For those living in Circadia’s current age, 535 Sela, The Blood War remains tremendous in the kingdom’s history. Sometimes called The War of Gods and The War of Beasts, The Blood War shaped the current landscape and, 35 years since the war itself, the kingdom remains in active recovery.
In brief, The Blood War, which occurred in the year 500 Sela, marked the solidification of the current Pantheon, including the ascension of T’Zyri and the fall of Hyrnedhna and T’rer. The Pantheon is the governing body of Gods and, moreover, the Gods best able to confer their power to Mortals.
Prior to the Blood War, The Pantheon was ruled by T’rer, the deity of justice and truth. Underneath T’rer, The Twins (Steramestei and Kasamei), Nepheris, Mynair, Beodhen, and Hyrnedhna governed different Realms. Most powerful of the gods were T’Rer, Mynair, Hyrnedhna, and The Twins. Nepheris and Beodhen, as deities connected to T’Rer’s own purview, were minor gods. T’Zyri, the sister of T’Rer, was a lesser God absent, alongside Verine and Gu’labir, from the formal Pantheon.
It is no secret that Beodhen, in particular, chafed under T’rer’s structure. Known as the most beautiful of the gods, Beodhen attracted many followers, particularly political leaders and warriors. Moreover, Beodhen served as the consort to Mynair, the Sea Maiden and the most beloved of the deities. In short, Beodhen, reflecting on his own power, found it unfair that he ought be ruled by another God.
It is unclear what the other Gods thought of the structure, however. T’rer was respected by his followers, and his allegiance to truth and justice influenced the kingdom. Mynair and Hyrnedhna were largely forces of nature, and T’rer respected that their activities were outside his own talent. The Twins, more concerned with the realm of dreams and death, remained quiet on the issue, though it is known both Steramestei and Kasamei, on separate occasions, offered Prophecy to Beodhen. Nepheris seemingly understood his brother’s frustration, but felt no need to change his position–Nepheris, afterall, has long worked far behind the throne.
Regardless of all this, it is unclear if the politics of the former Pantheon had anything to do with The Blood War. (It is, of course, known that T’Zyri and Verine separately offered Beodhen counsel, alluding to the nature of patience and change.)
It is very clear how The Blood War started.
During the Summer of the Flood (500 Sela), a tragedy befell terrestrial creatures. Mynair, as the goddess of all waters, controlled the Mynaira, the creatures of the seas, lakes, streams, and waters. For reasons that remain unclear, and are likely unknowable, in 500 Sela, the Mynaira caused a great flood. This flood devastated the coastlines, including the coastal forests inhabited by Hyrnedhna’s creatures, the Hyrnedhnai. Hyrnedhnai were lost in great number and, in immediate retaliation, Hyrnedhna took to the seas. She slew Mynair and half the Mynaira, running the seas red with their blood.
The death of a God is no small matter, and T’rer, occupying the realm of vigilance and justice, was set to make a decision. Beodhen, unsurprisingly, demanded immediate justice by way of Hyrnedhna’s execution. Only Steramestei offered her opinion equally publicly: she conceded that she would support the decision of the larger Pantheon, even if that was not how things were usually done. T’rer counseled with only T’Zyri, Nepheris, and Kasamei. While it is unknown what his sister, The Hanged Man, and the Shadow Twin said, it is known that T’rer ruled Hyrnedhna’s action just: while Mynair may not have intended for the floods to kill Hyrnedhna’s followers, she nevertheless was responsible for the Mynaira; Hyrnedhna acted as any God might–she protected her followers.
Beodhen flew into an immediate rage. He condemned the murder of Mynair. Moreover, perhaps borrowing from Steramestei, he criticized the ability of one God, in this case T’Rer, to determine fairness among their peers. Beodhen called up arms against Hyrnedhna and, should he maintain the ruling, T’rer. T’rer refused to change his ruling and braced himself for a war–a war that, as all wars do, would occur in the Mortal realm. T’rer, aware of Beodhen’s large following but comforted by the number of his own devotees, asked for the other God’s support as he readied for a battle he assumed would be swift.
The Twins adamantly refused to engage in the violent conflict–they forbid their followers from joining the war efforts, and any followers who did were forsaken by the two gods. Nevertheless, Steramestei and Kasamei both agreed with Beodhen’s critique: no God should have the power to determine, unilaterally, the actions of the Pantheon.
Nepheris, bound in service as arbiter of the Pantheon, remained neutral, neither commanding nor prohibiting his followers from engaging in the conflict. However, so too did Nepheris support the Sisters. It seemed, he remarked, strange that a single God, even a God of truth and justice, might determine the fate of Gods and, by necessity, the larger Mortal realm.
Only Hyrnedhna, accompanied by her large number of Beasts, responded unquestioningly to T’rer. However, she had but one mission: to cut through any army that might prevent her from slaying Beodhen personally.
T’rer, regardless of his other flaws, was just. He agreed that since, of the six gods, four determined him unfit to rule, he would abdicate his seat on the Pantheon. He would wage his war as Hyrnedhna had–as an independent God.
T’rer had prepared himself for war, but had not prepared himself for Beodhen. Beodhen’s called his followers and, moreover, offered all followers of Mynair his Blessing. He promised her followers that, should he win the war in her honor, he would not only offer them his power, but hold her memory in official regard. His war efforts were almost unanimously supported by his followers, as well as those of Mynair. Moreover, many supporters of Nepheris largely rallied to support Beodhen. While T’rer army was occupied by the most stalwart of knights and Hyrnedhna’s considerable (if reduced) forces, it did not equal Beodhen’s. Beodhen was supported by ranks of seafarers, great warriors, public leaders, and, thanks to his brother’s followers, the everyday laborers that made supply of weapons, food, and routes possible. T’rer was caught off guard.
So too was he caught off-guard by his sister, T’zyri. Known as The Beautiful One, T’Zyri had long been overshadowed by her brother. T’rer and T’Zyri were the twin children of their father T’Merim, an elder God long lost to Mortals. However, the two children occupied a privileged position: like their father before them, they oversaw all Knowledge of the waking world. They were different in their approach. Whereas T’rer oversaw the Realms of Knowledge, Truth, and Justice, T’Zyri focused on the subtler edges of Knowledge as determined by Truth and Memory. Never popular among the Mortals, T’Zyri, since her brother’s rise to power, was rarely consulted or acknowledged by the other Gods. Only Beodhen, in his pursuit of perfection, would regularly ask her advice. (It is rumored that T’Zyri was likely one of Beodhen’s divine lovers and quite likely a Consort-in-Waiting, but these rumors have never been confirmed. As is perhaps obvious, T’Zyri’s current countenance rules any possibility of such a relationship impossible.)
T’rer was known for his self-assurance and, likely, he assumed his sister would support his war effort. Such self-assurance was ill guided: T’Zyri declared herself neutral in violent matters but commanded her followers to provided Beodhen’s armies with her greatest asset: knowledge. The few followers of T’Zyri did so readily, and Beodhen’s most ardent found themselves with tomes detailing T’rer’s tactical plans, weaknesses, and strengths.
And so, for Beodhen, the battle was swift, if horrific in its scale and scope. The final battle marked Beodhen’s tremendous victory: Hyrnedhna and her troops, exhausted by the war effort, confronted Beodhen’s reduced by impressive troops. Using Hyrnedhna’s own words against her, Beodhen asked if Hyrnedhna was prepared for she and her remaining followers to be slaughtered. Or, following her testimony, would she defend her followers from certain death?
Beodhen, witnessed by Nepheris, promised Hyrnedhna that, should she step down and abdicate her power, he would spare her. Moreover, he would claim the title King of Beasts and, accordingly, offer her remaining followers not only life but power.
As Hyrnedhna stood against Beodhen, a quiet voice came from behind, whispering something in Hyrnedhna’s ear. To this day, no one knows what truth T’Zyri spoke to the Wild Queen. They do know that, within moments, Hyrnedhna’s poisonous claws raked the goddess across the face–the last moments of Hyrnedhna’s power unseated The Beautiful One, but gave rise to T’Zyri, The Secret Keeper, as she is now known.
Hyrnedhna was forced into dormancy. Beodhen did as he said and claimed not only control of the Mynaira, but also Hyrnedhna’s wild creatures, the Hyrnedhnai. He likewise abandoned his title, The Golden Prince, and seized the title The King of Beasts.
While it is reported that Beodhen was disgusted by T’Zyri’s newly scarred countenance, he nonetheless offered her her brother’s seat on The Pantheon. Under Nepheris’s guidance, T’zyri and Beodhen then advocated for equal power among all Pantheon gods as based on the strength of their followers. This put Beodhen in a powerful position, though not enough to topple the popularity of Nepheris or Kasamei. It was an agreeable solution for the Pantheon.
And so, Beodhen, T’Zyri, Nepheris, Kasamei, and Steramestei have come to rule the Mortal World, and The Blood War came to a staggering and tumultuous end.
An end whose consequence is not yet fully felt.
Zealot Larp 