The death of the King of Corzolia has proven detrimental to the peacefulness on Earth as his wife and son have forsaken the Pantheon of the Gods to further an agenda of vengeance.
This tale joins six people around the world in going after the kingdom-turned-empire, some with the support of parts of the Pantheon and some without. These six will discover just what is truly going on, and they will discover a hard truth: Nothing is ever what it seems.
The Conflict?s Refrain - A Working Title
by
Jason Winter
Prologue - The Pantheon
Our tale begins on a world, that for the sake of simplicity, and practical purposes, will be called ?Earth.? To say it?s not unlike the Earth we all know and love is a bold-faced lie, but to say it is exactly the same is just as much of a falsehood. The polar icecaps, general temperature, and wildlife; well, most of the wildlife is pretty much the same.
There are plenty of differences, though: Biomes, continents, people, cultures, and in fact, the number of intelligent life forms with some sort of civilization; all of those are different. There?s no argument over the existence of deities, for example: They show themselves often enough so there?s no way to disbelieve it, although some are forgotten and/or overshadowed by others.
To say that this stops conflict of the religious sort is false, some of them are petty and cruel beings who enjoy making the mortals suffer for their own amusement or benefit. Which, in turn, caused people to fight others in the name of their Gods, no matter their intent or alignment. However, it?s been some time since that has really been of any concern, most of the ?evil? gods are the ones in that ?forgotten and/or overshadowed? category, mostly for the better.
There are old grudges and in-fighting thanks to this, of course, but this is the status quo for any imperfect, mortal being; and well, the Gods, too. Deities being perfect? On this Earth, that?s pretty hilarious. Remember, this isn?t our Earth, and even then a perfect deity is the cause of many a debate.
So, if multiple Gods of differing qualities exist in this world, does magic? You bet! And that ?most? bit about the wildlife? Yeah, there are dragons, normal fauna in unusual sizes and looks, and other creatures that are pure fantasy, legend, speculation, extinct, or of crypto-zoological origin on this world. Magic is linked to certain deities, as are some of the more fantastic of these creatures - many even coinciding with each other.
So, who are the current dominant gods? As many people would advise for good writing, the author should show, rather than tell people about things; but since we?ve already exposited details about the world itself already, it won?t hurt to be a little bare-bones on the subject, right? Heck, we haven?t even gotten to the technological level of this world, yet! That will be shown, rather than told, though.
I suppose that, first off, will be the most important one of them all: The genderless being called Orentius, also known as ?They?, ?The Original One?, ?The Clean Slate?, or ?The Great Parent?. Some people call Them ?The Blank?, ?Heshe?, ?Nil One?, or just ?It?, but those are rarely used and are somewhat more considered to be pejorative and/or dismissive. Orentius is believed to have created the universe and the stars, as well as Their two Children, from parts of Their body. No mere mortal has actually seen Orentius in person and lived through it without revival, though: it takes certain magical wards only the powerful can create to see Them without dying from incomprehension. Enough mere mortals have ?seen? Orentius, though, to know They are real.
Secondly is Detredes, the son of Orentius, and the owner of the star ?Sol,? given to Him by The Original One as a birthday gift at the time of His creation. His ownership of it, essentially, makes Detredes the Sun God. Detredes is also the patron God of Life, being the one who brought life forms to Earth in the first place. He, however, only brought plants and basic life to the planet;
civilized, intelligent life is the domain of his daughter, Pasi, and Her children. Detredes is nicknamed ?Sol?, ?Sunfather,? and ?Daybringer.?
The daughter of Orentius is Terratha, the creator of Earth itself. In conjunction with its creation, she allowed her brother to bring it its first signs of life after her firstborn son, Piexus, created the oceans. Her other children, Freh, Wrest, and Luna would go on to create fire, the weather, and the moon, respectively. Most people simply call Terratha ?Terra? or ?Earthmother?.
The aforementioned Pasi had several children, each one charged with a different aspect of civilized life: Knowledge and wisdom were made the domains of her firstborn daughter Halle, while technology and love went to her other daughter, Marda. Her son, whose name has been forgotten, was put in charge of the life cycle and souls. Unfortunately, he was born ambitious but not sympathetic, which eventually caused Him to fall from grace when he tried to incite conflict within the pantheon. His genderless offspring, Dessardus, took over after His expulsion, and kept it thanks to a rather affable personality. Most people just call Dessardus ?Death?, now, which is a slight corruption of a shortening of Their name, ?Dess.?
Pasi?s forgotten son was joined by a daughter of Freh?s as well as all of Piexus? children, almost all of their names forgotten except one - Galrus, who later changed His mind and apparently informed the other gods of what was happening. Galrus would eventually bear a child with Halle - Kraguen, who would become the first Merman. The forgotten son of Pasi and forgotten daughter of Freh created the Dark Ones - their true names also forgotten: powerful, single-minded beings with only destruction in mind.
The creation of Pasi - Humanity, alongside the children of her great-nephew fought the Dark Ones in an enormous conflict, known as the War of Nightfall. Unfortunately for the Humans and the Merfolk, their combined efforts were not enough. Thanks to a plea to his great-grandmother, however, Galrus got some help - in the form of Luna?s own civilization - the Elvenathor, the first mortal practitioners of magic. The War of Nightfall was turned around and the Dark Ones were mostly vanquished. Those who remained were sealed in a realm of pure light, a world, that for them, was naught but pain.
Despite their victory, there would be much in-fighting between the three races in later years, sometimes over the Gods, sometimes over territories, and sometimes, just for petty reasons like greed and megalomania. Eventually, though, a long-lived peaceful time period was worked out. That time period would eventually come to its end, though.
That was fifteen years ago, when our story truly began. Mizael XXVI, The King of Carzol, which is the largest human territory fell ill shortly after his Queen had their first child, Quinn IV. King Mizael died not long after his illness had started. The kingdom, of course, was turned over to the Queen as Prince Quinn was too young. But as soon as she took the throne, the world would discover just how much of a tyrant she really was. Most blamed it on her being impacted by her husband?s death, but there were also hushed whispers of her having poisoned the King. Those hushed whispers were put to rest after a while - and not by force, but by the Queen allowing an investigation by outside, independent sources. Those sources proved that it had not been poison, or magic that had killed him, just bad luck with ol? Dessardus.
Death, however, claimed that the King?s death was not Their doing, and had no idea how the King was brought to Their domain at such a time. The Carzolians, with the Queen?s help, put the blame in Their direction anyway. Death promised to get to the bottom of it, but found Themself clueless, which, naturally, upped the kingdom?s ire when no response came. Those who didn?t blame Dessardus were all considered the enemy, and that included anyone worldwide - human, elf, mer, or otherwise.
The other gods, concerned for both sides, began taking their own positions. Infighting between celestial sibling and offspring occurred, in ways that had not been seen since the treachery of Death?s father. Eventually, Detredes and His children joined their relative, while most of Terratha?s offspring sided with the kingdom except for Luna and Terratha Herself. Because of Piexus? support, the Merfolk eventually took the Carzolians? side. The elves and most of the rest of humanity went against them.
A war began, and has been going for a little over a decade now. Queen Izzaela has been joined by her son, Quinn now in her efforts, his unquestionable and disturbing loyalty to his mother has proven a real asset to the Carzolian Kingdom, well, Empire now. But not all Carzolians are loyal to the Imperial movement...
Which, is where we join our first person of interest.