"I did hear. If you do not mind a long tale... I am sorry for misunderstandings in the story I have told you. I will try to speak better."
[She will look in the window if she has to for those that choose to remain inside, but otherwise she's talking to those of you Outside.]
"Before your Heimr and your Ydalir, before the Grove was founded as you know it, there was only nature. I was merely an infant, a deity before I knew what a deity was, wandering these woods with my mother and siblings. When a spark ignites in a creature, it may ascend to something greater — by force of will or otherwise.
In the sky shone two suns, and at night, a single moon of purest silver. As an infant, I recall looking at the vast skies and the stars that sparkled within them, and I would see a bird of rainbow plumage, whose name is long lost to me. Alongside her stood a dragon coloured of flame, rarely seen unless in the presence of the First Sun.
One fateful day, created by the kind hands of the First Sun and the Moon, were humans. I did not understand them. They would come to the forest to chop down my trees, and they would drink all the water from the lake and the river, and they were not very clean besides. I disliked them as a youth, for I did not understand them, yet the bird of rainbow — the Sky Guardian — and the dragon of flame were fond of them. Humans, however, fear that which they do not understand. Generations would pass, and humans would not be able to pass on the tales of their ancestors. They feared us. They feared the bird, and the dragon, and me most of all. I was merely something of a "teenager" then. We were monstrous to the weaker creatures, and thus we were scary. I kept away from their encampments so not to frighten them further, but when you are a deity as old as I, the land speaks to you. It made it simple to keep my eyes on many things, even if I was not present.
A temple was erected. A place of worship. On its doors were carved a bird, a dragon, and a moose, alongside twin suns and a moon. This, too, I did not understand. Why do humans revere that which they fear?
Soon, it would all come to fall. The Second Sun fell from the sky with a beam of inky light, and with it, it felled the Guardian of the Sky in a single instant. Between the bird's rainbow plumage, the stars followed, one by one, until they had drained from the skies. Beset with rage, the First Sun followed her sibling to confront him about his betrayal, on the back of the dragon of flame — their names were Beiwe and Sehul. Though they fought valiantly, the Second Sun was much too powerful; it killed Sehul and left them to rot, and when Beiwe fell from her mount, it shattered her halo. Injured, the First Sun fled back to the sky to try to salvage what she could, but it was too late.
A murk poured from the Second Sun, the False God, that day. Everything it touched rotted, including man itself, including the forests and the river and lake and everything else. It wiped out humanity as I had known it, taking the animals with it. At the time, I wagered I would die, too... but I had persisted. Out of rage for what was lost, and out of a will to take back what was mine, I had lived on. Through the Moon were the forests reborn, and as the forests flourished again, so too would man, some centuries later. The second age of man is merely where your tale begins, though they would not settle here until your Heimr and your Ydalir decided to, for the False God still roamed.
During this period, two sparks of life flourished: That of Callan, and that of Sinann. The Sun and the Moon sent a human to carve your Gargoyle, named then "Amun-Ra", a name lost to the annals of time by humankind... and I believe he himself does not know who he truly is. He would not wake for some time.
The crafty First Sun and Moon managed to seal the False God away within the temple's walls, and carved out the new Guardians on its stone face: The man, representing Callan, and the fish, representing Sinann. There it would remain for centuries more, where sometimes, this isle would receive visitors of other humans — most of which did not make it off the isle, due to Callan's tendencies to drag them into the lake. This is where Terho would come in to save Callan's life regardless, and where Callan would develop his obsession with the human. This is where Terho's family would later take him home in his old age, and this is where Sinann says they had returned to bury him next to his beloved.
Then, and only then, would your Heimr and your Ydalir appear, and decide to settle this place, to give it a name and a history again. Then, would outlanders appear for another moment, and then would they trifle with the temple, release the False God...
...and the rest, I believe you know. Another apocalypse, this one isolated. Another set of lives lost. The awakening of Amun-Ra, your "Zahliya", and the corruption of the remaining Guardians.
lore bomb incoming sorry-
"I did hear. If you do not mind a long tale... I am sorry for misunderstandings in the story I have told you. I will try to speak better."
[She will look in the window if she has to for those that choose to remain inside, but otherwise she's talking to those of you Outside.]
"Before your Heimr and your Ydalir, before the Grove was founded as you know it, there was only nature. I was merely an infant, a deity before I knew what a deity was, wandering these woods with my mother and siblings. When a spark ignites in a creature, it may ascend to something greater — by force of will or otherwise.
In the sky shone two suns, and at night, a single moon of purest silver. As an infant, I recall looking at the vast skies and the stars that sparkled within them, and I would see a bird of rainbow plumage, whose name is long lost to me. Alongside her stood a dragon coloured of flame, rarely seen unless in the presence of the First Sun.
One fateful day, created by the kind hands of the First Sun and the Moon, were humans. I did not understand them. They would come to the forest to chop down my trees, and they would drink all the water from the lake and the river, and they were not very clean besides. I disliked them as a youth, for I did not understand them, yet the bird of rainbow — the Sky Guardian — and the dragon of flame were fond of them. Humans, however, fear that which they do not understand. Generations would pass, and humans would not be able to pass on the tales of their ancestors. They feared us. They feared the bird, and the dragon, and me most of all. I was merely something of a "teenager" then. We were monstrous to the weaker creatures, and thus we were scary. I kept away from their encampments so not to frighten them further, but when you are a deity as old as I, the land speaks to you. It made it simple to keep my eyes on many things, even if I was not present.
A temple was erected. A place of worship. On its doors were carved a bird, a dragon, and a moose, alongside twin suns and a moon. This, too, I did not understand. Why do humans revere that which they fear?
Soon, it would all come to fall. The Second Sun fell from the sky with a beam of inky light, and with it, it felled the Guardian of the Sky in a single instant. Between the bird's rainbow plumage, the stars followed, one by one, until they had drained from the skies. Beset with rage, the First Sun followed her sibling to confront him about his betrayal, on the back of the dragon of flame — their names were Beiwe and Sehul. Though they fought valiantly, the Second Sun was much too powerful; it killed Sehul and left them to rot, and when Beiwe fell from her mount, it shattered her halo. Injured, the First Sun fled back to the sky to try to salvage what she could, but it was too late.
A murk poured from the Second Sun, the False God, that day. Everything it touched rotted, including man itself, including the forests and the river and lake and everything else. It wiped out humanity as I had known it, taking the animals with it. At the time, I wagered I would die, too... but I had persisted. Out of rage for what was lost, and out of a will to take back what was mine, I had lived on. Through the Moon were the forests reborn, and as the forests flourished again, so too would man, some centuries later. The second age of man is merely where your tale begins, though they would not settle here until your Heimr and your Ydalir decided to, for the False God still roamed.
During this period, two sparks of life flourished: That of Callan, and that of Sinann. The Sun and the Moon sent a human to carve your Gargoyle, named then "Amun-Ra", a name lost to the annals of time by humankind... and I believe he himself does not know who he truly is. He would not wake for some time.
The crafty First Sun and Moon managed to seal the False God away within the temple's walls, and carved out the new Guardians on its stone face: The man, representing Callan, and the fish, representing Sinann. There it would remain for centuries more, where sometimes, this isle would receive visitors of other humans — most of which did not make it off the isle, due to Callan's tendencies to drag them into the lake. This is where Terho would come in to save Callan's life regardless, and where Callan would develop his obsession with the human. This is where Terho's family would later take him home in his old age, and this is where Sinann says they had returned to bury him next to his beloved.
Then, and only then, would your Heimr and your Ydalir appear, and decide to settle this place, to give it a name and a history again. Then, would outlanders appear for another moment, and then would they trifle with the temple, release the False God...
...and the rest, I believe you know. Another apocalypse, this one isolated. Another set of lives lost. The awakening of Amun-Ra, your "Zahliya", and the corruption of the remaining Guardians.