The Empyrean Schism (/ɛmˈpɪrɪən ˈskɪzəm/ | /em-PEER-ee-un SKIZ-uhm/)
Overview
Mortal hubris has it's limits, and the Architects knew that - designed that. They loathed the day in which their creations would turn on them, but were ready for this inevitability regardless.
The Schism was fought between three major parties: the mortals of the Dominion of Vasan, the Prime Architects, and a group of interloping deities that called themselves the Astral Host. The initial spark to the extraplanar conflict occured when the leader of the Dominion, an ancient dragon whose descriptions have been lost to time, declared that he and his people no longer needed nor recognized the Prime Architects, and declared himself a living god among men. Under normal circumstances, this act would be ignored by the divine, due to a lack of immortality available to mortals. To the Architecht's surprise, however, this dragon was able to harness the very powers of time itself, making him functionally immortal. Several celestial messengers were sent with the will of the Gods above to the Dominion's draconic God-king, ordering them to cease their heresy or to face the consequences. The messengers were consequently killed, and sent back to their home plane; this was an act of war, and the Architects would not kowtow to some upstart with a God complex.
Faction Break Down
Aside from the mortals that declared war on the very heavens that reigned over them, there were two main factions that participated in the conflict. The first one, The Prime Architects (often called The Creators in informal settings), consisted of several deities that held sway over the material plane for millenia. Many of these divine beings had a personal hand in the creation of Zynaudis, while a few were interlopers that found a niche to fill.
In contrast, the Astral Host was a loose association of interloping gods that wandered the Astral Sea for millenia before finding the material plane, and the world of Zynaudis. The members of the Host were able to slip under the Architect's notice due to their diminished status as gods with no followers. These interlopers developed their own cults on the planet, slowly gaining strength over time. Seeing an opportunity to seize some semblance of power in the midst of this war, they entered the conflict as a third party.
The two divine factions will be further broken down below, detailing which dieties belonged to certain factions, and what domains they embodied or presided over.
The Prime Architects
Jodmölin, The Soul Forger: God of creation, craftmanship, and protection. Solaurius, The Morninglord: God of the dawn, birth, renewal, and youth. Bheniin, The Final Scribe: God of the dead and death. Lyrastra, Mother of all Magic: Goddess of magic and spellcraft. Idrastè, The Moonmaiden: Goddess of the moons, stars, navigation, and non-evil lycanthropes. Belletrax, Draconic Lord of Battle: God of war. Marëanna, The Mistress in Green: Goddess of water and peace.The Astral Host
Sceiron, Lord of Shadows: God of shadows, thievery, and intrigue. Harrox, The Black Hand: God of tyranny, terror, and hate. Celethys, Lady of Loss: Goddess of darkness, night, and loss. Faulneroth, The Darkbringer: God of rot, decay, and corruption. Thaldrin, The Undying King: God of evil secrets and dark magic.The Conflict
Prelude
In the city Muulas built around the Temporal Bastion, a draconic entity whose name and descriptions have been lost to time grows in power. For nearly two thousand years, since the inception of the Thaumition Era, he has commanded his followers bring him scraps of arcane power. This dragon has devised numerous rituals, experiments, and spells in order to gain but one thing: immortality. Instead of opting for lichdom, as many desperate wizards and arcanists do, this dragon wanted something more permanent. It wanted control over time itself.
While he was able to somewhat control it innately, it was only to a nominal extent. There were many times in which an underling crossed him and found themselves withing under the immense pressure of his breath weapon, which held the ability to age mortals extremely quickly. This dragon wanted a tighter control over the concept. Eventually, this dragon's wishes would come true, but ironically, only with time. After it reached an age of roughly 1,800 years, this dragon found it could now travel through time itself to different points in any given timeline, functionally making him immortal. Declaring this to the heavens, he openly challenged the Gods above, intending to claim complete control over his growing Dominion.
Deployment
There was an initial lull in celestial appearances, but roughly a year after the dragon's declaration the sky itself seemed to open up in innumerable rifts of golden hue. Mortal men clad in the best armor available were stationed on every Aetherwen (flying city) within the Dominion's control, along with the most powerful arcanists the Dominion had to offer. These brave men and women fought the initial wave of Celestials fiercly, knowing that defeat meant an ensured death, and and eternal afterlife in the Nine Hells.
Upon seeing the heaven's decent towards the mortal realm, nearly 400 dragons of varying type and scale coloration took to the skies in order to defend what they felt was theirs. Some had noble causes, such as the Warden and Metallic Dragons, who believed that any harm to those they cared for was a direct attack against them. On the other hand, the majority of the Chromatic Dragons followed a different path, opting to side with the now emerging Astral Host in an attempt to overthrow the current order. Regardless of color or creed, the skies above the continent were filled with massive dragons and celestials doing battle.
The Astral Host and The Prime Architects would not immediately become involved directly, and would instead prefer to send their legions of followers or subordinates to the Material Plane in their stead. The Host prefered the use of Fiends, both Devils and Demons, while The Architects would only send Celestials of varying strengths. There was an exception to this, however, as Faulneroth, God of rot and decay, prefered to generate Aberrations from fallen mortals.
Battlefield
The entire world of Zynaudis saw battle rage for over a hundred years, but the fiercest battles took place on the offending continent of Vasara. Blood of all kinds was shed from east to west coasts, from the humid jungles in the north to the blustering tundras to the south. No place on Vasara was spared the agony of war.
The Engagement
Your barriers and feeble spells will not save your people from my blade. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever! Prepare yourselves, for this is war! -Belletrax's Aspect known only as Soldier
Begining on the 28th of Shivam, 1853 of the Thaumition Era, the first thrums of divine retribution roared across the world. Initially, it was a war strictly between the Dominion of Vasan and The Prime Architects, and all conflicts began on the continent of Vasara. The first of which occured at the Aetherwen named Yhonio, the second largest flying city that the Dominion controlled.
Battle of Yhonio
Early in the morning light of the 28th of Shivam, the heavens burst forth from the clouds above Yhonio. From this divine rift came forth three Devas, celestial messengers known to carry their deity's will with them, and the decree sent down by Jodmölin shook the very earth civlization was founded upon. Soon after, these Devas left and in their place came a Solar named Lumiel, along with over a hundred Planetars. These celestials were known to be the enforcers and justiciars of their god's will, and reveled in battle. With these heavenly enforcers came a surge of angelic warriors clad in shimmering golden armor.
At the same time as the angelic descent, the Dominion's forces gathered near the center of the city of Yhonio. Some of the brightest minds and sharpest swords could be found here on this day, but it mattered little. The four Warden Dragons presiding over the city as governors ushered their hoards of people, their students, into teleportation circles before taking to the skies themselves. These four dragons, refered to as Magus Dragons, were not as physically powerful as their typically capable kin. Instead, these four specialized in spellcraft, and used the runes engraved in their very scales to cast spells while airborne.
After the dragons' ascent to meet the God's engagement, the Praetor of Yhonio intiated the city's lockdown procedures. This would see a gargantuan, city-wide barrier grow from the outskirts of the flying city, converging into a dome over the center of the city. The intent of this was to ensure nothing got in, and that nothing got out. Unfortunantly for the denizens of Yhonio, this barrier only held briefly, as the Aspect of the God of War, Soldier, was upon them. While the city's primary guardians were meeting the angelic scourge, the Aspect fell ontop of the barrier, driving his longsword through it as if it were mere cloth. This momentum carried, and the aspect barreled straight into the heart of Yhonio.
Due to the immense impact of the Aspect of War, the city's very foundations shook and began to give way. The arcane barriers, sigils, and runes keeping it flying began to falter, and the rocks began to crack. Thousands within the city would perish, falling between the cleaved stone and getting crushed as it moved violently during it's descent. By the end of the 28th day of Shivam, the great Aetherwen once known as Yhonio had fallen, and it would not be the last.
Emergence of The Astral Host
It is not known when exactly the Chosen of The Astral Host infiltrated the ranks of the Dominion of Vasan's military, but sometime midway through Tavoss in 1860 of the Thaumition Era the mortal forces aligned with the Dominion experienced their own schism. Nearly one in every three men deserted their stations, and instead opted to follow one of the four mortals Chosen by The Host. Faulneroth, being the odd one out not having a Chosen, instead decided to "cultivate" his own cults dedicated to transforming themselves into abominations that were able to control others against their will.
Having lost a third of their effective fighting force, the Dominion quickly began to falter in their war against the Architechts. After their rapid growth in followers, both willing and unwilling, the members of the Host only grew in their divine power. This emboldened them as the Goddess of darkness herself, Celethys, directly challenged her twin sister, Idrastè, to direct combat. This divine combat would continue for the next fourty years, dragging both pantheons into a direct and bloody conflict.
Outcome
As a result of direct conflict between the two divine parties of the war, there were a few casualties, namely: Marëanna, Celethys, and Faulneroth. After the war, Bheniin surrendered his position of the God of the dead and death to one of his chosen, a woman with no name. She was affectionately dubbed The Raven Queen while she was a mortal, and continued using this moniker after her ascension. Bheniin, after stepping down, would go on to take the role of advisor to the new Goddess.
The first of the divine to fall was Marëanna, Goddess of water and peace. After being slain by Faulneroth, she was thrown aside in the Calèdare Sea south of the interior of Vasara. Her body sank to the bottom of the deepest point in that sea, contaminating the very waters she presided over with the holy ichor that now drained out of her. This ichor is slightly greenish in coloration, and can be found floating in miasmatic clouds through the water of this sea. In life, this would have had a calming effect on those that consumed or inhaled it, but due to the nature of her killer, this has long since been corrupted, and now does the opposite. Predators in this region of the sea are especially vicious. Long after her falling, it has been said that if you take a boat out to where she sank, you can still hear the faintest heartbeats down in the abyss.
The second divine to fall was Celethys, Goddess of darkness and the night. Jodmölin, The Soul Forger himself, finished Celethys while Idrastè held her against the ground with tears in her eyes. Jodmölin finished her by driving his holy weapon, Soulhammer, straight through her chest. This impact caused a gargantuan crater to form from the force of the impact near the center of the continent. After dying, Celethys' body errupted and in her final death throes was able to rip open a rift to the Shadowfell - her home plane in which she had the most power. Shards of her essence was able to escape to her home plane, and in the immediate aftermath a massive cloud of dark shadows began to flow from the rift. Shadow-based entities came with this new black mist and began terrorizing what few mortals remained in it's immediate vicinity. Despite their power over the material plane, The Architects had little power to close this rift, and it continued pouring out the contents of the Shadowfell for the next 60 years.
The final god to fall was Faulneroth, God of rot and corruption. After Celethysfell to the Architects in 1900 of the Thaumition Era, and kicked off a new era for the material plane, her son Sceiron, God of the shadows and thievery, immediately claimed and took control of his mother's portfolio to gain immense power. Sceiron and Harrox, God of tyranny, knew that Faulneroth was going to be a problem long-term, and devised a scheme with Thaldrin, God of evil secrets and dark magic. These three planned to murder Faulneroth before the Lord of Rot got too powerful and got to them first. While Faulneroth was personally sublimating a particularly powerful mortal, Sceiron struck what could only be considered his back using a highly enchanted longsword that prevented the rotting god from reforming. Harrox took this opportunity to grab the interior mass of Faulneroth using The Black Hand, a bejeweled and magic gauntlet, holding the decaying mass in place. Thaldrin used this opportunity to cast Disintegrate at will, turning the majority of the shambling god to dust. Harrox would then take the remains to the rift leading to the Shadowfell, and throw them in.
Aftermath
After Harrox threw the remains of Faulneroth through the Shadowfell rift, the Astral Host went into hiding hoping to escape the now vengeful eyes of the Architects. A year after this event, the ever-rotting corpse of Faulneroth began to corrupt the shadows and entities that came through the tear in reality. These black and festering mists would go on to blot the skies over Vasara, and those standing on the ground at any point on the continent would feel as if the world had stopped moving. Wind seemed to seemingly stop in the places where the shadows went, and only the night sky and the two moons, Miccaro and Desolis, were visible. This event would go on to be called The Lightfall Cataclysm, and it would rage across the continent of Vasara for three years after its inception before finally being closed by the combined efforts of Jodmölin, Solaurius, and Lyrastra.
The corrupted shadows still linger over 1,900 years later, and have simply become part of everyday life for those remaining.
Conflict Type
War
Battlefield Type
Planetary
Start Date
28ᵗʰ of Shivam, 1853 Thaumition Era (TE)
Ending Date
15ᵗʰ of Lathen, 57 After Lightfall (AL)
Conflict Result
The Prime Architects emerged from the war as the victorious party.
Maps
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The Continent of Vasara
The Continent of Vasara - a land cloaked in eternal night and darkness after the Lightfall Cataclysm that occured as a result of the Empyrean Schism. More later :)
Belligerents
Strength
7 Gods
14 Aspects or Champions
Innumerable Celestials
Casualties
2 Gods - Marëanna & Bheniin (Abdicated)
4 Aspects or Champions
Innumerable Celestials
Objectives
Subdue the Dominion of Vasan and prevent the Astral Host from finding footholds on the Material Plane.
Strength
5 Gods
5 Aspects or Champions
183 Chromatic Dragons (Various)
Innumerable Celestials, Fiends, and Aberrations
Casualties
2 Gods - Celethys & Faulneroth
2 Aspects or Champions
160 Chromatic Dragons (Various)
Innumerable Celestials, Fiends, and Aberrations
Objectives
Assault the Prime Architechts and their followers to assume control over their portfolios and gain power & influence in the Material Plane.
Strength
1M Trained Soldiers
320k Trained Arcanists
87 Warden Dragons (Various)
93 Metallic Dragons (Various)
1 God-King Dragon
Casualties
13M+ Civilians
1.4M+ Trained Soldiers
400k+ Trained Arcanists
80 Warden Dragons
85 Metallic Dragons
1 God-King Dragon (Unconfirmed)
Objectives
Assert control over their own destiny and shake off the divine influence that holds sway over them. A commonly agreed secondary objective was to simply survive.
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