Akathon Crisis

The Akathon Crisis was an era-defining religious movement and cataclysmic event that resulted in the exodus of countless individuals from Beurum and the formation of the Godscar.

Origins

The origins of Akathon were shrouded in mythology and mystery, but by the Fifth Era, most scholars agreed on some version of the following narrative. Originally, Akathon was a half-mortal who was the leader of the Almeri, a mystic group of demigods who lived in the Lands Beyond. The Almeri had been created long before by the goddess Eterna, daughter of Etermel and a manifestation of cruelty, as an attempt to create humans who would be more powerful in fighting wars. The attempt failed, and the Almeri were confined to suffering bodily pain, hunger, and sleep deprivation for the entirety of their mortal lives. Embarassed by this, Eterna "disposed" of the group by thrusting them deep in the Lands Beyond.   Though he did suffer greatly, Akathon was the strongest and most resilient of the Almeri. They devoted their time in the Lands Beyond to trying to find an end to their suffering. After a while, the Almeri found the Meadow of Solitude, a place which could cause even those cursed to be awake forever to be able to sleep. All the Almeri except for Akathon slept here, as Akathon himself was the only one willing to find a permanent solution to their pain; he could not sleep because there would be no one to wake him up.   Akathon realized that he needed to harness the power of the stars to make the Almeri into true gods, so that they could cure their ailments by means of divine power. He spent the next two-thousand years building a massive telescope on the Mountain of Kavarnis, being only strong enough to work for a few minutes some days. After so much painstaking time, Akathon was able to use the focused light of all the stars to melt a snowbank, which produced the Water of the Firmament. Akathon drank this water, and the pain he had suffered with for so many thousands of years left him. Moreover, he was able to harness the power of a full god for the first time.   Meanwhile, the gods watching over Beurum caught wind of what the Almeri were doing after they were called upon by the Han'Gell, a tabaxi people who, having recently migrated to the region, were worried about what the Almeri would do. They promptly sent Eterna to deal with the mess she had created, and she along with her twelve wrathenites (war-spirits) journeyed to the Lands Beyond to perform the ancient ritual of Spirinesis, which was powerful enough to destroy something partially divine.   Eterna and her cohort arrived at the Meadow of Solitude before Akathon, who was flying at the highest reaches of the sky, exploring and enjoying his new power. After a while, he arrived at the Meadow of Solitude to give the Water of the Firmament to his fellow Almeri. What he found instead, however, were the lifeless bodies of his ancient family, killed by Eterna and the wrathenites. When Eterna saw Akathon, she began to perform the ritual on him, too, not knowing that he had achieved full divinity. Enraged at the death of his oldest and only friends, he promptly froze the Water of the Firmament into a massive, sharp ice spike, and impaled Eterna. To his surprise, the spike did to Eterna what she had done to the Almeri: letting out a cry that could be heard across the entire world, her body and soul dissolved into nothingness. Knowing now that he had the power to kill another god, which was previously thought to be impossible, Akathon's rage did not subside. Instead, he returned to the Mountain of Kavarnis and used the focused light of the telescope to start a fire, with which he forged the Sword of the Firmament. This sword, since it was forged with the fires of the universe, had the power to kill a god; it was also extremely powerful in more normal circumstances.   Akathon took his sword and went down to the settlements of various peoples in the Lands Beyond. Claiming himself to be the one true god, he would assert his authority over each people, bestowing upon them his protection as well as great gifts. If the people (or their gods) tried to resist him, he would destroy them. He conquered groups of winged, tribes of centaurs, and tabaxi peoples, including the Han'Gell. One member of the Han'Gell, the Messenger, who had called upon Eterna to destroy Akathon, fled her clan instead of submitting to Akathon's rule.

The Crisis

After becoming the ruler of these peoples, Akathon decided to remain in the Lands Beyond and gather more power from the Mountain of Kavarnis. Meanwhile, word of him began to spread down from the Lands Beyond into the Makovai Mountains, and some Taran, Makovai, and Sverden dwarves began to worship him. Dwarven gods attempted to destroy Akathon, but incredibly, he was able to destroy them with the Sword of the Firmament, fueled by divine power and limitless hatred. Increasingly, dwarves who worshipped Akathon found their prayers answered, while dwarves who worshipped their traditional spirits found their prayers ignored and suffered misfortunes. Soon, major dwarven cities such as Astriderom began to mandate communal worship of Akathon, without Akathon even having to physically come there.   From the Makovai Mountains, rumors of Akathon spread wildly throughout the rest of Beurum, carried by travelling merchants, newly-sworn priests and priestesses of Akathon, and even refugees forced to flee their cities because they refused to give up their traditional religious beliefs. Major Trebai settlements, for example, saw intense periods of religious conversions, alarming religious officials of the Order of the Wanderers.   These new conversions marked a radical shift in religious thought in Beurum. Before, the many gods of Beurum had acted as authoritative figures who demanded worship, but had also forged personal relationships with many mortals. A beekeeper who worshipped the patron goddess of beekeeping, for example, would often converse with the deity and make her his sole object of worship, while also reaping great benefits. Worship of her or any other particular gods was not required, except in some religious orders or by individual societies. Worship of Akathon was different; Akathon was seen as an all-powerful king, who did not care about the lives of humans but was inherently superior to them. Whereas normal gods had drawn their power purely from worship, Akathon drew from this but also received his power from the Mountain of Kavarnis.   Soon after word of Akathon spread throughout Beurum, an organization called the Disciples of Akathon arose. This organization formalized and mandated worship of Akathon in the territories over which they held influence, which gradually increased. In just a few months, they became a major rival of the clergy of the Order of the Wanderers, which had worked for centuries to become the most powerful religious organization in Beurum. Members of the Disciples wielded immense magical power given to them by Akathon, allowing them to hold sway over more and more ordinary people in Beurum.

The Messenger and the Heroes of Kavarnis

As this was happening, the Han'Gell Messenger was working furiously to spread word of Akathon's cruelty and injustice, and was trying to call upon whatever gods she could to stand up to him. After she escaped from imprisonment in the Trebai town of Praedek, she began to gather a group of people who would one day be known as the Heroes of Kavarnis.   During this time, the truth about Akathon was not well-known. His name was flooded with rumors, conjecture, and complete fiction. The Heroes journeyed all across Beurum to uncover the truth about Akathon. They found out about the Telescope at Kavarnis, and theorized that they could use the telescope to destroy Akathon, since it was the source of his power. Since Kavarnis was deep in the Lands Beyond, however, the Heroes figured that they would have to ask for the help of the gods.   Once this truth was uncovered, the Heroes found out that all of Beurum's major gods had fled to Bonefall, another dimension that served as both the resting place of certain deceased individuals, as well as the last refuge of the gods. Minor gods and lesser deities who did not have sustantial followings had scattered across Beurum. Journeying to the Sunlit Isles to discover how they could reach Bonefall, they found that the only portal to the realm was far north, in the Ether; the gods that had fled there had chosen this location because of its remoteness. The Heroes journeyed to the portal to inform the gods about Kavarnis.   At the portal's entrance, they battled Enemimph, a demigod who had been instructed to guard the portal at all costs, as she did not believe the Heroes when they had said that they knew a way to defeat Akathon. After Enemimph realized she could not win against the Heroes, she granted them entrance, but made them swear that they were not working with Akathon.   In Bonefall, the Heroes journeyed to the Sanctuary of the Dusk. Once there, they convened with the chief gods of the most significant belief systems across Beurum. They informed the gods of what they had found, and the three most powerful war gods-- Etermel, Thono, and Deundru-- immediately set out to the Mountain of Kavarnis.   Just after they left, however, Akathon revealed himself to the Heroes and the gods, all gathered together. He had been disguised as a bone rat in the Sanctuary of the Dusk, and had been listening to everything. The Heroes and the Gods attempted to fight Akathon, but were unsuccessful, as they did not possess the required power. After killing a number of the most powerful gods of Beurum, Akathon left. He caught up with Etermel, Thono, and Deundru, and used their own powers against them; summoning the greatest storm to ever touch Beurum, he struck the three gods with a single, massive lightning bolt, killing them and forming the Godscar, which killed untold numbers of civilians.   Akathon did not return to Bonefall, because he figured that no god would dare venture to Kavarnis now. In addition, his desire for revenge against Etermel, Eterna's father, was satisfied; he did not really have anything against other gods. The Heroes were told by the gods that only they would be able to stop Akathon now; if any of the gods were to enter into the real world, their divine presence would be detected. The gods informed the Heroes that it was, in fact, possible for mortals to reach Kavarnis. With this knowledge, and a number of divine artifacts gifted to them, they set out for the mountain.

Destruction of the Telescope of Kavarnis and Defeat of Akathon

After a monumental journey filled with sacrifice, the heroes made it to the Mountain of Kavarnis and destroyed the Telescope.