Theology and Cosmology
While I've toyed with the idea of making the setting a flat Earth with a firmament or perhaps a hollow Earth, with the inside being a mix of the Underworld/Fae, I've gone with a real world model for the physical reality of the setting. As for the Theology, in the fashion of the major, real-world religions, the setting assumes a monotheistic Creator. The Creator is both outside of the physical reality of the world, and the persistent cause of it. From this axiom, the rest of the setting will be derived.
Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos
This will hopefully be a brief and concise treatise on alignment. The metaphysical forces of Law and Chaos are synonymous with Good and Evil. What obeys the Laws of the Creator is Good, which breaks them is Evil. Where it get's muddy is in mankind, who think to redefine Law as they see fit, mimicing the Fall. It is here that laws and Good can be in opposition. In human terms, lawful and chaotic refer to one's dispotion toward the way in which man structures power. A great city may be incredibly lawful in disposition, but their decadence causes them to stray from Law and Good, while a tribe of barbarians may value their freedom and lawlessness, but still conform the Law. Thus on the traditional two-dimensional alignment grid, Good and Evil represent the adherence or rejection of the metaphysical Law of the Creator, while Lawful and Chaotic represent a person's ideology.
Creation
The universe was spoken into being; the words of the first order are the deepest magic in existence. The two chief components of reality are form and matter. Before the type which is mankind ever walked the earth, fleshed with matter, the form of man existed as the prototype within the laws of nature. All that has, does, and can exist in the material world has existed since the instant of Creation, in the world of forms. These primordial forms are the limitting factor of alchemy.
Creatures of Form
The first creatures exist only as form. Initially, there were two types: one type with free will, and one type without. The Primordials are without free will, and their existence limits the mutability of reality and its laws. Endowed with free will are The Mal'akh, the agents of the Creator. Those loyal to the Creator only executed the use of their free will once, during The Fall. The Fallen, or Shedim, are intrinisically Chaotic, however their individual goals aren't necessarily evil, in common sense.
Parallel to the Mal'akh and Shedim are the Primordials and the Old Ones. The Old Ones are a biproduct of The Fall. Some Primordials were destroyed in the War of Forms, and the last Mal'akh to fall tried to restore those that perished. It can be argued that she succeeded, however, those she restored were now different. She tried to piece them together, but could not remember all their true aspects. While it cannot be truly said that she was able to create, she had performed the first act of alchemy. It is still argued what her exact crime was (defiance or failure are the main claims), but many believe that one of her titles, The Blind Idiot, points toward the truth of her fall.
The Mal'akh, Shedim, Primordials, and Old Ones will be further detailed in their own post, as well as in the descriptions of other creatures.
Creatures of Form and Matter
While the forms of all Creation existed within their prototypes since the beginning, it would take the passing of time for their types to stochastically emerge in the material. Every snake exists within it's formal prototype, but materially only some exist, some are extinct, and some are yet come; the same is true for every beast, plant, fungus, mineral, etc... Aeons would pass before stars fused gold within their cores, but the form of gold always was. While this is also true of mankind, they were uniquely gifted with both Free Will and Reason, directly by the Creator. However, man was a relative late arrival to the material world.
Ancients, Beasts, Humanoids, and Idols
It is within creation that we will begin to see the first glimpse of true Evil. Beasts are a natural part of Creation, having existed formally before being clothed in matter. All of Creation is Good by its Essence. Conversely, nothing that is Evil was created; it is in the twisting, the perversion of Creation by the Shedim that serves as the basis of Evil. It is inherently lesser, and is destined to lose, but that doesn't preclude it's interference in causing more to fall, joining the Shedim in their fallen state.
Some Shedim entered into the material world, clothing themselves in flesh as they saw fit. They are the most ancient material beings in existence, and are capable of defying Laws of Nature. A few of these are known but many more are suspected to exist. Most notable among the Ancients are The Dragon, The Sphynx, The Leviathan, The Behemoth, The Naga, The Titan, The Coatl, and The Phoenix. Many of these have produced offspring, and as such are more common, each Ancient serves as the material prototype for any they sired. Finally, it is rumored that some Shedim entered the material world to protect man, in an attempt to atone for their defiance. There is no evidence to substantiate this but for the tales handed down in various tribes across the vastness of the world.
As stated before, human's arrived relatively late to the material world, however their coming was well known by the Shedim. In attempt to mock their emergence from from primate stock, many Ancients began guiding their own alchemical creatures into being, twisting beastial forms into upright abominations. Some were created out of Pride, thinking they could shape something greater than the Creator, while others were born of Wrath, imbued with the sole purpose of destroying humankind. There are many such abominations, but the most commonly known include Orcs, Goblins, Gnolls, Snakemen, Lizardmen, Sahuagin, Deep Ones, Incubi/Succubi, Ghouls, and Elves.
Finally, some Shedim learned to manipulate matter without fully entering into it. A common tactic was entering into great monoliths. They would cause the stone to vibrate, and the structure of some stones allowed for precise manipulation, to the point they began to communicate with humanoids (and subsequently humans). Methods of communication have since become more sophistacted, but the primacy of idols still holds a great sway over humans who encounter them.
Humans, Constructs, Monsters, and Undeath
When the first true Humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, were gifted with Free Will and thus differentiated from their Predecessor, Homo sapiens idaltu, history as we know it began. There was much competition betwen humans and the lingering subhumans, but it was inevitable that humankind would emerge dominant between the two groups. However, their ability to survive and surpass the humanoids, many of which existed for ages before Homo erectus first strode on two feet, was quite unexpected and perplexing. Humans were behind in magic, technology, and sheer numbers, yet somehow they not only survived, but thrived to the point of dominating the other humanoids. A common explanation was divine intervention and aid from the Mal'akh, but a conventional understanding of metaphysics makes this impossibile; most sages now agree that it was with the aid of Ancients and Idols that Humanity survived the onslaught of those early years.
Being like their Creator, Humans have the natural proclivity to create (discover would be more accurate). Aside from art and technologies, eventually Humans tried to create life for themselves. They were at best partially successful in only one of three major methods.
Humans shaped the first Golem from mud and dust, and imbued them with motion through Sygaldry, literally overwriting the Words of Creation. This magic was forbidden, and likely taught to Humans by some form of Shedim. Having pity on the golem, the Creator imbued this first generation with Free Will and Reason. These new beings, the Golm, have coexisted mostly peacefully with Humanity; the edge cases being conflicts with Humans who continued to create golem. Other magic can briefly animate objects, thus it is only Sygaldry over life which is condemned.
The synthesis of beasts was Man's second folly of creation. Through alchemical processes, myriad beasts would be broken from their form, and twisted into something blasphemous. Most of these proved unstable; some would die almost instantly, others in a long suffering decline, and still more devolving into near-formless, undulating masses of substance. However, some combinations were hearty and stable (many even able to reproduce sexually), and man began to produce these monsters en masse as weapons of war. Some of the most common are basilisk, centaur, cockatrice, griffen, manticore, owlbear, pegasi, and worg. Two through lines in these alchemical monstrosities: any creature made with with Humans or Humanoids are maliciously destructive, and anything tameable required at least half of its stock to be herbivorous.
Finally came Man's attempt to cheat death. While many humanoids practiced some form of rudimentary necromancy, it was Humanity that perfected undeath. The mere animation of corpses, such as zombies and skeletons might be the oldest magic still in practice. Ghouls have existed independantly of necromancy since they were first borne of Gluttony, and the alchemical secrets of mummification were discovered by the snake men, and have thus been ruled by serpent mummy lords for millenia. Also of note are the flesh golem, however their classification as undead debatable. The largest point for their undead status is their tendency to disobey orders.
Humanity's first new addition to the ranks of undead was the wight. This new evil is more than the mere animation of a corpse, it requires the bound soul of a human. The wight has forsaken its free will to eternally power its body. Then came the incorpeal undead. Banshee, ghosts, shades, and wraiths are all the forms of dead humans who refused to depart the material world upon death, and are thus eternally trapped in it. They have a much more natural ability to manipulate the physical world than the Shedim, and material beings cannot interact with the incorporeal without magic.
Despite their many innovations, none even compare to the Vampire or the Lich. Documentation of vampire only emerged within the last thousand years or so, but some verifiable reports speak of vampire claiming to be older than that; though, the veracity is uncertain. Much else is known about them, including how to destroy them. From a metaphysical standpoint, the Vampire is still a material being, but it has overcome the limitations of human form. It is the only undead that can pass as a living human without the further aid of glamours. In the memoirs of Prince Khashayar II of Meskin, the author claimed to be a vampire and stated he had full lucidity when his hunger was sated.
Many consider the Lich little more than a thought experiment, since there isn't a single account of a verified lich in human history, yet to others, the vast documentation detailing the process of becoming a lich (all of which detail virtually the same ritual) is evidence enough. The sacrificial cost is terrific, but the promise of eternal life while retaining free will and reason is tempting enough that several attempts at lichdom are well documented. To quickly undue any illusions of immortality the reader might have, know that one of the many sacrifices that every single text on the lich mentions is an "infant born but still tethered".
Religions of the World
For a pure definition, Religion is that which is justly owed to God; in the case of this setting, that is the Creator. I have my biases, and you will have yours, so I'll excuse myself further elaboration and get to describing the common ways in which the Humans of this fictional world practice the Virtue of Religion.
While paganism, in it's litany of localized forms, is technically the most commonly practiced form of religion, it's influence pales in comparison to the two main religions of Eurasia. In the Roman Empire, Sol Invictus is the dominant religion. It is monotheistic, and its central tenant is that God continually incarnates as a Human, and thus man must engage in an eternal quest to find God and elect Him as emperor. In the times between the death of one emperor, and the naming of the new one, the empire is ruled more independently by the Kings. About 100 years ago, the Eastern half of the empire split from the West over issues of succession. The West advocated for the primacy of a single king appointed by the previous emperor in their absence, while The East sought to maintain the balance of the Kings. Within both the Eastern and Western Empires, the practice of other religions is legal but discouraged, and aside from Paganism, the most commonly practiced are Judaism, the Christian Cult, and the Mithraic Cult.
In Asia and North Africa, Gnostic Zoroastrianism has caught like wildfire. Worship of Ahura Mazda is manditory in the Persio-Arab Empire, however the ferocity of the Mohammedans has granted them a exemption from rituals, though tithes are still required. The religion is less centralized in comparison to Sol Invictus, with the kings serving as the high priests, and their vassals as the local priests. This decentralization proves incredibly beneficial for both the happiness of the governed and in turn their economic output. However, it also is a breeding ground for heresies, the worst of which result in civil war. When two priests point at eachother and shout "Angra Mainyu", the common course of action is to let the crucible of battle determine which had the truth of it.
Magic
The various types of magic have been referenced a few times till this point. Onomancy, Necromancy, Biomancy, Alchemy, and Sygaldry are the chief forms of ritual magic, but a more immediate magic exists: spells. Though many names have existed, variations of the phrase "casting spells" is the most common; the term spell was likely derived from "expelling spirits". Most magic is more akin to composing and performing music; casting spells is jazz. Every spellcaster must develop their own idiosyncratic language to manipulate their form and bind the forms of spells to them. Using their body as the medium, they 'cast' the bound spell into the material world, causing fantastic effects. As for what spells really are, it is quite the debate, but a common theory is that spells are lesser Mal'akh and Shedim. Another common belief is that a spell is just a precomposed sentence formed of the words of the first order. Despite their mystery, spells are the most commonly practiced magic.
As for the others, most are practiced in secret, but a few institutions dedicated to the study of magic still exist. Chief among them is the Academy of Alexandria. Egypt was long regarded as the realm of Sorcerer-Kings, and their mastery of magic is owed to the greatest library in existence. A few smaller organizations exist, like the Pythagoreans and the Magi, but the main transfer of magical knowledge is from wizards taking on apprentices, instructing with little more than the few devices and library of books collected in a lifetime.
Chief Historical Departures
Naturally, the introduction of magic and the fantastic into our own reality would inevitably create such a vastly different history, that it's absurd to even assume that the place names would be the same, let alone anything else. However, fuck it. Dragons exist and so does Warsaw.
As you might have surmised reading the religion section, that would be one such major historical departure. In this setting, Maxentius' body was recovered from the Tiber, but his shade slew Constanine I in his sleep, 2 days after he entered Rome. Thus the Edict of Milan was never declared. Christianity would remain the religion of the catacombs until it was legalized in 543, during the Justinian Plague. While their priests ability to repell the hordes of undead garnered them a swathe of new followers, the New religion of Sol Invictus had already been practiced within the empire for 200 years.
As it was implied, the Library of Alexandria was never burned. The implications of this are vast and far reaching. Alexandria grew to be the wealthiest city on the Mediterranean. The Parthian Empire Flourished due to increased diplomacy between the Egyptian Sorcerers and the Persian Magi. This delayed the fall of the Parthians, and in turn the rise of the Sassanids. When the Arab conquests began, the Empire was at it's height and able to force a stalemate and eventually incorporate the Arabs into a unified Empire, directing their conquest toward the blasphemous Romans.
Fin
I've been writing this for hours and I'm just eager to be done for a while, so I am going to post this now, but I will periodically edit it and check for typos/clarity; sorry in advance! Anyhow, thanks for making it to the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment