Crater, The
Not a prime relaxation spot, unless you enjoy sulphur aromatherapy and obsidian flesh peels!
Now before
The Flare, it was a different story entirely.
Gods and Mortals
Come back with me to a time of plenty, of green fields, gentle breezes and cake for all.
Well, not really; there was poverty and disease, dictatorship and slavery but benevolent rule with peaceful coexistence had spread to most of Aeon and the healing arts were reaching more of the populace than ever.
It was at that point the Envoys began a genocide of non-human species which the Brightstar Rebellion curtailed.
And then the bull really hit the windmill!
You know, the tale about the herd, the miller and the hurricane!
Oh never mind, you'll work it out.
I mean The Revocation War instigated by The Overseer; effectively the God's God.
No? Not a follower of history then?
I'll expand your knowledge in more detail at a later date, for now just be aware that The Overseer did not take kindly to mortals, supported by his subordinate Gods, standing in the way of divine decree.
The response; wipe the board clean and reset the game, with new pieces, in fact on a new board!
The Harvester was deployed and the process of cleansing Aeon of quite literally everything commenced.
The Creator Plain
The war was was devastating but the mortals turned the tide and pushed the Overseer's forces back to the root of power, the Twin Spires in the centre of the Creator Plain in the West of Aeon.
The Creator Plain was said to be a massive area filled with the most diverse life imaginable, wildly different habitats existing next to one another, glittering rivers and streams lacing the landscape all the way to the Leviathan Ocean; it was the world of Aeon condensed. From where it was studied, evaluated, judged.
The Flare
With defeat inevitable, a blinding, searing arc of energy burst from the moon directly overhead and struck the Twin Spires. For a moment the sun touched the earth as a sphere of roiling flame expanded from the towers and incinerated everything on the Plain. All of Aeon would be changed as the Streams of Power burned.
Accounts from survivors of the distant reserve camp describe the Plain as it is still to be found to this day.
Lifeless.
The land had convulsed, shattered and melted into razer sharp obsidian. The ocean had inundated most of the plain when it sank under the immense pressure; only ridges of the shattered black glass remained visible amongst the angry churning waves, those ridges radiating outwards from a central hub like those of a cart wheel. At the centre, charred but unbroken still loomed the Twin Spires, though now eerily silent and still.
Around the Eastern edge of the plain were birthed a new chain of volcanoes from the fractured bones of Aeon. These gave rise to a wasteland shrouded in dust and steam, a new land of twilight which came to be known simply as 'Ash'.
Oh, please, do not blame me, I did not name the new land. Besides, the populace of Aeon had been nearly wiped out by war and cataclysm, their Gods were gone and leaders killed, survival was their only priority so could you really blame them for an admittedly uninspired choice of name?
The Crater
On that subject, the Creator Plain was thereafter known as The Crater. Yes, simply that. I do not thing anyone needed a reminder of the Creator responsible for the devastation; the surviving towers would be reminder enough.
And so today we have The Crater and the surrounding land of Ash, likely the least hospitable environments on Aeon. Thousands of years have seen life return though; as the volcanoes settled and poisoned air dissipated, plants, animals and some hardy settlers began to find a foothold. Volcanic soil proves to be fertile, and valuable minerals are vomited to the surface on occasion, so life of a sort has returned.
Still, the ground shakes, steam escapes and ash falls to remind all life that it may be a temporary truce.
Locations
The Crater, Western Aeon
Ash
Capital
None
Population
Dwarven
Human
Minotaur
Jackals
Gnomes
Geography
Obsidian ridges
Churning ocean, unpredictable currents
Magma streams
Sulphur lakes
Volcanic Soil
Trade
Economy based primarily on mining minerals
Some vine and exotic crop farming at habitable edges of Ash
Areas of Note
Twin Spires towers
Type
Volcano
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