. There must be an exit to Chaos once this is done.)
--From this point out, Domerain almost completely abandons linear quoting from the Codex as his particular interest lies in the origins of humanity and the Codex is a very expansive and tangential work--
As far as we know, the Elder Gods (also called the Old Gods) were the first creatures awakened by the passing of the word. The Gods were fully aware of themselves when they were awakened and they had full access to their faculties. In essence, these Gods, the elder Gods, were born into their full state of Godly capacity, each possessing a fragment of the awareness that was the word. The Gods began to manipulate their surroundings and sculpted their own bodies, some forms of life, and the surface of Heremod. After an an unknown period of time - it could have been one year or a million years - the Elder Gods attempted to return to, or control the chaos, and almost all of them were struck down, paving the way for the New Gods. Not much is know is known about how or why this happened, only that it did. The identities of the Elder Gods who survived and perished is also not know.
The New Gods took the places of the Elder Gods. After they finished their molding, they did not make the same mistake as their predecessors. Rather, they created a place for themselves to live, Den, the City of Awakenings.
The New Gods were able to manipulate their surroundings because they had complete control over the En, the residue of Chaos that existed in all things, (in some things more than others, however) and the En was all encompassing. The En is what we call magic and its nature needs to be explained at this point.
There are two components needed to manipulate En, the En itself and the En Pool, also known as Dweomer. The En is in all things, and is essentially infinite, but the only way to reach it, to re-form it and control it, is by calling on the En Pool, a resource which is very finite. In essence, the En is the substance being manipulated and the En Pool is what you manipulate it with. In other words, when a wizard casts a Wall of Stone spell, he is not magically manipulating the stone, he is manipulating the En within the stone through a tap in the En Pool.
The En Pool is so called because it is very much like a pool of water, there is only so much of it to go around but many are thirsty. When the Gods began to use magic, the En Pool was being tapped only by them and magic was therefore very powerful. The elder Gods used oceans of En Pool in a single spell while today's mightiest wizards use only a tiny trickle in their entire lives. The mighty magic of the elder Gods is no more because the handful of beings using the Pool at the beginning has now been replaced by hundreds of thousands of beings. The En Pool's power is divided by the number of beings using it.
Many would ask, if the En Pool is like a pool of water, then why hasn't it been consumed by the legions of drinkers? This is because its nature is that of the pool and not the fluid within it. The En Pool is like a basin that is always full -- no matter how many come to drink, there will always be fluid, but only so many can drink at once and only so much fluid can be in the basin at the same time. Obviously, eight gallons of water cannot exist in a four gallon basin. The reason for this limit on Dweomer is not completely known. Some think the En Pool is the vapor of the Chaos and that only a certain amount of it can exist within the Shell, lest it be rent. Others think only so much En can be at motion at any one time or the Universe will be destroyed. At any rate, the limiting effect of the En Pool is well known and is a fact.
Back to the story of the Gods.
Using the En, the New Gods forged their city and created amusements for themselves, but it was not long before they grew bored and angry at each other. The Gods, so jaded as to be unsatisfied even with their limitless power, began to ponder the question of their own existence. Finally, one of the New Gods, who we know as Dane, spoke.
55-- "Brothers and Sisters," said Dane. "We must look to the word if we are to conquer the mystery of our stirrings. The word was only able to validate its existence after it had created others to share it. We must follow in its stead and tax our own imaginations. We must make others in our images and set them free to explore Den. Only through their stirrings will we find a solution to our own." Dane then reached into the bowels of Heremod and retrieved some clay. He formed the clay in his own image and breathed life into it. He named it man.
After a short time of arguing, all of the Gods followed in Dane's footsteps, using various materials to create their subjects.
The Dwarf God Magma, sculpted his from stone, the Orc God Dubruk, sculpted his from ice, and the un-named Elf God sculpted his from wood.
One thing they failed to notice, however, is that each creation took a bit of their power away and simply killing the creations (as a few of the Gods did) did not bring the power back. The New Gods grew frightened as they realized the weakening of their powers only after constructing thousands of subjects. The Codex described how they solved their dilemma in approximately a thousand pages, but I will synopsize it as follows: The Gods taught their subjects how to worship them, and this act returned the God's power to them. In other words, Gods not only appreciate worship, they require it if they are to have power.
One of the Gods, Brond by name, grew angry at Dane, claiming that Dane purposefully withheld this information, and that he wanted all the Gods to become weak so he could become their ruler through force. Dane denied the charges and the other Gods took his side. Dane had, however, earned the undying enmity of Brond through this exchange.
The Gods taught their subjects well, teaching them the use of the elements. The subjects learned how to build cities, forge iron, and paint and dance through the Gods. Only one thing was forbidden to the subjects -- the use of the En, for the Gods thought that if their subjects knew of the En, they would one day pose a threat.
The Gods began to experiment with their subjects and watch them, hoping that one of them would stumble onto the meaning of life. It did not take the Gods long to realize that this discovery was not soon in coming.
Several of the Gods began to grow weary of the wait and decided it would serve their time better to have their subjects avenge wrongs against them, rather than look for the elusive meaning of life. The subjects of these Gods began to war against their fellows and it was not long before the entire city of Den was at battle, in a tumultuous war known as The Closing of Den's Door (it is so named because this was the end result).
After the huge battle the Gods decided that their interests were so incompatible they must leave not only Den, but Heremod altogether, never to return. The Gods then voyaged to the outer planes to sculpt new homes for themselves, and all the Gods, save one, were permitted to reside where they chose. The one God not so permitted was Brond, as he had created Srike.
During the entire process of crafting, all the Gods were so busy with their own creations that they failed to notice that Brond had not created anything in his image or anyone else's. Finally, one of the Gods (of unconfirmed identity, but thought to be Urge, God of the Trolls) asked Brond this question:
899-- "Yea, brother Brond," quoth the God. "Why hast thou forsaken the act of creation? The word must be answered."
"Aye, brother," spoke Brond. "My image shall not be forgotten, nor shall my power. Whilst my fellows argue and experiment endlessly about the merits of minuscule beasts, verily, the fields outside Den are littered with their failed experiments, I am perfecting my creation," with this Brond took a deep breath and gazed across the City of the Gods. "It shall not be long before our kind abandons this place and flies to the Heavens, and on that momentous day, my creation will become the ruler here, just as I shall become the ruler above."
(As a matter of tangential interest, it should be noted that the reference to failed experiments outside Den is thought to refer to many of the species of unexplained monsters that can still be seen on Heremod today.)
Brond had been working on Srike, the first dragon, in secret, in a cavern far beneath the surface of Heremod. His plan had clearly been to wait until the Gods left the Prime Material Plane, and then release the dragon's might against their creations. His plan was discovered, however, by an unknown informer who told the Gods of his plan and gave them time to prepare for the coming of Srike. T hey did not seek to slay him, as they had a pact against direct destruction of each others creations, so they built a wall, known as the Spine, around Den that could withstand the might of the Beast. Brond was then confronted and, in a well known section of the Codex of the Infinite entitled THE TRIAL OF BROND, was punished for his aborted coup. His punishment was ghastly indeed: Brond was banished to an outer plane and had his form taken away, never again would his shape remain constant and never would it be possible for him to make a creation in his own image. Brond's rage engulfed the Universe.
Srike was released upon Heremod but found nothing save the huge wall around Den upon which to unleash its fury (he did not attack the creatures outside Den as his anger, and Brond's, was directed only at the successful creations). The races of humanity were trapped within Den, terrified that Srike would one day break through. This situation lasted until the coming of Robe.
But back to the Gods.
The Gods had travelled to the Outer Planes and each chose a plane of their own. They discovered that the planes were infinite but empty and that the only way to gain power from possession of them was through a process of personalization. The Gods had to make their planes their homes. After only a brief period of sculpting, the Gods realized that the more they explored their planes the more power they were able to siphon through them and it was not long before they abandoned use of the En Pool in favor of their new-found planar power. Some of the elder Gods were so taken with their new powers that they either ignored their creations on Heremod, or had less capable minions ruling in their place. Their negligence allowed Dwem, a little known lesser God who felt pity for the mortals who were trapped by Srike, to break the Primary Forbiddance and give the gift of the En to the races.
The Codex of the Infinite describes Dwem's actions and the process of learning by the races in approximately one thousand pages. The Short version is as follows: Dwem showed the art of Orichalcum processing (the most magical metal) to the elders of the races, and they in turn used amulets of the metal to help others learn the art of spellcasting. As soon as the mortal spellcasters were powerful enough to access the elemental planes, Dwem was found out and punished by being banished to Brond, where he was tortured for a thousand years. The Gods attempted to restrict access of the En to the mortals but were unsuccessful as the En is the stuff of Chaos and therefore beyond the God's power.
The greatest leader of all the mortal races at this time was Robe, leader of the humans and thought to be the son of Dwem, a God who spent more time amongst mortals than his own kind. It was decided that Robe should be the one to confront Srike. The mages of all the races then banded together and forged Srikesbane, an Orichalcum sword with potent, almost God level, magics. The sword was given to Robe who met with Srike on the bridge over the River of Angry Hearts, the moat that surrounded Den; in a battle of epic proportion, Robe slew Srike. The primary side effect of this battle involved Srike's blood. The droplets that flew into the water sprang forth moments later as the varieties of chromatic dragons, and the droplets that flew off Robe's holy sword sprang forth as the varieties of metallic dragons.
The races celebrated and proclaimed Robe the leader of the united races, a union created ostensibly to promote peace and harmony that lasted only until the walls of Den were out of sight. Robe then led the races out of Den through a path described as follows:
123,444-- The races united stretched out behind Robe as he led them out of the city of their imprisoning. The path of Robe's choosing was both far and near, distant and close, difficult and simple, for he led them on a path that took them farther away from the Gods.
This passage is thought to mean that Den was in the spirit world and that Robe led the races not only between places, but between planes. But this is another story.
the voyage to the afterlife
Robe took his people a great distance to escape from Den, a distance that included bypassing dimensional barriers. When they
reached their destination, Heremod, they realized that they were no longer in the paradise they left. Life here was going to be hard and filled with toil, labor, and death. But at least they were free, and for these assorted peoples, that was everything.
Robe's path started by descending the Godshorn Cliffs. He then traversed the River of Angry Hearts, trekked across the Desert
of Thirsty Souls, and finally arrived on the Prime Plane. As the spheroid nature of the Universe is the telling point of any voyage,
so is as it was for Robe and the peoples. They had travelled through dimensions to arrive at the same point in the Universe they
left in a spiritual, although not physical sense. What this means is that the city of Den, from whence all life was started, rests
metaphysically atop Heremod, although not physically. One can travel to Den only through the Spirit World, even if standing on
the very spot, on Heremod, it once existed.
Since their arrival, Brond, whose seed had been destroyed by Robe and whose anger is as limitless as his being, has built the
Spiritual Maze. The Spiritual Maze exists in metaphysical space over Heremeod and was built to make the souls trek from life to
death excruciatingly difficult. This means that any creature who dies and has a spirit, will find his essence trapped in the almost
endless maze.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 1, THE SPIRITUAL MAZE.
Brond had wished to make this edifice infinite and inescapable but the other Gods prevented him from doing this and made sure there were exits. They could not prevent him from building as much as he did because their energies were partially invested in their creations and Brond was more powerful as Srike, Brond's creation, had been killed and this restored all of Brond's energies back to him. The maze is not infinite and has exits, but is ever shifting and cannot be destroyed as it will simply regenerate. It is possible, though doubtful, that a particularly resourceful and clever soul could make his way through the maze to the outside, but the maze is not barren, making this undertaking even more difficult. The maze is guarded by Hell Wardens, Bronds whose goal is to herd lost souls to the furnaces (direct, one-way openings to Brond from the Spiritual Maze), and patrolled by an eclectic group of Outer Planers known as The Chain, whose job is to help the souls escape. Those who know of these groups should be warned the Wardens far outnumber the Chain. The maze also has many other strange contents such as pocket dimensions, dimensional rifts, spiritual reflections, and others. There is even rumor of a tremendous city locked somewhere whithin the heart of the maze.
If one makes it through here, he will find himself on the outskirts of the Desert of Thirsty Souls.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 2, THE DESERT OF THIRSTY SOULS.
The Desert of Thirsty Souls is the gulf that separates the Prime Plane from the Outer Vaults. It exists across the Ethereal
plane and the Astral plane and is thought by many learned sages to be the spiritual manifestation of both. It seems to only exist for the dead or, at least, only those who are able to function on the Spiritual Plane. Powerful wizards who have the ability to travel astrally and who desire to find the desert will be disappointed. It is possible for a living mortal to view the desert but any
attempt to enter it would result in a quick expulsion into either the astral of ethereal Plane. For those spirits fortunate enough to make it this far, the desert is no area of respite. It is filled with dangers, evils, and setbacks. For the spiritual traveller, it is much like any other desert on the normal world, it contains sand, cacti, rolling hills and dunes, and other such geological formations. The differences are extreme, however.
The only advantage for the spiritual traveller is that the traveller needs neither food nor water and does not get too hot or
cool. He does not tire and may walk or run throughout the day and night. This is advisable, for the dangers are many.
The desert contains many monsters, misplaced Bronds, giant spirit scorpions, huge snakes, sand lurkers, and others. The most dangerous monsters, however, are the monsters of the mind, for the desert is home to many mirages, all of which may take literal shape depending on the derangements of the traveller's psyche. A skilled visualizer may create his own oasis but one bereft of hope may create his own doom. From these mirages the desert gets its name.
A very strange group of nomads, known as the Eskers (Trans: from the Skuer tongue, literally: The Travelers) inhabit the
desert and consider themselves its master, although no one really masters the desert. The Eskers travel the desert incessantly,
seeking the great treasures that occasionally wash up on its shores. The desert will constantly disgorge the lost treasures of the
Astral and Ethereal planes and the nomads have amassed a good bit of magical treasure through their wanderings. They are widely considered evil, however, as they will make deals with anyone who reaches the desert, and these anyones are typically Bronds.
The most notable dangers of the desert, but by no means the final ones, are the Pits of Reincarnation. The Pits function on
the basis of irony in the unviverse. If you enjoyed life on the Prime Plane greatly, and you seek to return to it, the pits will
avoid you. If you hated life and are grateful to seek your heavenly reward, the pits will seek you out and send you back.
Their function is simple: They are great pits filled with quicksand that are indistinguishable from the surrounding sand and,
if you are lucky or unfortunate enough to step in one, they will drag you slowly to the bottom where you are disgorged into the body of a newborn back on the Prime Plane. The newborn could be of any race or sex but will generally correspond to the category of the person involved. In other words, a human would most likely come back as a humanoid, a demi-human, or an anthropomorphoid. These are the general characteristics of the desert but the traps and tricks are myriad and should not be taken lightly.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 3, THE RIVER OF ANGRY HEARTS.
Lapping at the shores of the Desert of Thirsty Souls is the River of Angry Hearts. Some theologists believe that one day the
River will destroy the desert, and some believe the opposite, but in either case, both groups believe it would spell the end of the
world. The river has dotted along its infinite course a series of islands known as the Islands of Solace and Despair. The islands
are both the river's greatest treasures and its most perilous traps.
The river itself is an infinitely wide, infinitely long, choppy, wine-dark body of unknown depth below a constantly dark and
stormy sky. It is certainly filled with creatures of all sorts and few names. Bronds are the most typical monsters in the flow but
the most feared, and the most dangerous, are the mysterious things that live far below the surface and seldom, if ever, rise to the top. These creatures are thought to be the remnants of an elder race of a long-dead elder god and are not to be investigated.
Being anywhere within their presence is doom.
There is one ship in the river that will deal with outsiders and spiritual travelers. It is the Dark Voyager, a vessel of
immense proportions piloted by an ancient death god with a constantly immolating head that acts as a beacon through the dark
water and night of the river. The death god, known as Kalil, although this is not his real name, will only take people aboard
his ship if they have the proper blessing from a god. This blessing can be a complicated and deep thing but may be as simple
as the standard last rites ceremony.
The islands are everywhere within the river and all have at least one occupant. Should anyone set foot on an island, they will
either find an eternity of despair that will not allow them off the land, an eternity of solace and contemplation, that will also not
allow them off the island, or lastly, and most rarely, an island that is a focus of the En pool that will make anyone who sets foot
upon it an incredibly powerful demi-god. A person who sets foot on a power island may leave it, but also may stay and build a demi-plane. The individuals on the power islands are guardians who must be defeated to gain the energy. It is quite a risk to find one of these last islands, but many people see it as being worth it. The islands of solace are often sought as well, especially by people who followed the Zen paths back on the Prime Plane.
The other side of the river, in a metaphysical sense, is the foot of the Godshorn Cliffs, which is the last phase of the
spiritual journey.
reached their destination, Heremod, they realized that they were no longer in the paradise they left. Life here was going to be hard and filled with toil, labor, and death. But at least they were free, and for these assorted peoples, that was everything.
Robe's path started by descending the Godshorn Cliffs. He then traversed the River of Angry Hearts, trekked across the Desert
of Thirsty Souls, and finally arrived on the Prime Plane. As the spheroid nature of the Universe is the telling point of any voyage,
so is as it was for Robe and the peoples. They had travelled through dimensions to arrive at the same point in the Universe they
left in a spiritual, although not physical sense. What this means is that the city of Den, from whence all life was started, rests
metaphysically atop Heremod, although not physically. One can travel to Den only through the Spirit World, even if standing on
the very spot, on Heremod, it once existed.
Since their arrival, Brond, whose seed had been destroyed by Robe and whose anger is as limitless as his being, has built the
Spiritual Maze. The Spiritual Maze exists in metaphysical space over Heremeod and was built to make the souls trek from life to
death excruciatingly difficult. This means that any creature who dies and has a spirit, will find his essence trapped in the almost
endless maze.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 1, THE SPIRITUAL MAZE.
Brond had wished to make this edifice infinite and inescapable but the other Gods prevented him from doing this and made sure there were exits. They could not prevent him from building as much as he did because their energies were partially invested in their creations and Brond was more powerful as Srike, Brond's creation, had been killed and this restored all of Brond's energies back to him. The maze is not infinite and has exits, but is ever shifting and cannot be destroyed as it will simply regenerate. It is possible, though doubtful, that a particularly resourceful and clever soul could make his way through the maze to the outside, but the maze is not barren, making this undertaking even more difficult. The maze is guarded by Hell Wardens, Bronds whose goal is to herd lost souls to the furnaces (direct, one-way openings to Brond from the Spiritual Maze), and patrolled by an eclectic group of Outer Planers known as The Chain, whose job is to help the souls escape. Those who know of these groups should be warned the Wardens far outnumber the Chain. The maze also has many other strange contents such as pocket dimensions, dimensional rifts, spiritual reflections, and others. There is even rumor of a tremendous city locked somewhere whithin the heart of the maze.
If one makes it through here, he will find himself on the outskirts of the Desert of Thirsty Souls.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 2, THE DESERT OF THIRSTY SOULS.
The Desert of Thirsty Souls is the gulf that separates the Prime Plane from the Outer Vaults. It exists across the Ethereal
plane and the Astral plane and is thought by many learned sages to be the spiritual manifestation of both. It seems to only exist for the dead or, at least, only those who are able to function on the Spiritual Plane. Powerful wizards who have the ability to travel astrally and who desire to find the desert will be disappointed. It is possible for a living mortal to view the desert but any
attempt to enter it would result in a quick expulsion into either the astral of ethereal Plane. For those spirits fortunate enough to make it this far, the desert is no area of respite. It is filled with dangers, evils, and setbacks. For the spiritual traveller, it is much like any other desert on the normal world, it contains sand, cacti, rolling hills and dunes, and other such geological formations. The differences are extreme, however.
The only advantage for the spiritual traveller is that the traveller needs neither food nor water and does not get too hot or
cool. He does not tire and may walk or run throughout the day and night. This is advisable, for the dangers are many.
The desert contains many monsters, misplaced Bronds, giant spirit scorpions, huge snakes, sand lurkers, and others. The most dangerous monsters, however, are the monsters of the mind, for the desert is home to many mirages, all of which may take literal shape depending on the derangements of the traveller's psyche. A skilled visualizer may create his own oasis but one bereft of hope may create his own doom. From these mirages the desert gets its name.
A very strange group of nomads, known as the Eskers (Trans: from the Skuer tongue, literally: The Travelers) inhabit the
desert and consider themselves its master, although no one really masters the desert. The Eskers travel the desert incessantly,
seeking the great treasures that occasionally wash up on its shores. The desert will constantly disgorge the lost treasures of the
Astral and Ethereal planes and the nomads have amassed a good bit of magical treasure through their wanderings. They are widely considered evil, however, as they will make deals with anyone who reaches the desert, and these anyones are typically Bronds.
The most notable dangers of the desert, but by no means the final ones, are the Pits of Reincarnation. The Pits function on
the basis of irony in the unviverse. If you enjoyed life on the Prime Plane greatly, and you seek to return to it, the pits will
avoid you. If you hated life and are grateful to seek your heavenly reward, the pits will seek you out and send you back.
Their function is simple: They are great pits filled with quicksand that are indistinguishable from the surrounding sand and,
if you are lucky or unfortunate enough to step in one, they will drag you slowly to the bottom where you are disgorged into the body of a newborn back on the Prime Plane. The newborn could be of any race or sex but will generally correspond to the category of the person involved. In other words, a human would most likely come back as a humanoid, a demi-human, or an anthropomorphoid. These are the general characteristics of the desert but the traps and tricks are myriad and should not be taken lightly.
THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL: PHASE 3, THE RIVER OF ANGRY HEARTS.
Lapping at the shores of the Desert of Thirsty Souls is the River of Angry Hearts. Some theologists believe that one day the
River will destroy the desert, and some believe the opposite, but in either case, both groups believe it would spell the end of the
world. The river has dotted along its infinite course a series of islands known as the Islands of Solace and Despair. The islands
are both the river's greatest treasures and its most perilous traps.
The river itself is an infinitely wide, infinitely long, choppy, wine-dark body of unknown depth below a constantly dark and
stormy sky. It is certainly filled with creatures of all sorts and few names. Bronds are the most typical monsters in the flow but
the most feared, and the most dangerous, are the mysterious things that live far below the surface and seldom, if ever, rise to the top. These creatures are thought to be the remnants of an elder race of a long-dead elder god and are not to be investigated.
Being anywhere within their presence is doom.
There is one ship in the river that will deal with outsiders and spiritual travelers. It is the Dark Voyager, a vessel of
immense proportions piloted by an ancient death god with a constantly immolating head that acts as a beacon through the dark
water and night of the river. The death god, known as Kalil, although this is not his real name, will only take people aboard
his ship if they have the proper blessing from a god. This blessing can be a complicated and deep thing but may be as simple
as the standard last rites ceremony.
The islands are everywhere within the river and all have at least one occupant. Should anyone set foot on an island, they will
either find an eternity of despair that will not allow them off the land, an eternity of solace and contemplation, that will also not
allow them off the island, or lastly, and most rarely, an island that is a focus of the En pool that will make anyone who sets foot
upon it an incredibly powerful demi-god. A person who sets foot on a power island may leave it, but also may stay and build a demi-plane. The individuals on the power islands are guardians who must be defeated to gain the energy. It is quite a risk to find one of these last islands, but many people see it as being worth it. The islands of solace are often sought as well, especially by people who followed the Zen paths back on the Prime Plane.
The other side of the river, in a metaphysical sense, is the foot of the Godshorn Cliffs, which is the last phase of the
spiritual journey.