It should come as no surprise that the myriad gods, goddesses, celestials, dragons and all others might be overwhelming to a new reader. With the coming of many races to Terminus, the list of deities has ballooned, and even a careful scholar can become lost in the myths of many cultures. It is this essayist's humble desire to provide at least some guide to the various types of supernatural entities that are worshipped on Terminus. May this prove helpful in better understanding this world.
The Eyeless Eclipse
Little is known about why the Collisions occurred, why the Sacred Six came to be on Terminus. Some suggest that the Celestials were the agents of the immigration, and that they brokered a deal known as the Dragon Accord to assuage the fears of the rulers of Nhystyrrok (or Aevozul, depending on which peoples you ask). Still others are adamant that their now absent gods spirited them to this planet of immigrants to avert a crisis. The methodology arguments, however, do nothing to explain the necessity of seeking refuge, or why so many races needed it.
The Ginto are the one race with a true Profugean Myth, a description of why they had to flee their homeworlds. Semina, the last of the Ginto, depicted their exodus as such:
But I saw a dreadful power spread its wings over the cosmos, and it pierced my faith in the past. I stared into the eyeless face of an eclipse as it bore down upon my world, crowned in the dust of those it had already turned to nothing. I have felt the hands of my pantheon torn in two, witnessed that cosmic power grip the very god I worshipped with indifference, withering him to a dead husk. The ground beneath my feet splintered as my own planet's invincible beauty was crushed by an unseen hand, only a fragment of my people spared. I was blind with fear, I called the Sun dead. I believed in nothing.1
I am not sure of the truth of the existence of such a monstrosity, but there must have been some impetus, some reason the homelands of so many peoples were destroyed, some justification for why so few remain. I shudder to think of what kind of world-engulfing power this Eclipse is, and can only hope the many supernatural forces of Terminus will indeed shelter its refugee populations.
The Celestials
There is little to know about these beings of unquantifiable but undoubtedly vast power. We know from the sacred rites of the Clerics that at some point before this damnable Frail Age those supernatural beings played a much larger role in the mortal realms.2 In particular, the stilling of the Dragon King as he raged at the petulance of the Ravaging Lord at the climax of the Deicide War marks a seminal moment in our collective history. That such physically unimposing creatures could rival the Lords of the Sky almost defies belief.3
These Celestials most probably struck the Dragon Accord with Rok'Nhilthamos.4 The why is as yet undetermined; however, the clear effect is to have limited the powers of refugee gods in certain, key ways. Just what the Celestials have in store for the narrative of Terminus only time will tell.
The Dragons
There is no history of Terminus without the dragons. Long before the arrival of the refugee races they blanketed the world, unchallenged in their twin realms of air and sea.5 While there is no obvious hierarchy between Celestials and Dragons, there is a clear hierarchy within Dragons, conveniently denoted by their three separate languages. Drak'Elrin is the language of the King and the King alone.6 This language has some sort of inherent power, and thus is used for monuments of great importance, most notably the Dragon Accord.7 The implication of its most meticulous "arcane encription" is that the King of Dragons wields immense power even in the very words he speaks. It is small wonder that such a creature, tyrannical in his conquest of his own people, would enter into an accord affording him supremacy in the hierarchy of the divine of Terminus.
Below Drak'Elrin and thus below the King are the Reignborn, those "princes of the Dragon King", whose language is Drak'Seul. Rhy'Kafiros is the most famous of these, although arguably the ruler of the erstwhile Sea Dragons might have been in this category as well.8 Below Drak'Seul is Drak'Fane, the language of common dragons. The distinction between the three languages informs us of the structure of dragon society, namely its intense stratification between the ruling and the ruled.
Such stratification is valuable to understanding why the dragons would have acquiesced to going into seclusion after the brokering of the Dragon Accord. Although we do not know the specifics of the Accord itself, it is clear that the dragons honored its passage by withdrawing from such constant contact with the daily happenings of Terminus.9 This seclusion continues to the present day, with the very notable exception of the climax of the Deicide War.10
The dragons are enigmatic; less so than Celestials or Semina's Eyeless Eclipse, but more than the refugee gods. They are the world breakers and, if we are to accept The Keepings as a fair accounting, the original rulers of Terminus. Should the Accord ever be truly breached, it seems unlikely that the Dragons would take kindly to the realms of mortals spread over the land once under their control.11, 12 The mortal races can only hope that their native gods, who previously often had such intimate relationships with their creations, will be able to finally aid their people once more.
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1. Semina is, of course, discussing the corruption of Ittero at the hands of this so-called Eyeless Eclipse. Ittero's eventual corruption and decay into the Ravaging Lord is one of the most important events in the history of Terminus: if just being gripped by this malevolent entity is enough to destroy one of a pantheon, I shudder to think what orders of magnitude of power he might bring to bear.
2. The fascination of the Cleric order with the Celestials above apparently their own native gods is a fascinating consequence of the arrival of so many races on Terminus. It is little wonder that their powers are so uniform as a result.
3. Rok'Nhilthamos is described as so large he could disperse an entire horizon of clouds from the sky by "[lifting] his wings but once". To think that a creature "small in comparison" could still immediately the rages of the "King of Beasts" beggars belief, and yet the account is corroborated in official histories. The must be fearsome indeed.
4. The evidence is, of course, circumstantial. When the Celestial quelled the Dragon King, however, it did so by admonishing him that there was "blood for blood, King. There [had been] no breach" of ostensibly the Dragon Accord. It seems a reasonable inference that an entity with the ability to interpret and make ad hoc rulings on the document so core to the balance of power of the world would have had a hand in designing it.
5. Before the alleged date of the Dragon Accord there were two groups of dragons: Dragons of Air (the Rhy'Vulrene) and Dragons of Sea (Sol'Kromane). In the true fashion of conquerors throughout time Rok'Nhilthamos took command of the Dragons of Air and defeated their ocean-dwelling bretheren. This forced unification and usurpation of power could fairly be described as a catalyzing agent for all the came next.
6. It is important to stress that it is not simply Rok'Nhilthamos's language, and he is not the only dragon to have used it. In the Keepings of Castigue, it is implied that all dragons, even outcasts of little stature like Tel'Nharssis are able to at least read it.
7. The Keepings of Castigue preoccupy themselves with attempting to translate this language using other sources, such as monuments marking the boundaries of each Reignborn dragon's land.
8. Rhy'Kafiros is documented as the regent of Reignfall during the Deicide War. She was impaled upon the Pillar Ka, one of the boundary markers described above.
9. This withdrawal so impressed the native, pre-Collision races of Terminus that the current Ithosbrun Hjilen calendar (the "IH" calendar) uses it as year zero. Fortunately, that also serves to add credibility to what otherwise might be dismissed as apocryphal conjecture.
10. The slaying of Rhy'Kafiros and the subsequent retributive execution of the Ravaging Lord is perhaps the most important event in the recent history of Terminus, and serves as the one notable example of direct dragon interference in the happenings of man in recent times. It is mainly notable for its exception to the general trend for our purposes here.
11. Rhy'Kafiros' interference in the Deicide War was only upon the clash of armies at the seat of her erstwhile regency, Ka’Druhorr. Her clear disregard for the number and faction of people she slew was cause for apocalyptic dismay among the hosts assembled.
12. Although of far lesser stature to others described in the histories, Tel'Nharsiss' clear disdain for the mortals and High Mortals who would deign beseech him is indicative of dragon's loathing of the newcomer races. The clear descriptions of the author of the Keepings of Castigue as "inquisitive" and "ignorant", of the Dwarves as treacherous, and generally of the outrage of a mortals' "wretched fingers clutched around even a copy of Rok’Nhilthamos’ signet-tongue" may not be prevalent across the entirety of dragonkind. I would proffer, however, that Tel'Nharsiss is clearly an exile and still holds such beings as Rok'Nhilthamos in the highest esteem, indicating the pathos is pervasive.
ooc: for anybody who read, thank you! The second part concerns the refugee gods and High Mortals, which will end up being so long I decided to post this first.
Thanks for the write-up Jimmayus. I'm not really the kind of player that gets super deep into lore, but I figured I'd give this a read and see what happened. I'm basically 100x more excited about the world of Terminus after reading this. From what I gathered, the world of Terminus is populated by a bunch of different races that are all refugees from other planets. Prior to everybody escaping to this planet, the planet was pre-inhabited by Dragons. Now it's a big melting pot of Dragons, Celestials, all of the various races, and more. Yeah ... that sounds great. I'll delve deeper into your other posts and check out more from the main site as well. Thanks again for making this.
Well at the very least the map on this website will be updated. Whitethaw is not even present on it, and neither is Vesu (an island important to the lore located between Reignfall and Kingsreach. I'd imagine there will be a few retcons before release, but that's ok with me primarily because until release I consider lore to be malleable just like anything else in the game.