Solar Compendium: Light

Solar Compendium:

Chronicle of the Societee Celes

 A historigraphical documentation and material record for the Möbius Tower Archives ~Grace

Light

 The Primordial era

“Could it be that the great and magnificent universe is no more than the

 dream of the soul?”

-Ooht ancient inscription

 

This was the land of the primordial ones, the land of the celestial Owls. The Owl god's origins are unknown, but some of their descendants claim to be the remainder of beings from another realm, the Celestium, atleast according to some esoteric mythic lore. These titans, the Oohts roamed the fields of a mostly barren world, feeding off the insects that grew among the shrubs. A smaller race of humans, furry, aquatic and humanoid creatures also roamed, called by the titans Oohtlets. They existed as a subclass among the wild much as pests are considered. Oohts spent much of their time observing the stars, studying the physics of the universe and inscribing the eons of history on tall monuments and tombs. Each of their race was not male or female, but born one in six of different spectrums, possessing distinct abilities due to their eyesight being able to see distinct wavelengths.

 

 Four were common, one by 'white owls' was considered rare and sacred and one, a miracle of their society, was born without sight. To their position, the Sightless should've been considered an outcast or invalid. They spent a great time alone in cave away from their kin as an outcast, their fate uncertain. That changed when one day, a strange woman appeared in their cave. They could not see her, but this girl was not from this world. She looked down on them from atop of the mountain peak and with that one line, their world was changed forever. "You are free to leave, the Oohts are not here for you. But I am. May they tremble before the forgotten." The Sightless, whose eyesight could only see void got premonitions of the future could see this woman's greed and lust would extend far into the future in guiding the degradation of the human soul. And so he became her mentor and guardian, so the tale goes.

With the Flicker of Lady Mara, came the Radiance of all things… A race who worshiped the divinity of light, found in this enigma a pure being who extruded it..

This woman soon also became the Oohlets fearless leader, a mere female of flickering light represented humanity for the Oohts - some nicknamed her 'Flicker' the Life Giver, also known as Lady Mara, the Muted Stoic, the Harlot of the Oohts, Serenade Sorcerie, Kosmic Koscheia, the Timaeus Traitor, Catastrophic Chic, and many others. With the people big and small in union, the Oohts began to listen to and study the Seerless. Although they couldn't see, their acquisition of a strange dark physics, distinct from the wavelength of the initial four, was soon joined with the knowledge of the white owls. The race began to study these new additions, and a vast revolution in Oohts society occurred, their physics so dramatically challenged and potent, it was enough to become what the Oohlets called 'magic'. Their world had changed. The world was more colorful than ever before. So much so that as their race grew to be more refined, they created more and more Oohtlets, raising them like pampered pets and curiosities. Some went too far, even dabbling in bioengineering and creating perfect otherworldly beings, the Santri. The Santri who were considered divine and angelic by their creators, were blessed with wings like them. There were a great many elders among the titans who, seeing the changes in their tranquil civilization as corrupt and impure, despised the discovery of the sextet and its adherents. This divided these Owls into a great fervor. The humanoid Oohtlets also had a division, they had been living off the land as wild nomads prior, and their incorporation into Ooht society made many feel unease. The luxuries afforded to them, their domestication and the Santri, flawless humans with wings sparked a rebellion of the Oohlets. These tiny warriors came to Flicker asking for support. But to their dismay, Flicker sided with the Oohts. She had studied the 6 spectrums that the Ooht's mastered and wiped out the armies, some say with a wave of her hand. On the night of  the Oohtlet rebellion, the Sightless told Flicker that the factions of Owls would launch their assault that night - everyone in the world would perish in an atomic fireball. As missiles began to rain down throughout the world, causing horrific destruction, she ordered the use of the magical 'time stop', stopping time so as to save lives. As the missiles were about to strike, Flicker saved them. But, all that remained of the Ooht world in the aftermath of the 'time stop' was ruins, and the sky was black, empty. The destruction had been so complete, even the sky itself was changed from a starry black to a spectrum of many colors.

The weeping tongues, how they weep for beauty,

A heart that has been burned clean

A mind turned empty, blackened

As in a skull a hollow, echoing echo remains.

The spirit, once the wicker of a candle has burned out, goes to the

darkness to find a new home.

-Unknown Santri quote

 

So the fate of the Ooht world would not be known for another ten thousand years. A fleet of Ooht's had fled to the moon, but a strange tree growing there pulsed with magic. In trying to harness it, the last of their race had been turned to stone.

 The era of the Celestials met its decline and ceased, and in the process had given birth to what would one day be further refined and adapted into a practice and discourse known throughout history as the  Hex.

 

The Continent of the Drowned Sun

“Our eyes are the eyes of a newborn, abandoned and alone. The land before us once lay barren and bleak, a landscape bereft of life and hope. In a cruel twist of fate, the ancient gods that once called this land their own became the greatest adversaries of our hopes and dreams. To appease their burnt shadows would grant us nothing but endless pain. And so it came to pass, the people that would be born on this land, they would know only suffering.“

-Unknown Oohtlet

The Oohtless world was a world without life, a world where the air was toxic, a place where all life and magic were gone. Only scattered stragglers survived in the wastelands. It was said that the survivors of the fallout were not grateful nor kind to Flicker or the Santri. Flicker was crucified on a 6 sided, hex-shaped wooden pyre, and burned in a large field of rubble.

 That same night the Oohlets smashed any monuments, technology or records of their old masters. As for the Santri, they suffered an even worse fate, as they were enslaved, made objects of copulation and had their wings clipped, the only thing left of their unique being, thus they could not fly.

"It's in the nature of the world to fall prey to the most powerful. To resist that one is to rebel.”

-Santri Illumiud: Sagas of a higher nature

But it was found that even with this, they were still able to manipulate certain magic and technology, even keeping a religion longingly of the six spectrums and the magic that came with it, an ancient cultic tradition they referred to as the 'Hex.' These people were the progenitors of the Hex. The specific formulations, enchantments, principals and cosmic interrogation of Hex magic and its existence as divinity were known only to the Santri, even as they were enslaved by the surviving humanoid races. However, over time many of these humanoids learned from their Hex magic, the Santri's own unique hex magic. On a planet with no oceans and barely any vegetation left, it was necessary to survive. Some Santri did escape to freedom in this barren wasteland with its primitive peoples, the Santri had made a home for their remaining population in a field they were blessed with plant life. They had made a world for themselves. And here, in this world where they had found some peace, was where the story of the Celestial Society had begun.

 

What happened after is something many legends would tell in the generations to come, stories of a great and unending war between the two. The Santri were now an island within the world, a society isolated from the surrounding wasteland and its peoples. And the world was growing, the land grew slowly into a nest of kingdoms across the world and the people of the land built out of their simple world, creating a civilization. Some Santri fled to other places in the world, seeking any remnants of civilization left within it, but they eventually decided to stop. In the meantime, the world had begun its own great revolution, a revolution that will shape it and its inhabitants in more ways than one. Harnessing the magic of Thunder, Earth, Water and Earth, the Santri began to terraform and alter the very structure of the surface of the planet. They turned deserts into fields and grew dense forests. They were able to turn methane and acidic vents into power plants from active volcanos and pull hydrogen and oxygen from the world's core, creating vast oceans and separating the continents. Life finally flourished and thanks to the blessing of the Hex, large populations and agriculture began to become possible for man. This was the beginning of the Era of Kingdoms.

The Santri

“The Santri are a people of peace, their main belief is centered around peace, and the ability to co-exist with each other. They are the masters of the skies, children of the creators of this world, the great magicians. To worship the wind, to swim in the sea and to speak the language of the stars is to know ways that the Santri can communicate.”

-Heretical omens: Malaxis archaic Vol XI

With so much change so quickly in such a world, it was inevitable that the cultures would begin to merge, to meld and create new species and new civilizations. There is a theory of the hex, an idea that magic is just as much a power as it is a force, a sort of energy. The Santri had a belief and a philosophy that is even more important; the belief that man's desire, lived on beyond the body in the realm of the void, a realm of desires and in this manner, could live on even when his body expired, contributing to the great prismatic ordering of the Hex. Some humanoids and races, the descendants of Oohlets finally took an interest in these beliefs, carefully note this, we'll come back to this later. They were a small minority, scattered and not without some establishment. Put a pin in it. But despite the flourishing of Hex magic, this was not enough to prevent the conflicts they had with man. The Santri attempted to help humans, to bring them enlightenment and civilization, but it was a constant conflict, some theorize the Oohlets lived in constant jealousy and fear of the other, of a race beyond their level. Fear from the Oohts was still burned into the consciousness of history, and so the Santri were villainized, the Oohlets confrontational and combative.

 “And do not all the most powerful and noble things that have been seen by mortals, the works of the hands of men, even if those men were once slaves, seem but feeble in the memory of the age of Gold?”

-Hex Scholar of the Formatory Era

Although they possessed powerful Hex technology and the rich, lavish utopian wealth of their creators, the Santri were not immortal. Their bodies' longer lifespans and enhanced mental gifts, could not balance with the rarity with which they reproduced and dwindling numbers.

 

As they grew older, the Santri came to realize their need to reproduce and they were unable to do so without becoming increasingly frail and decrepit. This did not suit the Santri at all, they were becoming weaker as the world changed around them and their existence, their society. The Santri had an advanced society, but was a society based on their very nature, their own kind, their own needs and desires. No longer were they creatures of nature, no longer did they live for the sake of living. To ensure their continued survival, the Santri decided to reproduce with humans, something no other race in the Hex world had done, but the humans didn't take to it very well, the Santri were seen as an affront to their very way of life.

 

The fear of interbeeding and sexual copulation with a Santri became the ultimate taboo, and the most prominent of kingdoms had a meltdown about it. They swarmed in great numbers, armies managing millions sent on a religious crusade to eradicate the Santri in their own land. What could possibly be done to protect their home?  The Santri, realizing they were a small group and with their numbers, were helpless turned to a sacrificial option. Their cause was lost, they'd go out in a blaze like their creators the Oohts had before them. They utilized the farthest usage of Void element, necromancy and transmutation to resurrect the Sightless.

 

The cost of this prayer to the Hex destroyed their entire civilization in a single horrible storm, and out of that storm marched out the corpse of the Sightless, mutated and ravenous by all accounts. He however had no consciousness or life, merely the rotted monstrosity of an ancient titan driven mad by necromancy. But even then, his stampede dropped the armies of the Hexless within weeks, their numbers dwindled until the entire army collapsed. The Santri had become nearly extinct. Their entire golden civilization was levitated and kept in stasis as a never ending, thunderous storm that continues to this day.

“The storm rages, as if their grip and scream on the world is etched into eternity, refusing to let go of the shadows of burdens past. Let their suffering be a reminder to the Hex of the plight of these ancient peoples.”

-Remarks from the Sectarian Sisterhood 3rd Edition

One can still find the masses of skytemples, towers, statues and bridges floating with ambience where the Santri's sanctuary once was, a land of skyworld tombs essentially. Their empire, now floating in the heavens in a slow storm of corpses, where the Sightless still roams and rampages without thought or rest. The remaining Santri, so few in number, would not need any persecutors to clip their wings- they would clip their own every time, and that of their young, hiding among the populace for thousands of years simply to survive.

But the hexless world would not be left out of its cosmic justice. It had been many ages since their fall and their sacrifice. The Hex had always been very harsh and unforgiving. A planet without their magical influence would be like a world without anything. The Hexless had little to eat and their great kingdoms would slowly decompose. It returned to a state in between the wasteland wandering, and smaller, shallower kingdoms in impoverished medieval levels of living.

 And so this ended the Era of the Hex, and began the Age of Dusk.

Age of Dusk

The Hexless, after the great storm that had devastated their civilization, took to wandering and survival. They lost their civilization and many lives. And over time they managed to survive, a small handful of them were lucky enough to make it through and they continued to survive. The Santri are still living, but are not on this planet anymore, they've moved to the outer rim of the Hex, a place they call Darkness, a place which no other living thing has ever ventured, a place that holds mysteries, and magic in its very depths. The Santri, now a clan of seers, roam the Hex with their magic, using it to protect themselves and they guide its inhabitants. They guide the people of the Hex to a world of their own, to this new place of tranquility. They guide them in magic and in this way, they create their own mythos and a mythology

The humans, in fear of the world they had built, were constantly at war with each other. The remaining Santri had become very distant and cold, their kind no longer able to reproduce. If they needed a child, they had to steal one from their enemies.

 

The Seeress

“What do these transcendent writings tell us? That the will to be happy was strong in this heart. The desire to be kind, stronger still.”

-Kielas Miekiev, early origins of the Hexstorical Lexiconius

In a small corner of the world, a country had an especially heavy drought. Over the last decade the population had shrunk to less than a 1/10th its size, until even the serfs could not help but rebel, take what food they could for themselves and run off. Thus the land became isolated homes and villages with the monarchy of the kingdom falling to an empty castle. Suffice to say, our story starts with a tale of two children in an isolated farmhouse by a swamp mire.

So the story goes, there was an ancient enchantress that grew into the role of a wicked stepmother. Two of her children, a brother and a sister grew wise to her immortality and resisted the evil stepmother's attempts to mould them. In the end, she left them and the young ones to die, but not before binding herself to another world with a magical ring and left it to her other, actual daughter. The brother and sister ran away from home after. Into the woods they fled, some say spending 6 years learning how to survive on their own. When the daughter turned 18, she met a strange seer who began to teach her magic through the principles of the Hex, who would teach her everything she knew. The girl grew proud of her abilities and showed them off to villagers and tourists, earning quite a living and name for herself. But one time her attempt to use magic went awry, and she ended up transforming her brother into an Elk Fawn. Needless to say, she was stricken by grief.

No more did she put on shows or go to the Seer to learn. One day, the king had arrived and heard word of her abilities. Reluctantly, she showed off to him and he was so bewildered and enchanted, he asked her to marry him on the spot, a proposal she accepted. For a time they were happy, the new Queen continued to take care of her transformed brother in the garden. But wars, plagues and famines soon struck the surrounding kingdom, and farther out still. In need of her gifts, the Queen went to her mentor, the Seer and consulted him. She was advised to user her magic for justice, and so she went out traveling to do so, performing miracles, fighting in wars, growing crops, learning from the world to heal the land. The King before long grew terribly lonely.

The Wicked step-mother, seeing her opportunity from the other world, called upon the Seer- in truth, her own daughter in disguise. The seeress slipped on her mother's ring and the spell of it soon enchanted her body and mind, turning her disfigured appearance, especially her clipped wings and scarred back, all into that of the Stepmother. She began to seduce the king, even showing him more impressive tricks than his wife. For a time the King started an affair, and when the Queen came back, she did not know her step-sister had seduced her husband. Her mother was very proud, and the king was none the wiser. But unbeknown to him, the Step-sister started to speak with the royal fawn, that is to say her step-brother. With her ability she could talk to him, and took him into the lower valley to roam. Just as the king had been disloyal, so too did the Seeress begin to fall in love with the fawn. He was but a boy when she'd last known him, but as an elk had gained great wisdom and insight, his majestic form riding her through the valley. She planned on using her magic to transform him back into a man, but the only way such a rare spell could be found was in the desolate valley where the corpse of the Owl Titan roamed. In desperation to consummate their love, she snuck away there. The Queen came back to her kingdom. The first thing she noticed was the Seeress was not home to consult, and the second, that her brother had gone free. She was furious, and immediately put a search out. Within the ancient ruins, the Seeress soon found the spell she was looking for, an old black tome full of dusty ancient spells. Knowing she could not leave him as he was, she began to call him out. He was on the other side of the valley, and he heard her call to him. He had to respond. He was free, and so he charged through the valley, a beautiful Elk, not knowing of the dangers that would stand between them and happiness. The Seeress soon casted her spell, and a great black vortex arose from the fawn, hoping to see a human step out. And for a brief moment, he did. She touched his heart, warm and beating. But then it stopped cold. She watched his flesh decay, the princely figure becoming a decrepit skeleton. He had become undead.

“Our history begins with the Seer, the choices she makes, the wisdom she imparts and the great love for all things she reveals to us. Pay attention young Wards, from her tale springs the Hex..”

-Academy School teacher

The Seeress ran. Into the forest she fled, and there the King met her, demanding their affair end so he may stay loyal, and threatening her if she did not return the royal Fawn. She casted a spell. The King was dead. His queen's anger rose when she heard much of the valley had been destroyed, she soon followed the carnage of the Seeress and discovered the truth. Her Step-mother, possessing and influencing her daughter was seen by the Queen, who in a brief dual removed her ring. Suddenly the Seeress appeared as the Queen had remembered her, the Step-sister who'd treated her cruelly as a young child. Without the enchantress clouding her mind, the Seeress begged forgiveness. She said that she was her sister, the one who had taught her magic. For a moment the Queen was moved, but the Seeress's wings grew out and flung around. The very sight of them drew the Queen to absolute wrath. Then the step-sister took flight. As the Queen watched in desperation, the Seeress soared up, up and over the mountains, into the skies. The Queen swore that she would destroy her mother forever, while slipping on her step-sister's ring. But when she placed the ring on her finger, she found it hard to accept that the magic of the hex would not take her, and her gifts would no longer serve her. Many townsfolks began to call her a tyrant, a fraud and a usurper. Without her abilities, she was resorted to the brute force of royal military might to keep her people in line. The Seeress however would travel and do as her sister no longer could, healing the land, teaching the ways of the Hex. She started an entire school under the nose the authorities, where six disciples of hers each underwent their own magnificent journeys of discovery. The Seeress taught them much of the history of the Hex, her life and her mother's. One day, the Queen heard the news that the Seeress had become a famous star, she felt very jealous. The Queen tried to put her followers, students and disciples to death, but this grew the image of her as a cruel villain and her sister as a paradigm of justice and mercy. A war was fought between these sisters, in which the Step-sister had the lich that was formerly the brother lead a great and terrible army. To truly show she held no secrets, she revealed her wings to the world. They fought a valiant effort, but with her ring and mother's power influencing her, the Queen overcame them both and struck down her undead brother. The Seeress was captured and her wings were dipped in hot tar, then set on fire. She was beaten, she was whipped and lashed, and her wings meeting the fate of all her people- clipped. On a Hex-shaped Pyre she was due to be executed, set ablaze. The night she was set to die, the Queen asked her where their mother was.

 

But the Seeress showed no signs of revealing  their mother before. The Seeress said, the hex she placed upon you with that ring, the Queen, makes you as much of a monster as it made me. It possesses one and fills their soul with her conceit and endless vanity.

She said the hex can be undone, if you were to take off her ring, but this would kill you. She said that four prophets of the void would arise from the elements, and the forth her beliefs would be vindicated by society at last. Then she vanished, never to be seen by the peering eyes again. The pyre lit up after without her on it, erupting in 6 colors and starting the revolution. The Queen continued a reign of tyranny until her death, which many say was plagued by madness. Her entire life she'd be facing rebels, the Seeress's supporters and the slow foundations of the institution the Seeress set up. She'd persecute her supporters, but could not bring about the extinction of the Hex. And slowly, a cult was born from her name. The Hex was taught, it was used, and people began to believe in its truth. The Seeress had become a goddess, her body had been cast away by the hex, but her spirit, her essence and her soul still dwelt within it. And the Queen herself would leave no legacy, no new age or system, only her name. Now, hundreds of years later, the final prophet of the void, the The Void Queen of Earth came to be, and the Seeress's cult soon found its prominent supporters and spread far greater than those of its persecutors. Through her words, travels and teachings over the centuries would come to be the Hex.

 

 

Apostle of Thunder

The pail girl, Yztra Matrille, was the rich daughter of a duo in the Mineshards of Ruadciem. Ruadciem was a main exporter of power crystals, and a factory in processing them into electrical reels that could power carriages, mills, photography and farms. Most mines were not that large, they were in small and medium sized towns. The factories however went across mountains, with vast railways and connected lines forming an organized network of workers. Coglinium, Nulgah, and Lurgen, these being the biggest electrical-producing cities of the land. Nulgah was where Yztra was born. Her mother was a skilled engineer, she died in a terrible accident shortly after she was born. Her father was a miner, and her sister a custodian within the factories. Due to this Yztra often spent her time wandering said factories, occasionally helping pass along buckets of water within pails from lakes outside. She was only about thirteen when she caused a terrible accident, switching up pails of drinking water with impure conducting water, treated and laced with chemicals that poisoned many factory workers. In anguish and guilt, the girl ran away to the mountains, most likely to die. While there she encountered the greater spirit of Thunder in the form of a rare sight, a Dragon. This Thunder Dragon first regarded the kid as a minor annoyance. To get the dragon's attention, she kicked a pail of water to get her angry attention and was chased down a mine shaft. Yztr baited the dragon into an old gas pocket and managed to have them knocked out. When the dragon awoke, they found special bells around their knees and wings. When they flew out and attempted to call forth thunder, they powered these bells creating piercing signals, and flocks of crows in numbers never before seen swarmed them in agony.

 

'Who has attached these bells to my body?' The Thunder Spirit cried out. 'It I, the pail girl! The horrible child who poisoned a hundred souls.' Yztra replied. Then she began to untie the bells. The spirit of Thunder saw his opportunity for greatness, and he decided to take her in. He took her to his temple, where he had a large statue of himself, and gave her a name. He renamed her Maleg, for being as black as death. Maiden of the Electron. Though she was clumsy, slow and had never even thought of doing something besides being poor, her spirit was high, and she was willing to learn. The Thunder Spirit said. 'I have brought you to this temple, but this temple is for you. This place is for you to call home, and for you to learn from the masters here. You will learn how to use lightning and thunder, how to bring life and death, and how to become something greater. You will learn to control the elements of this world, you will be the master of storms, lightning, and the skies. Then you may return to the lands of men and make them better for you, better for all.' Maleg went up to this and was impressed by his teachings. The young girl was willing to dedicate her life to what she was told.

 “All things have a spirit that lives in them, if you love them, they will love you. Only then will you understand the light of the Hex.”

- Yztra Matrille, Holy Book

When she turned 20, Maleg, Maiden of the Electron rode down on the Dragon back to the city and created a dark and powerful storm. With her abilities, she soon took over and powered entire factories by herself, using the elements of nature under her control. She made herself a new temple, with her friends, and lived there for some time. She had to deal with her jealous father who tried to bring her down, and some other people who threatened to take what she had. She managed to get rid of them and her father, with the aid of the Thunder Spirit. Her father was put in jail, and a new group of people came in, a group who had wanted to get their own factories, they wanted to take over.

 

'Oh great Thunder. Thank you for your kindness. I have to go and fight them, to protect what you showed me. I cannot stay, I cannot rest. I know I must.' With a flash of light and a crash, the thunder and lightning of Maleg's temple was gone. And the girl was gone. Her enemies were gone as well. But Maleg herself, had been recruited by the great dark mother, and become one of the 4 void Queens. When she returned to the world 1 year later, she crushed any opposition and soon ruled the continent with an iron fist.

 

History: Female. Born in Nulgah. A mining town where electricity is very widely used. Due to her family being very wealthy she was given all kinds of toys. She became bored with them. Her grandparents died in a mysterious blast. This caused her to be more introverted. She was a pretty child with a big pair of blue eyes. She was taken in by a dragon and taught the ways of Thunder. The girl, Yztra Matrille was only 14 years old when the thunder god decided she would be his new apprentice, completing her training and embedding her in history as the founder of the aspect of Thunder. It's said once she took over her own town and the surrounding mountainous cities, she was fond of zapping others while they bowed at her feet.

 

 Apostle of Fire

Adorakas was a lowly woman in the region of Mamora, a volcanic desert where the heated geysers of the volcanoes were the only oasis. She worked at the distribution lines, where small meager portions were to be rationed out to works of moss and stripes grains. The people lived off nothing but a few types of edible plants, wheat and the occasional mushroom, provided by the rich soil and heat of the volcanic ash. The geyser's were the only source of water for dozens of miles, and these towns were built around them. Adorakas was often at her post when it rained, the trickles of sulfur leaving speckled, stinging dots across her skin.

That was until she heard the news of a new plague in the region, a disease that spread from plant to plant, like wildfire. It was only those that were born before the plague, the old, who remained unaffected. People that were born after the outbreak had been afflicted by the illness, most likely due to the fact that their body's had changed and could not process the disease in the same way that those born before the outbreak could. The others in her generation were disappearing, leaving the workforce to older and older workers. Adorakas could not get enough of the story, she wanted to know what caused the outbreak, what she could do to protect herself, how to go about healing the people. She saw the man's name was Kestrel, a mage who specialized in the healing arts. He told her about the disease, and asked what she could do. Kestrel, a follower of the Hex, lent her a book depicting the works of the Seeress. He told her the disease had come from the poisons within the drinking water from the heated volcano, and in order to discover the cure she would need to study it. Kestrel healed her body temporarily from her sickness, and then left for his travels. And so Adorkas quit her post and left for the top of the Volcano. It was there she found a cavern that she climbed down, finding drops of water from the boiling steam flowing within. Adorkas sat around these underground heated rivers, and felt the source of supernatural powers rising from the deep heart arteries of the planet. She flipped open the Seeress's book, reading chapters of being persecuted, stigmatized, demoralized and how to survive, even when life was cruel. And then there was one word that struck a chord within her, "survivor." Adorkas decided she was going to survive. She climbed back up the volcano, climbing to its peak where the sky and earth were joined, and there she found Kestrel. They talked, the sun had begun to rise and its rays warmed her body, reminding her she was still alive. Kestrel asked her what she wanted, what she wanted in life. She looked over the lands, the volcanoes were on the horizon, and as far as she could see, the lands were dry and lifeless, but she knew of the world, of the people that were scattered throughout the land. She wanted to make a difference in the lives of the people, to lead them to a better future. She wanted the power to do as she pleased, and with that power to bring the beating heart of the world to the surface. Kestrel, upon hearing her desires, looked at her with kindness in his eyes, and told her it was time to go. He told her the Seeress' had died as a martyr foretelling a great prophecy, it was time to be her own healer. She would visit the inside of the volcano, spending almost all her time observing and meditating inside of it, feeling the heat and its radiance. And when she returned to the distribution line she was a different woman, the sun was warmer on her skin, and the air brought her happiness.

“With the Hexists, they believe that all things have a spirit that synchronizes, they believe that everything is loved. A stone is not lifeless. A tree is not lifeless. The tree lives in harmony with the wind, and the wind lives in harmony with the tree. Everything's living! The only thing that dies is that which is forgotten. Togetherness is the embodiment of this spirit of all things, and the great harmony of the world is what keeps that spirit running.”

-Memoirs of Adorakas

The girl could feel other's bodies, their warmth, the blood that ran thru them and the conditions they felt like a moving pressure, much like the lava she'd meditated near. In time she discovered she could move the lava from its current path, she knew in time could move mountains with a single thought. She could move the blood within people, and speak to this blood. She could touch people, read their thoughts, she could speak to them in their dreams, and she could make them fall in love with her. The villagers began to fear her, but at the same time found the fear more intriguing than anything else. They began to worship her as a goddess, even believing her to be an avatar of God. She was the first to know the secrets of the volcanoes. She felt the power of the earth rise from within, all it took was a single thought and the ground moved itself beneath her feet. She felt the love and rage and frustration and joy of it all, everything the volcano stood for, she took all that in, and she loved it. In time she became a Queen of the lands, Adorakas the Void Queen of Fire. In time a thousand people flocked to her as she gave out the cure, and healed their bodies and minds. But in return she demanded their allegiance, and those that refused. She turned to stone with the ash of the earth.

 

History: A distribution line worker of food until her mid-20s, she lived a rather despondent life. She visited the mountain top of the volcano, meeting the traveler Kestrel told the Volcano her was the source of the illness plaguing her people, as the lava arteries within were sick much like one's bloodstream. She found several small rivers coming from the surface, and a large cavern to follow them within and began a meditative quest to understand the world beneath the surface.  This was after she had been struck with the plague, it left her with an empty feeling, like her spirit had been cut from her body. She felt nothing, all the warmth, love and emotion she felt daily was gone, only a feeling of emptiness, as if she had not a place to call home, a purpose, or a desire to survive in the world she found herself in. She began her quest, taking all her belongings and setting off to the end of the world to find out why the Seeress had died. She didn't know how to make a difference, but she found that she could control the lava and the heat of the volcano. With this she could heal anything she could place her hands upon. She found she could read people, and could control their minds, and her goal eventually turned from benefiting her people to controlling them and benefiting herself. A lot of people didn't understand what it was that she was doing, but in time she found that the people were willing to do anything she asked, and follow her to the end of the world, as they believed she was a manifestation of the love God held for them. The people who tried to oppose her were always crushed beneath her feet, no matter where they were or what they were doing, the lava flowed through them as they died. Rumor was the Seeress returned to the volcanic area and recruited her as a Void queen.

 

Apostle of Water

Xistris was born in the polar town of Yrismenin. Food and water was often scarce, and the seasons saw only 3 months of sunshine a year, the frost and glaciers keeping the land locked in arctic blankets the majority of the year. The culture of these peoples stressed patience and extreme diligence. he children of these people were born with a gift, they could tell when something was about to happen. The elders would teach these children of their ways to keep themselves focused in the Lattice, or at least not interfere with it, and to follow its threads carefully. The gift, which the locals called "wind", caused them to have headaches, and make them tired. It would often make them go into a trance-like state, as if receiving prophecies. But the elders and wiser members knew these were merely their folk tapping into the Latticestra, also called the 'Web of Desolation' by the Seeress in her studies.

"The Lattice" is a sort of mental web, invisible to the eyes of men. It is woven into this world, by the hands of the creator, and is an element of the universe, of the Spirit. It serves the creator as an infinite storehouse, and is said by some to be the mind of the great dark mother given mental form over others. But with it, one can share thoughts, dreams, exchange feelings and visions. Xistris was taught how to do this by her mother. It was her job to protect them from the outside world, and the wild elements outside of their land. For this she was often to go without meals. During the winter months, her father taught her the basics of hunting, cooking, wood crafting and other basic skills, which was not much, as her mother was more interested in the finer arts, like weaving and sewing. The winters were made more mild by the constant presence of a pair of owls. Their voices could be heard even at a mile distance, as they communicated back and forth with each other on the roof of the house. She spent about 10 hours a week outside of the icy cliff sides. For about 60 hours a week, she sat syncing with the Lattice One time while venturing out too far, Xistris got lost in the icy mist and couldn't find her way to return home. She found a very small cave, took what little hunting game she had and meditated far back after blocking the entrance. The temperatures were soon freezing. Xistris sat dormant, and having no other means to get help, sent her psyche inwards into the Latticestra. Xistris's spirit soared, out of her body and into the matrices of the Latticestra. aThey took her out into the cold barren wastelands down into the seas once created by the Santri, and found the corpses of Merwhales far below the bottom. They were once lords of the sea, but after the Santri vanished, the aquatic Meryl hunted them to extinction. In exchange for these ghosts of the deep opening up her mind and lending them her secrets, she would one day dive into the arctic ocean and swim across the world, freezing the underwater cities of these trident clutching blue-skinned marines.

“They speak of great deeds, and all manner of wisdom, when in the very marrow of them all is the desire for the things of the earth, for it is only when the soul has been separated from the body that man truly understands what he wants.”

-Wisdom of the Hex: Ward Institute translation

 History: Female.  Known as the "child of winter", she was chosen as the third bearer of the Hex. Born in a quiet, desolate arctic city known as Chtfrizah, she grew up an only child.  The young girl, Xistris was always aware of being different, even from a very young age. She was always introverted, sometimes aloof, but always willing to show her parents and elders her skills in sewing and weaving, as well as in hunting and cooking. Her mother and father would often take her for long excursions into the icy wastelands to see the Owls in the distance.  Her mother, though a loving mother, was often absent and distant. Her father was very controlling, he had a large study with several objects. He was a fervent follower of the Hex, even in this distant corner of the world. Her mother, being of a scholar's household and with a very sharp mind, taught Xistris the arts of weaving, sewing, cookery, history, and the Latticestra. When she was stuck in a cave for 6 months, she relied on controlling the winds and fauna to bring her food. There, she became familiar with the Latticestra to tap into the slow, patient aspect of Water, which was one of the five elements, it was one of the five spirits of the void. In this particular aspect, she could see its threads, the Web of Desolation, and understand how slowly the rotation of the spheres are in the far cosmic balance. In this Xistris became aware of her own fragility, of what it meant to push the fleetingness of existence to the brink until she became a frozen icy statue. From there she learnt how to control the elements, and slowly and incrementally, she made a conscious effort to manipulate their very nature. She became the new mistress of the winds and oceans, and she began to manipulate the ocean, creating currents, making waves and tsunamis. During these times, she would spend much time with the owls. But when the time came, she had a new goal. After being recruited by the great dark mother, she would return to her village as a tyrant, to turn the continent into her own empire and begin to prop her reign up as an Icy Queen. Soon her own magnanimity was ever so apparent, she'd declare. She'd even spare turning others into bowing ice statues if they could lick the ground she walked on- a prank she did love to see, which often lead to many freezing their tongues on the floor and needing them cut off from that very spot. She also taught her people a lot of new technologies to aid them in their lives and their travels, as well as creating a brand new breed of ice people, the Tundra People or Tsundrii.

 

The Sundrii are an offshoot of the original snow peoples created by the Void Queen, they served her in the Xistris Dynasty which lasted for 800 years. A very hardy breed of people, the Sundrii were made and adapted for work in the ice. They're commonly recognized by their blue hair, slight white pubic fur and linen sashes they often wear. Like the Xistris Dynasty, they would sometimes gather around a hearth, and have large feasts, sometimes for days on end, especially during the Xismas Festival where they celebrate their origin and 'Oistris the Oracle giver' (a legend spun from their creator) giving gifts, candy and blizzards when giving them life. On the Winter solstice ,they celebrate with ice sculptures, candlelight feasts, and even singing. The Sundrii can be very different from other people, with their hardy nature and great skill in survival. They were also known for the strong link they had with the Latticestra. In folklore and pop culture, they're commonly stereotyped as shifty, sneaky pranksters and troublemakers, a stereotype they don't entirely reject or feel blighted by. Traditionally Sundrii revere their creator, a majestic snow queen who brought about the freezing, destruction and disasters of her enemies. They also follow a cult of the Iceflake, a sub-Hex denomination that believes the Seeress chose Xistris as her first herald rather than Yztramatrille. They believe that the Seeress' prophecies came true in her life, she having been foretold of one who would conquer and rule a frozen land, by conquering the sea that brought death itself - a reference to the Xistris both learning deep sorcery from the graveyards of the ocean, and in turn bringing death to the Meryl. It was these prophecies that would lead to her creation of the Sundrii, and all Xistris's descendants after her.

 

 Apostle of Earth

The 4th voiden queen was the last to make her contribution to the Hex. Her name was Agathys, and she would become the speaker of the Earth. Though she was the only one to be born from the void, where the great dark mother ruled. She was cast into the world of the Hexless and abandoned in the jungles of Zamthestia. She was adopted by The Wayward, a small clan of Santri hidden far from the world in repose and isolation. They taught her how to speak in tongues, the words of magic. The magic of the earth she learned was magic of spoken writ.  She was taught how to communicate with the forest spirits, how to speak to and understand their languages. Her parents would show her the ways of hunting the beasts of the jungle. She taught them many things, how to make nets and traps. Even how to make weapons from the trees and vines of Zamthestia. And how to fashion the thorns into connected circles and symbols. She spoke in many tongues, and it was said that only the Santri could understand her words. However, they did not like her because she often refused to do as they would ask. Instead she'd choose to leave their forests, to hunt with the owls or to go into the wastelands. The Santri wanted to teach her to never stray too far from the paths, to always come back for them to have her back when they needed her. Although they had raised and trained her, she began to despise how they held her back and controlled her life. They were of a scholar's house, and always had to have the best for their people. She was to carry on their traditions, a mould she constantly fought and began to reject.  They were a humble people, for they knew that the great dark mother was not as easy to hear as could be expressed. But this interest in the mother revitalized in Agathys, especially in her own origins. She became eager to learn more about the Void, even when she was told those that did so soon spoke only in maddened tongues. But Agathy's greed for her own truth outweighed her love for her caretakers. She sacrificed them in order to open a spell into the void. And so she was able to step inside- but only a single step. After which, the spell refracted the atmosphere and pulled unlimited gravity from the sky. She ended up pulling a large branch from the moon, and creating a mossy beanstalk so massive it connected the planet to its secondary sphere like an emerald chain. Agathy did the only thing she knew at the moment, and in this legend, began to climb. She climbed until she reached the moon and the tree atop. The 5th sister, the Queen of Void would lay within, but before she could free her the tree would need to heal and nourish.

 “Hexists are encouraged to spend time in nature, spending time alone, sitting and meditating. They should always remember that the hex, like the sun and the wind, is all around them, and that they must embrace the power of the hex if they wish to live in harmony with their surroundings.”

-Hermit the Sage: Lectures from the underlands

And so Agathy began to meditate on the moon. Thru the vines connected into the soil of the world she climbed from, she tapped into the Latticestra networks of the gaian tongues that would weep and fester until she heard them and babbled back. When she learned of their voices and signifiers, she created many other life-giving phenomena. Moon-borne steam and chemicals puddled into vast oceans, storms, lava and growths on the surface. She became the progenitor of a new world, speaking the language of life. From Agathy a barren moon soon thrived with the knowing touch of nature. It would be a time away until settlers and travelers from the celestial society found their way up the beanstalk to start lives of their own. In the decades she had alone, Agathy meditated in nature and especially to the tree. She communicated from the Latti with it, and the entity inside, sometimes in a still trance with talks that went on for years. At some point before civilization arrived, the Seeress came to her and blessed her as the fourth voiden queen, and said the fifth of her disciples, that of Void would soon be freed from the tree.

 

Apostle of Void

When the settlers began to build kingdoms on the grass that she had laid forth, they accepted her as their ruler. Agathy became a goddess figure of knowledge, life, learned tongues and the advent of sorcery. She started numerous celebrations throughout the lunar year to celebrate the Tree, and in time, the figure from within did finally emerge and find its way to freedom, accepted as the 5th and final Apostle- The Feaster, whose aspect was Void itself. There is very little recorded on this subject not clouded in obscurity, so I must concede to remarkable embarrassing ignorance on my part of the historical record here. Nonetheless, the Feaster is perceived as a remarkably celebrated figure within the Hex, and said to find its origins within the Blessed Tree itself.