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The Second Age: the Song of Souls. Daos beheld Kythandria and was filled with joy. He desired to create beings like himself and his brother and sister gods, so that they could populate and make the realm beautiful. Thus he began a second song. This song was filled with emotion, of touch and taste, sight and sound. From its intricate melodies came the souls that filled the realm. From this song were born the angels, those he called his children. His song also brought forth into creation the wild spirits... the djinn and efreet, spirits of the air; the naiads and dryads, spirits of water and forest; and the fire salamanders, spirits of the flame. Being creatures of pure soul however, they had no true form, no real life. Then Azhure wove her melody into the song of souls and mortal existence began. From the song of the ancient lands came the elves, first of all the mortal races. More and more gods began to add their voices, weaving and adding to the fabric of souls. From the song of the earth came the dwarves, sturdy and strong. From the song of the sky came the avians, delicate and free. From the song of the sea came the merfolk, mysterious and wild. From the song of magic were born the fey and the sylph, twin creatures of sorcery. And from the song of civilization came the humans, who desired to know all things. But the other gods were not prepared for this sudden shift and for a moment the pattern of reality was torn and there was discord in the song of creation. From the cacophony was born Nehkaras, the evil one; the youngest of the gods, yet the most equal to Daos in power. Nehkaras saw what Daos had created and was filled with jealous rage. He too desired to craft his own beings, immense and potent creatures to do his bidding. However, Nehkaras could not create, that ability rested in the hands of Daos alone. Nehkaras could only corrupt with his song, and corrupt he did. Thus Nehkaras began his own song, harsh and guttural, a song of pestilence, death and corruption, a counter-theme of darkness rising against the sweet music of song, the song of souls. From Nehkaras' dark melodies came the plagues, which ravaged the realm, the orcs, perverted forms of elves, and troll, mockeries of the great arborans. Other deities were lured by the darkness of Nehkaras' song and joined him in its dark weavings. Kyron's song was of mischief, pulling the threads out of the fabric of creation. Drazhad sang the song of death, and the mortal races began to perish. Ile's sang of shadows and darkness, and for the first time night fell on Kythandria. Thus Kythandria became a realm in turmoil, as the followers of Daos sought to create the realm and the followers of Nehkaras sought to twist it to their own ends. The future of Kythandria is uncertain, but it is said that a mighty battle is coming, a war between the gods of light and the gods of dark where each god and each mortal race must choose their loyalty, a war that will determine the fate of the realm. It is said that in this battle the earth will crumble, the oceans will boil and the rivers will run with blood. And the sun, the almighty sun will turn to hide its head in morning and the world shall be slowly fade into eternal night. For this is the battle that will rend the realm asunder and bring about a New Age: the Third Age, the Age of the Darkening Sun. |
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