Gods Do Fall [Caleb's backstory]
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:29 pm
1: Simulacrum of Man
There exists a world far beyond, where mortal eyes and the gaze of eternals can't reach. A land which cannot be conceived of, in neither realm of the real and the imaginary.
Far beyond the infinite void, where universe ends. Outside.
Unconstrained by the fickle laws that govern our world, the beings of that realm know no joy, pride or anger. Conflict is far below their machinations, as their thoughts and actions are inseparable.
Where time has no meaning and space need not be far or close. Separated through the void, our realm appears but a sphere of void, through which nothing can pierce.
Just like we cannot understand the true nature of the smallest of particles that make us whole, how we have to theorize about things too small and complex, did the beings ponder at the true nature of that "sphere".
Could it be that it can be entered? If so, then how?
One after another, did many attempt to gain entrance, but found no way to do so. Their power was always too great.
It was then that two of those beings managed to finally understand what was in their grasp all along. To abandon the powers and feats that could not exist within our small, limited space, to become like the smallest, tiniest speck of dust to understand it's meaning. To learn trough sacrifice.
As they emerged within, they were but what could be the closest thing the universe could produce to match their form - a raw mass of fulfilled potential. Disembodied forces, rapidly bleeding but stabilizing.
It was as if a man with thousand senses was suddenly reduced to just five. The shock of relativity, the confusion of separate thought. As brothers they felt each other close by and knew they were not alone.
Their names were Quazeltoth and Allmacht.
As they finally came to a rest and could perceive the world around them, they were astonished.
Uncounted stars littered this vastly infinite space, each a wonder as to a newborn god. They had to learn more and so they traveled through the vast ocean between realms. Through cosmos.
Shifting and changing as they understood more of what the world had to show, they took forms of two comets to better match the celestial bodies they flashed across.
During this time Allmacht grew fascinated by the nature of this alien new world. The rhytm of the stars, the silent cosmic plan that had a place for every tiny part, where everything played a role. This discovery of cause and effect filled him with a great warmth, the pride of planning, the joy of scheming...
He knew full well his thoughts and actions were now his only. He would plot a great machination, the greatest of the world. To lead him home. In time.
However soon, did the brothers come across a peculiar sight. A rock like any, orbiting around a distant sun. A planet called Haven. However, something small and unsightly seemed to happen on it's surface.
Allmacht took the initiative, becoming a giant beacon to look down. There he saw a weird mass. Wood and plant, flesh and bone, plant, animal and human. Scurrying in sickeningly chaotic way, he felt repulsed by such lack of order.
Quazeltoth however, grew curious ever more. Something about them excited him and nagged at the corner of his mind. He longed to understand why. He wanted to see those beings up close. Closer.
There, a man holding a hammer. A blacksmith. His hair hangs in wild, black locks. His head bobs slightly as he forges metal, his hands rough and ashen. Quazeltoth flinched and his head was like the man's and his body was like that of a man and vestments wrapped his form.
As such he was still of divine matter, but looked like human, walked like human and hoped to understand the human way, but did not. Baffled, he decided to querry the humans himself.
He descended down and walked on solid earth, going through a small settlement.
There he saw a farmer planting wheat. He turned to him and asked "Farmer, why do you plant wheat?". The farmer turned to the stranger with a look of surprise "Why, of course to eat. Were we not to plant food and eat, we would surely starve and die.".
Quazeltoth continued to walk until he saw a man walk hand in hand with a woman. He asked the man "Why do you hold this woman so close to you?" and the man answered "Because this is a woman I love. I want to spend my life together with her."
Quazeltoth was puzzled by this and walked more until he came across the scene of an execution. He walked up to a guard and asked "Why are you killing this man?" The guard answered "This man is a thief and a murderer. For his crimes he will pay with the highest of prices, with his life.".
And so Quazeltoth was sure, that life was what made them so interesting to him. He decided to spend a week more with the humans to learn their ways, to understand why they regard their life as so precious.
Meanwhile, the diviners looked up in the sky and saw the beacon that was Allmacht. They did not understand the meaning of this, for it was not a sign of any god they knew.
Fearful of the sign being a bad omen, they turned to prayers and told the gods about their worries. And the gods grew alarmed too, for this was clearly a divine work of unknown origin. They decided to hold a council.
"Send me", said Tenuch, the eldest son, the god of bloody and violent conflict "This foe will shatter on my shield and fall to my sword." The war-god raised his shield and sword as if to demonstrate his power.
However, the father-god Duzhahagan was not impressed. His wizened hand reached out and gestured for his youngest son, Xqzarch to come closer. Xqzarch was the patron god of thieves, of the night, called the Darkener. He was a cunning warrior as much as he was a smooth talker and a known weasel in the divine circles.
"I choose you, my younger son." said Duzhahagan, "For you should try and make peace with the unknown force and strike only if it is hostile to us or our protected realms." Xqzarch was honored and would depart at once.
His elder brother was angered that he was chosen instead, but he loved his younger brother. He gave him his sword as a charm of good luck and sent him off with his blessings. "If you should find yourself failing, hold the sword aloft and I will depart at once with all my war-chariots to lend you help."
And so it was that Xqzarch floated far atop of the world, higher than the clouds, to reach Allmacht. Once he approached, Allmacht changed it's form. It grew into a swirling vortex and an eye. Betentacled yet winged.
Xqzarch approached this bizzare shape and asked "Who are you and for what reason do you seek our lands?".
Allmacht replied in it's own divine tongue, speaking directly to the mind. "I am called Allmacht. I am the seeker that sees all, I am the force that moves all. I have come to this world through curiosity, now I am here to end all curiosity."
Xqzarch was in distress at hearing those word-shapes in his mind. "What madness do you speak?" he asked again.
"Madness?" Allmacht replied "I am the natural order of things. I will put the world to my affairs, to create the way through which to guide it all to beyond your eternal horizons. I will let my world spill into yours."
Xquzarch understood that there was no way to argue with the creature. Its words ringed in his mind, it showed him the terrible visions of unblemished order. Of life put to create a machine that would pierce the veils of space into the place beyond the void.
It had to be stopped. A fierce fight ensued.
At this moment, Quazeltoth was returning from his time on Haven. Happy with newfound knowledge, he was anxious to tell Allmacht all about the humans and their intricate sets of values.
However, as he returned, he saw his brother do battle with Xqzarch. Allmacht was almost infallible with his awesome powers, but however perfect those were, it was not enough to withstand the savage blows of the Darkener. Allmacht was fighting a losing fight.
At that moment Quazeltoth leapt between the fighting gods, outstretching his human arms and legs, as a living shield between Xqzarch and Allmacht.
"If you want to harm my brother, you have to first go through me." he said. Little did he know that this was all that Allmacht needed.
Within a single moment, Allmacht's sharp appendages pierced Quazeltoth's shoulder and breast, drinking his lifeblood and power. Quazeltoth was too shocked at the sudden betrayal to react.
Xqzarch saw Allmacht become stronger and stronger with each second and finally reacted, severing the appendages before he could drain the last drop of power from his brother.
Unconscious and powerless, Quazeltoth fell down to Haven, landing with a massive crash. The tides of celestial battle have been turned.
It is said that Allmacht and Xqzarch battled for 3 days and nights straight since then, so that when Xqzarch has grown weary he had no choice but to raise his sword to call his brother and his armies to help.
A bloody war ensued high in the heavens. Allmacht took no effort overcoming the divine cohorts, incinerating, blinding and driving mad all before him, until only Xqzarch and Tenuch remained.
Bloodied and broken, the two gods fought a last stand against the eldritch abomination, but Allmacht was ever persistant.
Finally, with a sweep of his massive wings, he slew Tenuch.
Xqzarch wept bitter tears in anger.
"I curse you wretch! For as long as I live, you will not grasp our lands nor our people." With those words, the Darkener wrapped his many arms around the glowing body of Allmacht, engulfing him whole.
Allmacht just laughed. "Your strength will not let you hold me forever. Eventually, even you will be my servant."
As such did the two remain in the sky for the next millenia, a new moon, a remnant of a long-past war and a terrible omen for a long distant day...
Many years later, a huntsman was walking down an overgrown road. The day was bright and unbearably hot, so he decided to take place in the shade of a large cherry tree.
However, a sudden noise disturbed him. He saw a hand dig out from the roots. He was frightened, but grasped it and helped pull the rest of the struggling body out.
And out emerged a man with wild locks of black hair, devoid of memories of his past.
The hunter decided to name him Caleb.
There exists a world far beyond, where mortal eyes and the gaze of eternals can't reach. A land which cannot be conceived of, in neither realm of the real and the imaginary.
Far beyond the infinite void, where universe ends. Outside.
Unconstrained by the fickle laws that govern our world, the beings of that realm know no joy, pride or anger. Conflict is far below their machinations, as their thoughts and actions are inseparable.
Where time has no meaning and space need not be far or close. Separated through the void, our realm appears but a sphere of void, through which nothing can pierce.
Just like we cannot understand the true nature of the smallest of particles that make us whole, how we have to theorize about things too small and complex, did the beings ponder at the true nature of that "sphere".
Could it be that it can be entered? If so, then how?
One after another, did many attempt to gain entrance, but found no way to do so. Their power was always too great.
It was then that two of those beings managed to finally understand what was in their grasp all along. To abandon the powers and feats that could not exist within our small, limited space, to become like the smallest, tiniest speck of dust to understand it's meaning. To learn trough sacrifice.
As they emerged within, they were but what could be the closest thing the universe could produce to match their form - a raw mass of fulfilled potential. Disembodied forces, rapidly bleeding but stabilizing.
It was as if a man with thousand senses was suddenly reduced to just five. The shock of relativity, the confusion of separate thought. As brothers they felt each other close by and knew they were not alone.
Their names were Quazeltoth and Allmacht.
As they finally came to a rest and could perceive the world around them, they were astonished.
Uncounted stars littered this vastly infinite space, each a wonder as to a newborn god. They had to learn more and so they traveled through the vast ocean between realms. Through cosmos.
Shifting and changing as they understood more of what the world had to show, they took forms of two comets to better match the celestial bodies they flashed across.
During this time Allmacht grew fascinated by the nature of this alien new world. The rhytm of the stars, the silent cosmic plan that had a place for every tiny part, where everything played a role. This discovery of cause and effect filled him with a great warmth, the pride of planning, the joy of scheming...
He knew full well his thoughts and actions were now his only. He would plot a great machination, the greatest of the world. To lead him home. In time.
However soon, did the brothers come across a peculiar sight. A rock like any, orbiting around a distant sun. A planet called Haven. However, something small and unsightly seemed to happen on it's surface.
Allmacht took the initiative, becoming a giant beacon to look down. There he saw a weird mass. Wood and plant, flesh and bone, plant, animal and human. Scurrying in sickeningly chaotic way, he felt repulsed by such lack of order.
Quazeltoth however, grew curious ever more. Something about them excited him and nagged at the corner of his mind. He longed to understand why. He wanted to see those beings up close. Closer.
There, a man holding a hammer. A blacksmith. His hair hangs in wild, black locks. His head bobs slightly as he forges metal, his hands rough and ashen. Quazeltoth flinched and his head was like the man's and his body was like that of a man and vestments wrapped his form.
As such he was still of divine matter, but looked like human, walked like human and hoped to understand the human way, but did not. Baffled, he decided to querry the humans himself.
He descended down and walked on solid earth, going through a small settlement.
There he saw a farmer planting wheat. He turned to him and asked "Farmer, why do you plant wheat?". The farmer turned to the stranger with a look of surprise "Why, of course to eat. Were we not to plant food and eat, we would surely starve and die.".
Quazeltoth continued to walk until he saw a man walk hand in hand with a woman. He asked the man "Why do you hold this woman so close to you?" and the man answered "Because this is a woman I love. I want to spend my life together with her."
Quazeltoth was puzzled by this and walked more until he came across the scene of an execution. He walked up to a guard and asked "Why are you killing this man?" The guard answered "This man is a thief and a murderer. For his crimes he will pay with the highest of prices, with his life.".
And so Quazeltoth was sure, that life was what made them so interesting to him. He decided to spend a week more with the humans to learn their ways, to understand why they regard their life as so precious.
Meanwhile, the diviners looked up in the sky and saw the beacon that was Allmacht. They did not understand the meaning of this, for it was not a sign of any god they knew.
Fearful of the sign being a bad omen, they turned to prayers and told the gods about their worries. And the gods grew alarmed too, for this was clearly a divine work of unknown origin. They decided to hold a council.
"Send me", said Tenuch, the eldest son, the god of bloody and violent conflict "This foe will shatter on my shield and fall to my sword." The war-god raised his shield and sword as if to demonstrate his power.
However, the father-god Duzhahagan was not impressed. His wizened hand reached out and gestured for his youngest son, Xqzarch to come closer. Xqzarch was the patron god of thieves, of the night, called the Darkener. He was a cunning warrior as much as he was a smooth talker and a known weasel in the divine circles.
"I choose you, my younger son." said Duzhahagan, "For you should try and make peace with the unknown force and strike only if it is hostile to us or our protected realms." Xqzarch was honored and would depart at once.
His elder brother was angered that he was chosen instead, but he loved his younger brother. He gave him his sword as a charm of good luck and sent him off with his blessings. "If you should find yourself failing, hold the sword aloft and I will depart at once with all my war-chariots to lend you help."
And so it was that Xqzarch floated far atop of the world, higher than the clouds, to reach Allmacht. Once he approached, Allmacht changed it's form. It grew into a swirling vortex and an eye. Betentacled yet winged.
Xqzarch approached this bizzare shape and asked "Who are you and for what reason do you seek our lands?".
Allmacht replied in it's own divine tongue, speaking directly to the mind. "I am called Allmacht. I am the seeker that sees all, I am the force that moves all. I have come to this world through curiosity, now I am here to end all curiosity."
Xqzarch was in distress at hearing those word-shapes in his mind. "What madness do you speak?" he asked again.
"Madness?" Allmacht replied "I am the natural order of things. I will put the world to my affairs, to create the way through which to guide it all to beyond your eternal horizons. I will let my world spill into yours."
Xquzarch understood that there was no way to argue with the creature. Its words ringed in his mind, it showed him the terrible visions of unblemished order. Of life put to create a machine that would pierce the veils of space into the place beyond the void.
It had to be stopped. A fierce fight ensued.
At this moment, Quazeltoth was returning from his time on Haven. Happy with newfound knowledge, he was anxious to tell Allmacht all about the humans and their intricate sets of values.
However, as he returned, he saw his brother do battle with Xqzarch. Allmacht was almost infallible with his awesome powers, but however perfect those were, it was not enough to withstand the savage blows of the Darkener. Allmacht was fighting a losing fight.
At that moment Quazeltoth leapt between the fighting gods, outstretching his human arms and legs, as a living shield between Xqzarch and Allmacht.
"If you want to harm my brother, you have to first go through me." he said. Little did he know that this was all that Allmacht needed.
Within a single moment, Allmacht's sharp appendages pierced Quazeltoth's shoulder and breast, drinking his lifeblood and power. Quazeltoth was too shocked at the sudden betrayal to react.
Xqzarch saw Allmacht become stronger and stronger with each second and finally reacted, severing the appendages before he could drain the last drop of power from his brother.
Unconscious and powerless, Quazeltoth fell down to Haven, landing with a massive crash. The tides of celestial battle have been turned.
It is said that Allmacht and Xqzarch battled for 3 days and nights straight since then, so that when Xqzarch has grown weary he had no choice but to raise his sword to call his brother and his armies to help.
A bloody war ensued high in the heavens. Allmacht took no effort overcoming the divine cohorts, incinerating, blinding and driving mad all before him, until only Xqzarch and Tenuch remained.
Bloodied and broken, the two gods fought a last stand against the eldritch abomination, but Allmacht was ever persistant.
Finally, with a sweep of his massive wings, he slew Tenuch.
Xqzarch wept bitter tears in anger.
"I curse you wretch! For as long as I live, you will not grasp our lands nor our people." With those words, the Darkener wrapped his many arms around the glowing body of Allmacht, engulfing him whole.
Allmacht just laughed. "Your strength will not let you hold me forever. Eventually, even you will be my servant."
As such did the two remain in the sky for the next millenia, a new moon, a remnant of a long-past war and a terrible omen for a long distant day...
Many years later, a huntsman was walking down an overgrown road. The day was bright and unbearably hot, so he decided to take place in the shade of a large cherry tree.
However, a sudden noise disturbed him. He saw a hand dig out from the roots. He was frightened, but grasped it and helped pull the rest of the struggling body out.
And out emerged a man with wild locks of black hair, devoid of memories of his past.
The hunter decided to name him Caleb.