Avenor: Birth of a World, Part 2

Rho looked upon Avenor and was pleased with what he wrought. He desired more, needed more, and with incontestable determination, he willed beings into existence and named them The Primes. Six primes were born of his will: Aelir, Huel, Djur, Ghan, Menin, and Aesh. They were shapeless and formless, existing as thoughts and ideas, and unto each, he bestowed his power over the elements to exist as titans over the material world. Yet to each, he denied them his wisdom, for Rho had little and coveted chaos.

And so, the Primes stood before their maker as constructs awaiting instruction and direction. And to them all, he commanded, “Worship me.”

“There can only be one Prime. You have the power to create and destroy. Go forth unto Avenor and build your armies in your image. Fight for my love. Fight for my affection. Fight until only one of you remains, for unto that victor I will bestow upon them the greatest prize… free will.”

Desiring the love of their creator and seeking the final reward, the Primes thus descended upon Avenor to set upon their creator’s bidding. They gathered the world’s raw materials and created the servant races, giving them abilities and purpose.

The Prime Aelir created the Elves, and he bestowed upon them intelligence, understanding, and long life, connecting them to time, memory, and legacy. He attuned them to the world around them, gave them a mind for strategy, and the agility and creativity to craft weapons and tools to aid in their master’s struggle.

Huel birthed the race of Humans. To them, he gave Rho’s love of chaos, capable of creation and destruction, and the capacity to change and adapt. He seeded them with restlessness and ambition to push beyond limits. Valor and courage were theirs to charge into battle where no other would dare.

Djur created the Dwarves; their strength and resilience gave them endurance through transformation. They learned to master the earth, refining their abilities to develop devastating machines of war and to use and shape the land to aid in their battles.

Ghan’s creations were the Orcs; to them, he gave a force of will, producing unyielding bonds emphasizing that true power is found in unity. Strength is based on loyalty and trust to each other, embodying the primal force of nature in their environment. He gave them purpose and a survival instinct.

Menin created animals; in them, he gave instinct and untamed hearts. He made the natural cycle of predator and prey to create balance and self-sustainability in every environment, earth, air, and water. He gave the predators natural weapons, size, and strength to rend, tear, and maul.

Aesh was the final Prime to descend upon Avenor as he perceived that observation and understanding would be far more beneficial, and he was the first of the Primes to understand the power of wisdom. He looked upon the races of the primes, their numbers, and their powers and saw how weak each was as an individual and how each race found balance with their new abilities. Rather than developing the many, as the Primes had before him, Aesh created the few, the Dragons, but in these few, he created beings of massive size and power, each capable of enormous destruction. He also gave them intelligence and patience; with careful observations, they developed wisdom above all things.

The races of the Primes warred—the thoughtless conflict driven by a primal desire to please their Gods and serve their purpose. The Primes fought to worship and love Rho and to win their freedom. Fortresses were built and destroyed, lands raised and leveled, and large-scale battles raged while skirmishes and treachery abounded in the shadows and wild. Dragons would watch and wait, then descend upon the armies of the races as tidal waves upon the shore, wiping out everything as they passed. Weapons were created as the conflict raged. Tools of destruction and protection, imbued with everlasting powers to create and destroy in each of the race’s particular natures.

Rho looked down upon his canvas and reveled in the anarchy he created. As the Primes evolved and developed their efforts, Rho’s power grew, feeding his insatiable appetite for self-adoration. Then, without expectation, because Rho lacked wisdom and foresight in all things, the conflict birthed the Sub-Primes:

Vaeya, Naos, Tsurin, and Vos. Forces of chaos began to permeate the very existence of Avenor, powers which the Primes exploited unchecked.

Vaeya brought magic to Avenor. A power that subverted the very balance of nature and was capable of fracturing laws of reality. Within this power, creatures were born outside of the natural order that preyed on all living things, which were untameable and devastating.

Chaos was made manifest in Naos as a being capable of unspeakable horror and evil. Naos brought with it demons and devils, intent on the corruption of all souls, that it would ultimately consume by eating away their will and purpose.

The Sub-Prime Tsurin arrived as a by-product of creation. With the Primes creating more of their servants as they fought and died, mutations began seeping into their molds and copies, resulting in changes to their growth and purpose, and occasionally with monstrous consequences. Tsurin was bent on corrupting everything: plants, animals, and minerals. It twisted ecosystems and was indifferent to the natural destruction it brought in its wake.

And finally, with all things meeting their end and finality, this inevitably brought into existence Vos, who ruled over all death. Nothing would evade his grasp, the end of all living things, inescapable and final. With him came his servants, creatures of undeath, cold and uncaring, that hunted all living things.

The arrival of the sub-primes resulted in an escalation of the wars, and the Primes began losing control over their creations as forces beyond their knowledge and ability overwhelmed balance and reality. All too late, Rho recognized the impending catastrophe and reached out to quell the unchecked energies running unabated in his creation. But the power building in Avenor grew exponentially, threatening to break the world apart and would inevitably cascade into the surrounding system and existence itself.