The Mythic History of Anasta

Some version of the following folklore is spoken by most peoples in Anasta, recounting oral histories stretching back millennia.

The Genesis

In the expanse of the Original Night swam the Twin Serpents, the Dragon of the Heavens and the Dragon of the Deep. As they played, they stirred the Night, and the Night became the Ether that bound all together. As they fought, the Ether trembled and shook, separating the Sea from the Sky. As they slept, they shed their scales which floated between Sea and Sky becoming the Land. As they dreamt, their inner light became the Sun.

When they awoke, they saw what they had wrought and breathed life into their creation. The plants, the animals, the fungi, and the tiny ones came to be. This new life played and fought and slept and dreamt just like their creators. This was Eos, the world before. It was truly a wonder, but Eos required constant care and it tired the Dragons to continually tend to their creation. The Dragons needed to sleep, but could not without the world coming to ruin and dissolving back into the Night. The Twin Serpents empowered the Alabaster Peoples with the knowledge of the Ether to guide Eos while the Dragons slept. These First Ones to rise above were the Archons. Their place on the Land was called the Moon, and the Moon was a testament to—and celebration of—their creators.

The Archons

The Crystal City of the Moon gleamed and glittered with the inner light of the Archons as a beacon for all life. The Archons held the Serpents’ charge to perfection, guiding the world in a beautiful and awe-inspiring balance. In time, the Archons’ mastery of the Ether was codified in their Psience and embodied in their Ethertech. To better serve their creators while the Dragons slept, they used their Ethertech to lift the Crystal City into the air for all to see, and to overlook greater vistas of creation. They lifted up their own charges with the knowledge of Ether—the lupine Children of the Moon—and empowered them to guard, protect, and oversee the Archons’ remaining outposts on the Land while they took toward the Sky.

When the Archons saw the wonder from their new perspective, they wanted to see more. Higher and higher they lifted the Moon. Soon it was in the Sky itself and they saw the entirety of Land, Sky, and Sea…but they wanted and wondered more. Is this all the Dragons saw? Was there anything beyond this? Was there more hidden from their view, or even the Great Serpents’ eyes? The Archons’ curiosity and ambition took the Moon higher and higher, and they were rewarded with witnessing greater and greater wonders. It is said they even glimpsed the outline of another Eos before they collided with the sleeping Dragon of the Sky.

The Moonfall

What happened next changed the world forever. The Dragon awoke in confusion and rage. Believing its sibling Serpent was teasing it awake, the Great Dragon of the Sky bellowed and sent its glittering stars streaking through the Ether toward the Dragon of the Sea. Instead of striking the Deep One, however, the stars hit the flying Moon. The greatest explosion any had ever witnessed—or ever will witness—filled the sky with a blinding light. The Crystal City fractured: One half fragmented and remained in the Sky, while the other half shattered into innumerable shards and rained down upon the Land and Sea. The Moonfall churned paradise into chaos.

The Age of Darkness

As the world staggered and seethed from the impacting fragments of the Moon, the Ethertech embedded in them was loosed and wreaked havoc on everything in Eos. The land and sea changed places. Mountains grew from the earth, then would transform into twisting masses of creatures, then melt into water and magma, only to repeat with no rhyme or reason. Genetic mutations and variations of many creatures—including the human peoples—quickly rose and fell in the span of ten generations. These were the Generations of Chaos. Many forms of life simply went extinct during this time. The ones that survived were forever changed in the uncontrolled release of the Archons’ Ethertech. Every living thing that survived the Generations of Chaos held some potential for psi—the control of Ether—and to innately unlock the secrets of Ethertech. Eos was no more, and the world of Erebos strove to restore a sense of stability.

The sky was dim and dark for hundreds of generations as the dust and debris from the Moonfall blocked the light of the Sun from fully illuminating the land. Relics of the Moon continued to fall, bringing with them the unknown. This Age of Darkness saw violent times and great wars marked by survival. As one or more groups accumulated power, another rose to take it down. Several times, humanoid life was on the verge of self-genocide through war. The darkest of these times was the All War, in which nearly all peoples of the world were drawn into deadly conflict. During the All War arose the tradition of the Shinshar Duel: Formal, single combat to the death that would decide the fate of a violent conflict without driving all involved to extinction. Much remains unknown about the cultures, history, and peoples that did not survive the Age of Darkness, and mysterious cultural sites and ruins can be found throughout the world.

The Rebirth

In time the falling fragments of the Moon slowed, allowing the light of the Sun to return to the Land and Sea. What remained of the Moon in the Sky formed into the Glittering Ring, the Moonstone, and the Twins that encircle the world. New life flourished, and Erebos became Anasta: The World Reborn.

Now—10,000 years after the Moonfall—the world has stabilized but has never recovered the legendary glory of Eos and the Age of the Archons. Many generations removed from the original catastrophe, some have begun to see hope in the shimmering skies. While survival is still a concern, the peoples have found time for the pursuit of history, philosophy, and the arts. They wonder more deeply who the Archons were, and how they might harness the power of their Ethertech. They seek out artifacts in the fragments of the Moon that have fallen as well as those found in the ancient outposts of the First Ones. Collectively these treasures are known as Moonshards. Though many Moonshards are inert, some hold residual Etheric energy that can be utilized by anyone on Anasta. The most prized of Moonshards contain intact bits of the Archon’s Psience. These are known as Moon Relics, and often unlock new psionic potentials for those that are able to use them.

A few large settlements have risen, but many still live in smaller communities scattered throughout the world wherever resources can be found. Trade routes exist to carry resources from place to place; the most valuable of these are the Moonshards which empower technology and life forms alike. While anyone can trade in resources and Moonshards, a loose but powerful network of merchants known as the Guild oversees major trade routes. Transactions of any significant frequency or size quickly attract the hand of the Guild.

Beyond the Guild, other factions have arisen to influence the direction of Anasta. The Order of the Sun believe themselves to be the chosen successors to the Archons and look to usher in a new world with their Solartech. The Chantry uncovers new dimensions to seemingly damaged Moonshards through their strange songs. The Wilders are one with the creatures of Anasta, bringing together many who might be natural foes. A powerful gang of Chimeras named the Generation of Chaos fancy themselves the embodiment of destruction. The Moon Wardens keep their ancient charge to watch over the old places of the Archons. The Sisters of the Deep count their founding to before the Moonfall, and their unique Psience is said to be as ancient as the Archons themselves. The Peacekeepers attempt to prevent the world from repeating the All War and genocide. Then there are the Cursed, a shadowy group who embrace the blood of the Archons that runs in their veins and whose ultimate goal is unknown.

The Future

Between the “civilized” places are the great expanses of the world—wild, wondrous, and terrifying. You are a member of one of the many Cohorts who brave these places to help build a new world from the legacy of the Moonfall. While your Cohort may have an anchor in one of the larger settlements of Anasta, your calling makes you always part nomad…at least for now. While many join a Cohort out of the need for survival or a sense of adventure, some have other motivations. What are yours? What do you hope to bring to the world with Relics of the Moon?