~Creation~
Once, a group of souls floated and simply existed without vessels. There was no universe. There were no planets. These souls simply existed, waiting for one of their number to give these beings form. Even though they were simply souls, they eventually created relationships with one another, communicating the only way souls can. Their personalities grew and stabilized until they began to gain their own kind of power. This power gave them the ability to warp their shape, give them color, they knew it was only a matter of time until they could give themselves form.
After waiting eons, one such soul gave himself form. He transformed himself into a large black dragon whose wings covered the blank space they existed in. He dubbed himself Kosmos and appointed three of his closest comrades as his partners, giving them form as dragons as well.
They each took a scale from their armored skin and gave the four scales the form of a planet. A place to house the vessels of the rest of souls. A place to govern and call their own. They gathered the other souls awaiting transformation and gave them the form of spirits. These spirits would govern the more specific aspects of their new home, Veshanna. To the stronger spirits, they granted the form of much smaller dragons.
Those first four souls are called the Titan Dragons.
~The Titan Dragons~
The Four Titan Dragons are the absolute rulers of Veshanna. They make sure that everything in their creation has balance. Each Titan is given a specific area of governing.
Kosmos casts his wings over the planet, giving it a night sky. The stars are small porous holes in his wings, giving the inhabitants tiny peeks of what the Titans' world was like before they created Veshanna. Kosmos watches his beloved creation with the eye of a loving father. If one is blessed enough, he may even pay them a visit. He has been known to take human form and converse with his subjects when the time calls for it. Despite his overwhelming presence, when he does appear to someone, they say it's as though they are speaking with a good friend.
He created the sun not long after Terameas agreed to be his wife. The sun is an expression of his love for his creation and for Terameas. He made sure that the sun had the power to grant life to his wife's followers and give hope to the races of Veshanna. Kosmos also created the race of Earthly Dragons who rule under him wherever he appoints them.
Terameas is Kosmos's wife. She governs the earth, the land, and all plants and animals that inhabit it. She has also been known to take human form and visit her followers, but these occassions are more rare than when Kosmos takes human form. Her presence is more of a practical mothering figure. She loves all those connected to her and wants them all to be happy. In her reign as overseer of the earth, the forests, the mountains, and the plants and animals that inhabit them, she has only made one race of people. These people are called the Alexani. They have a stronger connection to the earth than even elves. Those who have had the chance to see them say that they are even half plant.
Merius is the king of the sea. He has a stubborn and strict personality, much befitting to a younger sibling, thus all his followers call him Kosmos's younger brother even though none of the Titans have no blood relation to one another. He appears to seafaring travelers when they merit saving from a storm. Those who have seen him say that all their emotions are cleared and they think more clearly about their problems, and all their goals seem more attainable. He also governs streams, rivers, lakes, and any other body of water. To those followers, he usually appears when they're down on their luck and have proved themself to be worthy of his approval. Merius does not like to dwell on emotions. He believes them to cause evasion of critical thinking and having one's thoughts orangized.
Escaremis was the keeper and spirit of all intelligent races. She created the humans, the elves, the dwarves, the merpeople, and the race granted flight, the Corani. She was the most beloved of the Titans among these races. She appeared before all her priests and priestesses, she appeared in her struggling followers' dreams, she watched over her people non-stop.
However, more recently, her followers have noticed a change. Her presence is no longer felt. Many speculate that she is contemplating another race to create. Others reluctantly believe that she's somehow passed from her station as a Titan and is now searching for a new vessel to inhabit.
In reality, the dragon Kenelm killed her. Being the most benevolent Titan, she was more vulnerable to his attack and fell victim to his evil ambitions. The people of Veshanna are unaware of this, but they still support their Titans and wish for Escaremis's return.
~The Spirits~
There are several different types of Spirits that govern the Titans' precious lands. Wolf Spirits watch over the forests, Dolphin Spirits the oceans, Lizzard Spirits the desert. These beings have similar abilites as dragons. They can take on human form, when not in human form, they speak with other beings through telepathy. They are part of the original group of souls when Veshanna was created and possess great amounts of wisdom, thus people seek their advice when Earthly Dragons and Titan Dragons do not help. They can communicate with any being: plants, microorganisms. They can speak any language, and know every culture in Veshanna. Usually, Spirits are very benevolent and willing to help, but there are always exceptions.
~The Alexani~
The Alexani is the small race created specifically for Princess Alexis. They were created to be immortal and exist on a plane somewhere between humans and Spirits. They are immortal and can take on the form of any plant, sink into the earth, commune with plants and beings connected to the earth much like Spirits, but they cannot take on completely inhuman shapes. When their queen passed away, they sunk into hiding, keeping to themselves. More recently, since Escaremis's death, they have emerged again, taking on roles as priests, counselors, and advisors to the other races. They are saddened by their queen's death and a Titan's death, but they see it as their duty to serve their creator Terameas in her time of need.
~The Corani~
The Corani is the special race of winged people that Escaremis created for Kosmos. Although these creatures cannot reach the shelter of Kosmos's wings, they consider themselves his followers as well as Escaremis's. They have many different arrays of wings. Scaled wings like those of a dragon, veined wings like a butterfly's, feathered like a bird's, metal, wood, anything. Their wings express their personality. For example, a war-loving Coranus would have pointed metal wings to use in battle. They are just as diverse as any other intelligent race in Veshanna except that they know how it feels to soar among the birds and the Eagle Spirits.
~Kenelm~
None of Veshanna's people know this, but Kenelm was once a Titan Dragon. The other four Titans erased his existence in the minds of all their followers. Kenelm was originally assigned to watch over the dead of Veshanna, picking up where Escaremis's duties left off. He was the strongest of the Earthly Dragons and had proved himself a good leader. After a few centuries of seeing Escaremis's followers love her and respect her as they did, Kenelm decided to create undead races to have them as followers. He took a handful that had already passed on and created vampires, werewolves, and demons. When he created these creatures, he gave them the power to make more of their number. However, the vampires and werewolves did not worship him as he wanted. The demons did. The demons created chaos and disorder wherever they went.
Princess Alexis, a half-elf half-human heir to a faroff throne, stood up tot he demons and destroyed the demon Kenelm had appointed as leader, Phantos. The rest of the demons went after her and almost killed her, but Terameas created the Alexani, destroying the rest of the demons, and leaving the Alexani for Alexis to govern.
When Kenelm returned to his companions, however, Kosmos stripped off his playful facade and demoted Kenelm to a mere soul once again. After eons of waiting and nursing his hatred, skewing his once brilliant mind, Kenelm has given his soul form once again. He found a way through Kosmos's wings as well, and killed Escaremis, the one Titan Dragon he always wanted to be.
~An Outsider~
Serafina Langston is a young woman with a clouded past. When she was an infant, she was left at the doorstep of the Langston Community Orphanage. Her former caregiver hadn't left a note telling the directors of the orphanage her name, so they decided to call her Serafina because her eyes were bright blue like an angel's. She met her best friend Sam at the age of three and the two were inseperable since. Neither of the two were ever adopted by the time they reached age 18, so they both took on the last name Langston, the name of their only home. They struck out on their own, going to college, completing matching degrees in Illustration and English. They planned on completing their Master's Degrees together as well, but Sam's weak constitution struck her down. She spent the last few months of her life in a hospital bed, and finally left the physical world with Serafina by her side.
Serafina missed Sam terribly, but she knew that she had to carry on. She finished her Master's and got a few interviews with some comic book companies. She wanted to tell stories as both her talents entailed. However, fate would again hinder her plans.
After arriving home and discovering that many of her electronic devices were missing. She shrugged it off, though, promptly falling asleep, grasping a picture of her deceased friend. After drifting off to sleep for a moment or two, she found herself in a very strange place. A young man named Lysander introduced himself and explained that his grandmother had summoned her there. After concluding that Lysander and his family were not dangerous and that she was indeed not dreaming, she found that she was faced with another dilemma.
Palliva, Lysander's grandmother explained that the reason she had summoned Serafina to this new world where magic wasn't only possible but everywhere was that she had been given visions of the future where Serafina would save this strange world of Veshanna. Sensing that Serafina was confused on how exactly to save Veshanna, Palliva explained that in her vision, she saw Serafina defeating Kenelm with a strange new power that she would somehow acquire.
Serafina decided that it would be best to just go with the flow and wing it for the time being. However, the next morning, she recieved a distressing dream from a Wolf Spirit claiming to have lost her name. A Spirit's name is the source of their power. One can simply say a Spirit's name and be able to communicate with it; if a Spirit doesn't hear their name after a certain amount of time, they die and take their land with them. Apparently, an evil sorceror had taken this Spirit's name from everyone's minds and ears. The Wolf Spirit said that she could tell that Serafina had the power to find out her name. Thinking that maybe this would be the perfect way to better understand Veshanna, she decided to save the Wolf Spirit.
She and Lysander, who she just found out was a Captain of Bloodsbane, set out to the nearby mountain range where local legend said the Spirit was trapped. On the way out of town, they encountered an old rival of Lysander's, Vitalis who was an Assistant Captain of Bird of the Dawn. After shaking off their constant squabbling, she took out her recovered mp3 player and was able to concentrate. After entering a cave in the mountain and following a hollowed-out entrance, she was finally able to decipher the forest's speech and found out that the Spirit's name was Lenari.
As was expected, the return of a Spirit's power created somewhat of a ripple in Veshanna's energy, drawing attention to Lenari's forest and Serafina. Fearing Kenelm may track them down, Lenari suggested they leave. Lysander and Vitalis volunteered to accompany Serafina on her journey. Now these four are running from Kenelm. However, Serafina knows that she won't be running for long.
~Bloodsbane and Bird of the Dawn~
The Orders of Bloodsbane and Bird of the Dawn are two rivalling orders who have the same goal in mind but different philosophies and ways of reaching it. Both orders are in place for the safety and well-being of the citizens of Veshanna. Both are very dedicated to the people they are protecting and the Titans they protect them for, however, as people often will, they have irresolvable differences.
The Order of Bloodsbane is the older of the two, that is undeniable. At first, the order was set up to simply protect the helpless from the scourge of Vampires, hence the name "Bloodsbane". Even though the Vampires refused to worship Kenelm like the Demons, this did not mean they didn't cause their own brand of chaos. The small gathering of magic-using citizens and warriors grew and grew for over a hundred years. As it grew, the leaders developed new ways of doing things. Bases were placed everywhere they could be. If the inhabitants of a location for a base were against the base, the Order would send spies to live there, recieve secret messages, and relay information whenever necassary. New Branches and positions set up along with these new bases. The criteria for a promotion usually depended on an officer's direct superior's consent. Thus, politics ensued. The system for promotions changed so that at least for other superiors of the same station but no relation to the candidate for the position had to give their unanimous consent.
After watching all this develop, a small group of low-ranking officers who just couldn't seem to get those promotions they'd been waiting for decided to start their own order called Bird of the Dawn. There was an old story going around that the sun wasn't really a star that Kosmos had cast for his love of Termeas, but a large bird that he had cast to sing the world awake with its beautiful bright rays of light, thus they named their order "The Bird of the Dawn." The new founders made it to where anyone could join their new order. This did allow for spies and intrigue, but the order had so many members that were truly for their mission, these occurences didn't last long.
On rare occasions, these two orders work together on a project they were both assigned. However, usually these instances end in senseless bickering.
~Magical Devices~
Once, a group of souls floated and simply existed without vessels. There was no universe. There were no planets. These souls simply existed, waiting for one of their number to give these beings form. Even though they were simply souls, they eventually created relationships with one another, communicating the only way souls can. Their personalities grew and stabilized until they began to gain their own kind of power. This power gave them the ability to warp their shape, give them color, they knew it was only a matter of time until they could give themselves form.
After waiting eons, one such soul gave himself form. He transformed himself into a large black dragon whose wings covered the blank space they existed in. He dubbed himself Kosmos and appointed three of his closest comrades as his partners, giving them form as dragons as well.
They each took a scale from their armored skin and gave the four scales the form of a planet. A place to house the vessels of the rest of souls. A place to govern and call their own. They gathered the other souls awaiting transformation and gave them the form of spirits. These spirits would govern the more specific aspects of their new home, Veshanna. To the stronger spirits, they granted the form of much smaller dragons.
Those first four souls are called the Titan Dragons.
~The Titan Dragons~
The Four Titan Dragons are the absolute rulers of Veshanna. They make sure that everything in their creation has balance. Each Titan is given a specific area of governing.
Kosmos casts his wings over the planet, giving it a night sky. The stars are small porous holes in his wings, giving the inhabitants tiny peeks of what the Titans' world was like before they created Veshanna. Kosmos watches his beloved creation with the eye of a loving father. If one is blessed enough, he may even pay them a visit. He has been known to take human form and converse with his subjects when the time calls for it. Despite his overwhelming presence, when he does appear to someone, they say it's as though they are speaking with a good friend.
He created the sun not long after Terameas agreed to be his wife. The sun is an expression of his love for his creation and for Terameas. He made sure that the sun had the power to grant life to his wife's followers and give hope to the races of Veshanna. Kosmos also created the race of Earthly Dragons who rule under him wherever he appoints them.
Terameas is Kosmos's wife. She governs the earth, the land, and all plants and animals that inhabit it. She has also been known to take human form and visit her followers, but these occassions are more rare than when Kosmos takes human form. Her presence is more of a practical mothering figure. She loves all those connected to her and wants them all to be happy. In her reign as overseer of the earth, the forests, the mountains, and the plants and animals that inhabit them, she has only made one race of people. These people are called the Alexani. They have a stronger connection to the earth than even elves. Those who have had the chance to see them say that they are even half plant.
Merius is the king of the sea. He has a stubborn and strict personality, much befitting to a younger sibling, thus all his followers call him Kosmos's younger brother even though none of the Titans have no blood relation to one another. He appears to seafaring travelers when they merit saving from a storm. Those who have seen him say that all their emotions are cleared and they think more clearly about their problems, and all their goals seem more attainable. He also governs streams, rivers, lakes, and any other body of water. To those followers, he usually appears when they're down on their luck and have proved themself to be worthy of his approval. Merius does not like to dwell on emotions. He believes them to cause evasion of critical thinking and having one's thoughts orangized.
Escaremis was the keeper and spirit of all intelligent races. She created the humans, the elves, the dwarves, the merpeople, and the race granted flight, the Corani. She was the most beloved of the Titans among these races. She appeared before all her priests and priestesses, she appeared in her struggling followers' dreams, she watched over her people non-stop.
However, more recently, her followers have noticed a change. Her presence is no longer felt. Many speculate that she is contemplating another race to create. Others reluctantly believe that she's somehow passed from her station as a Titan and is now searching for a new vessel to inhabit.
In reality, the dragon Kenelm killed her. Being the most benevolent Titan, she was more vulnerable to his attack and fell victim to his evil ambitions. The people of Veshanna are unaware of this, but they still support their Titans and wish for Escaremis's return.
~The Spirits~
There are several different types of Spirits that govern the Titans' precious lands. Wolf Spirits watch over the forests, Dolphin Spirits the oceans, Lizzard Spirits the desert. These beings have similar abilites as dragons. They can take on human form, when not in human form, they speak with other beings through telepathy. They are part of the original group of souls when Veshanna was created and possess great amounts of wisdom, thus people seek their advice when Earthly Dragons and Titan Dragons do not help. They can communicate with any being: plants, microorganisms. They can speak any language, and know every culture in Veshanna. Usually, Spirits are very benevolent and willing to help, but there are always exceptions.
~The Alexani~
The Alexani is the small race created specifically for Princess Alexis. They were created to be immortal and exist on a plane somewhere between humans and Spirits. They are immortal and can take on the form of any plant, sink into the earth, commune with plants and beings connected to the earth much like Spirits, but they cannot take on completely inhuman shapes. When their queen passed away, they sunk into hiding, keeping to themselves. More recently, since Escaremis's death, they have emerged again, taking on roles as priests, counselors, and advisors to the other races. They are saddened by their queen's death and a Titan's death, but they see it as their duty to serve their creator Terameas in her time of need.
~The Corani~
The Corani is the special race of winged people that Escaremis created for Kosmos. Although these creatures cannot reach the shelter of Kosmos's wings, they consider themselves his followers as well as Escaremis's. They have many different arrays of wings. Scaled wings like those of a dragon, veined wings like a butterfly's, feathered like a bird's, metal, wood, anything. Their wings express their personality. For example, a war-loving Coranus would have pointed metal wings to use in battle. They are just as diverse as any other intelligent race in Veshanna except that they know how it feels to soar among the birds and the Eagle Spirits.
~Kenelm~
None of Veshanna's people know this, but Kenelm was once a Titan Dragon. The other four Titans erased his existence in the minds of all their followers. Kenelm was originally assigned to watch over the dead of Veshanna, picking up where Escaremis's duties left off. He was the strongest of the Earthly Dragons and had proved himself a good leader. After a few centuries of seeing Escaremis's followers love her and respect her as they did, Kenelm decided to create undead races to have them as followers. He took a handful that had already passed on and created vampires, werewolves, and demons. When he created these creatures, he gave them the power to make more of their number. However, the vampires and werewolves did not worship him as he wanted. The demons did. The demons created chaos and disorder wherever they went.
Princess Alexis, a half-elf half-human heir to a faroff throne, stood up tot he demons and destroyed the demon Kenelm had appointed as leader, Phantos. The rest of the demons went after her and almost killed her, but Terameas created the Alexani, destroying the rest of the demons, and leaving the Alexani for Alexis to govern.
When Kenelm returned to his companions, however, Kosmos stripped off his playful facade and demoted Kenelm to a mere soul once again. After eons of waiting and nursing his hatred, skewing his once brilliant mind, Kenelm has given his soul form once again. He found a way through Kosmos's wings as well, and killed Escaremis, the one Titan Dragon he always wanted to be.
~An Outsider~
Serafina Langston is a young woman with a clouded past. When she was an infant, she was left at the doorstep of the Langston Community Orphanage. Her former caregiver hadn't left a note telling the directors of the orphanage her name, so they decided to call her Serafina because her eyes were bright blue like an angel's. She met her best friend Sam at the age of three and the two were inseperable since. Neither of the two were ever adopted by the time they reached age 18, so they both took on the last name Langston, the name of their only home. They struck out on their own, going to college, completing matching degrees in Illustration and English. They planned on completing their Master's Degrees together as well, but Sam's weak constitution struck her down. She spent the last few months of her life in a hospital bed, and finally left the physical world with Serafina by her side.
Serafina missed Sam terribly, but she knew that she had to carry on. She finished her Master's and got a few interviews with some comic book companies. She wanted to tell stories as both her talents entailed. However, fate would again hinder her plans.
After arriving home and discovering that many of her electronic devices were missing. She shrugged it off, though, promptly falling asleep, grasping a picture of her deceased friend. After drifting off to sleep for a moment or two, she found herself in a very strange place. A young man named Lysander introduced himself and explained that his grandmother had summoned her there. After concluding that Lysander and his family were not dangerous and that she was indeed not dreaming, she found that she was faced with another dilemma.
Palliva, Lysander's grandmother explained that the reason she had summoned Serafina to this new world where magic wasn't only possible but everywhere was that she had been given visions of the future where Serafina would save this strange world of Veshanna. Sensing that Serafina was confused on how exactly to save Veshanna, Palliva explained that in her vision, she saw Serafina defeating Kenelm with a strange new power that she would somehow acquire.
Serafina decided that it would be best to just go with the flow and wing it for the time being. However, the next morning, she recieved a distressing dream from a Wolf Spirit claiming to have lost her name. A Spirit's name is the source of their power. One can simply say a Spirit's name and be able to communicate with it; if a Spirit doesn't hear their name after a certain amount of time, they die and take their land with them. Apparently, an evil sorceror had taken this Spirit's name from everyone's minds and ears. The Wolf Spirit said that she could tell that Serafina had the power to find out her name. Thinking that maybe this would be the perfect way to better understand Veshanna, she decided to save the Wolf Spirit.
She and Lysander, who she just found out was a Captain of Bloodsbane, set out to the nearby mountain range where local legend said the Spirit was trapped. On the way out of town, they encountered an old rival of Lysander's, Vitalis who was an Assistant Captain of Bird of the Dawn. After shaking off their constant squabbling, she took out her recovered mp3 player and was able to concentrate. After entering a cave in the mountain and following a hollowed-out entrance, she was finally able to decipher the forest's speech and found out that the Spirit's name was Lenari.
As was expected, the return of a Spirit's power created somewhat of a ripple in Veshanna's energy, drawing attention to Lenari's forest and Serafina. Fearing Kenelm may track them down, Lenari suggested they leave. Lysander and Vitalis volunteered to accompany Serafina on her journey. Now these four are running from Kenelm. However, Serafina knows that she won't be running for long.
~Bloodsbane and Bird of the Dawn~
The Orders of Bloodsbane and Bird of the Dawn are two rivalling orders who have the same goal in mind but different philosophies and ways of reaching it. Both orders are in place for the safety and well-being of the citizens of Veshanna. Both are very dedicated to the people they are protecting and the Titans they protect them for, however, as people often will, they have irresolvable differences.
The Order of Bloodsbane is the older of the two, that is undeniable. At first, the order was set up to simply protect the helpless from the scourge of Vampires, hence the name "Bloodsbane". Even though the Vampires refused to worship Kenelm like the Demons, this did not mean they didn't cause their own brand of chaos. The small gathering of magic-using citizens and warriors grew and grew for over a hundred years. As it grew, the leaders developed new ways of doing things. Bases were placed everywhere they could be. If the inhabitants of a location for a base were against the base, the Order would send spies to live there, recieve secret messages, and relay information whenever necassary. New Branches and positions set up along with these new bases. The criteria for a promotion usually depended on an officer's direct superior's consent. Thus, politics ensued. The system for promotions changed so that at least for other superiors of the same station but no relation to the candidate for the position had to give their unanimous consent.
After watching all this develop, a small group of low-ranking officers who just couldn't seem to get those promotions they'd been waiting for decided to start their own order called Bird of the Dawn. There was an old story going around that the sun wasn't really a star that Kosmos had cast for his love of Termeas, but a large bird that he had cast to sing the world awake with its beautiful bright rays of light, thus they named their order "The Bird of the Dawn." The new founders made it to where anyone could join their new order. This did allow for spies and intrigue, but the order had so many members that were truly for their mission, these occurences didn't last long.
On rare occasions, these two orders work together on a project they were both assigned. However, usually these instances end in senseless bickering.
~Magical Devices~
Magical Devices are spherical stone orbs of varying sizes that help non-magic-using citizens of Veshanna use magic. Magic-users cast spells and transfer their energy into these easy-to-carry stones so that their fellow Veshannites may have easier lives.
These devices usually only have one purpose that they can perform. The more complicated the task, the more expensive these items are. There are so many different kinds of Magical Devices that the large majority of them do not have specific names.
There is one specific device that was given a name that everyone knows. That is the Circumstone. The Circumstone is the magical device that allows the user to teleport to any specific place. The most basic Circumstone simply allows the transportation, but more advanced and more expensive Circumstones allow the user to survey the area they wish to be transported to so as to see exactly where they wish to be deposited.
These devices usually only have one purpose that they can perform. The more complicated the task, the more expensive these items are. There are so many different kinds of Magical Devices that the large majority of them do not have specific names.
There is one specific device that was given a name that everyone knows. That is the Circumstone. The Circumstone is the magical device that allows the user to teleport to any specific place. The most basic Circumstone simply allows the transportation, but more advanced and more expensive Circumstones allow the user to survey the area they wish to be transported to so as to see exactly where they wish to be deposited.
