The History of Broken
The measure of the World lies in the Cycle; the ever-turning wheel of destruction and creation that punctuates each Sun. Countless such Turnings have passed since the dawn of the world, and if more are to come… none yet know. Sages claim the world is in its Last Sun; the end of the Cycle. None agree on whether this heralds its eternal existence or final fall into the Abyss.
In its current form, the World, the Innös-Kehta, the All-things-within-the-Void, is a map of past ages, scarred by the legacies of civilizations and peoples lost and found over the ages. Below are some of the events that have left these wounds to later generations.
Age of the Dawn
In the beginning was the endless void of the Abyss; a swirling maelstrom of half-formed concepts, without language, without names or form. Great idea-entities formed, consuming lesser thoughts and philosophies in an endless, Darwinian struggle, and it is from this fight for survival that the Source was born. Although spoken of as an intelligent entity, this was but an abstract concept given form; a notion of stability and meaning that was such an antithesis to the rest of the Abyss that is stood distinct.
And so the universe was divided into two – within the Source ideas crystallized into matter, change was harnessed for evolution and continuations rather than mad, random chaos. Creation and destruction became the agencies of intelligence, and the concept of language; the core of the Source’s very nature, was made real in the form of Urtongue, the first language and root of all thought that would cover thereafter.
From this burst of new complexity formed the first three forces – Sun, Void and Life; the Paramount Rivers that set the stage for all creation, change and conflict henceforth. Ehlt: River of Sun, the power of creation and destruction brought forth form and definition from the Abyss – where its light shone, the shapeless was given shape and meaning, named in the Urtongue. After the Sun’s light came Keht: River of Void, a power of preservation and endurance, fixing the new creations against the corrosion of the Abyss, preserving the fledgling patterns that would becomes the foundations of the world. Finally An: River of Life, which brought forth change, evolution and active thought – the third Paramount River, and the weakest, yet mightiest in its subtlety and ability to react and to change. From these three forces, would, in turn, rise the First Tribes.
The First Tribes
The First Tribes were the three peoples who emerged from the Paramount Rivers, each aspected with one of these fundamental forces. The Ul’Keht; stone colossi set to preserve all that exists within the Void. The Ul’Ehlt; speakers of creation and destruction, six-winged with light and shadows. And finally the Ul’An; protean ancestors of all living beasts. For a time, these tribes lived in harmony; the Ul’An roaming wild through the virgin forests, whilst the Ul’Ehlt raised their marble towers with words and song, plumbing the mysteries of the young world. And behind it all, the Ul’Keht, the children of the Void stood aloof, raising the Wall of Bells to reinforce reality against the depredations of the Abyss.
Even the innocence of a new-born would would prove to be horribly vulnerable, however. Countless time would pass until the end of the Dawntime, but when it came, it did so in ice and fire.
The Breaking
It was envy that unmade the world. Since the dawning of life within the Void, the Ul’Ehlt; proud Children of Sun were the custodians of the Urtongue, the language that underpins existence and their mastery was absolute, making and unmaking reality with a word or a song. However limitless this power was, they were still hindered; they could not forge life from unlife – they were less than the Source before them and this grated against their proud souls. This alone was not sufficient to rouse them to the destructive anger that came later – that last straw occurred with the coming of the Anam.
The Ul’An, children of Life itself would bring forth a multitude of living creatures; alone amongst the First Tribes they were capable of reproducing and their children were the ancestors of all beings to walk the earth. Amongst them were the Anam; bred tall and true, capable of thought and speech, of the use of tools and weaponry; our ancestors. Although lacking the malleable forms of their parents, they surpassed them intellectually – the Children of Life being little more than creatures of raw primal instinct. Their minds, keen and new to the world sought out mystery and learning; they learnt to speak, to harness the energies running through the world. And finally they learnt their first words of the Urtongue.
The Ul’Ehlt were greatly angered by this trespass onto something they considered a sacred right – and by a people who were not of the First, no less. Their rage was absolute, and they began their slaughter; of the Anam and the Ul’An both, as the parents refused to stand aside and allow the deaths of their children. The conflict was bloody and absolute, and the Ul’An were battered relentlessly; their powers too subtle and indirect to be wielded effectively against the raw force the Ul’Ehlt could wield. They fought a war of retreats and deceit, luring their foes into traps and ambushes; the very land beneath them given life.
It was the Ul’Keht – ever distant guardians – who put an end to the Ul’Ehlts’ rampage. In an act of mutual destruction, they sought to preserve the balance of the world by removing the mandate of the Void from the children of Sun, un-naming them, leaving them unshielded against the energies that raged around, condemning them to eventual dissolution as their very Pattersn dissolved. Such an act had repercussions: the Ul’Keht themselves could not withstand such a breach of their own purpose, and as one were shattered into their component parts. The energies unleashed ravaged the world; this was the First Turning. Those who survived were sheltered in the most distant Rivers – and the Anam, whose existence had started the conflict, survived through the sacrifice of the remaining Ul’An, forming of themselves the vessels that would carry their offspring deep within Anam, the like-named River of Trees. And so the world Turned, and the Cycle began.
Age of the Cycle
Age of Gold
Age of the Unbound
The Latter Break
Age of Grey
Age of the Broken
Age of the Last Sun
