The Tomes of Other Worlds
The World of Ehumera
Before Time Began
In the beginning, the world was empty, it had no name and was void of life. And then they came. Powerful beings from another dimension came upon an empty world. This world was unlike all others. It had particles within its atmosphere that granted these beings control over the elements and not just fire and water, earth and wind, but life and death as well. In the world they came from they were simple slaves, forced to do the bidding of their powerful creators. But here in this nameless world, they became the Gods. They had no name for themselves, but the beings that they created knew them as The Ehlderkin.
There were twelve of them at first and they claimed the highest mountain on this empty world as their home. Thousands of years passed as they taught themselves how to use what would become The Arcane Art of Magic. In this world, pure as it was; a normal fire spell could lay waste to a forest and a simple water spell could flood an entire valley. The Ehlderkin even found a way to end their own mortality and become the first immortals. The First Twelve began to have children and their small community grew into a small city, carved into the side of the mountain, this was the first city in the world and it was known as Amestos (Am-nest-os). When the day came that they left their mountain, they spread out into the world and began to alter the lands the ways they saw fit. The only problem was that each ones vision of the world interfered with another's vision. That is when the war between the gods began. They knew they were too powerful to kill one another and if one of them did die; another god would just bring them back to life. So they used the world as their battlefield. One god would create a beautiful valley and another would form a massive river to wash it all away. A god would build a majestic and sprawling mountain range and another would sink it all into the ocean. That is when one of the gods, the most beautiful among them, known as Ehumera (A-who-mar-A), locked herself in the deepest dungeon of Amestos. Ehumera had become frustrated and saddened by her follow gods. She would not be seen for a thousand years. At the absolute bottom of this dungeon was a massive stone that was the very center of this world. She laid herself down in the darkness and placed her ear to the stone and for the next thousand years she listened. She listened to the squabbling of her fellow gods and goddesses. She listened as they created: she heard the mountains being formed, the tectonic plates shift and push themselves upwards, she could feel the vibrations through water as magma cracked the ocean floor to create new lands, she could even feel the running water of the streams vibrate in her ear, she felt the cold breezes of the mountains, the arid gusts of the desert and the whistling and rustling of wind as it passed through the trees. She listened as a god would create creatures to inhabit the world and she would hear their screams as another would erase them from all existence. Ehumera then did something no other god had done in this world. She shed a single tear.
While this would not seem significant. If it had been anywhere else it would have gone unnoticed. But where she was laying and where that tear fell, made all the difference. When the tear hit the stone she had been laying on for a thousand years, it turned to crystal. It was the most majestic thing she had ever seen in this world, the world she came from before or any world thereafter. When she gazed into this crystal, she saw what it had the power to do. She crafted a necklace and placed the crystal in the center of an amulet and she called it 'The Star of Creation'. She left her dungeon and made her way through the mountain city of Amestos. She visited with each god and gathered what they wished the world to be. And the stone did the rest of the work. It took the visions and began to shape a world within the crystal itself. She collection the thoughts and vision of the other eleven gods. When she was done, Ehumera called them to meet at the top of the mountain to discuss what she had done. One by one she showed them what the crystal had done and one by one they all dismissed the idea. It seemed that none of them were willing to compromise. Ehumera saw then that the world would never be formed. As it needed a massive source of energy, all the gods working together to activate the crystal. And without a single one of them behind her, her vision would never come to pass. She felt she had wasted a thousand years watching her follow gods make and unmake the world. She spent a thousand years locked away from the world, trying to find a way for them all to work together. She decided she had enough.
When the gods began to leave her alone on the mountain. This immortal being made the ultimate sacrifice. She held the Star of Creation in one hand and with the other, she reached her hand into her chest and ripped out her own heart. The hearts of the Ehlderkin were fused with natural energy and being immortal made them an almost unlimited source of power. With her last breath she spoke "This world will only work if we care for it more than we do ourselves.." And with her last bit of strength, she clasped the amulet together with her heart. Giving the vision within the amulet the energy it needed to break free and attach itself to the natural energy of the world. What she didn't know and what she couldn't have known is that the amulet would not only take the visions of the gods, but it would take the gods with it as well. The Gods did not vanish though. They now can be seen among the stars and constellations now take their forms and watch over the new world. And thus, a new world was born.
An ancient and worn scroll from The Order of Light's Archives:
'On the last known whereabouts of The Heart of Ehumera'
'Star of Creation, The Heart of Ehumera' This artifact has appeared many times throughout Ehumera's history. Though it has no known powers or abilities which can be summoned, it is an extremely powerful source of magic. If used properly, it will amplify the effects, powers, and abilities of the spells and magical items of anyone that possesses it by a factor of a hundred. No one knows where this artifact is now. However, it is rumored to have been used in the effort to banish the lands of Modera from Ehumera. In the hands of a Cleric of The Order of Light. It may also have fallen to the bottom of the sea on a voyage home to Rhungara.' The only intelligent beings alive for this time were the children of the Ehlderkin, known as The Descendkin. Like their god parents, they did not have physical form, but were able to make themselves into whatever being they wanted. They were powerful beings themselves, but they did not have the desire to alter the world the way their twelve godlike parents did. These descendants, The Descendkin, formed a group known as The Order of Light. A faction that would evolve overtime and take several shapes and forms. Even stretching into other worlds. The world the Goddess Ehumera created was primarily two major continents known as Rhungara and Mordera. And the beings that inherited the world chose to name this world Ehumera.