Our time line is quickly nearing its end. The often controversial time sorcerer, Klarington Everest proposed to Travance that only through an impossible event with an improbable outcome could we alter it.  With the help of his arch nemisis, the last Lorestri Maja, and also with the help of the people of Travance, a great Chrono-ritual could be cast to take everyone to the very moment before time began.  This act Klarington believed would allow us to know the truth of our worlds creation and past, answering questions with certainty, and perhaps offering a small piece of knowledge needed to steer our course away from its utter end. In all aspects the ritual was a success, and presented the people of Travance with knowledge that may very well change their fate, if they act fast...

All things come with a price, and Klarington Everest always seems to have his own motivations. Whether it was a strait deception, or something less, Klarington forced the town to engage and destroy a creature of time that was never meant to be encountered. As the Time Reaver died, Klarington claimed the creatures mantle, inheriting its responsibilities and additionally its protections; for no Lorestri, may act against the Time Reaver. From that moment, Maja would never be able to bring harm to him, and so finally Klarington could rest, knowing he had changed his own fate and suceeded at protecting his love. After a wide range of emotional reactions and farewells from the people of Travance, Klarington left, vowing to live out the rest of his days with his wife, in a mundane life, and in an unknown location.

What cost had Klarington paid for his love? Whos currency was ultimatly used? Fractures had formed along the time stream that could now never be healed. What love is so strong that one would break time itself to preserve it? Has time and fate itself been ravaged, or is the damage inconsiquential? In some ways it does not matter. It is done. 

It is imperative that Travance stay focused on the task ahead... and so this leaves them to pour over the information that they have learned. To glean from it what they can infer, and to formulate their next steps…

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The Beginning of Arawyn

Some believe that the concept of distance is infinite and that the concept of nothing is false. They believe that when one reaches the end or beginning, there simple must be more. One can envision this model into infinity, or can choose to believe that there is some kind of loop in existence. There is no conceivable answer that can define the beginning or the end, because at some point, the ability to perceive or understand what lies before or beyond becomes either impossible or endless.

One constant in existence is the Astral Realm. It is so large and vast that even on the prime material plane it can be seen in the night sky.  There are many natives to the Astral Realm, among them are the Dragons and the Fey, both powerful and intelligent creatures whom are masters of the power known as magic. There is however, a more powerful native to the astral realm, one that is less well known due to their lack of form; and they are called the Anastazi.

The Anastazi have no true description, for they exist without a perceivable, tangible or physical form. They might best be described as lights or colors or sounds or some combination thereof.  Their most valued trait is the ability to create reality from concepts; to give to others, what they themselves do not possess; a physical form.

At a fixed point in time, the Anastazi thought to create a world where life could flourish outside of the Astral Realm. So wondrous was this idea that the dragons insisted on helping. When Arawyn was first created, it was just a rock, until the dragons came and sculpted its landscape with earth, air, fire and water.  When the dragons had finished, the world was beautiful and new and unique, filled with living forests, lush grass, and a beautiful array of both trivial and majestic animals. But even still all who gazed upon the world felt that it lacked something. The life on Arawyn was largely immobile, or limited in its potential for growth.  It was thought that life should move great distances, and think, and grow, and interact and adapt to its surroundings. From this thought, mankind was created upon the world of Arawyn.

Mankind was amazing, for its presence gave birth to a wide range of aspects, and individuals where so unique that each one could reflect any number of these aspects to varying degrees. So wondrous was the result of humans, that many other variations were also created.  So promising was mankind, that the fey of the astral realm became intrigued and came to Arawyn to help these people grow and teach them the ways of magic.

During this first age of mankind, the fey and the dragons noticed something odd about the people of this world; they displayed a behavior that they had never witnessed before. People were so different from one another and would commit actions of such extremity unlike what the denizens of the astral realm had ever seen. Some of mankind would go out of their way to lend aid to their neighbors and nurture those around them with care, while others amongst mankind would forcibly take from their neighbors or bring great harm and pain to others. These concepts were foreign to the astral beings, and none could quite tell where they had originated from.  The Anastazi looked on in wonder and amazement. The creation of mankind turned out very different than expected and the denizens of the astral realm could not decide exactly what they liked or disliked about them.  After some observation, their behaviors could be separated into two general sides, and because the astral realm did not yet comprehend the words good and evil, these sides where referred to by them as light and dark.

The Anastazi decided that they would observe, and that after a trial of time had passed they would choose which of the two sides they believed superior, and in this image they would remake the world and all worlds thereafter.  Two-hundred and eighty cycles of the moon after this decision was made, on the world of Arawyn two human girls where born, Fiona and Mirranda. The Anastazi did not create these children and they were not birthed as all others where; as far as the Anastazi could perceive, they simply were.  Though not yet known to the people of Arawyn; it became apparent to the Anastazi that these children where the pure embodiments of light and dark, good and evil.

As these mysterious children grew, the power they displayed far surpassed any others and the Anastazi became concerned and alarmed. So much did they fear them, that in a panic they chose to abandon their trial and sent to Arawyn the Null. These creatures stood for the nullification of all things and they wielded the power to unmake that which the Anastazi created.  Before the Null could even begin; before they even fully manifested into physical form, Fiona and Miranda immediately combined their powers to imprison the creatures within the deep dark crevices of the world.

Amazed at what had just happened, the Anastazi decided instead to wait and to watch. After the Null had been imprisoned, the bonds of Fiona and Miranda’s blood could not sustain the differences in which they stood for and so quickly they grew apart and a war between the two powers erupted across the landscape of Arawyn.

During the first days of this war, the Anastazi perceived something new. The dragons and the fey on Arawyn were beginning to become infected by the auras of good and evil. Black and white dragons were born during their stay on the world and even the powerful fey began to display strong traits of moral and immoral clarity.  Seeing this take place, the Anastazi banished all astral beings from the world.

The war continued for many decades and eventually Fiona and Miranda became imprisoned; Miranda by force imprisoned into the weave, and Fiona by choice imprisoned in her tower on the Isle of Amanthyre. This however proved to not be the end of the war, but instead the beginning. Beings of great power rose into the heavens, commanding over many aspects in life. The Inhabitants of the world labeled these beings “The Gods”. Most of them declared their allegiances on the side of good or evil, and so the war transcended to a new stage, with new battlefields and with new soldiers.

The war between good and evil raged on as strong as ever, on both the surface of Arawyn and in the heavens. With Fiona and Miranda no longer directly in play, the Anastazi decided to continue their trial. They would watch the world for as long as it takes, and when they had decided that their trial was over, then they would orchestrate the release of their Nulls.

 

 KR Feb 2016 12