The Binding of the Dark God
And so, within the heart of the intricate gears and whirring mechanisms of the clockwork demiplane of Mechanus, the judgment of law and chaos commences, a trial of divine proportions that reverberates through the planes, a testament to the intricate dance between order and entropy, destined to shape the fate of Empyrean itself.
Rasmus, Kisun Ora - A Tale of Reshaping
After The Moonfall in the Reshaping Year of Sealing, Tharizdun was taken to Mechanus to hear the judgement of Primus for his betrayal of the New Gods of Empyrean.
Tharizdun was held by the binding magic of Mystra and the divine force of Bahamut. Chains of adamantine bound him, both symbolic and functional, suppressing his chaotic essence enough for this trial of cosmic consequence. The trial was held in Great Modron Cathedral at the center of a continent-sized gear, on a raised, rotating dais of intricate design, its surface adorned with symbols of law etched in shimmering silver. Upon this elevated dais, surrounded by a sea of observing modrons, sat Primus, the embodiment of unyielding order. His form was a symphony of geometric perfection, each angle and line in harmonious alignment, radiating an aura of supreme authority.
As Primus spoke, his voice resonated with the hum of gears and the buzz of the cosmos, a voice that carried the weight of aeons. Mystra recorded every word spoken in her holy scrolls and Primus's Modrons created and filed duplicates in real time. "Tharizdun, god of darkness, your chaos threatens the very fabric of the multiverse. Your existence defies the harmony that Mechanus upholds. You have defiled the holy personage of a fellow god, caused the near destruction of all the great work we have done in concordance, you have colluded with lesser beings to depose and destroy us, and you have raised an army and waged war against us. How do you plead to the charges laid against you?"
Tharizdun's response was a whisper that echoed like a chilling wind through the corridors of reality. "Primus, your law is but another facet of the endless tapestry. Chaos births creation as surely as order sustains it. Do you not see the need for a villain in your perfect world? Am I not simply your reflection?"
Primus's reply was swift and sure. "No."
And that was the end of it. Primus closed his right hand and made a fist, freezing Tharizdun in time, completely and utterly unable to act, speak, or even perceive his surroundings. Then The One and The Prime turned to his cohort of assembled deities and proclaimed his judgment, "Tharizdun will be stripped of his power, which will be redistributed, but I will not destroy him. I will enfold the domain of entropy into my domain of time, assuring that none shall have the power of disorder to use against us again, the domains of darkness and fear will go to Ishtar in recompense for her grievance. His madness will become his prison, but I have another plan for the void.
With that the proceedings were complete. Primus laid out his plan. He reasoned that if one of their number could be tempted to wrest their power from them then they were even more vulnerable to outside forces, and so something must be done to protect them from other god's discovering this wellspring of power the same way they had. They would construct a cage, for Tharizdun, yes, but also for all of the Empyrean Universe. Using Tharizdun's own connection to The Void to power it, the cage would be impenetrable and undetectable so as to protect and conceal Empyrean from the rest of the multiverse. And so it was that the New Gods set to work constructing the Insensible Cage.
A vast crystal sphere of staggering metaphysical scale, the Insensible Cage would enclose all of the Empyrean Universe and its Planes of Existence, shielding them from intrusion and hiding them from prying eyes. Tharizdun was stripped of the majority of his power and trapped within his own mind, dreaming of the universe as he wanted it, vast and empty, devoid of life, the Insensible Cage, constructed by Primus and his modrons, and enchanted by Mystra to bind itself to the essence of the Dark God, then took that image and projected it out into the multiverse, and so if any other being looked in the direction of Empyrean, that's all they would see. Nothing. Nothing at all.
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