The tale of Three brothers

The creation of Fornvollr.

AS TOLD BY FATHER MIR, HEAD CLERIC OF FIN, OF THE FIRST AGE. 

Before our world there was the spectral realm, a realm of the gods. Faris, was the first of the gods to come into this realm followed by his brother, Theos the Wretched. The two brothers created this spectral realm and filled it with all manner of riches, including a wealth of friendship and love. For an eternity the two brothers thrived in companionship, worshipped by the creatures they had created. Throughout time, they created vast wonders together, but over the generations Theos grew jealous of the love the world had for his brother.

This is the point in which hatred spawned and unleashed its poison into the realm.

Theos grew more resentful over the years and a darkness swept the land. Famine killed off the many crops they had created together and unrelenting disease ran amok. In his jealousy, Theos killed his brother, earning the title The Wretched. Over time his beloved brother faded from memory and became the first legend of men, a beacon of hope for those who wished to rule themselves but never seen as more than a work of fiction. 

Time, as it is wont to do, moved on. Theos would rule the realm for many centuries before meeting an elven princess, by the name of Levay’a, who became his companion and eventually his wife. Together they would bear three children. Malik, the god of war and death. Parcel, the god of magic and knowledge. And Fin, the god of spirit and love. The three brothers were given equal shares of the realm to rule and did so in peace for thousands of years under the guidance of their father Theos, who’d learned from the regret of killing his kin, that power should be shared and family be equal in all things. 

During the tenth day of the season of Fell, in the tenth age of the realm, Theos fell ill. All the light and wisdom he had shared with his sons to keep the peace died out when he took his final breath. The death of their father came as a shock to the boys, falling heavy on the hearts of the brothers. Accusations of murder drove them apart, each moving to their kingdoms for safety from each other. 

The peace, one so effortlessly crafted, had fallen apart as the brothers created three factions in the realm of great power. Malik created a faction of warmongers. Elite warriors with a desire for battle. These people became known as the Orcs. Parcel created a faction of alchemists and great magic users, using their vast knowledge of the natural world they built wonders for civilization. These peoples became known as the Elves, named after the mother of the three brothers. And Fin founded the church, dedicating his life to helping others and recording the events of time as it passed. The new foundation of order allowed his humans to flourish with a common cause to fight for. 

Malik brought war. 

Parcel brought magic.

Fin brought religion. 

For hundreds of years the brothers fought for rule of the realm. At any cost, they would fight for their fathers chair. The years of war depleting the realm of its life force and materials, landscape turned from lush forest and pastures to barren wastelands of rock and sand. People hid behind walled cities as the world around them became unstable, their gods even more so. Volcanoes burned the sands to glass and earthquakes shook the once sturdy land to dust, the roots that once held the realm together had rotted away below the surface.

In a last effort to make peace and save their world Fin and Parcel united their two factions. Approaching Malik, the two brothers offered peace, a chance to right the wrongs they had all caused fighting this endless war. May they rule the realm together once again as brothers, as their father would have wanted. 

Malik refused their plea for peace and unity and continued to wage his war. Forgiveness would not be so readily given for the accusations of murder. The great war continued. The world was dying around Parcel and Fin, and without their brother ending his crusade of vengeance they could not save it. Parcel and Fin planned to leave the realm, leaving Malik to rule until the realm perished along with him. His mind had been poisoned and it was the only way to ensure the safety of their people. 

Out of the ashes of their realm, from within the depths of the waters below, the two brothers used their vast knowledge and power to raise Fornvollr. A new land, a new hope, for their people to come together united as one. A great gate was built to allow the factions to pass through to this new world, free from the burden of their warring brother. Parcel gathered his mages and began the ritual to enter Fornvollr. Fin and his clerics gathered the peoples of the two factions, men and elves, and began guiding them to their new realm.

Malik, hearing of the plan to abandon him and his people became infuriated. He attacked the great citadel with his vast armies of monsters and orcs in a last ditch effort to save himself and his people from the abandonment of his brothers. From death itself. 

The peaceful people of the realm succumbed to siege as Malik’s war machines and armies fell upon them. The two factions rushed through the gate in search of safety and freedom from the fear of what Malik would do to them for abandoning a god. Parcel and Fin, with their elite warriors of men and elves, fought off the armies of their brother for as long as they could to allow as many of their people to go free into the world. Realizing they could not hold off Malik for any longer, Parcel pushed Fin and his brave humans through the gate behind them. 

Fin and the free peoples of the spectral realm turned to gaze through the gate watching his glorious brothers fight in wonder. Holding the gate open for as long as he was able, Fin watched as his brother, Parcel, fell at the hands of Malik. With Malik’s burning sword thrust through his chest, Parcel turned his face toward Fin. In the last great show of love for his brother and the people, Parcel raised his hand closing the gate, sealing Fornvollr from the spectral realm forever. 

Filled with the shame of failing his brothers, Fin retreated from the world and took the mantle of a wandering sage. Aiding the world with knowledge and silently pushing humanity to achieve great things as he travelled his pilgrimage. He never again wished to rule the free peoples of Fornvollr, for power leads to corruption.

The world grew at a swift pace and the story of three brothers went from fact to legend. The creation story of our world having been told many times over, perverted by people's lust for power and distorted by the lens of bias. The last evidence of the brothers sacrifice, all that remains, the Elf Tears and the magic they hold.

The world has become great with many thriving races creating wondrous wares and items for trade.

The dwarves have built the greatest machines and kingdoms.

Elves created wonder and joy with their Magics.

The humans made incredible works of theater and went on to become the great explorers of the realm.

Though the light made it through the doorway, so too, did the dark. The Orcs brought war, the Goblins their unending hunger, and the peoples of Malik, the vampyr, brought their great love of political prowess. 

Despite the rise in darkness and greed. Despite the surge in pestilence, a wandering sage mutters "In the midst of darkness, light persists."