Ascension

Background

Ascension refers to the surprise assault by The Sovereign on The Eminarch. During their imprisonment by The Eminarch, The Sovereign were able to discover a way to escape from the Godkeep . At that time, the prison was believed to be perfect, the final holding place of the gods, and as such when they broke free, they took The Eminarch completely by surprise. Many attribute the success of The Sovereign nearly entirely to this element of total surprise. Once free, they immediately engaged The Eminarch and he was ultimately defeated. It is known that several of The Sovereign lost their lives in the battle, however their names are unknown because all record of them was purged in the same instant.

A New Era

Timestamp

The Ascension was undoubtedly the single most important event in all of history since the creation of Illyria itself. It demarks the divide between new and old and nearly all of what is known about the past indicates that The Sovereign implemented massive changes once they took power during Ascension. The previous era, now known colloquially as "Before Ascension" (Before Ascension Era) gave way to a new era, "After Ascension". The Ascension became a timestamp by which all calendars and dates are defined. The Ascension took place in the year 0 of the adopted tracking system.

Lost History of the Era Before Ascension

Nearly all of what we know about the Before Ascension Era has been learned through The Sovereign Gods themselves. Due to the circumstances surrounding the reign of The Eminarch, very few documents and accounts survived past Ascension. Relics and ancient sites of import hold some clues and rare as they may be, are responsible for the majority of the current knowledge accrued about the distant past, save for what was directly given by The Sovereign. What is known for certain is that The Eminarch ruled with terror and that many people lost their lives, freedom, and even free will. The Sovereign were born out of rebellion against this tyrannical rule and after defeating The Eminarch, they created a new world in the ruins of the old.

The Sovereign Shift

The Sovereign did not end their paradigmatic banishing of evil with a quiet exit into the shadows, rather they stepped forward to shoulder the mantle of the creation of the new world. As its de factor leaders, they were both well placed and perfectly capable of creating change in the broken world they inhabited, and the next century would come to be known as The Sovereign Shift.

Escape from Godkeep

It is currently unknown how The Sovereign made their escape from Godkeep, the perfect prison of the gods. Though these details are lost, the evidence that it happened remains at the center of the world in the form of the massive crater known as the Dawn Scar. The scarred land in this area is a living memory of the trials that stood between The Sovereign Gods and their thrones.

Defeat of The Eminarch

His exact fate is unknown, but the mainstream belief is that he was killed. Some alternate versions include that he was banished to the Far Realm, forcibly incarnated and trapped as a mortal, or even imprisoned within the Godkeep. However, these are dismissed by most scholars because the recorded power of The Eminarch by The Sovereign was so great it seems impossible that he could keep his life while being, at the same time, too weak to retaliate.