Codex III: Second Feud Era

The Time of Separation, no matter how noble some of its outcomes, was never sustainable. Eshan in Qadal thrived in plenty while the Eshan in Voryndal suffered in a relentless nightmare. Hatred more pure in its vintage never existed elsewhere and shall likely never exist again. This was helped for nothing in that the Alor’eshan kept close guardianship over the passageways between Qadal and Voryndal, accepting who they desired (very few) and turning away all others. The desire to destroy the old order was ever present- the question simply became a matter of opportunity.

As is too common for the self-destructive nature of the Eshan, that question was answered by the Qadayen Eshan themselves. Plotting in that half of the world was more lethal than any invasions. Atun was early among the most powerful Eshan to perish. His race, the Etayen, had departed from their homeland of Etal and created for themselves the mightiest of the early olundi empires. This was all done at the expense of Aebaster and the other Alor’eshan. The other bided their time against Atun and grew their power. Aebaster struck first, unleashing a vast amount of his own power through an Aemardic leader named Corgastor. The ensuing war lay ruin upon the Etayen domain and caused Atun to invest his own power greatly or lose his creation. This cost him too much power, but pride itself disallowed him from halting, and he burned his power until his death.

Aebaster along with half of the Ezontach, the latter of whom remained quite distant from such affairs, were the next major victims. They were joined by a slew of other lesser Eshan. Acolitus was to blame for this violence. His own grievances against the Eshan were rooted in the First Feud as well, and he too plotted to reassert control over a world which he believed had been lost to the base nature of his children. The scheme he planned was simple. He invested his own power into a quasi-Eshanic being named Zarthum who was masterful in matters of Esha, but also the realm of dreams, Kasteries, making him most effective in destroying Eshanic targets. When this creature was prepared, Acolitus unleashed him indiscriminately against his children, but saved Aebaster whom he saved for himself to kill with a dramatic show. The terror only stopped when Corgastor sacrificed himself in a suicidal battle against Zarthum which killed them both in a Eshanic inferno. This was the disruption that truly proved to the ever-proweling Ebal’eshan of Voryndal that the gates were truly open. This was the beginning of the Second Feud.

This said, the Ebal’eshan found their entry into the Greater Half more difficult than imagined. The olundi there possessed just as much stake as any Eshan in Qadal’s prosperity, and they resisted the newcomers with tenacity. Syrgus Pyrgos of the Eurobasar is one famous name among them, same as Ghet Oselen of the Lornesse and the numerous tribes of Vestanir in Othos who fought the first invasions. With this olundi resistance the invasions were slowed and their claws more difficult to dig. At this olundi resistance, even Acolitus maneuvered his Judges to fight against the Ebal’eshanic invasions, for a complete victory for the Ebal’eshan in Qadal would harm his cause. He desired both halves of the world to be chaotic, weak, and the Eshan’s control uncertain so that he might assert his own dominion as in ancient days.

The conclusion of this conflict has, in a sense, been more terrible than the First Feud. This is because during the First Feud there was less to lose- this means civilization, philosophy, religion, art, history, and so much more that was created during the Time of Separation. Now everything has been cast as fuel into the inferno of war, tearing down these rare and precious things. The world is worse now. When all actions are dictated to paper, it becomes clear to my eye that the Eshan were never creators at all. We never possessed the skill. It was the olundi who created under our “guidance” while we simply adopted the best of their creations as I do here. What comes next, I fear, is the World Thereafter.