Ogygian History
Forgotten Origins
Since its inception, Ogygia has been a land of tension. Few remember the ancient history of the land, before the mountains separated Ogygia and ancestral Tron Daurat, but those that do recall the ancient titans that now slumber beneath the soil.The primordial dragons of Tron Daurat once ruled alongside ancient giants, the hecatonchieres. These enormous entities of earth and stone were much more active and ambitious than the dragons, who seemed content merely with existing. Their connection to the earth allowed them to shape the world around them with intention and purpose, drawing metal from the below and raising titanic edifices for little more than glory and pride. In time, their ambitions brought them into conflict with the unchanging dragons, and the hecatonchieres sparked a war within Tron Daurat.
It was a failure. Many of the great dragons fell to crushing might and piercing steel, but the hecatonchieres, lacking the primal sorcery of the dragons, were eventually driven west out of their ancestral lands. This new land by the ocean was not uninhabited; the one-eyed cyclopes lived peaceful lives in the lush plains and islands, undisturbed by the ravages of war that the hecatonchieres were soon to bring. They too were giants, but what is a tree to a mountain; what is a forest to the tectonic movement of the earth? The cyclopes that defended their peace were little more than the waves crashing against the rocky shore, and it was not long before they were broken.
The greatest of the hecatonchieres, Ogyges, crowned himself king of the exiled giants and their new home. They would gather their strength in the land he named Ogygia, and soon they would strike against the dragons to take back their wounded pride. The hecatonchieres molded legions of brass, the colossi; the cyclopes were shepherds, but also skilled builders and craftsmen, and those that bent to the iron will of their invaders built mighty colosseums to train the metal army. King Ogyges sent his greatest followers, Cottus, Briareus, and Aegaeon, to become the impenetrable mountain chain separating Ogygia and Tron Daurat. Once the hecatonchieres were prepared for war, the mountains would crumble and the four mighty leaders would lead their kin against the dragons.
Too late did King Ogyges realize that he had sealed his people into their tomb. Like a tree relies on the sun, the elemental hecatonchieres relied on the magic flowing from Tron Daurat to survive, more so than even they realized. With the mountain chain fully separating the hecatonchieres from their origin and the source of their power, the passing years drained more and more of the giants’ life. As they grew weaker, their sturdy memories crumbled: they forgot where they came from, why they studied so endlessly for war, even the arts of craftsmanship they once mastered. All that remained was the rawest emotion, the drive for conquest and strength, and it was not long before that drive crushed the last of their unity.
Little remains of the hecatonchieres now. With their deaths, the earth reclaimed them, soaking up the last of their primordial magic and spawning the nymphs across Ogygia. One can still find traces of their hollow-faced bodies in the remote places of Ogygia, now little more than strange shapes in the rocks or trees that have grown out of humanoid forms. The colossi have all but forgotten their former creators, while the cyclopes held to the memory of their brief oppression as lesson and warning for the future. Now all that is left are meaningless names and the lingering emotions that ended the hecatonchieres’ reign.
The Nymphs
With the passing of the hecatonchieres’ rule came the nymphs, elemental spirits that were both the manifestations and protectors of the wilds. These nymphs were as varied as nature itself: the dryads of oak trees; the naiads of freshwater; the meliae of ash trees; the oreads of mountains and caves; the haliae of seas; and many more besides. Many were bound to the landforms they manifested from, but the more powerful among them, those manifested from weather and seasons, were free to wander all of Ogygia and guide their kin.Their peace was short-lived, as is any in Ogygia. From the deep trenches of the ocean came the primordial titans Phorcys and Ceto. Their union birthed a multitude of horrors: cetea, hydras, chimeras, gorgons, sirens, monstrosities that followed their every whim and spread across Ogygia in a tide of conquest. The nymphs defended their homes with fury and zeal, and even the cyclopes returned to battle once more, but Phorcys and Ceto birthed more and more abominations to refuel their ranks.
It was only the ambition of the monstrous royalty that eventually was their downfall. They stretched their forces too wide, spilling into Tron Daurat and Ithara. The chaotic aether storms of Ithara warped their forces into forms that Phorcys and Ceto could no longer influence, and the primordial dragons, furious at another disturbance after the demise of the hecatonchieres, breached Tron Daurat’s high mountains in vengeance. The tide turned swiftly: Phorcys and Ceto were split from one another and sealed deep in the ocean once more, and with their former masters gone, the monstrosities they birthed were suddenly far less aggressive, acting more like natural animals than conquering weapons.
But the nymphs had to work to heal the land left ravaged by conflict, and as other humanoids began to settle in Ogygia, they feared the potential for further destruction of their homes by these interlopers. As great settlements have risen, in places where an accord has not been made with the local nymphs, the land itself has pushed back: forests gradually reclaim homes and castles, the tides devour ports and ships, and trespassing soldiers turn into ravenous, bramble-eaten beasts in the night.
Some fear the nymphs as much as any starving chimera; some have learned to respect and live in harmony with them; others chafe at the restrictions they impose and seek their destruction. Whatever their view, a tension still pulls at Ogygia to this day; a conflict not only between its people, but between civilization and nature itself.
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