The Five Lords

The Five Lords, a collective of the Tal's greatest and strongest, what modern people would describe as Mages or Warriors, the Tal word has been lost to time. However it is known that the Tal had a looser divide between warriors of the martial and the magical, being the first creatures on Oxdara other than the Dragons, thus the connection to the Life Force of Oxdara hadn't become as diluted as it is presently. As such the Five Lords are hard to describe, but many scholars and historians refer to them as inventors, warriors, mages, generals and soldiers, all of which are accurate, though none of them true.
This page is written in accordance with what the people of Oxdara know, or think they know about the Five Lords. Area's written in italics are written from the perspective of scrawling's that appeared in the research notes and books about the Tal, often signed as from 'a Stranger' or 'G'.

---

First Members

Gondri

Known across Oxdara as 'the Stranger', 'the Merchant', 'David', Gondri was seen as the Master of Time, being the first on Oxdara to use the magic known as Chronomancy. Many scholar's theorise that he actually created the school of magic, like his fellow Lord's Inday and Uranus created Shadowmancy and Necromancy.
As much as I would like to claim that I created Chronomancy, that one was actually the Primordial Dragons, I just... Perfected it. -G

Inday

Twin brother to Uranus, Inday has had a storied history, from weaving the connection to the Shadowfell and creating Shadowmancy, to developing healing magic and Necromancy, to being imprisoned for millennia inside the Pandora's Box. He now watches over the shadow-orcs, who were corrupted in the years prior to the war against the Dark Wing Empire, inside the Shadowfell.

Uranus

A mysterious entity, known as the Guardian of Horan's Rise, Uranus is the twin brother to Inday, and aided him in the creation of Shadowmancy and Necromancy. He is often thought to be reclusive from the Material plane, like his brother or Eltern, however accounts claim that he just is more quiet about his appearances on the Plane, appearing only to those who know him.
This is true, he's just shy is all. He was a recluse from the Plane however, only appearing after his champion was forcibly bound to him. The first champion we had on Oxdara for many years, after that- well we all had one, and continue to, we prefer to have a more vested interest in how Oxdara turns out now. -G

Eltern

Known as the Guardian of the Life Force, Eltern can weave and alter the Life Force of Oxdara with the scale and precision to heal an entire kingdom, or a single person. She is also the Lord with the least known about them, choosing to wander the other Planes of existence over the Material Plane.
She makes an appearance every now and then, helps people- killed a Manticore in Erendoc, biggest thing I've ever seen-, she's on a ever long pilgrimage to find more answers as to what fuels the Life Force of Oxdara. -A Stranger

Putara

A major source of information about the Lords, and the Tal themselves, Putara has been known by many names over the years, most notably as Venmoria, interim monarch of Erandule. She has been a figurehead for the people of Erandule ever since she fell to the material plane in the beginning years of Rularia's 2nd era, being discovered by an Elven ship moving past the island.

---

Other Notable Figures

The Father

The Father, a relatively unknown entity, with what is known being recounted by Putara. It is known that he was as close to a Lord as any other Tal had become, though was never formally inducted into the selective group. It's believed he opperated as a close confidant and research partner to Inday and Putara during their experimentations into the limits of Necromancy, and he has also become a patron and guardian to the citizens of the underdark after the splitting of Rularia.

Michael

The son of Gondri and his wife Ilania, Micheal was brought up both in the shadow and in admiration of the accomplishments of his father and fellow Lords during the Old War. He grew up striving to become a Lord himself, and was promised as such by Gondri, after all what father wouldn't promise thier child the world. Micheal became execptionally good at mimicry and illusion, carving out a name of his own amongst the Tal, the Imposter God. The other Lords saw Micheal's promise and talent as something else though, something cruel and wicked. Not developed to help his fellow Tal, but to become powerful enough to sit with the adults.
Micheal saw this as a betrayal of his trust and loyalty, turning against the Lords, and his father. He took a new name, Dante, and set about plotting his revenge. It is believed that at the same time as Rularia's Ascended Gods were chosen, Micheal took the oppertunity to find his own divinity, taking the name Loki - ever the child looking for approval, he tried so desperately to accomplish this with the new Ascended Gods, only to fail and let his true nature through, causing his new family to fear and expell him.

Trill

Trill Nesik, the Gnomish hero who helped finish Inday and Gondri's plan to stop Dante, and became the only being ever to be added to the Lords, joining the Blood pact between the five orginal members. The Gnome entered a pact with Gondri, she would become his apprentice, and for the knowledge and power Gondri gave her, once her family had passed and she was ready, she would join him in the tent, and take over his buisness as a trader of magical curiosities.

Omen

Omen was once a normal Tal solider, and after Dante began targetting the Lords, he volenteered for an experimental, hail mary plan to kill him. Omen would become a bomb. Connected straight to the Life Force of Oxdara, and when he was close enough to Dante, would detonate himself. Killing Dante. But removing so much magic and life from Oxdara as a result. It was a last ditch, nuclear option.
This plan was never needed, and Omen was left in stasis, in a hidden underground Tal facility for millenia, though for him, time barely passed. He was found after the War against the Darkwing Empire, and given over to the care of Eltern. Over time the Guardian of the Life Force managed to sever his nuclear option, giving the man new life again, though the resulting severing caused Rularia to split again, causing what was Thaltical to split off from Ixmoria, becoming the Northen Rularian Frontier. The two became close in the years following. Settling down on the plane, in the new frontier as Eltern worked to repair and bring life back to the scarred land. And eventually they welcomed a child into the world. The first full blooded Tal born in millenia. Colette.

Colette

Daughter of Eltern and Omen, Colette grew up the oposite of Dante. She knew that her aunt and uncles were powerful mages and warriors, but she was never given false hope or promises from any of them. Desperate not to repeat the same mistakes. In which making new ones. Colette still doesn't feel close to her mother, Eltern leaving once Colette turned 18, leaving Omen to watch over their daughter. Colette has become as potent in manipulating the Life Force of Oxdara as her mother, becoming a Blood Hunter, now aiding those working for the Eternal Dragons in their attempts to stop the Cult of Salvation.

---

Assets

Each Lord has their own assets, wealth and land, that aren't a group asset. However, since Rularia's fourth era, each Lord has adopted the practise of having a Champion on Oxdara. This is so they each now have a presence on the plane constantly - Though since the death of Shade, Uranus's first Champion, he had chosen not to have one on the plane, instead himself having an active guardianship role over Horan's Rise, where Shade made his family home.
Gondri's champion has been the same person since Rularia's 4th era, though at one point he did have two. Governess Pandora was his first champion, being unwillingly bound to her, the same as Uranus with Shade, though during the time after the Dark Wing Empire and Dante, he took Trill as his second, and continuous Champion.
Putara's champion was King August Proudmire, the now late king of Dragontide. Her current champion is the Venkan researcher Kill'ani Blackcrystal.
Eltern did not have a champion for the longest time, until the Princess of Polantia Brazess came of age and set out into the world on her own as an adventurer like her mothers before her. After the Dragon Princess left Polantia, Eltern kept an eye on her, having a close connection to that family, raising Queen Mifeath after she was abadonded as a wyrmling. She made Brazess her champion to have a constant presences in the girls life to watch over her. Eltern does have a daughter, Colette, who many would assume is her champion, like Gondri having two. Colette is however not her Champion, mainly because of Colette's own power and abilites, being the first Tal born in millenia - though this could be an excuse to not promise or make the same mistakes with Colette that Gondri did with Micheal.

History

The history of the Five Lords is muddied throughout history, and with a vast majority of the Tal's culture and world being lost to time, the only accurate accounts are those spoken by members of the Five Lords themselves. The group make appearances across Oxdara throughout its history, with a few of the more, eccentric, regaling scholars about their actions and the history of the Tal people; making these scholars foremost experts in the field of Tal research, the most recent 'expert' being Kill'ani Blackcrystal.

The Formation

The exact date as to the formation of the Five Lords is unknown, not even the Lord's themselves can agree on a specific date. However, the why they were formed is understood to be commanders in the War against the Old Gods. Before the Tal arrived on Oxdara the Dragon's roamed the Plane, with the only Gods being the Primordial Dragons Bahamut, Tiamat, and Kaltorius. The Tal fled to Oxdara from their own Plane of Existence, they were fleeing Primordial Gods known now as the Old Gods. These God's had no names or titles, just forces of nature and people, Bravery, Jealous, Famine, Death, Disease, the Tal fled to Oxdara thinking they could run. And they did. For awhile.
For a time on Oxdara the Tal and Dragon's lived together, the Dragon's gifting the Tal the region now known as Rularia. But eventually, the Old Gods made their way to Oxdara, the Dragon's who had not known any of these forces were divided, half wishing to leave, half wanting to stay and defend their home. So Primordial Dragons divided themselves, Kaltorius took half of all Dragon kind and fled to a different dimension, free of the Tal and their Gods, and Bahamut and Tiamat remained on the Plane, creating avatars of themselves to watch over Oxdara, the Sun for Tiamat and the Moon Hola for Bahamut.
In the years following the exodus of Dragons, the Old Gods ravaged the world, infecting the Dragon's who remained and the Tal with their forces. Death and disease was rampant, Jealousy toppled cities, Bravery destroyed good people. Two brothers became obsessed with finding a new way to battle these old Gods, to find a way that they could win, destroy the Primordial entities, mitigate their effects on the world. Inday, fuelled by the death of his wife, killed by an ancient disease not seen since the time of the Old Gods, desperate to find a way to bring her back. Uranus, devoted to his brother, wanting to aid him in whatever way he could. The pair discovered that Oxdara had mirror Planes, Planes of Existence that were copies of Oxdara but covered in their own magic. One such mirror Plane being the Shadowfell. Together the Twins developed ways to weave the Life Force of Oxdara, connect it to these mirror planes and open up the world to the possibilities of their magic. And so the Twin's brought forth Shadowmancy to the world - and incidentally, the Feywild.
This is true, the two did know about the mirror Planes, but we had encountered the Fey and the Feywild before, it's a cosmic fact that each dimension has a Feywild, also known as the Plane of Dreams. They considered it a worthwhile risk connecting the Feywild, and the Fey, to Oxdara, if it meant being able to connect the Shadowfell. - G
The pair began gifting this magic to the Tal, creating warriors of Shadowmancy to aid in their fight against the Old Gods. The pair then sought out other Tal who were as talented in Magic as they were, and found three. Gondri, Eltern, and Putara. Tal who had abilities like no other, who could manipulate and weave the Life Force of Oxdara like they could, Gondri, able to manipulate time around him, Eltern, a skilled healer, able to manipulate the Life Force of Oxdara to heal people, plants and animals, and Putara, a skilled inventor and foremost mind in the scientific development of the Tal, using the Life Force and Magic to bring great creations to life.
And so the Lord's were formed, though they wouldn't be known as the Five Lords until the war had finished.

The War Against the Old Gods

Our accounts and knowledge of the war is even less than what we know about the Tal or the Lords, and what is known was only told recently by the Lord Putara, and is recorded by the researcher Kill'ani Blackcrystal.
The War lasted an unknown amount of time, though the general consensous is decades, if not centuries - it is known that all Tal had extended life times beyond that of even their Elven decendants, though not immortal like the dragons - but all Tal recounts and tellings from Putara describe the war as lasting for an 'eternity', or atleast felt like it. The tides of the war ebed and flowed throughout these years, with the major victories for the Tal written below, as well as their major defeats.

Death of the First God

The first God to fall to the Tal was Disease, a personal battle for Inday and many other Tal who had lost loved ones to the sicknesses spread by Disease. The battle had the highest mortality rate for the Tal, with batallions of soilders and civilians falling to the quick acting and highly contagious sicknesses that Disease would spread, it was also the first major scale offence against the Old Gods since the creation of Shadowmancy.
Before this battle the Tal were always on the back foot, defending thier settlements against the onslaught of monstosities the Gods would create, creature we now call Demons. The Lords realised that the way Disease spread its sicknesses, it needed to walk the plane for the illness to be most potent and deadly, as such they watched for wherever death was most present, and knew to strike then and there. Very few soilders at this point had been granted Shadowmancy, and even fewer trained to use it as effectively as Inday or Uranus, and the battle would have surely ended in defear had the Dragons not intervened and lent their aid.
The Dragons who elected to remain on Oxdara instead of fleeing the war with Kaltorius took to the skies, their wings beating away the cloud of sickness, their fires burning the disease away, and slowly, inch by inch the Tal pushed through the Demon's defences, and confronted their first Old God.
Inday and the Lords stood united, with Tal and Dragon behind them and slew Disease. Eltern used her connection to the Life Force of Oxdara to burn away as much of the God's influcence as possible, and whilst some remnants of them remain, in colds or other ailments, nothing as deadly, contagious or devestating remains on the material plane.

Creation of Hell

After the death of Disease the understanding of the Old Gods evolved, the Lords understood their enemy better. The Old Gods could never be truly defeated or removed from existance as their influcence shaped what it meant to be alive. What is life is there is no death to follow, what is fulfillment if their is no pride or greed to work against, and yet the Old Gods need to be tempered even if never killed. So the concept of a prison was established, a plane of existance to bind the worst of the Old Gods to, to use them to continue life, not rule or destroy it.
So the Lords created the Nine Hells, nine layers of a plane, with all but one layer binding one Old God to it, to temper their influences on the material plane, and nine chosen Tal would be elevated to divinity by Bahamut and Tiamat to watch over Hell and ensure the Old Gods could not grow too powerful again.
The Lords decided on the Gods they would bind, Lust, Envy, Greed, Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony and Treachery, though their wardens would not been chosen until after the war.
This is partially correct, the wardens and 'Lords of Hell' were new Gods that made their way to Oxdara in the wake of the war, they were not ascended Tal. However, Bahamut and Tiamat most likely had a hand in their creation, molding new Gods seeing the destruction the Old Gods had wrought on their plane, they might have decided to create new 'lesser' Gods to watch over the world - but even from my part that is speculation, the old Sun and Moon don't talk to us very often... Well ever really. - G
The King of Hell was a title bestowed upon a lieutenant to the Lords, a man known as Lucisida, modern people know him as Lucifier or Asmodeus. He lives and watches over the eight layers from his own ninth layer. Other, less destructive Old Gods would be imprissioned in the Nine Hells, but their bodies and essence wouldn't be the catalyst for the layers like the 8 principle Gods.
Again, not entirely wrong, Luci was a Tal like us, he would have been one of the two Tal we would have inducted had other issues not arose. He claimed Bahamut and Tiamat came to him in a dream, elevated him to something higher, not Godhood though, and granted him the first Celestial Plane, we would use that plane to build Hell upon it. -G

Binding of the Old Gods

There are many other recounts and dives into the Olds Gods and thier war with the Tal, and this document details the history and existance of the Five Lords, not the Old Gods or the War - only the parts that were key moments in the Lords formation and history. As such, the details of the specifics around the battles with the Old Gods can be read about in another document. - Good to know, I shall edit those next -G - Over the course of the War each of the 8 priniciple Gods were defeated, and bound to Hell, creating layers of the planes to hold them, reducing their effects on mortals, but not removing them fully, as to do so would remove what it meant to be alive.
With the influcence of the greater Old Gods weakened, the less devestaing Gods like Bravery, Creativity, Hunger were all weakened. Some purposfully gave themselves over to the Lords, some being willinginly bound to Hell, some grew weaker and weaker and slipped into non exsistance, entities whose effects we have no knowledge of, all lessened until only one God was left. Death.

A Deal with Death

And so, the day came, the end of the war and the last Old God. Death. What was said, discussed or understood between the six is unknown, even Putara will not tell me for the purpose of this documentation, all we know Death retreated, only appearing on the plane at the end of a persons life, or as his Avatar. Death is also the only Old God whos essence became calling cards of later Gods, esspically the Lords of Hell, each being known as the God of Death due to their secondary role guarding the souls of the damned.

Divinity Returns

In the wake of the war life continued, though with the absence of the Old Gods, a vacuum was created, the celestial planes needed claiming, and so came the new Gods. These new Gods were more mortal, appearing as people rather than aspects and avatars, being named as the God of Life, or Fertility, rather than just Death, Lust, Bravery so on.
It was in these early days that the Lords met with the new Gods brokering peace with them; that Gods were needed on Oxdara, but should they ever grow too controlling or influencing mortal minds too heavily, the Lords had already killed and imprisioned one set of Gods, they could and would do it again.

Promises of the Father

After the war the Lords were raised to a higher status, never kings or queens, but Lords in every sense of the word - some even calling them Gods.
Whilst some did refer to us as Gods, we never saw ourselves as such. To us the Gods were removed from mortals, their lives, and loves, we never intended to become this. Though we would only correct people to gods, with a small g. -G
Whilst Inday lost his wife during the war, Gondri was indated with good news in the aftermath, his wife was pregnant with their son, Micheal. Micheal grew up surrouneded with the Lords, his uncles and aunts, and thier storys, and Gondri's promises of one day becoming a Lord in and of himself.
During his adolesence Micheal strove to proove himself alongside his family, and became very adept at mimicry and illusions. However his intentions to develop these abilities and power was never to help his fellow Tal, but to become powerful enough to be classed as a Lord as he was promised. The other Lords saw through this, and refused to accept him as a Lord. He was still their nephew, and as much as they loved him, his induction wouldn't have satiated him, and he would've tried to become a God.
He took this refusal as a betrayal. Not only from his aunts and uncles, but his father. His father who had promised him the world, and gave him false hope and lies. He took the new title of Imposter God, both a spit in the face and an admiration to his talents. And took the new name of Dante, desperate to remove any connection to his father as he could.
In the wake of this Inday and Gondri came to an understanding. Gondri had failed his son and endangered his family, friends and people. Something had to be done, but Dante was so empowered, so fueled by rage and betrayal that confronting him then would have ended in the death of countless Tal - his anger and fury turned him against his family, and had already killed his mother through the heartbreak. They came up with a plan, in order to disrupt Dante's plans to destroy the Lords and all they stood for. They would do it themselves. Inday would play the roll of the villain, a bad guy to stop, using the trauma of his wifes death as the reason. He would be sealed inside a prison of Gondri's own design, Pandora's Box, a pocket dimesion inside a cube where Inday could live until such time as the world had heroes that could stop Dante. In the process of sealing Inday away, Gondri would split Rularia apart, disrupting the Life Force of Oxdara, Tal culture and Magic, and, hopefully, Dante's strength.
They did this plan in secret from all their friends, for the Lords to be dead and gone, they had to believe that Inday had fallen. Espically Uranus, his own brother.
The plan was carried out. Inday was sealed. Rularia broken. And the Lords went their seperate ways. Gondri left to wander the multiverse, all of time, run away from his failures and grief. Eltern moved from plane to plane, anywhere but the material - she claimed it was to understand what fed the Life Force of Oxdara. Uranus watched from the Nine Hells, becoming the High Warden over the Old Gods they had bound there. And Putara disappeared, no one, not even herself, know where.

Fallen from the Sky

At the beginning of Rularia's second era a being fell to the plane, landing with such force that the island they landed on cracked in two, the island that would later house the Polantian capital of Yario a few decades later. This being was the Lord Putara. She could remember her life in the Old War, her place among the Lords, Inday's 'fall from grace', but nothing about what she had been doing for the millenia between the Lord's disbandment and her landing back on the plane.
She was found by a passing Eranudelian ship, brought aboard and asked her name. The Lord claiming amnesia was helped to find a new name, an Elven name, Venmoria. The Eranduelian sailors assumed the woman was an Elf, as the Elves were the closest in appearence to a Tal, and overtime Putara took on more Elven features to better blend in with her new countrymen. She quickly found a place in the military, teaching the Erandulian armies tactics and methods long forgotten from her time as General of the Tal's forces during the Old War.

Founding Date

Some time between 200000 BDR and 134750 BDR

Type

Social, Group

Founders

• Lord Eltern
• Lord Gondri
• Lord Inday
• Lord Putara
• Lord Uranus

Notable Members

• Lord Putara

Related Species

• The Tal