The Sidereal War
No singular event would come to define the entire history of Amalthea more than the death of the creator goddess Selara, at the hands of her most beloved child, Vanthus. There is no consensus of what exactly happened, given the fluid nature of chronology in the Planes, and the lack of written records. The following is a Sybillite telling, and many alternatives to this tale exist. It is said that Sidereum, Vanthus’ domain of the dead, was plunged into the Far Realms, corrupting both its master and its wards, transforming it into the horrific realm known as the Shadowfell. Fearing that the Far Realms would soon extinguish Amalthea itself, and hoping to rescue their kin from their clutches, the Elder Gods departed to confront their fear once more. They met the Great Old Ones in a place beyond the stars, and the Sidereal War began, a conflict that would rage for millennia. With the Gods gone, the prayers of the common people were no longer answered. With the corruption (some say betrayal) of Vanthus and the loss of Sidereum, the hope for rebirth is lost and the dead may never return to the living. The newly awakened races declined into faithlessness, violence, and hedonism, and their fledgling civilizations fell back to bestial savagery in the absence of divine guidance. Furthermore, through fallen Sidereum the nightmares of the Far Realms slipped into the world. Bodies of the dead rose again to become hordes of undead; beasts and men transformed into writhing monstrosities of flesh stitched together by tendrils of nothingness; and by exposing Outsiders to the existential dread that lurk beyond the Celestial Source, abominations such as Daemons and Sakhils came to be. And Vanthus, now remade into the Great Old One of Undeath, commanded these beings to roam Amalthea and wreak havoc wherever they go. And in the Void, it is said, the Sidereal War raged as fiercely as the conflicts on Amalthea. The Elder Gods fought battles of cosmic proportions and engaged in intrigues of infinite complexity against the Great Old Ones, each as powerful as an Elder God but unbound by the laws of reality that governs all Creation. Selara found herself bound by chains above the battlefield to watch the worst of Her fears come true: her children overwhelmed by nightmare, Herself helpless to come to their aid. The Sidereal War was terrifying, epic, plane-shaking, and ultimately completely pointless. For as the Gods fought, Selara watched, and suddenly came to the realization that She had doomed them all to death. For Vanthus is now of the Far Realms, and his heart had been filled with madness and hatred; there is no saving him when he had no wish to return to Her embrace and see redemption. Vanthus wished only to prove that the Nothing was greater than all, and that those he once loved would gaze upon the face of Fear one last time before their ultimate end. As Selara was overwhelmed with regret, She put Herself to what she did best: create. Unable to leave Her chains, She drew upon Her divine essence to make beings that would represent the Gods in Amalthea and guide the mortals in their stead: the Luminaries, icons among mortalkind that may one day ascend to divinity themselves. In them she put the strength and wisdom of each of her children, and finally, the selfless love and compassion of Herself. She called out to Vanthus with heartache, pleading to speak to her wayward son one last time before she resigned herself to annihilation. And as Vanthus paused, just for a brief second, Selara slipped from the chains. She commanded the rest of her children to abandon the fight and retreat to their astrological positions above Amalthea, so that she may face Vanthus alone. The battle between Selara and Vanthus lasted many centuries. Selara made no move to harm Her son, even as Vanthus bombarded Her with horrors beyond mortal comprehension, hoping to wear Her down with pain and fear. My beloved child, She called out countless times, hoping to redeem him, but all it garnered in Vanthus was rage. Eventually She was bested; and Vanthus, in his final act of defiance, shattered his Mother into countless pieces, and scattered them across the Celestial Source and the Material Plane. Thus Selara passed from Amalthea; but the Luminaries came to it, determined to carry out the sacred charge placed upon them by the All-Mother. First among them was Sybil, who saw what befell of Amalthea in the Elder Gods' absence, and set about bringing order to this beleaguered world.