The Summoner's Pact

At the height of a cataclysmic war against an all consuming enemy so terrible as to be stricken from the annals of history, during the last minute of the final hour which saw a sun setting on the mortal races of Veyrsrhea, a miracle occurred. The wrecked dredges that once stood tall to face their doom now cried out as one in desperation. Every last remaining soul howled out their final all. Contained within this one long, breathless dirge was a mix of pain, anger, defiance, helplessness, and at the end of all things, against all odds... hope. One last shred of hope where none should dare exist. And yet it was there all the same. The final fleeting glimmer of hope collectively held by the last life of a dying planet, the twined string of fate formed by the remaining races that even it was spun was fit between the cruel, cold shears of Fate. If ever a planet might offer a final plea, a final prayer for itself through the will of the life that clung to its surface, then surely this was it. A plea that did not go unheard, a prayer that did not go unanswered.   The fierce warrior goddess Shiva-Nys rallied 11 of her fellow deities from the distant heavens, and struck a Pact with the leaders of the surviving races in their final moments; if the mortals would swear that they and their lineage would worship the deities for as long as their lines lasted, then in exchange the most powerful warriors amongst their number could summon the avatars of the deities to defend the mortal realm in their most desperate hours. Thus the Summoner’s Pact pantheon was formed. Through this divine mandate the avatars of the 12 Pact members led the ragged remains of the mortal forces to push back the unspeakable threat that had brought all life on the planet to the edge of extinction, and secured the future of mortals on the planet.   In the aftermath of battle the very nature of the enemy was examined, and it was divined that the mere knowledge of the foe could potentially invite future doom. A second bargain was struck between mortals and deities, that the Summoner’s Pact would take up the awesome burden of clouding Veyrsrhea from outside forces that so thoroughly threatened the world, and in turn the previous threat would be wiped from record to ensure it could not be accidentally allowed to pierce the veil the Pact would maintain. In exchange for allowing the divine to wash away the collective memories of the survivors, their histories on the crumbling walls of their temples, and start anew in the tattered ruins of their civilizations, the Pact would also grant the smallest sliver of their radiance to select mortals, who embodied divine tenets set forth by each deity, to ease the suffering of their fellows. These anointed holy devouts would allow for healing to begin and help guard against lesser threats to come. Thus it went that the cataclysm was prevented, wiped from the world and from thought, and a new age of divinity and rebirth had begun.