THE END AFTER...
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The Old Gods are long dead, and in their place stand Shadow and Darkness.
Tempestuous, towering, unforgiving, self-serving. Only Dark Gods rule here, in a Reborn World where nothing is eternal; where Light is unliving.
When the Light lost the Divines War, the Omens tore apart Solitude's Soul, and ripped Her Vessel into nothingness. As She died, all that was left behind was a decaying, dying world, and the Dark Gods who now ruled over it. Ruination had come.
However, the Dark Gods would eventually realize their folly. What purpose was there in reigning over a dead world? And once this world had completely dissipated, would the Dark Gods, too, disappear with it? The Omens had abandoned them, there was no escape from Solitude; the Dark Gods were on their own. Some would revel in this chaos, some didn't care, and some despaired.
It was from the alliance of Three, known as the Triumvirate, that a plan to save the world was devised. By their action was Light returned in an Ethereal form, and the Unseen darkness that consumed the world was expelled along with its Omens.
The Reborn World entered the Reborn Age, and Solitude's Ruination was halted.
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...at least for now.​
After Ruination
When the Dark Gods came to Solitude, in their shadows hid the Omens, who spurred on war and conflict through the Resplendent Realms. The decadent and pure cities of the Divine Gods united to stand against the coming darkness, but the Omens weakened them and tore them apart, and soon the Divine Gods were no more, as the Dark Gods stood triumphant to reign over a dying world. In the end, Ruination came and destroyed everything and everyone, as it destroyed the Primeval Worldsoul of Solitude. No one, save the Dark Gods, were left.
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Using what remained of Numen Light, three of the Dark Gods fused their Soul Vessels, their Aether, and the Light with the body of a Dead Goddess, Maraiah, and created the rekindled Worldsoul of Nerasûn; Reborn Solitude. From the Ethereal Light born from Nerasûn, the once-dead denizens of the world also returned, and the flow of Aether began again as the Worldsoul siphoned it for its needs.
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While Solitude might be returned, it is far from recovered. Mortals struggle to survive in mostly barren and dead lands, and the flow of Aether remains thin as it fluctuates constantly. Souls are no longer reborn in a cycle, and must instead be shepherded to Nerasûn via the artificial Veil, lest they become the unbound dead. Many of the Dark Gods continue to abuse the lands and peoples for their own gains, while also fighting with each for control over land and worshippers. All the while, some few of the Dark Gods work to maintain order across the darkened realms, to ensure Ruination doesn't return.
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In this Reborn World, the Ashed Plumes of long-dead dragons still sometimes fall from the skies and settle in places of power, and tell of forgotten pasts and teach ancient, spiritborn magics from when Solitude was still a young, growing Soul. The brittle Vessels of mortals contain what little Ethereal Light still remains in this world, but the most resilient among them can learn to wield it as magic. Fey creatures and astral curiosities roam the myriad lands Inbetween and Without, as the Unborn Worlds continue to circle around Solitude; bound to Her corpse via Nerasûn.
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The Dark Gods, along with their mortal subjects, work to save this world they conquered, and all the while the Unseen Abyss watches, and the Omens wait patiently, eternally, as they slowly whisper and lure in their corruptive wiles.
Omens, Gods, & Vows
Before all things Solitude was a home of the Elementa Spirits, who watched over the world as its Guardians, alongside their allies, the Feathered Dragons. In time the Divine Gods would arrive, and from their leadership was crafted a perfect world of divinity, marbled grandeur, and resplendent peoples. It was a Decadent Age that, while glorious, wouldn't last forever.
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In the war between Divine and Dark Gods, only the Dark ones survived, and everyone else were to forever be known as the Dead Gods. Their corpses and bones still lie in the dirt, in places like the Feast of the Dead Gods, or in the depths of the unseen oceans. The Dark Gods inherited the lands of Solitude, and in Her rebirth they took charge to unite the lands under their own rule. This has led to wars yet again, but this time between each other.
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While the Dark Gods bicker, the powers of the Unseen Abyss watch. The resurrection of Solitude was a defiant act, one which the Dark Gods weren't meant to enact, as was the design by the Unseen Abyss and its Omens. Instead something unforeseen occurred, and the Ethereal Light that now engulfs Solitude, despite its frailty, disrupts the sight of those outside, and so they must wait for the right time to make their moves again. All they can do is wait and scheme through the lowest whispers; hoping to gain a foothold in the hearts and minds of hopeless mortals.
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Meanwhile, the Dark Gods have reigned in the Reborn World for five-hundred years now. In this time they have faced many conflicts, and worked hard to maintain this dying world with iron-hands and steeled wills. Powerful Vows, godlike commands that reshape realms, lie in place throughout the Reborn World, as the Dark Gods conquer and demand obedience in their work through their terrifying Vows.
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Amidst these forces, there are heavensbound, towering structures, known as Godspires, that continue to rise on their own all over the world; gargantuan even for Gods to behold. Many view them as the gravestones of the Divine Gods; monuments sprung from unlost memories. While little is truly known of these Spires, the Gods covet them, and in their place they send ambitious mortals to claim them in their name, with the promise of fulfilled Vows to grant upon the victorious.
Vagrant Light
What was once dead, returned. Solitude's lands were renewed in the Aether and Souls that came back from Nerasûn, as Ethereal Light spread throughout what remained of the world, and reignited the Light within all things and beings.
It is with the Ethereal Light that life is able to sustain itself again in Solitude, despite the mostly dead realms; although in time it would be possible for even the lands to fully recover one day. That is the hope of some at least, but it's no falsehood to say that most mortals today live half lives in this half-living world. They are weighed down by Omens, and kept low by their whispers of doubt, sins, and false hopes. They become forever forlorn, absent the sustenance of Hope's inspirations. Hopeless and lost.
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It is the few among the many hopeless that stand out. These individuals, whose Inner Light shines brighter, grants them not only greater individual power, but a greater immunity to the Omens, to the point where they can take the Vows of the Omens and make them their own.
So-called 'Vagrants', those people who dare step out from their stifling shells and wander the lands, unburdened by the Omens, appear more and more throughout the realms as time goes on, and many now serve the Dark Gods, either as loyal servants, or as pawns of ambition. These Vagrants possess the power to awaken their Inner Light, and some might even manage to inspire the hopeless forlorn as well, and awaken new Vagrants from their aimless numbers.
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Some Vagrants become Vow-bound to their chosen deities, meaning they closely serve the Dark Gods as part of their higher circle, which grants these individuals the power to command Godly Vows, besides what Vows they already steal from the Omens. Such individuals can often be seen serving the Dark Gods close at hand, or as generals or orators for the masses. The strongest of them almost become gods themselves, as their gifts elevate them to the idolhood of 'Vowsworn' ; renowned leaders of these broken lands of Solitude.
You found me!
Reborn Realms
From Dark Kingdoms and Fading Lands, and sometimes in the secret, whispering voices of deceiving Omens, the Dark Gods plot and plan against each other, to ensure that if it came down to it, they would remain as last to survive in whatever new Great Conflict or Tribulation to come.
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The truth of Solitude is that Her lands are no longer what they once were, and most of Her is covered in Abyssal Darkness; a darkness so thick, nothing survives its touch. What remains are the few non-swallowed lands, such as the Mystic West, the great deserts and kingdoms of the Central Realms, the fading Southern Continent, the starblighted peaks of Xaraxas, the Broken Lands of the Endless Paths, and the frost-harrowed isles of the Mournfrosts.
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In these lands live the Returned; the many peoples who once found prosperity in the Resplendent Realms, so many centuries ago.
The death and return of Solitude sent many of the Returned into despair, and for over five-hundred years, they have learned to survive and adapt to a world forever on the brink. From the elven wraiths of the Pale Woods and Reflected Lunafae below, to the wandering tribes of sentient Constructs and golems that are prominent in grey wastes such as Ouros and the Machine Wall, of angelic seraphs whose fall from the Shattered Heavens forced them to live amongst mortals, and to the enduring Reborn Mankind, who returned to re-inhabit their abandoned and ruined kingdoms and cities made from a better age.
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In the In-Between, the Unborn Worlds sit just at Solitude's edge, where they tangle too closely with the Plane of Ruination. These are worlds of spirits, demons, fey, and forgotten souls, which often involve themselves with the arcane and spiritual undertakings of mortals.
Of course, the Omens possess strong grips in these worlds too, and the risk to one's sanity is always of paramount height when foolishly trying to make contact with these Heralds of the End. As the Returned continue to live on and survive in a world unfit for life, the Omens are always watching them, and lure the desperate to their dark yet promising calls.