Have a sneak peek of the origin story for Talmenor's gods.

The Beginning: Light and Shadow

The universe was formed with the twin powers of Light and Shadow. Though not sentient, the two magics were highly reactive to each other, sometimes mixing and sometimes repelling. Over time, as life evolved, differing levels of Light and Shadow energy seeped into organisms, giving them animus – the ability to move – as well as a spirit to store their memories and thoughts in. The creatures began to covet each others’ mana in the same manner as they craved each others’ flesh as food, fighting and mixing.

Some creatures departed for other Spheres, becoming the seeding lifeforms of such worlds as Gehelnom, The Obelisk, and Talmenor.

Maturing Energies

As the lifeforms on each Sphere matured, their magic energies also evolved. Entire Spheres became governed by divergent energies, such as Storms, Ice or Fire. Talmenor was infused with the essence of Elemental Earth, with all creatures taking sustenance in some form from the rocks: plants lived upon soil and animals ate the plants.

The First Gods

As the magical energies coalesced, Spheres began to develop wills of their own. The Sphere of Talmenor developed sentience and became attracted to the first Goddess of Sun, and began orbiting around Her, enchanted by Her mysteries. The goddess was a capricious sort however, and burned Talmenor when It came too close. Angered by Her rejection, Talmenor attacked the Sun and killed Her. She split into many different Spheres, becoming the moons which Talmenor coveted and drew around Itself. The moons gave off no light however, and soon Talmenor felt sorrow for Its actions. It began to siphon Its energies out to the moons. New gods awoke in them, including Merrana, Shen-Bahan, Alt’Rhazia, Dumalt’h, and Suorr’Lun. Some of the moons were content to watch the doings of the creatures on Talmenor’s surface, while others gave them gifts. Merrana taught some of them to sing and to dance. Suorr’Lun saw that many of Talmenor’s creatures still mourned the lack of light from His mother’s death, and so He became Talmenor’s second sun.

The First Betrayal

Some of the new Sphere-moons had inherited Talmenor’s jealousy and greed however, including Suorr’Lun, who grew tired of always giving of His essence so the creatures on Talmenor might live. One day, Suorr’Lun let his Light go out, and in the darkness, Alt’Rhazia ambushed Talmenor and tried to draw in the lifeforces of Its creatures to spread evenly amongst the greedy traitor moons. There wasn’t enough power for all the gods who wanted it, however, and the creatures of Talmenor began to die, leaving their corpses as great continents, their blood becoming the seas. Mortally wounded, Talmenor cried out, and Merrana knew discord in Her melodies for the first time.

Shen-Bahan, ever a watcher and a Wanderer up until that point, saw this and, not knowing He was part of the conspiracy, approached Dumalt’h with His concerns that they would all perish if the redistribution was allowed to continue. Dumalt’h at first rebuked Shen-Bahan, and Shen-Bahan struck Him, breaking off His cowardice into a hunk of demi-god who would later be known as Voice-in-Dark. Penitent, Dumalt’h sacrificed himself, stabilizing the molten, suffering rock of Talmenor with his conviction and strength.

Shen-Bahan then made a deal with Suorr’Lun, granting Him the power to orbit Talmenor so that He could have a rest every night. Suorr’Lun in this time also took His wisdom and spread it across the sky as stars, each impossible to reach from one another, so that no single creature would be able to possess all of them at once and rule again as a tyrant.
Shen-Bahan then approached Alt’Rhazia, convincing Her in Her love to give Her lifeforce back to Talmenor. Like Dumalt’h, She became a part of the Earth, and part of Her spirit would reside in all living things, as the renamed Mamea, the Mother Goddess. However, before Her death, Alt'Rhazia kept back some of the energy She had stolen from Talmenor and Suorr'Lun, so birthing the gods Lunaria and Sar'Kata, who would always enjoy breaking the rules and tricking others for their own enjoyment.

Shen-Bahan approached each of the other moons in this manner, setting in place rules that mortals would later label as physics, embodiment, and the conservation of mana (or energy). Finally, He gave of Himself, so that the creatures on Talmenor would always have free will: the ability to learn and to make mistakes, to love and to hate, to experiment and to reason. He became the banks of the Spirit River and guided its flow. Outside of the power of any god, the lifeforces in the River would mix and meld and recycle itself into new spirits eternally. He created the draconic khurarl to watch over the River, and now spent, He settled down to sleep for an age.

Though Talmenor had died, It lived on in Its children, and the children They would have, constantly recycled by the Spirit River.