Asyr Shai
Stylised dragon head peeking from flames. 【中】安〔⿰日帝〕 【REKH】ASIIR XAI
Asyr Shai is the mother of all dragonkind, the embodiment of all chaos. Her breath is the wildfire, the beat of her wings the tempest, her roar the thunder, and her footstep the earthquake. However, her breath is what nurtures the great forests, and the fire that nurtures life.
The winds of her flight can bring destruction, but can also bring the rainclouds, that give the crops water. However the winds and rain that she brings is fierce and merciless, just as easy to give life as to drown it. She is the one revered by dragonkind most above all, as they recognise that she gave them their spirits, and gave them their breath. It was her and Xiron who laid the foundations of the world.
Xiron Shai
A penrose triangle, inscribed with an eye. 【中】曦〔⿰王尨〕 【REKH】XIRON XAI
Xiron Shai is the patron, the order to balance out the chaos. He took Asyr’s chaos bringing claw up in his own, and from that which ravaged the land, he created that which would thrive from chaos, and use it to bring peace to nature. Asyr created the destructive storms, so Xiron created the rain that would nurture the new growth.
Asyr created the wildfire, so Xiron altered the plants so that they would seed in the new ash-laden fertile soil. From these gifts of the husband and wife in the sky, the world could thrive, ever changing. His doctrine is law in the Ancient Empire of the East, giving rise to the orderly, ever enduring culture that lasted three ages.
Valaan, the Great Father
A tree under five diamond stars.【中】靈父
Valaan is the creator and father of all elves, the second race to be gifted the realms of the Celestial Sea. His magic is the most powerful, if not the most pure.
He gifted the elves the twilight lands, a sleepy, peaceful forested counterpart to the world, a peaceful place to flourish. He also gifted the elves the ability to travel through planes, which was then replicated and given to the other races, though to less effect. He is the closest to the ‘kindly old god’, who directs elvenkind to keep nature at heart, and to nurture the world and care for each other.
Marí, the Sister, Goddess of Winter
A six pointed snowflake.【中】北天君
Marí is the spirit of autumn and winter, the bringer of the slow, encroaching bitter cold that wracks the world for half a year. She finds joy in the icy order that winter brings, and though that might liken to Xiron, he wishes for the cycle of life, whilst she wants everything to be preserved, in death’s icy embrace, like the same day that it was, for ever, unchanged. An icy world, a crystal palace for her to play in, is her domain. When winter comes, much will die, but when winter goes, new life is ushered in by the spring.
Cerí, the Brother, God of Summer
A sun surrounded by six rays.【中】南天君
Cerí is the spirit of spring and summer, the bringer of the life giving warmth and sun, after the winter. He finds joy in watching life flourish, watching the chaotic and beautiful medley that is the natural world around him, under a warm summer sun. He thinks life should be brief and fleeting, and full of joy, for people and creatures to come and go, and a world to evolve and grow in whichever way it wishes. As such, Cerí and Marí, brother and sister, are ever in an endless fight. Thus, come the seasons.
Estia, Mother of Earth
An upright cross with a flower blossom.【中】大地母神
Estia is the mother of all humanity. The baby she holds and loves is Chroni, her eighth child and the future, and it is said that if and when Chroni starts growing, humanity is doomed not to last another hundred years.
Being one of the weakest of the creators, the humans she created have the shortest lifespans, but to make up for this she imbued them with the ingenuity and drive to adapt and overcome all that came in their way. And slowly, through the passage of many thousands of years, humanity has now come to dominate in the Age of Man.
Jin Syian, the Learned Disciple
The glyph for “Balance”.【中】晉仙、道祖、黃帝、晉帝【West】Sayaan
Jin Syian, the God young and beautiful as a blooming Chinese hibiscus, is the loyal and unwavering disciple to Xiron. He is the conduit for Xiron’s philosophy of order, and in the legends of the Ancient Empire, it is said that the stone tablets inscribed with the first glyphs were gifted from the blue sky, from Syian to the first of the Imperial Dynasties. As such, he is known as the patron of the Ancient Empire. He is also the bringer of knowledge, the one who nurtures ingenuity and invention, and keep the empire strong.
As long as order is maintained, the empire will prosper, unified under his watch. The ancient empire must unite to prosper, such is the word of Syian. If the empire were to be united, the wisdom of the elders will be kept, and knowledge will be ever enshrined.
Jin Jou, the Vengeful
The glyph for “war”.【中】晉週、戰神、玄將【West】 Altaan, God of War
Jin Jou is the brother to Jin Syian, scarred, battered, humiliated from a great fight long ago, against the dragon Xiron Shai.
Despising his brother, who he sees as traitor, he brings instead of unity an urge for endless war. Called the Golden Hero in the language of the warlike Golden Hordes, he was the first bringer of conflict to all races and civilisations. He brought envy, enmity and spite to the people. He was the bringer of the emotion of jealousy, which corrupted all races. It is because of Altaan that the dragons possess an almost twisted vanity. It is because of Altaan that the dwarves will spill blood over treasures below. It is because of Altaan, that the Ancient Empire, long united, must divide.
Kleios, the Just
A set of balancing scales.【中】尙子、儒聖
Kleios gave to all races a sense of morality. A sense of what is right and what is wrong. Gave the people a want for a just rule, and a peaceful existence, above all else. Even in war, the morality that Kleios gave is what gives the common man a sense of what is just in a struggle, and what is an injustice of the highest degree.
He was the one that gave people honesty, empathy, and the reasoning and understanding of others’ thoughts and emotions, whether they be of the same race or different. His moral decree is what allows people of all races and similar views to coexist in peace. It gives rise to powerful kingdoms with just kings, and rule of law.
Krieg, the Mountain king
A crest of three mountain peaks【中】堂山、萬峯之王
Krieg is said to have fashioned the dwarves out of rock, iron and mithril. Like humans, dwarves also were gifted as well an ingenuity and determination to make up for their relatively short lifespan. Also from the Mountain King, the dwarves were created with an almost supernatural affinity for the stone, and for a life deep beneath the mountains that Xiron raised in the world. They were the least corrupted by spite and jealousy, rather content to live under Krieg’s will building sprawling cities miles beneath snowy peaks.
Ingvar, the King’s hammer
A crossed blacksmith’s hammer, and dwarven longsword.【中】神匠、工匠之神
Ingvar, right hand to the Mountain King, and the greatest smith of the pantheon, is said to forge for no one and everyone.
Indiscriminately, he worked the heavenly starsteel, into articles for peace, for protection, but also for war. He is said to have forged the platinum cladding worn by Xiron Shai, tougher than even godly dragonscale, but also to forge the sword of Altanbaatar, who turned it upon the great dragon. He was the one who gave the mortal races the skill of metallurgy, of smithing, not only to dwarves, but the other races he considered weaker, a gift of goodwill, but also inadvertently the cause of much more death and suffering through war.
Chara, the Crimson Priest
A seven pointed star, often crimson red.【中】緋紅之祭
Chara is the bringer of magic to the people, and the one who made magic run in the blood of certain individuals. She remains forever masked under a crimson veil, carved with chaotic symbols, representing the unknowing and ominous nature of magic itself. It is said that anyone were to gaze upon her face unmasked, their mind would be shattered, their body burnt and corroded by the force of untamed magic.
Wild magic still lingers to this day, natural enchantments more powerful than any spell cast by man or beast. Her lover is Jin Syian, who is the only one who may have ever gazed on her face unharmed, and through his influence, magic slowly became a learned art.
Moira, the Hand of Fate
An icosahedral die.【中】莫以良、執命之主、執命者
Moira revels in chaos, so much so that Asyr seems quite gentle in comparison. The screams of a hapless party besieged by a dragon, or the cries of the wounded in war. The random roll of fate for whether a person lives or dies, or whether a calamity or plague befalls a civilisation, he finds the greatest joy in it. In the roll of the die. In playing with lives as a child plays with bricks. Chucking them around, creating contorted structures out of people’s wills, and then letting it all tumble down, leaving who stays on top to the roll of his icosahedral die. He may aid, he may abet, but fate is never in your favour.