Welcome to the Codex! Every Friday, we will focus on one topic from one of the upcoming books, or one of the books that have been published. The Codex will review what is commonly known about that topic in the world, even if just at a scholarly level. There will still be mysteries, but if you are interested in learning more about something you read in the book or in another blog post, the Codex is the way to go.
This is the second of a trilogy of posts on a series of foundational elements for the Twin Worlds setting; the first post appeared last week, and the third post will appear in the Codex next week.
Last week, we talked about the Trienorn, their arrival into the primal world, and their theft of divinity, with all its catastrophic consequences. We mentioned the Divine Wars, and later on, the Ledhrorn. These entities, in their own way, shaped the Twin Worlds after the end of the Third Age.
The Ledhrorn are often referred to as "children of the Trienorn" in the Fifth Age, but the term is imperfect. With two exceptions, the Ledhrorn were the greatest champions of the Trienorn during the Third Age, granted a measure of divine power and elevated to the rank of demigods to act as the generals of the Trienorn in the world. Unlike the Trienorn, they existed solely in the material world, and while their power was great, it was far less than that of their forebears. Most Ledhrorn were elevated by more than one Trienorn, for unknown reasons, and this has led to the misunderstanding that most Ledhrorn were physically spawned by those Trienorn.
Ledhrorn, like the Trienorn, were associated with portfolios that descended from their patrons; for instance, Ailanel became a demigoddess of air and weather due to the patronage of the Lady of Storms. Despite their power, however, in the Third Age several Ledhrorn were slain. These were buried with all honors, although dark rumors whispered that they refused to fully die, and that their undying corpses still crawl within their barrows, hungering for freedom and the lifeforce of other living beings, seeking to replace that which was taken from them.
Nonetheless, the Ledhrorn were also responsible for many victories of the Trienorn. When, at the end of the Third Age, the Trienorn resolved to fall into a trance to force the Lady into slumber, they entrusted the Ledhrorn with the charge of awakening them after the Lady was well and truly asleep. While not all Trienorn fully believed the Ledhrorn would do as told (perhaps remembering their own betrayal of the cosmos), this plan was implemented.
Unfortunately, those who didn't trust the Ledhrorn were correct. The demigods, tired of being seen as tools by many of their forebears, chose not to awaken the Trienorn, and to rule the world in their stead. Two of them - Hethner and Hindruukaarg - who had never been mortal, but had been created from whole cloth by the Trienorn and were the most powerful of the Ledhrorn - took charge of the plan.
There is a period of time between the Third and Fourth Ages called the Interregnum. During the Interregnum, the Ledhrorn strove to erase all knowledge and memory of the Trienorn, and crush any who resisted the new rule. It took them over a thousand years to do so, but they had nothing if not time. Unfortunately, as time passed, differences of opinion between the Ledhrorn began forming, culminating in the death of the Ledhrorn Tyharnak, slain by an unnamed Ledhrorn.
Unexpectedly, Tyharnak's death revealed the full danger of the newly asserted Reflection. Tyhalia, Tyharnak's Reflection, died instantly when Tyharnak died, and their twin deaths tore a rent into the fabric of reality which could only be sealed imperfectly by weaving threads of a pocket dimension into a seal. Horrified, the Ledhrorn realized the danger the Reflection put them in, if they started fighting each other. In the end, two major groups formed, and Hethner and Hindruukaarg decided that each group would take one of the Twin Worlds as their realm. The Thelalorn - more benevolent towards mortals - took Ibrin; the Iranorn - more tyrannical - took Azran.
Each Ledhrorn claimed a vast portion of the world as their Dominion, although within the Dominion, most allowed mortal realms to rise and fall as usual. Every time something surfaced that hinted at the previous existence of the Trienorn or the Lady, the Ledhrorn would bury it or destroy it. By the same token, they discouraged and erased knowledge of planar travel, to prevent the discovery of any information in the Wandering Planes that they couldn't control (or even the discovery of the slumbering Trienorn themselves).
By the Fourth Age, mortals in either world had forgotten the other even existed. In each world, they believed "their" Ledhrorn had created the world and ruled it since the beginning. They didn't even know the existence of other Planes or Dimensions, and the history of their world was entirely forgotten past a couple of millennia back.
This stagnation was doomed to fail, however, when the wyldervay arrived in -9 F.A., unwittingly setting in motion a series of events collectively known as the War of Saints, which would spell the destruction of Ledhrorn and Trienorn (with a few exceptions), as well as a revitalization of the cosmos and the rediscovery of parts of the history and cosmology of the Twin Worlds. Ironically, these events were facilitated by none other than Hethner and Hindruukaarg themselves, fully aware of the potential consequences - but this is a story for another time.
Thank you for joining us on another Codex entry! Next week, we'll talk about the War of Saints. See you then!
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