Legend of Green Creek Shrine
The War of the Bhemaebac Heresy
In the forgotten epoch before the Dark Elves broke time and shattered the harmony of creation, the western territories were vassal lands of the Giant-folk, subjects of an empire said to have reached the clouds themselves. It was into this age that the Dark Elven warlord Gynceth of Clan Bhemaebac rose—a Warlock-General of dreadful talent and ambition.
Gynceth sought dominion not through blades alone, but through the unmaking of boundaries. She wielded a relic of unspeakable origin: the Necromantic Hand of Anvoda Bhemaebac, her grandsire—a once-living archmage whose power over death outlived his own body. With that crawling relic she carved sigils deep into the earth, calling forth beings that predated even the gods’ shaping of the world: the Primordials of Stone and Wave.
Among them rose Valgrun the Boundless Stone and Salphira the Insatiable Flood, titans who turned upon one another in hatred of all form and stillness. The war between these forces of earth and water broke the land itself—mountains shattered, rivers overflowed, and the vassal states of the Giants drowned in their own clay.
The Descent of Urdon
From the heavens came Urdon, the Hammer of Bounds, to restore order to a world at the mercy of chaos. He descended in thunder and rain, his voice the roar of the river reclaiming its bed.
Urdon did not destroy the Primordials outright—for such beings could not truly die—but instead set limits upon them, defining where one power must yield to another. He bound Valgrun beneath the northern hills and then faced Salphira at the lowlands that would become Green Creek. Their battle lasted nine days and nights, and when at last the flood fell silent, the waters flowed in patterns shaped by Urdon’s will—creating the rivers and valleys of the modern frontier.
When Gynceth sought to raise her grandfather’s hand once more to undo this balance, Urdon struck her down. The hand fell from her grasp, writhing still, and burrowed deep into the soaked earth. Fearing its corruption would one day return, Urdon sealed it beneath a shrine built over the battlefield itself—the Green Creek Shrine.
The Green Creek Shrine
The Shrine of Green Creek stands upon holy yet dangerous ground. Beneath its foundation lies the relic of Anvoda’s hand, sealed and hidden by the presence of a crystal ewer filled with the sacred waters of Urdon himself. The ewer’s divine flow neither evaporates nor spills, and legend says it pulses faintly whenever the balance of the natural world is threatened.
No mortal has seen the relic since the age of Urdon’s descent. According to the priests, the seal is unbreakable except by Urdon’s own will. Yet the cult’s higher initiates whisper otherwise—that when corruption rises anew, the waters of the ewer shall stir, and something sleeping beneath Green Creek will begin to move.
In the forgotten epoch before the Dark Elves broke time and shattered the harmony of creation, the western territories were vassal lands of the Giant-folk, subjects of an empire said to have reached the clouds themselves. It was into this age that the Dark Elven warlord Gynceth of Clan Bhemaebac rose—a Warlock-General of dreadful talent and ambition.
Gynceth sought dominion not through blades alone, but through the unmaking of boundaries. She wielded a relic of unspeakable origin: the Necromantic Hand of Anvoda Bhemaebac, her grandsire—a once-living archmage whose power over death outlived his own body. With that crawling relic she carved sigils deep into the earth, calling forth beings that predated even the gods’ shaping of the world: the Primordials of Stone and Wave.
Among them rose Valgrun the Boundless Stone and Salphira the Insatiable Flood, titans who turned upon one another in hatred of all form and stillness. The war between these forces of earth and water broke the land itself—mountains shattered, rivers overflowed, and the vassal states of the Giants drowned in their own clay.
The Descent of Urdon
From the heavens came Urdon, the Hammer of Bounds, to restore order to a world at the mercy of chaos. He descended in thunder and rain, his voice the roar of the river reclaiming its bed.
Urdon did not destroy the Primordials outright—for such beings could not truly die—but instead set limits upon them, defining where one power must yield to another. He bound Valgrun beneath the northern hills and then faced Salphira at the lowlands that would become Green Creek. Their battle lasted nine days and nights, and when at last the flood fell silent, the waters flowed in patterns shaped by Urdon’s will—creating the rivers and valleys of the modern frontier.
When Gynceth sought to raise her grandfather’s hand once more to undo this balance, Urdon struck her down. The hand fell from her grasp, writhing still, and burrowed deep into the soaked earth. Fearing its corruption would one day return, Urdon sealed it beneath a shrine built over the battlefield itself—the Green Creek Shrine.
The Green Creek Shrine
The Shrine of Green Creek stands upon holy yet dangerous ground. Beneath its foundation lies the relic of Anvoda’s hand, sealed and hidden by the presence of a crystal ewer filled with the sacred waters of Urdon himself. The ewer’s divine flow neither evaporates nor spills, and legend says it pulses faintly whenever the balance of the natural world is threatened.
No mortal has seen the relic since the age of Urdon’s descent. According to the priests, the seal is unbreakable except by Urdon’s own will. Yet the cult’s higher initiates whisper otherwise—that when corruption rises anew, the waters of the ewer shall stir, and something sleeping beneath Green Creek will begin to move.
Cultural Reception
The Cult of Urdon
Out of the chaos came those who remembered—and worshiped—the Queller of Floods. Over centuries, the Cult of Urdon spread along riverbanks and trading routes, its faith rooted not in zeal but in discipline. Its doctrine teaches that every flow must have a boundary, and every boundary a keeper. Priests of Urdon serve as mediators, surveyors, and wardens of waterways. Lawmen of the frontier often swear their oaths before running water, invoking Urdon’s clarity to bind their word as surely as a current binds its bed.
Rites of the faith include seasonal water blessings, the dedication of bridges, and the recitation of the Nine Bounds, prayers recalling the limits Urdon set upon sea, sky, and mortal greed.
Yet even now, stories drift downstream—rumors of black water bubbling near the old shrine, of mist that tastes of salt though the sea is far away, and of singing heard in the current when storms strike Green Creek. The faithful say Urdon still holds the flood in check. The fearful say he sleeps, and that his restraint may one day falter.
Out of the chaos came those who remembered—and worshiped—the Queller of Floods. Over centuries, the Cult of Urdon spread along riverbanks and trading routes, its faith rooted not in zeal but in discipline. Its doctrine teaches that every flow must have a boundary, and every boundary a keeper. Priests of Urdon serve as mediators, surveyors, and wardens of waterways. Lawmen of the frontier often swear their oaths before running water, invoking Urdon’s clarity to bind their word as surely as a current binds its bed.
Rites of the faith include seasonal water blessings, the dedication of bridges, and the recitation of the Nine Bounds, prayers recalling the limits Urdon set upon sea, sky, and mortal greed.
Yet even now, stories drift downstream—rumors of black water bubbling near the old shrine, of mist that tastes of salt though the sea is far away, and of singing heard in the current when storms strike Green Creek. The faithful say Urdon still holds the flood in check. The fearful say he sleeps, and that his restraint may one day falter.
Comments