Setting

What is Myzelis? 

Myzelis is a planet orbiting a trinary star (called Achar, or the Mhelydraud since its sundering) along with ten other planets in the solar system, of which Myzelis is the sixth.  It has two moons.  One which passes between three phases (called Selisruun) and is similar in size to our own.  The other moon (called Talchen) was shattered by magic long ago into two entities - an egg-like shape covered in shadowy cracks and crevices, and a brilliant halo of asteroids that encircle Myzelis like the rings of Saturn.

The planet is incalculably old - likely as old as our own - and suffused with magic that pours from its heart and forms mystical, invisible Leylines.  These arcane channels represent the places where magic is at its strongest, and those who use it find it easiest to recover their powers.  The people of Myzelis, in their varied cultures, tended to settle along them, and those sensitive to the magic of the Ley can often follow them to meet new settlements. 

Where the Leylines are weakest or absent entirely, a different phenomenon appears - the Brume of Vrokíva - a mystical obfuscation that manifests in many different ways.  It disconnects communities and countries from each other and encircles them at the edges, preventing casual exploration and trade beyond the edges of the ley.

🗺️ (Click HERE to open the above map of Myzelis on World Anvil.)

What is an Incari?

There are two types of gods.  The first is called an Incari, and these are beings that represent the instinctive spirits of the natural world.  Every object and force in existence has an Incari, and most of them have names that are used every day, such as “rock,” “tree,” “fire,” or “gravity.”  They have no morality, no wants or needs, only a primal instinct that perfectly serves their function.  They exist regardless of belief structures, and are far older than the second type of gods, the Inaethri.

What is an Inaethri?

The second type of god comes about from one of two scenarios, both catalyzed by the faith of the living. 

In the first, an Incari is possessed by the faith of those who live nearby.  The belief structure of mortals can grant sentience, wants, and needs, resulting in entities that can act in spite of their primal instincts.  Examples include but are not limited to: haunted mountains, sacred groves, treacherous seas.  Sometimes, the possessed Incari takes on an Inaethri name, if given one by the mortals that believe in it.  When the belief structure disappears (perhaps because none who live remember the treachery of a particular sea), the Inaethri usually becomes an Incari again, and returns to its primal instincts.

In the second scenario, a mortal being undergoes an “Inaethrid.”

What is an Inaethrid?

When at the end of their life (whether natural or not), a truly legendary individual gathers the attention of their entire society, it was once the natural way of things for that individual to ascend to godhood.  Whether from adoration, respect, fear, love, or any other strong emotion, these mortals would have the choice to “accept” their ascension or reject it.  This moment - both the act of belief and the decision to accept the powers and responsibilities of becoming a god - is called an Inaethrid.

If the mortal declines, they merely pass on to the afterlife.  It is possible for someone to have a second chance to accept in the form of another Inaethrid, but usually the faith is spent and doesn’t linger as the mortal belief moves on to the next hero or villain. 

If the mortal accepts the Inaethrid, they shed their mortal form and become an Inaethri, a god.  They are vested with the power to construct their own realm - an outer plane in which their followers are judged and granted an afterlife or can be transmuted into servants to defend the realm.  They may grant spells to devout followers, and send their servants to answer powerful spells in their name.

Do Inaethri change?

Inaethri, unlike Incari, are empowered by and subject to the faith of the mortals that believe in them.  If a civilization creates an Inaethri, that same group subconscious can also change the god’s importance, demeanor, and powers.  Entities of great importance can find their powers waning as the society crumbles or shifts away from their worship, and otherwise lesser deities can gradually find themselves filling entirely different roles as gods than they ever did as mortals. 

Likewise, Inaethri cannot be killed except by destroying the believers, or changing the belief.  An Inaethri whose avatar is destroyed is swiftly reborn, and they have near omnipotence when residing in their plane.  An Inaethri with no worshippers is gone forever.

Do Inaethri visit Myzelis?

They can, and sometimes do, but Vrokiva’s reaction is very strong.  Throughout history, Inaethri and their followers have used powerful magic and the strength of their beliefs to force Myzelis, its moons, stars, and fellow planets, to bend to their whims.  Until the creation of the Brume and Vrokíva’s Inaethrid, the planet was constantly being reshaped and destroyed, healed and consumed by these factions.  Myzelis (as the Incari), spawned the Brume as a way to fight against future magics and to heal the damage that had been caused.  This event is known to scholars as “The Ripple,” because it came with a violent earthquake felt all across Myzelis that caused new mountain ranges to form and shattered some lands into new seas.

Since Inaethri were the catalyst for this, Vrokíva is especially vindictive against them.  The presence of an Inaethri in the prime material plane causes the Brume to roil against the edges of civilization.  In the past, this has led to death, suffering, and destruction, and on occasion the complete annihilation of entire civilizations.  It is also worth noting that the Inaethri and societies that persist to present day aren’t the only ones to ever exist… they’re the only ones left.  The gods of these pantheons have learned to respect Vrokíva’s power and leave change to mortalkind.

What is Gylidd Syn Aethri?

Long ago, when the Brume was first created, each of the Myzelan civilizations were cut off from the others.  For a period of 1000 years (known as the Age of Isolation), explorers were sent into the mist in an attempt to find a way through, but the only ones that succeeded followed the Leylines.  While some Leylines travel from one civilization to another, every ley line in the world eventually finds its way back to the source - a large forest at the heart of a relatively small island in the southern hemisphere.

The Aethri - as the first humanoids called themselves before Myzelis was named - pronounced this place “Gylidd,” or “gathering place.”  The full name of “Gylidd Syn Aethri” - ‘the place where the Aethri gather’ - was made official at the beginning of the Age of Stone, when enough of the Aethri and their Inaethri gods had gathered there to construct a massive city to host their peoples.  It was believed that controlling the source of the Leylines would confer control over the Brume, Vrokíva, and therefore Myzelis itself.

At the time, Gylidd Syn Aethri was a plateau that sat over the surrounding island, dozens of miles across and covered in godly works.  Arcana was practically the spoken language, so ubiquitous was magic.  Although in present day the plateau is cracked and slanted at a slight angle towards the west, it is still an impressive sight to behold, especially when approaching it from one of the two grand canals.

Did the Inaethri fight over Gylidd?

At the very center of the island is a forest (called the Heartwood) through which the energy of every Leyline flows.  Those who enter this forest are rendered unable to take hostile action against others, as they are overwhelmed with a sense of peace and empathy.  The magic is very old, and very subtle, causing those who enter to feel a deep well of connection with other living things no matter who or what they are. While Gylidd city and the surrounding island may have been a battleground for some Inaethri and their followers, the forest was permanently untouchable, as all who entered it could bear it nor each other ill will.

Beneath the Heartwood is a massive pit (called the Blackheart) as wide as the forest above and many times deeper, that descends into the pitch black depths of the earth where magma roils and plumes of steam fill every cavern with heat and condensation.  Life of different kinds thrive down here, and also enjoy the sanctity of the forest’s blessing, making this environment equally peaceful.  It is said that the energy of the leylines flows upward from the planet’s heart and into this gargantuan chamber, and from there ascends to the surface to follow lines across it.

And so it passed that the island of Gylidd was the site of many battles, and on many occasions the Inaethri that fought around the Heartwood were set upon by the Brume, rendering their creations and followers and tearing them to pieces.  Eventually an equilibrium was discovered, where the Inaethri that settled in began to form their own pantheons out of those remaining gods and factions and set their violence aside in favor of mutual protection.  The Age of Stone, the era during which the Inaethri had focused all of their energy towards controlling and commandeering the mist, was started by the creation of Gylidd Syn Aethri.  Although some were disintegrated by the power of Vrokíva, many of its majestic superstructures persist to present day.

When did the Inaethri leave Gylidd?

Towards the end of the Age of Stone (around 15,000 years before present day), the numbers of Aethri had begun to dwindle.  Most of the Inaethri that survived the constant struggle against the planet had begun to retreat back to their outer planes, and encouraged their followers to leave Gylidd for their own homelands.  They had learned very hard lessons about the impossibility of controlling Myzelis, and decided instead to consolidate their powers and rebuild the civilizations that had made them strong.  Gylidd Syn Aethri was left mostly abandoned, as without any hope to control the heart of the leylines, it became less important to occupy the island.

When the last of the Inaethri left the material plane, mortal Aethrin across Myzelis began to turn their attention inwards towards their communities, beginning the Mortal Era and the Age of Clarity.  It was marked at first by a period of relearning, as the waning magic of the Inaethri was replaced by new schema for manipulating magic and developing technology.  This relearning also included philosophy and sociology, experimenting with new ways of framing the self in a world without the gods’ direct influence.

Much of the first half of the Age of Clarity was spent in the growing pains of trying, and often repeatedly failing, to let go of the ancient past.  Many civilizations flourished, collapsed, splintered, or became something else, as mortals tested their boundaries geographically and otherwise.

Why is Gylidd important NOW?

At the end of the Age of Clarity (exactly 3,517 years ago), a coalition of individuals from many of Myzelis’ civilizations gathered once again on the island at the heart of everything.  Though this had been tried countless times before, this was the right time, the right people, and the right place for something new.  Alongside the tribes that had continued to occupy Gylidd since the Inaethrite Era, and atop the bones of its superstructures, the city was reforged and reborn.  Thus began the Age of Invention, year 0 for the Gylidder calendar and the first year of the Gylidd Almanac, which chronicles the harvests that give the city life.

Over time, the Gylidders created a bold civilization while their Inaethri watched on, mastering a balance between their settlement and the nature that surrounded them, holding Vrokíva at bay with a respectful reverence and a watchful eye.  Half of Gylidd’s government is dedicated to the preservation and health of nature (the Wild Synga), and the other half to the expansion and development of the city (the Civic Synod).  Although a fair amount of the island is still covered in the Brume, the island has known a relative peace from the mist for thousands of years.  The Gylidder Wrenjers - an elite and zealous force of heroes that patrol the mists and prevent the abuse of magic that may upset that balance - are at the heart of that achievement.

And so the city and its people are proud to serve Myzelans everywhere as a hub for trading, knowledge, and travel.  Although many metropolises exist throughout Myzelis, hidden within the mists, only one exists at the heart of everything.  Only one can trace the leylines out to anywhere anyone would want to go.  There is no place like Gylidd Syn Aethri.

🗺️ (Click HERE for a map of the Realm of Gylidd Island, and HERE for a map of Gylidd Syn Aethri city, as of the present day.)

The First Explorers Return

The year was 3517 AI (Age of Invention).  Report came in from all across Myzelis, reaching the scholars at Gylidd and from there rippling back out through the world along the errant leylines - for the very first time, Aethrin had begun to return from expeditions into the Brume.  Vrokíva’s grip was lessening.  Subtly, slowly, the mists were receding.  At the first of the year, the Seat of the Synod and the Branch of the Wild Synga - Gylidd’s leaders - declared an end to the Age of Invention and usher in the bell of a new age.

It was then year 0 of the Age of Emergence. 

Thus was the start of stories in Myzelis.