Birth of Order
Dandoleon, held together by the lands of
Summer and
Winter, was once an evergreen plane free from the gods' dominion; searching even further back, however, one can discover its origin as a lifeless plane drifting aimlessly through the cosmos. During a bombastic eon of creation and destruction, Dandoleon was collected by immutable architects spinning their web of interplanar order. Just as continents collide across vast oceans, the planes were born into a "supercontinent" of realms, suspended in the Waters of Taev.
Waters of Taev
The Waters of Taev are an ever-present force in the universe, serving as an endless and turbulent ocean surrounding the planes. Home to all manner of eldritch entities, its denizens are of incomprehensible intent and proportions; their mere existence brings entropy to the universe. These creatures are called "uthuquate," and chief among them is Taev.
Little is known of Taev or its uthuquati kin beyond their nature of moral ambivalence and proclivity for chaos. The Waters are no less dangerous, eternally antagonizing the interplanar web and the defined order within. Some devils or their mortal pawns can exploit these Waters to invoke dark magic.
Ohkinate Web
The Ohkinate web, named after its architects, stands in direct contrast to the Waters of Taev. Representing maintained order, the web is considered the only hospitable refuge for life.
The Ohkinate maintain and refine the web over time, coming with a litany of benefits: direct traversal between planes, a source of protection against the Waters, and access to magics of universal order.
The only known Ohkinate is the abnormally sentimental "Ornjack," often depicted as a spider and guardian of the universe's centermost plane, Laminarum.
Dandoleon
Dandoleon, as a plane within the Ohkinate Web, was intended as a transitional space between the Sixteen outer planes and the central plane of Laminarum. That is, should outer planes wish to enter Laminarum, they must travel through Dandoleon. Its service as an intermediate plane was eventually surmounted as creatures of dubious desire learned to exploit the extradimensional properties of the Waters, leading to multiple invasion events over eons. Although Dandoleon's purpose was a failure, it's far from extraneous; its particular position between the planes makes it unequivocally unique, providing a home to otherwise unreplicated natural and magical phenomena.
While the universe predates the creation of the Ohkinate Web, Dandoleon itself doesn't appear until the architects merged the planes as we know them. Originally untouched by the corporeal gods of other planes, life in Dandoleon bloomed as interplanar chaos settled. Undetectable at inception, microscopic organisms gave rise to robust and diverse organisms, with diversity only enhancing as extraplanar entities began traversing the web.
After a cold eternity of lifeless drifting, Dandoleon had been reborn as a green macrocosm of life. Thanks to the plane's ring-like structure around Laminarum, a lack of rotation and revolutions, and persistent warm conditions, most of its space was covered in rainforests. The ecosystems born of such conditions were highly competitive, inspiring continuous evolution for any hope of survival for both plants and animals. Through near-miraculous events, complex organisms with sapience developed and spread across the land. Many were of insectoid persuasion and limited independence, often holding just enough intelligence to organize and create. It wasn't until the apocalyptic
Breaking of Dandoleon that true intelligence was born and modern civilizations developed.
Breaking of Dandoleon
Of all the gods, the lineage of Chaimut is counted among the cruelest, and it is Dandoleon that suffers for the justice against them. The god of time has but two daughters, each born to punish the other: Fei Invaru and Huereina, each a tangent of their father with domains of Summer and Winter; Vitality and dormancy; life and death. In their repeated disappointment in the eyes of Chaimut, they were banished to Dandoleon, damned to wage war eternally for their survival. Foreigners as they were, the daughters held no compassion for the lands they stole.
Half of the plane basked in the warmth enjoyed by their ancestors, but the others were forced into eternal winter. Those who could not escape succumbed to the cold or forever changed to endure it. As adventurous pioneers spurred interplanar travel into commonality, foreigners even spat upon the ancient name "Dandoleon" ordained by our ancestors; instead, they named our home for its unnatural seasons: Summer and Winter.
I wish that were the end of cataclysms for Dandoleon, but the gods view our plane as a barren waste of beasts and plants, rife with opportunity for punishment. We are but roaches in a prison for gods— Epiphany, scribe of Dandoleon
The Breaking of Dandoleon refers to the plane's shift from an unchanging land to one of rotating seasons, which caused a mass extinction as life had evolved for eons to survive in a tropical climate. The Breaking is represented in two phases: the
Banishment of Gods and the
Indictment of Chaimut.
Banishment of Gods
The split of Dandoleon between "Summer" and "Winter" occurred when
Chaimut, the god of time, had grown frustrated with his daughters. The oldest daughter, Fei Invaru, held the domain of fertility and bloom. Fei Invaru had been the source of a series of disappointments in
Chaimut's eyes. Chief among these disappointments was the release of her son,
Rel Eteisus, from captivity. Huereina's domain of winter was intended to punish Fei directly, and
Chaimut used his authority to banish them to Dandoleon. In a scramble for survival, they each fled to alternate sides of the plane, causing a separation of domains on each side. While those under Fei Invaru were relatively unscathed by Summer's infection on the land, competition from those fleeing
Winter caused famine and death. Huereina's arrival caused a new ice age, resulting in the rapid death of most life under her authority. Initially, these seasons didn't shift, allowing the people of Dandoleon to collect in vast refuges capable of combating the stagnant environments.
Indictment of Chaimut
The list of crimes and betrayals in
Chaimut's indictment was robust. The Indictment was overseen by
Bailum, god of justice and brother of
Chaimut, who was personally affected by the crimes. The crux of the conflict came from Rel Eteisus, god of fate and son of Fei Invaru.
As the god of time,
Chaimut foresaw the birth of his grandson and desired to control his domain of fate. To ensure his birth,
Chaimut sought to contrive a relationship between Fei and
Mitos, son of Bailum. Fei complied, but her advances were rejected, urging
Chaimut to manipulate Bailum into entering a millennia-long war. Mitos was separated from his father as a result of the war, driving a sense of melancholy and loneliness, ultimately convincing him to accept Fei's advances. Rel was quickly separated from his parents and forced into seclusion at the hands of
Chaimut. Rel was only allowed one visitor during captivity: his mother. It was Fei who mistakenly released a vengeful Rel from seclusion. A swift war ensued between Rel Eteisus and the gods, only ending when Rel was slain by his own father. Embarrassed by Fei Invaru's mistake,
Chaimut banished her to Dandoleon. Also included in the banishment was Huereina, god of winter and younger daughter of
Chaimut. Merely as a means for survival in the face of conflicting domains, the two gods fled to opposite sides of the plane and stowed themselves away to the Summer and Winter Manifestures.
The above tale drove Bailum to indict
Chaimut, punishing him with an eternal banishment to Dandoleon alongside his daughters. Wings were carved from his skin, and chains shackled him to the plane. Until his death,
Chaimut was charged with dragging the plane about its axis, causing Dandoleon to rotate. A rotating plane brought shifting seasons and another catastrophic shift in Dandoleon's ecosystems. The massive refuges built to withstand seasons had become extensive cities with substantial cultures, but as
Summer land was unexpectedly swallowed by
Winter and vice versa, these settlements collapsed. New methods of housing and subsistence were essential as common wildlife went extinct and climates drastically shifted. The final stage of the Breaking was an initiative to save Dandoleon's denizens in the face of changing seasons. The initiative was performed by
Thanatorum and his
Disciples, who helped craft Dandoleon as it exists today.
Formation of the Birdtowers
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