For millions of years Nua and Aun existed together, each counterbalancing the other and living in perfect happiness with each other’s company. One day though Nua started to become depressed again. While she had miraculously found her companion for the rest of eternity, she slowly began to realize that they had no real purpose, they merely existed for the sake of existing. Nua wanted to create life of her own choosing. Aun, wishing only to make Nua happy, agreed. Together they melded parts of their essences and spawned two offspring: Juxon and Lunara.
Juxon, born of Nua, was shaped into a male demi-god. Mirroring his mother, Juxon was a being of dark near pitch-black skin. Eyes that appeared to be nothing more than black holes adorned his chiseled face. Lunara, born of Aun, was shaped into a female demi-god. Mirroring her father, Lunara was a being of bright white skin, near blinding to those that looked upon her. The hair that graced her head cascaded down her shoulders, seemingly more like strands of light than actual physical hair.
Together, Juxon and Lunara traveled throughout Nua for millennia until one day they stumbled across a remarkable discovery: a chunk of rock floating in space. Juxon and Lunara conjectured that during the great explosion that created Aun, a physical piece of Aun must have separated itself from his body. The chunk of rock contained substances neither had seen before, the most notable of which was water. Over time they began to see miraculous developments occur on the floating rock. From the water that blanketed the planet life began to spring into existence. Forests grew and all sorts of fish, insects and animals populated its primordial sprawl.
Intrigued by the idea of lesser life forms, Juxon and Lunara agreed to cultivate and nurture the planet which they had come to call Nualn in honor of their parents. Using his great might, Juxon reached deep beneath the ocean and ripped up a piece of the planetary crust and brought it to the surface. The water from the great oceans flooded over the land mass forming rivers and lakes. Aun's light shone down on the new continent which caused plant life to grow. While other land masses already existed on Nualn, this new continent that Juxon and Lunara had created would belong solely to them, a perfect and ideal land made by two perfect and ideal beings. They named this new continent Vesnia.
While fish, insects and beasts began to appear on Vesnia, no matter how deeply they cultivated it, sentient life forms capable of developing complex thoughts and emotions were still missing on Nualn. Unable to give rise to relevant life forms which could express love towards their creators, Lunara, like Nua before her, began to slip into depression. While Lunara and Juxon had helped facilitate life, it was life which Lunara had no meaningful connection to. Lunara and Juxon were both sterile and yet longed to create life forged from their very essence. Distressed at his sister being so lost in despair, Juxon came to Lunara and proposed an alternative plan. Similar to what their parents had done, Juxon and Lunara would engineer their own creations and then bind their very life essences into them.
Lunara consented to her brother's plan and the two set to work binding and warping the very fabric of life itself. For hundreds of years, they toiled and eventually finished their work resulting in creatures which they came to call humans. Hundreds of thousands of humans were created and given the ability to procreate which soon resulted in their population exploding into the hundreds of millions. After hundreds of years of observing the humans, Lunara and Juxon came to realize that humans had not turned out the way originally hoped for. Humans were largely irrational en masse, some rebelled against their divine creators preaching that Juxon and Lunara did not really exist while others blindly worshipped Juxon and Lunara to the point where they began to sacrifice fellow humans in hopes of gaining favors. Other humans broke down into factions, those that believed in Lunara would kill those who believed in Juxon, and vice versa. The erratic and savage nature of humans brought shame to Lunara and disgusted Juxon until finally, seeing enough of the bizarre creatures; Juxon returned to Vesnia and ripped the very life essence out of every human alive, single handedly killing every human alive. Juxon then created a massive quake which echoed across Vesnia, toppling all the crude and barbaric structures the humans had built during their time of existence. After the tremors were finished all physical signs of human civilization had been torn asunder and sucked down into the bowels of Nualn. Humans, as a species, were henceforth considered a failure by Juxon and Lunara.
Not willing to give up so easily, Lunara and Juxon agreed to learn from the mistakes they had made with humans and to create children that were more logical and reasonable. Using precious metals and steel, Juxon created complex mechanical golems for their second attempt at children. While these mechanical creatures were rational, they lacked any soul or personality. They were simple mindless automatons which walked over Vesnia with no real purpose. Wishing their children to have free will and to enjoy life, Juxon and Lunara agreed that they must try again. For their third attempt at life, Juxon sculpted new golems made from the very dirt and stones of Vesnia. These new golems were physically sculpted to mirror humans, albeit much larger, in contrast to the large cumbersome robotic golems of their previous attempt. Lunara then breathed life into the stone golems made from Nualn itself.
While the rock golems had free will unlike their mechanical predecessors, they still lacked the true spark of life that Juxon and Lunara were looking for. Whereas humans were completely irrational and unable to be controlled, the rock golems were the opposite. The stone constructs had the capacity to make their own decisions, but they failed to see the logic in existence and thus chose a self-inflicted coma – they refused live at all. Whereas it seemed humans were bent on self-destruction, the stone golems were bent on non-existence. Realizing once again that they had failed, Juxon took both the mechanical golems and rock golems and buried them deep beneath Nualn's crust to exist eternally in a self-inflicted comatose state, never to be disturbed again.
Distraught over their continual failure, Lunara fell back into a deep depression and refused to respond to Juxon’s pleas. While physically she was alive, spiritually she was dying, unable to cope with the knowledge that, while a being of immense power, she was completely incapable of giving her existence meaning. At first Juxon was overcome with anger and rage at Lunara's selfishness, but after a while he too became heavy with grief. Unable to bear the sight of his sister slowly slipping into madness, Juxon realized how he could provide Lunara proper children. The male demi-God began forging the hilt of a blade using the deepest and oldest stones that could be found in Nualn. Once the hilt was finished, Juxon next went to Aun and asked his father if he could borrow a piece of his fiery essence. Aun agreed and a blade was crafted, imbued with Aun's very being. Once completed, this shining dagger was given a name by Juxon: Heaven's Light.
Juxon descended from the Heavens and stood tall atop Vesnia. From where he was planted in the middle of the continent, he looked to Lunara high above and pledged his everlasting and eternal love for her. Before she could utter a reply or question, Juxon took Heaven's Light and plunged it deep into his heart up to the hilt. Quickly fading from the death blow, Juxon ripped Heaven's Light from his chest; the blood that pumped through his body spewed out of the gaping wound across the continent. So hot and powerful was his blood that it desecrated and destroyed the land it fell on, seeping into the ground and becoming magma, or stagnating on the surface and becoming lava. As the last bits of life sprang from his dying form Juxon fell backwards crashing into the ground with such a force that it shattered the very land of Vesnia itself, most of the continent falling beneath the waves. The two pieces of land that remained became shattered remnants of what once was. Juxon's cold dead body hardened and petrified, transforming into a massive mountain that dominated the skyline.
As soon as it had happened, it was over. In a matter of moments one of the most powerful beings in all of Nua had slain himself. A quiet stillness came over the land, the demi-God that was once Juxon was no more, every fiber of his being had vanished, every last trace and remnant of him had mer
ged with the land itself. Lunara, watching from afar, could only stare in shocked disbelief. As the reality of what had occurred began to sink in, something unbelievable happened. Complex living beings began to arise on Vesnia, born of their father’s dying essence.
From the south, where Juxon's hot and molten blood had fallen, scarring the surface into a twisted landscape dominated by rivers and geysers of flame and lava, creatures began to pull themselves out of the very lava itself. Born of Juxon's lifeblood, these creature's bodies were made of magma and flame. After a short period of time though, their bodies cooled and hardened becoming solid form. The physical form of these creatures still pumped the same hot blood that had been in Juxon's veins and their skin and hair retained a vibrant coloration ranging from dull yellow to bright red. They possessed an affinity for heat and were able to withstand extraordinarily high temperatures to the point where lava and flame could not harm them. These beings of heat and fire came to call themselves the Phlebos.
From the north, where Juxon's body fell and became a cold hardened mountain, creatures composed of the demi-God's very flesh crawled out from the dirt and rocks. Birthed from the hard gigantic mountain that their father had become, these Vesnians took on the properties of said mountain. They grew larger and more muscular than their southern kin and had skin and hair color mimicking the depths of Nualn, ranging from light silver to dark brown. These rugged beings born of stone and rock came to call themselves the Tormos.
As these new beings sprang to life from the corpse, blood, and soul of her fallen brother, Lunara wept, but whether it was of sadness or joy, was unknown. The children of Juxon and Lunara turned their gaze skyward to their weeping Mother and cried out for her to not be sad or bitter for they, the inheritors of Vesnia, the literal incarnations of the love between the two Demi-Gods, would forever love both her and their deceased father. The Vesnians, chosen of the Gods, raised their hands skyward and begged Lunara to shed her warmth and love upon them - and that she did.
Lunara smiled down at her children, tears streaming down her perfect face and said unto them: Lo my children do I love you. You all bear the strength, courage, and love of your father in likeness and spirit. However, this world bears too many scars that torment me. Know that I shall always love you and that all Vesnians shall always carry my blessing, but I cannot remain here. I must leave, the journey that Juxon and I began is now complete and you all are the sum of our love, hopes and desires. Thus, I leave this world to you. I will return to the Heavens and to the loving embrace of Aun and Nua where I will watch over and protect all of you, just the same as Nua and Aun will.
Lunara swept her mighty hands upward and a thunder resounded across the land. The very ground itself trembled and from a hundred miles out of the shattered land of Vesnia, far out in the mighty and endless ocean that surrounded the continent, an explosion burst forth. A circular and massive column of air, thousands upon thousands of miles in diameter crashed forth from the Heavens and smashed into the ocean completely encircling Vesnia. These winds blew so fiercely that to approach them would tear a ship to shreds and rip the very flesh from the body.
As the wind calmed down and the Vesnians looked skyward again, Lunara cried forth: This is my gift to you my children, protection eternal! The lands outside Vesnia are wild and untamed with unknown dangers abound, thus I give you these protective winds to keep out the vicious beasts of the world. I beseech you to live your lives honorably and bring glory to Juxon and me. As such, I set forth two eternal laws to never be broken, for if they should ever be disobeyed, the reckoning I shall bring upon you will be swift, absolute and final.
The first rule is that no Vesnian may ever kill another Vesnian. To murder one another would be an affront to everything your father and I suffered through. The second rule is that no Vesnian may ever leave this continent. The lands outside are too dangerous and fraught with peril. To leave Vesnia would be tantamount to suicide. These lands are your home eternal, safe and everlasting. Thus, the winds that protect you also ensure none may ever leave.
As Lunara finished speaking, her voice echoed across Nualn, carried to every corner of the planet to warn the creatures of the unknown wilds to stay away from her children or suffer her wrath. The Vesnians as one cried out to Lunara. They begged her not to leave, to stay with them, and give them guidance, warmth and love. Moved by her children's show of affection, Lunara smiled down on her creations and proclaimed that she would give them one last gift before parting. While Vesnians were not entirely immortal, as they could be killed by grievous wound, drowning or likewise, they would never die of old age, thus as long as her rules were followed, life eternal would belong to them. Lunara understood the sadness of her children in not wanting to be separated from their mother, for she too wished to visit with each of her children. So, she proclaimed to them that every so often, she would take their souls from their bodies and bring them to the Heavens for a short time so they could visit her, Nua and Aun. After their time together, she would return their souls to their material bodies on Nualn to continue their life until the next time she called them home.
The Vesnians, still distraught at their creator leaving, were none the less accepting and thankful of her gifts to them. Feeling that her time on Vesnia was done, Lunara looked once more at the mountain that her brother had become. For so long Lunara had felt only emptiness and sadness, but a new feeling began to creep into her suddenly, a feeling she had not experienced for a long time. It started out low and warm and quickly built-up momentum. It became so strong and powerful that she felt that it would consume her. She feared the powerful emotion would overcome her and leave nothing but a husk behind. It was something akin to joy and she was relieved for the first time in centuries. At the same time though it was something so much more, if Lunara had to put a word to the feeling, it would be - completeness. The pure love and ecstasy that she was experiencing erupted, and tears of happiness began streaming down her face. She glanced once more to her children and with one last nod, Lunara ascended to Heaven. As she rose the tears that dotted her face flew off due to the speed of her ascent. Where her tears were flung, they froze in place in the sky becoming the stars that Vesnians know today.
Then, as soon as she began to rise, she was gone. The Vesnians, still with their heads craned skyward, gasped in awe as, before their very eyes, Lunara materialized in the sky above as a giant white orb shining down her warmth and love upon them in the dark of night, assuming her rightful place in the Heavens with Nua and Aun.
So ended the time of the Gods on Nualn. When the events were all over and all the dust had settled, a quiet still descended upon the land. One creator had died, another had fled, and a broken and shattered land was left in the care of their immortal children. The Vesnians, safe for time eternal, would be forever shielded from the brutal and harsh outer realms by the wall of wind called forth by Lunara.
While Vesnia offered its inhabitants protection, the scars of its creation would never heal. Despite eons passing, the broken, cragged and gouged landscape never changed. The Vesnians, born of the harsh and brutal land that would forever be a reminder of Juxon's death, were molded and shaped by their environment and fallen patriarch. Like their parents, the Vesnians inherited the sterility of the Gods and were incapable of procreating. Thus, at that exact moment of their creation, the Vesnians were at their maximum potential population. Unable to reproduce, the Vesnians had to safeguard their precious lives, for their existence as a race depended on limiting the number of deaths suffered. Thankfully though, the Vesnians, both Phlebos and Tormos, were a heavily populated race. While no official census was ever conducted, the Vesnians at creation numbered somewhere around ten million, with that number split roughly evenly between the two races.
After their creation, the Tormos were not united but rather made up of several tribes. In 22 AJD though, the largest Tormos tribe, the Vold, united most of the other lesser tribes: Inda, Urbin and Anidul as one nation under one banner. The Tormos stayed
in the cold dead north and built within their father's mountainous corpse a massive complex. A city hidden from view, but gargantuan in scale, thousands of floors deep, beginning near the base of the mountain and boring up into the cold dead rock that their fallen father had become. In honor of Juxon, the Tormos dubbed his corpse the Patriarch Mountain, their lands Juxton and their subterranean capital, Juxon City.
The Vesnians born of their fallen father's blood made the arid and scorched flatlands of the south their home. The Phlebos, in honor of Aun whom they shared an affinity for fire with, named their lands Aunia. The western half of Aunia was a large, desolate and arid desert. To the east were dry and parched plains where the grass was essentially tinder for frequent wildfires. Down the center of Aunia were the blood flows, an inhospitable region of lava, geysers of flame and explosions caused by flammable methane pockets. On the brutal blood flows the Vesnians built a massive city made of marble and gold which they dubbed Aun City.
The Tormos and Phlebos, despite coming to identify themselves separately from each other, were technically the same race, brothers and sisters, both sharing the same mother and father. As time passed, the Vesnians began experiencing an unknown and unexpected side effect of being birthed from a dying God. While sleeping, they would have visions which came as dreams. The visions the Gods granted upon their children were always murky and convoluted, often only showing short fragments of events. Why the Gods bestowed these visions upon their children was unknown, however most believed it was because Nua, Aun and Lunara wished to communicate certain messages to the Vesnians.
Thus, the Phlebos and Tormos, essentially the same beings in all but superficial appearance, lived in near complete separation. The Tormos resided in their dark and cold northern subterranean tunnels. The Phlebos built grandiose homes on their scorched and scarred southern plains. The two remained this way for over two thousand years, living peacefully with each other, largely in isolation from one another, happy to live their lives on their own respective halves of the continent.
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