So, with such an ominous title as that, let me explain. No, there's too much; let me sum up.
I'm going to do my level best to provide continual content, but on a schedule that not only keeps me "honest" and prevents a quick and early stagnation, but also keeps you coming back for more. That's the hope, anyway. The plan is that I will post a chapter every Monday. Each Wednesday I will provide a background for one of the characters--heroes, villains, "extras," and everyone in between. Then, on Friday, there will be something else, something miscellaneous, like a memory, a political faction, a theological sect, one of the dragonspawned creatures, or even just a few words on what my plans are going forward.
With three entries each week, I think that will be manageable for me and fulfilling for you.
So, here's today's Friday miscellany...
The Mythos:
This is what is universally known by the average person in my stories. Sages know more, as do devout cassocks. Laymen have a general understanding of things, with more or less accuracy, and so that is what you will have.
There is one God, known simply as the Maker, who created the cosmos and provided everything necessary for Creation. He also created three Paragons--Zaxlinari, Aryzand, and Vaeroloth--in a harmonious Triality and set them over all his Creation to build and govern all that exists. Zaxlinari was responsible for creating Matter. Aryzand was responsible for creating Energy. Vaeroloth was responsible for creating Life.
After a time, Vaeroloth believed her power to grant sentience and life made her equal with the Maker. Giving into envy, bitterness, and arrogance, she attempted to usurp the Maker's place, but she was cast away, thrown from the Maker's presence. Rather than repent, Vaeroloth rebelled, and in an act of vile treachery, she separated her soul from her body and from her lifeless body created five "sons," instilling within them a portion of her essence.
These five sons, the Ancient Five dragons, spread out across the world to destroy everything the Maker had fashioned. In judgment, the Maker crafted an abyssal prison for Vaeroloth's incorporeal soul and threw her into its bottomless depths. The Ancient Five, stripped of their source of power, were greatly weakened and unable to wreak total destruction. Instead, they each carved out a portion of the world as his own kingdom, ruling over the remnants in tyranny. Before long, each of the Ancient Five dragons began interbreeding and producing the "dragonspawn," foul corruptions born of rebellion and steeped in enmity for the Maker. Their progeny also intermixed with natural creatures, begetting in agony the "dragonbloods" in a fashion so swift that all might have been lost to corruption.
The Maker sent avatars, twelve in all, to encourage the pure remnant in faithfulness to the Maker and to instruct them in how they should live, worship, and fight against the swelling tide of evil. Each avatar represented the Maker in a different way, intending through this variety to show the many aspects of the Maker and bring all the various peoples together into one accord. But, these differing aspects served only to generate a variety of foci for worship that each emphasized a single quality of the Maker's nature. Rather than unite, they developed twelve competing sects that argued and wrestled with the Samantekt, the holy text, endlessly debating over the "right" way to worship. Eventually, some began to question whether the Maker was truly knowable at all, which quickly led to doubts about his existence. Ultimately, some people even began to worship Vaeroloth, giving fealty to "the Great Dragon," as she became known.
The world has suffered much from the original rebellion of Vaeroloth. While her corruptions continue to birth new generations of dragon-blooded descendants, the Maker's more ardent followers grow stronger and more courageous, determined to root out the evil. Three of the Ancient Five have literally been slain over the past few millennia. Missionaries of many sects are determined to continue the avatars' original mission of spreading the good word to all corners of the world. Oracles tell of glorious days to come and the promise of the Maker's personal visitation to a world freed of Vaeroloth's stain.
However...not all is right. The Abyss, it seems, is beginning to open...